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PREVIOUS NEWSLETTER ARTICLES: "Writing Style and Your Unique Voice" "The Importance of Your Copyright" "Can You Be Too Old to Write?" "News Views &
Clues to Writing Success" "Cure Writers Block - Forever" "Write From Where You Started" |
"Rob
Parnell is the World's Foremost Writing Guru" - Writers Digest Best
Writers' Site - Critters #1 Best Writers' Info Site 2010 - 2011 Consider This... Rob Parnell Paulo Coelho has a clause in his publishing contract with Harper Collins that allows him to give away some of his books free on the Internet. After a fan published an online translation of one of his novels, sales of his books offline jumped from a mere 3000 copies to over one million in just three years. His penchant for offering his books free online has apparently made him the most Googled author in history. Writers get funny about the idea of giving away their writing for free, especially if it's fiction. I guess they feel they should be compensated for all that hard work! I'm not sure I agree. I mean, if you really want to be a successful fiction author, what do actually need in the long term? Readers, clearly, fans, followers, a mailing list of potential customers. What better way to acquire followers than by enabling the maximum amount of readers to actually see your work, enjoy it, send you their reviews and, hopefully, recommend it to others? It's common knowledge - in the advertising milieu - that word of mouth is the most powerful marketing tool in the world. Even Hollywood relies on it. Good WOM in an opening weekend for a movie can turn an obscure flick into a blockbuster - without a penny spent on advertising. It happens all the time. Okay, so the film, or your book, has to be good. That's a given. But why focus on just the money? Selling books is hard - any publisher will tell you that. Printing books and selling them yourself is also hard - and an expensive option if you're going to just give them away. But with the Internet you have the opportunity to get your work out there for next to no expense - especially if you already have a website or blog. I mention all this because I plan to follow in Mr Coelho's footsteps. Next week I'll be giving away my latest novel: PSI-KIDS: Willow. It's about a young foster girl on the trail of a murderer, in which she garners the support of a psychic friend and a ghost to help her. The subject matter, as far as I can tell, is a little ahead of its time, because it assumes the story's characters have no real issue with psychic phenomena. Though there are some skeptics in the book, the lead characters 'know' that some kind of 'other', some might say 'spirit' world is part of their - and by implication, our - reality. Publishers I've sent it to have remarked on this aspect and don't believe that modern audiences will yet buy into this scenario. I disagree. And I intend to prove them wrong by allowing you, my dear subscriber, to download the book for free - so you can read it and, if you like, let me know what you think. All this next week! Of course the main criticism leveled at the idea of giving away things is that people tend to regard anything free as essentially without value. I understand this argument but also know that 'free' also triggers a natural response in the majority of humans which says: must have! It's a swings and roundabouts thing. And for the sake of getting my latest novel out there, and read, I'm willing to take the risk. After all, I didn't become a writer for the money. Writing chose me - a long, long time ago! Why would I want to restrict the number of readers I can reach by placing a barrier - the price tag - in their way? Basically, whether you, as writer, want to follow this path is a personal issue. Many writers don't feel validated without a price tag on their work. But by sticking to the principle that your writing must have a monetary value, you run the risk of alienating the very people you want to reach. How many of us won't try a new author unless we're given a second hand book - or perhaps by finding an unfamiliar writer at the library first - before we'll invest in paying full price for a novel? It's human nature to be cautious with our money. Writers are not alone in this. The buying public is the same. And if you believe in your book, wouldn't you want to get it out there? I'm not saying this idea is for everyone. Just that you might consider it as a strategy - the old loss leader approach to self publicity. It's worth a shot, surely. If you're not convinced yet, I invite you to follow my journey as of next week. I'll keep you posted on how it goes. In the mean time, look out for your own FREE copy of PSI-KIDS: Willow - the first in a series of hopefully bestselling books - coming to an in-box near you! Keep writing!
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"Rob Parnell is the foremost writing guru in the world." Vin Smith, Midnight Bookworm |
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