Giving Stuff Away Is Not a Strategy
By Jane Friedman | September 24, 2010 |
Because I advocate writers be very entrepreneurial in their efforts to market and promote their work—and engage in some form of content marketing—eventually I hear or receive something like this:
“You’ve said to post content, or to give content away, which to me means post chapters or sections. How can I do this to good effect?”
Let’s split an answer into three parts.
1. UNpublished Novelists, Memoirists, Essayists, and Poets
First ask: What you want to accomplish by sharing or posting your work online? Posting your work online isn’t going to lead to a traditional book publishing deal—at least not by itself. Here are a few strategies that writers typically have in mind:
- Test marketing and content development. The paint isn’t yet dry; you’re looking for direction on how to further shape the work, or abandon it. You can see this kind of activity on Authonomy.
- Growing community and readership over the long-term. This requires pounding the pavement—through online networks AND off—to let everyone you know that your work is available to be read. It also requires you to be generous in reading and commenting on others’ work. (Read Hyla Molander’s experience with Scribd.)
- Creative/multimedia experimentation. Posting creative work online, without any modification (just straight, looooong text), can be a weak approach even if you are test marketing or growing a readership. It’s much more interesting to look at creative media spin-offs, find aspects of your personality that can shine in an online format, or adapt your work so it blossoms in an online environment. (I like the story of Andrew Shaffer, who exemplifies many of these qualities.)
While I don’t think you’re killing your chances of traditional publication when posting your work online (no matter what your reasoning), there’s not much point in doing so unless you have a strategy or goal in mind, and a way to measure your success. One writer, Dave Malone, recently used Scribd to post a serialization of his novella. It helped him build readership for a new newsletter, get started on Twitter, and further build an audience for his work—one that will likely stick with him for the next work he produces.
If you have no interest in marketing your work and connecting with readers after posting your stuff online, don’t do it.
2. Published Novelists, Memoirists, Essayists, and Poets
Depending on the level of your fame, it’s a good idea to have a consistent blog or means of interacting with people who are fans of your work—the ones who have already bought your books.
Newly minted authors who are still working to get known with their first book would do well to blog on a very focused topic or area that can gain a following quickly. (Authors with strong name recognition get to abide by more relaxed rules when deciding what to write about—famous people can seemingly write about nothing at all but still have huge followings. Not so for the rest of us.)
It’s also essential for published authors to make some portion of their work available for free as a teaser, to increase fans/followers. (I can’t imagine a publisher objecting to an author using his own work for content marketing.)
3. Experts/Authorities (Nonfiction Authors, Published and Unpublished)
People working in nonfiction categories (who are not memoir driven) are under the greatest pressure to give away some form of their content. That’s because, in today’s world, the problem isn’t insufficient information—it’s TOO MUCH information.
What you’ll often find is that nonfiction authors use their book as something that helps open the doors to other money-making opportunities (coaching, teaching, speaking, consulting, etc). Since content itself is not scarce, the nonfiction author must capitalize on what IS scarce in today’s world, which is time, personalized attention, customization, and immediacy.
Also, it is near-impossible for most nonfiction authors to land a book deal with a Big Six publisher unless they have a strong online presence, especially in popular how-to/information categories (e.g., health, self-help, business …). And an online presence usually involves some form of content marketing, whether an e-newsletter, quality blog posts, digital downloads, and so on.
—
Whenever I hear an author or writer say, “Why would I ever give my work away for free?” I want to ask: “Do you not want to grow your audience?”
HOWEVER: Making your work widely available for free (in any form) is not a way to succeed as an author. Knowing how and when to make an offer is key, and can be a strategic move during moments of your career.
Photo courtesy Flickr’s Newsbie Pix
Jane Friedman has more than 20 years in the publishing industry, with expertise in digital media and the future of authorship. She’s the co-founder and editor of The Hot Sheet, the essential industry newsletter for authors. You can find out more about her consulting services and online classes at her website, JaneFriedman.com.
Thanks,
This was a timely post as I’ve often seen people who are unpublished giving away their writing for the wrong reasons.
I especially like the advice: pounding the pavement and being generous to others with comments and so on.
Too many people miss this opportunity to share who they are and what they’re doing by simply reading something and moving on.
Thanks again,
Daryl
Always such great advice. You make a good point that the only way a reader is going to know they want to read your work is to sample some of it. But, I agree, you have to carefully strategize how and why you are going to do it. It also has to be at the right moment as you’re building your career. Great post.
Jane – good post, good topic. I agree — especially re having a strategy and being willing to pound the pavement. But it’s not all about either test marketing/content development or trying to get a traditional publishing deal. Posting work online can be an interesting alternative to the present self-publishing offerings, with a whole new set of marketing and outreach possibilities. Yes, you have to pound the pavement there, too — but doesn’t every author?
