Over at one of my favorite blogs, TechDirt, Mike Masnick and the TechDirt community discuss eBooks and publishing works in the digital world somewhat regularly. One of the key mantras tends to be that those that intend to make money in the digital world need to incorporate new and smarter business models. For writers of fiction, as with musicians and movie-makers, this can be frightening. Some of us spent years or even decades studying not only our craft, but the traditional business world that surrounded that craft. So the question is: how does an author make a living in the digital world?
Rather than be dismayed, I see a great deal of opportunity for authors that can give away digital works for free. Below are some simple ideas, but I'd appreciate any feedback or response offered:
1. Signed books: This is the simple one. In my case, one of the things I'm going to be doing is to release chapters of Echelon on this blog, obviously for free. Around the middle of the book, I'm going to make the entire work available in PDF format via bittorrent (still looking for help on any torrent experts to learn how to upload and create a torrent link, ala on the Pirate Bay). The idea will be to gauge the response from readers. Hopefully the appreciation of the work reaches a sort of critical mass where its popularity begins to propgate itself. If that should happen, I've been working to prepare a signed hardcopy of the book along with a few extras that can be purchased as well (more on that below). My theory is that, while eBooks are wonderful when traveling, most people still enjoy a hardcopy of a book that they enjoy, and a signature from the author adds a collectorship feel to the product.
2. Fan Participation: One of the things I'd like to do for those that see enough worth in my work to purchase a hardcopy or make a donation for their eBook copy, is to allow them to be involved in small ways in the next book. My chief idea in this was to auction off character names in my next work. For instance, you can purchase a signed copy of Echelon for $X, but if you would like to buy the book AND join the Echelon Club for $Y, allong with updates and deeper access to myself, you will have the option to have me include your name as one of the minor characters in the sequel, Wunderwaffen. Assuming agreement could be reached on legal issues, I would also be open to certain extremely limited product placement type deals within the sequel. For instance, in Echelon one of the main characters drives a Toyota Prius. I see no reason why that car couldn't be another should an auto manufacturer wish to sponsor my work.
3. Write for hire: One of the criticims you hear from pro-copyright folks when they examine new business models is that artists shoudn't be focusing on business, they should be producing art. So what can we do to bring the business component closer to the artistic expression? Well, for an author that wishes to make a living writing, their artistic expression is (you guessed it) writing. So what could be more sensible than offering a kind of write for hire deal. If you like my work on Echelon, I am thinking of making myself available to write for you personally on a work for hire basis. Say you have a boyfriend/girlfriend into a subject similar to what I write. I could write a short story for you personally with you supplying the names and basic premise of what you would like written. Or say a business wanted a fun piece of fiction to go along with one of their products or services, say as a holiday message or something to liven up a newsletter. Well, here I am to write that for you. Perhaps you think I'm going to be famous someday and you would just like to give some kind of personalized short work as a Christmas gift, not unlike painters used to do during the renaissance period.
The key to all this, of course, is to first be HEARD. To build up a fan base. To become known. The most difficult hurdle a writer faces is obscurity. What better way to defeat obscurity than to give away digital works for free?
15 comments:
Don't know why I never thought to check out your blog before DH, but glad I finally did! Planning on reading your first two chapters tonight when I get home. Good luck figuring out the torrent stuff - I'd offer my advice if I had any.
Meh, it isn't much of a blog anyways...yet! I'm just getting started, but of course I'm always looking forward to thoughts and criticism, particularly on the writing and business model ideas!
I will be joining you in the chapter-by-chapter release scheme at the end of the month when NaNoWriMo comes to a close and I am left with 50,000 extremely messy words to edit.
Ah, very cool. Are you composing something for NaNoWriMo? Or are you doing submissions editing?
Composing. I am a journalist by education and a graphic designer by profession but I constantly wrestle with the desire to write fiction - so NaNoWriMo seemed like a good opportunity.
I am also in the process of editing a friend's manuscript though... He's a historical fiction author and he managed the near-impossible by getting a proper literary agent for his first book. Unfortunately it's a monstrous saga about the Inca and tough to sell in this economy (though he's had some very encouraging rejection letters). I'm trying to sell him on a more modern, self-promoted approach but he really wants to see if he can toe the old line and cash in on a traditional contract first - and I have to admit, the book is good enough.
In any case, once the madness of NaNoWriMo is over we should consider putting our heads together!
Absolutely. The only thing I enjoy as much as writing is reading, so I'd be thrilled to collaborate and/or read what you're working on if you like!
Yes, I will definitely send it your way once I shape it up a little bit. It's something of a semi-sci-fi satire that touches a lot of the concepts we discuss over at Techdirt, and includes my meager attempts at comedy - so you are just about the perfect person to get an opinion from.
Very cool ideas. You might want to check out what Robin Sloan is doing as well:
http://www.techdirt.com/articles/20090828/0159066032.shtml
and
http://www.kickstarter.com/projects/robinsloan/robin-writes-a-book-and-you-get-a-copy
He did a lot of cool things during the course of that project.
Thanks Mike, but you get entirely too little sleep...
Btw, when you linked that Tech Dirt article, did you happen to look at who the first commentor on the story was?
;)
Glad I was reading the Techdirt comments where you mentioned this. There are, in fact, people looking to help authors do exactly what you describe. One such person is myself. Go check out Manfred Macx. If you have questions, you can get in touch with us through the site and we can talk further.
Jon:
Thanks for reaching out. I would be very interested in discussing this with you further, particularly regarding what your company will do to promote and what a typical contract looks like. If you don't respond here today, I will contact you through your site.
Thanks again for stopping by!
You can email me at jon@ the domain of the site.
Promotion? I was just hoping to get linked on Techdirt. Alternatively, we'll publish some Harry Potter fan fiction and wait to get sued.
Jon:
I will be emailing you shortly. While I'm sure those two ideas would get your name around, I was more interested in what your group does to promote author's works. The website said something along the lines of informing people on how they can get the works, and I wondered what you would do to accomplish that.
Tim - haven't heard from you, so I wanted to make sure you weren't wondering why I haven't replied. Email is jon@manfredmacx.com.
We don't envision any single path to helping potential fans find you. The website will show "people who liked this author also liked that one" and things like that. We are working to publicize the site - once people are there, we can help them find authors that might interest them. We will help authors publicize themselves. We can help get you off Blogger and onto a more flexible platform. It all depends on the author's situation.
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