Answers on a postcard

I recently made a comment on a forum for authors, regarding  low price and free books.

It was definitely a ‘light the blue touch paper and stand well back’ moment. The camp is clearly divided between those, like myself, who do not believe in giving our work away, except for a limited number of review and promotional copies, and those who say we have to give away a lot of work to become known, and sell our later work.

Although these are my thoughts, I am sure there will be many other views as the subject is an immensely complex one.

To understand the problem we have to go back to the pre-internet era. Yes, there was a time, between dinosaurs and the present day, when we had no internet. We used to read, listen to the radio and watch the new fangled thing called television. We occasionally ventured outside and met real friends, ones we could actually touch (unless we had a restraining order, of course.) If you were a writer, you submitted your work to an agent, if you were lucky enough to have someone read your manuscript, they may take you on and try to sell your work to a publisher. If that happened you would find yourself making a few pennies from each book you sold, unless of course you were lucky enough to make the big time, sell a lot of books, and negotiate your own terms. Basically, making a living from writing had similar odds to winning the lottery (you have to be in it to win it.)

Lo-and-behold, along comes the internet and, the great god, Amazon. Now don’t get me wrong, I sell through Amazon, and I think they have done amazing things. They  also created a monster. Anyone who is able to string together a sentence,  form a paragraph, add the paragraphs to a chapter and connect the chapters in a logical manner, can now publish their book. No agent, no publisher, just upload it and away you go. Brilliant, eh? Yes and no. The problem doesn’t lie with those who can do that, or those who spend time editing and polishing their books. It lies with those who are unable to string the sentences together, or think the first draft is the final book. And this is what has caused the debate amongst us.

Someone, sometime, decided in order to get noticed, and to gather a following, they would reduce their prices, or give away their book. Yes, it does make sense, freebies=followers. But, and this is a big but (as opposed to butt),  it has created a massive group of readers who will only read free books. The quality isn’t relevant to some as long as it is free. So now everyone is virtually giving away their work in the hopes of gaining followers who will buy their future offerings. Therein lies another problem. The market does not have an infinite supply of readers, but the number of books published has gone up exponentially. The chances of grabbing a large market share has diminished.

Would I go back to the way it was? No, the old way stifled talent, and didn’t always promote good writing. I remember abandoning a book by a well known author because I felt he treated me like a child. I don’t need to be told how a key works unlocking the door
(apparently, you have to turn it!), or a hat is worn on the head (I kid you not).  Do I have any answers? No I don’t. I’m going to keep plugging away trying to sell my books, as I believe in myself and my work. I will give away some review copies and a limited number of paperbacks as promotional copies. I will never make it free on Kindle.

If anyone out there does have an answer, then please stick it on a post card and send it to me at the usual address. A rejection slip will be sent by return of post.