The Power of Free

It brings people to the table, this free, but is the free any good? Why should I take your free? It can’t be that good if it’s free, right?

Funneling has been a thing in the blogosphere and business world for a long time. Set someone up with the “free” thing and then… BLAMMO! Here’s where you pay the price for that free as they slip in the advertising for whatever BS premium feature they have.

It’s always seemed like a really shady business model to me. That’s why I don’t give heavy discounts. Sales, yes. Permanent discounts on the front end to screw people at renewal time? Nah, not my bag.

But we can give art freely because it’s an infinite resource.

I remember reading The Grand Unified Theory on the Economics of Free by Mike Masnick, back in the day and just being blown away by it. You can’t really argue with the logic of it all. Especially if you use disposable razor blades.

My writing, more than anything, is the ultimate expression of my inner being. It’s where you get to see the many disparate facets of my personality in all their beauty and ugliness. It’s present in the life I give to my characters.

This resource is only as finite as my imagination and will. I can’t find it anywhere else, making it unique. However, does that value translate to the consumer?

I don’t charge people for it.

I want to make money off of my art, but how do I do that and still stick to my philosophical guns? Charging for everything I produce will not result in sales.

The answer: build trust first.

To do that, the best thing you can do is give your expertise away for free. It doesn’t have to be the whole shebang, but it needs to be quality that’s useful.

So, how do I hope to make money as a writer?

I have a day job, number one. The first thing a writer must do is remove the fantasies of being the next Stephen King. Put the work in first, just like they did. (Their overnight success didn’t happen for years.)

As to making money doing the writing I want, there are a lot of ways. For example, writing helpful articles like this that people can use to not repeat mistakes I’ve already made. It’s worthwhile to some.

When you charge, don’t overcharge.

I didn’t start this to become a rich a$$hole. I would like to pay my bills, sure. But I did it so I could do what makes me happiest: share some information, and help people out all while helping my brand.

Why? It’s a fair transaction.

The blog or newsletter itself isn’t what will make me money. It’s just a tool to be used. If I make it an invaluable or useful tool, people will pay for that experience because it’s fair and I’m not trying to dick them around.

I’ll offer more things, at an additional charge, in my store. That way, my customers/members/fans/whatever can choose what they want to buy, not have me force it down their throat.

What about those that say you should NEVER give away anything for free?

I would say you’re a fool if you think the only currency you’ll need as a writer is cold, hard cash. I’d rather have a fan tell me how much they loved my work and wanted to be a writer someday than a lump of cash, to be honest. If you can’t see how that’s as good as money, maybe you don’t really care about the art of it, or maybe you don’t understand the power of fandom.

Yeah, you should be paid for the effort, but you have to look beyond simple monetary gain. That will come if you pay attention to the rest of the mechanism that gets you down the road to success.

If I’m to be paid for my writing, I shouldn’t have to share it with a company like Amazon. Yes, they have a cool platform. They also have a rich a$$hole for a CEO who gives his workers a raise and then removes their bonuses to cover said raise. I’m not supporting “leadership” like that. If that means I don’t make sales, then so be it.

“But I need to pay my bills.

Yeah, I hear ya. I’ve got so much school and unsecured debt, it’s laughable. I work paycheck to paycheck, mostly. I take care of a pretty extensive family. I bust my butt at a job that I know isn’t my passion so I can partake in my passion. I make sacrifices and I do it for the love of the art. Anything else is like whipped cream on top.

If you’re really down for the writing life, you better expect to be working a regular job, mostly. For every J. K. Rowling out there, there are millions of… not J.K. Rowlings? Just do the work and be happy with the work. The rest will come if it comes.

Bottom line, I’m going to do things my way.

And you should, too.

It might not be the right way. It may not be a good way. But it’s a way that I feel comfortable with and I truly believe will work out to my benefit. I’d rather have people enjoy my work than wait for the money truck to back up to my door.

If we’re being honest here, that won’t happen to most of us. We’re probably not going to be multi-millionaires, and that’s okay.

Writing is about so much more than that.

It’s about connecting with yourself, connecting with your reader, realizing there is deeper meaning to the universe, and continuing a legacy that began when someone first picked up a stick and started drawing symbols in the dirt.

This is a legacy you can leave behind.