“Why Give Your Novel Away?”

By Bill Stephens - Mar 31 , 2008

When I decided to launch the Blog and Forum to offer my first novel, in free serialized form, I also created a promotional package to help jump start it. The package included a paid ad on the front page of PublishersLunch, videos on www.youtube.com/Olwriter, press releases through free article sites like Ezinearticles, emailing to my list, promoting on my Publishers Marketplace Blog, “Read It and Weep,” and shouting from the rooftop. I also added Adsense ads and affiliate ads to the blog to help pay for the cost and time involved.

The question I’m asked most often is, “Why would you give your novel away?” The short answer is, “Visibility.” But it’s a more complex proposition than just that. Publishers and their editorial and marketing staffs are eaten up with the concept that author visibility/ platform is more important than content and quality of writing. After twenty years of newspaper and periodical writing, I believe people (including my agent) when they tell me I’m a good writer, even though I strive every day to get better. But on any given day, my writing is what it is, and I can’t dial it up to greatness.

So what’s left? Well—Visibility! There is one other issue, though. The Blog and Forum also shows prospective publishers that I’m aware of the importance of contributing to the marketing of my book; that—oh, by the way—I’m good at it; and just how far I’m willing to go to get it done. That’s what the Horizons Past blog is all about.

When I implemented the free serialization, I had no illusions of inventing the wheel. I knew a handful of authors had preceded me, but now I read several times a week of yet another novel going out in e-book serialized format for free.

M. J. Rose in a Wired article, “Serial E-Authors Make a Killing,” told of authors Doug Clegg, Steven Lee Climer, and Charles Compo leveraging their published books by building readership with serialized novels. Apparently Internet marketers like Cybergold also have latched on to serialized novels as a way to draw customers to their sites.

For wannabee and lesser authors, the free serialized novel serves to generate visibility and name recognition, but, apparently, for established authors, giving your book away seems to generate big cash returns.