Brian Livingston, Seattle-based editor of the Windows Secrets newsletter and author of numerous computer books, won an award for the unusual way he charges subscribers to his twice-monthly e-mails.

Pay what ever you want, Livingston tells subscribers, and 17,000 out of approximately 140,000 have done so. Their contributions range from $5 to $100 apiece.

That model caught the attention of MarketingSherpa, a research firm that named Livingston "Entrepreneur of the Year" at its New York City conference on Internet content subscription sales today.

In a news release announcing the award, Livingston said the contributions from more affluent readers of his newsletter -- described as a survival guide for Windows users -- "subsidize those who may be on unemployment but still need to keep up their Windows skills."