Ed: This article was written by novelist RJ Keller and is cross posted here from her blog, Ingenious Title to Appear Here Later

If you are a currently self-publishing author, chances are you’ve heard of April Hamilton. If you haven’t, then chances are you have benefited from her expertise indirectly.

Her voice was among the first to dare suggest that self-publishing was a viable, respectable way for writers to get their work out into the world. She has dedicated years of her life to helping writers in practical ways through how-to posts on her blog (which was eventually published as The Indie Author Guide) and encouraging us personally by her successful example and positive attitude.

Nearly two years ago she founded the website Publetariat, “an online community and news hub built specifically for indie authors and small, independent imprints . . . to bring [authors] the most valuable content in books, publishing, book promotion, authorship and more from all over the web.”

In other words, she has worked her ass off for us. Now she needs our help. Early Thursday morning, she posted the following plea on Publetariat:

I am in desperate straits, and as a result, so is Publetariat. In March of this year I was diagnosed with breast cancer. Two days later my husband announced he was leaving me, and did. We would’ve been married 19 years last month.

The small business we used to run together, which was our family’s primary source of income, is now a thing of the past and has been for months. I’m trying to sell off what’s left of its assets, but in this economy buyers are scarce.

To say I’m struggling to make ends meet for myself and my two children doesn’t quite cover it. The bank is preparing to foreclose; I and my children are facing homelessness.

Publetariat’s audience numbers in the tens of thousands, and if each one of them were to pitch in just one dollar, it could keep my children and I—and therefore, Publetariat—afloat for a few more months, while I try to get more work and make other financial arrangements.

So please…if you’ve found anything helpful, informative or entertaining on this site over the past two years, if its content has inspired you to keep going when you were ready to quit, solved a problem for you or answered your questions…if it has saved you a dollar’s worth of time, effort or worry, please donate that dollar now. If you can afford more, it will be much appreciated.

So please, all of you—whether you’re currently self-publishing, are thinking about it, have done so in the past, or if you’ve ever read and enjoyed a self-published book—please consider donating a buck to help out April and her kids. If you can spare more than that, well that would be awesome, too.

To donate, click here and scroll to the end of April’s post.