My story pitch

I have a pitch on Spot.us to write a story about solar power in the Bay Area and why we don't see more solar panels on homes. I want to find out why it costs so much and what companies are doing to bring that cost down.

If you read the previous blog on making the media profitable again, then you have an idea of what Spot.us is doing: Using "crowdfunding," like Barack Obama did in his presidential campaign, to raise a lot of small sums through donations on the Internet.

Ten percent of the money raised for a story goes to an editor for fact checking and the rest goes to the reporter. So for the solar story, the total cost is $1,000 and the editor would get $100 and I'd get the remaining $900. A good way to keep me off the streets. If you can afford a small donation of $10 to $25, then please donate. If not, pass along to someone else who can. It's a great way to support important journalism.