In deciding to serialize my novel, Veronica’s Nap, on a blog, the bottom line was this: what’s going to help generate the community and build the momentum I need to KEEP WRITING?
The project took shape from there. Check it out.
I’m so happy to see this analysis of the pre-publication book content posted in blogs.
When I have seen this strategy on line, especially if the excerpts are long, I don’t find myself drawn to them even if the writing is good.
Short snippets set in a writerly context, such as “the hardest paragraph I ever wrote” or “why beginnings and endings are so important” would hook me as a reader. I would be able to tell from these snippets whether the book is one I want to read and the writer has paid her dues.
Great post, Jane! I’m actually giving away two free short stories to complement the traditional release of my second novel and so far the response has been GREAT. My publishers were very supportive and got the first of the stories up on Scribd last week, where it’s already had nearly 4,000 reads. And there are many, many other sites all around the web like feedbooks.com, smashwords.com, and even Barnes & Noble allows authors to give e-books away for free. My stories are getting thousands of downloads there, too. It’s just a great way to connect with new readers!
Thanks. This is a topic of constant conversation amongst writers and your input was helpful.
Wow, wonderful comments already! Thanks, everyone.
@Sharon – Very much agree with you. I do feel obligated to play devil’s advocate when it comes to self-publishing online because so many people do it with the secret hope they will be “discovered” or other expectations of traditional success. (Not that there’s nothing wrong with having that dream!) But as you say, it needn’t be an either/or situation.
Momentum, community, the motivation to keep writing: wonderful reasons to share your work freely.
In a huge leap – I’m reminded of a quote from PORTRAIT OF A LADY by Henry James: “Take things more easily. Don’t ask yourself so much whether this or that is good for you. … Live as you like best, and your character will take care of itself. Most things are good for you; the exceptions are very rare …”
Oops – I meant to say, “Not that there’s ANYTHING wrong with having that dream.”
:)
Thank you Jane! I am in the process of building my blog and trying to decide what to post and what it will do for me. This couldn’t have come at a better time.
This post says so much about what writers should think about before they post to their blogs. Twice in the past month, and a couple of times before, I posted short excerpts of a work in progress.
A nagging voice told me to take them out, and all three times, I immediately did. It pays to listen to those nagging thoughts in your head.
I love showcasing my work on my blog, so I do it by devoting that work to the blog only. If I write something or create a page with a short/short or snippet, I do so for the blog only.
Deciding not to post exact excerpts of my work, that is of the work I wish to publish traditionally, gives me peace of mind and it allows me the freedom to enjoy the blog process both creatively and as a social networking tool.
We are all blessed with a gift and we need to be prudent how we wish to share this with the world at large. I started my blog as an extension of what had been my actual journals.
I avoid urges to post about my personal life, or my children. When I write anything that smacks of my family is it fictionalized and I would never use their names. My daughter has gone so far as to ask me to remove her blog address from my sidebar because her’s is so private she does not want to share her thoughts with my readers.
Thanks for this post.
It’s a little like your mother told you: “If you give the milk away for free…” But certainly supplemental material like Anna is doing, make great freebies. After the publication of my first book, ANGEL’S GRACE, so many people were interested in a sequel, that I gave the main character her own blog (https://angelsgrace.wordpress.com) and doll to talk to and hang out with readers. The kids like it, and that’s really what matters. I can’t imagine I’d do that with every book I write, but there are lots of creative ways to entertain the fans for free.
Nice post, Jane. As a published author (eight essays) working on my first novel, I keep an active blog to build a readership, but rarely do I publish an essay on it. A few times, when the essay got rejected numerous times and it was something I really wanted to share, I put it on my blog, but mostly I write about “human interest” stuff: art, spirituality, family, writing, travel. Thanks for all the good stuff you share with us!
Great post…I’ve been thinking of starting a blog for the series of short stories I’ve been writing that I’d hopefully be able to keep up whether or not I ever get published. It’s not quite the same as what you were talking about, but it’s good to know that if I do that, I won’t be killing my chances at publication. ^_^
Fantastic post! I think many writers who come from the traditional publishing world (what I saw in my family growing up) feel uncomfortable posting anything online before it is properly published. Your note about strategic decisions regarding what and when to post is useful; the objective of many writers’ online presence is to gain readership, after all. Thanks for sharing this! :)
I’m new to this website and adored this article. It hit close to home, but it also stung. It’s clear I’m giving too much of my work away. At times it’s been great, like having polished essays posted to Lisa Belkin’s Motherlode site on the NYT, but even then, other people pay me for essays and the NYT does not. At the end of the day, it’s nice for the ol’ CV, but not sure what else. I tend to get skewered in the comments, anyway.
Thank you for your advice, and feel free to visit all the free content I’m giving away on NewYorkLostandFound.blogspot.com.
I’ve been blogging for nearly two years (Historyweaver, where history, research and story meet). I sometimes write about the things I’m researching for a particular novel I’m working on or revising. Sometimes it might be something I’ve read in a newspaper or heard on the radio. All led by receipts in Mrs. Hale’s Receipts for the Million, a book my greatgrandmother used in the 1850s.
One novel is at Authonomy where I’ve received good feedback, but generally, I don’t post my published essays or other work. Only flap copy for the novels seeking agents and how to find the essays. I love history and hope I offer something for people interested in the 19th and early 20th century.
Oh, I like these comments because they highlight exactly what I’ve been wrestling with over the past few weeks. Been blogging for almost three years on a topic that really doesn’t tie into my overall writing direction. I like the hits, the writing practice but I don’t like the drain on my time when I know it’s not what I’m supposed to be doing.
Soooo, my sincere thanks to all of you for posting. I’ll be taking the plunge in deleting my irrelevant blog and (gasp) starting a brand new one that’s more relevant.
Cheerio!
Ooh, you are a brave one, GE Anderson. Good luck with the new blog!
Love that you linked out to Copyblogger! I think more authors need to think like entrepreneurs. Reading non-publishing blogs would certainly help, I think. And developing a simple social media strategy that attracts readers to your blog, which then encourages them to try your selective writing sample, seems like a winning plan.
I’d love to see how you feel about authors growing their email lists…
Good advice.
I’ve posted snippets, no more than 500 words. I know I often get annoyed to read more than that for fiction on a blog. It’s a fine line between enticing readers and putting them off. I’m always trying to figure it out.
Thank you for this very timely post. I’ve been mulling over this for weeks, and you helped give me focus and direction.
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Authonomy is not a place where you will get significant help. It’s set ip as a competition to gain votes to get to the Editors Desk and receive a free, generally unhelpful, commentary from an anonymous professional. The typical comment on your book will be along the lines, “Your book is great, please back mine.” And they have a forum which in the main consists of vicious slander and abuse.
The old saying is true — you get what you pay for — and if it’s free, guess what you’re going to get.
“…Don’t give away the goods too soon is what she might have told me…”
~ Suzanne Vega, ‘Marlene on the wall’
This does help qualify (with examples) how to go about “giving away” work with a purpose and plan. I have just been reading up on how to better serialize some short stories for posting on-line. So this was very helpful. Thanks a bunch.
Jane,
Thanks so much for this wonderful post. Recently a new reader came to my website, which was launched about six months ago. She posted a comment to one of my Monday Musings and asked if I may share a snippet of my work in progress. Initially I was hesitant (afraid for so many different reasons), but her encouragement eased my fears and I will be sharing a snippet on a Monday in October. Since then, another reader wrote, “I would love it if you would share your work in progress.” I have found that sharing my writing journey in a meaningful way with my readers is a wonderful way to connect with them.
I’m still a floundering fish in the writing pool, so this post was very helpful. Right now, for me, it’s all about building readership, and I have been careful about what I put out there for free. My Writing to be Read blog: http//kayelynnebooth.wordpress.com is about well, writing! But I also use it to steer folks toward my article content, which is where I can make a few pennies. I have also posted content that lets readers know what I’m working on for traditional publishing and it’s progress, which will hopefully spike their interest, so that they will want to read it when it comes out. Your post makes me feel as if I’m on the right track, mostly, but gives me a few ideas on things I might do differently, too. Thanks.
This is a wonderful post, Jane. I, like Sharon, have posted my novel in serial form online. I agree with you that people can’t expect to simply “be discovered” by publishing online. But their goal does not have to be publication by a big publisher. People write online, as Sharon said, to get motivation. And as we have seen, publication online does not exclude the possibility of publication elsewhere later. As for giving it away for free — trust me, very few people have the stamina to read a novel online. They may read a bit, but truth be told, they’d rather read at their own pace, in their beds, etc. This is why online publication of fiction builds a readership without “ruining” one’s chances of publishing an actual book later; you tap into two entirely different types of readers.
[…] week Jane Friedman, a familiar voice for many in the publishing world, said: While I don’t think you’re killing your chances of traditional publication when posting your […]
This is extremely timely information for me, as for so many others. So far, I’ve resisted the urge to post more than small snippets of my work online, and I’m glad I have.
Thanks Jane – I always enjoy hearing your spin on things. I am working on a memoir and to help me get started, I blogged about the experience in short detail at https://getthisgirlfriend.posterous.com/ (Man or Monster Series). I did so to help me determine if this was something for which I could a) gain a following and b) see myself writing a complete novel. The response has been great. I have gone down the traditional publishing path (sending query letters/submitting proposals) with no luck. But because I very much wanted to share my story with others regardless of getting published or not, I blogged about the topic. For an unpublished, aspiring author it gave me the encouragement to continue the arduous process of seeking an agent/publisher.
See you at the Writer’s Digest Conference!
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