THE FLIP SIDE OF FREE

My publisher and I butt heads at times, and I sense I'd butt heads with any publisher, frankly. It's just the creative differences between the publisher and the artist, I guess. But one thing they rarely do is offer books for free. $1.99 for a week, maybe even a month, but rarely free. We agree there.

Then the other day, an author contacted me all incensed about the fact a book club, headed by a fairly wealthy woman, asked an author to let her club "borrow" enough books for them to read. They'd be happy to give them back later. When the author asked them to purchase the books, she never heard back from the club again. She was hurt, rightfully so, and I suggested she write them off and move on. Confrontation would only make matters worse. 

Sure, everyone likes the occasional freebie, but people who incessantly shop for free put cost above quality. Some must due to budget constraints, but if they are having that much of a struggle, then they can't afford to take an interest in the author and their endeavor to earn a living. And unlike the myth everyone would like to believe, they are not the souls that read a cheap book then run out and pay full price for all the others by that author. They keep "buying" free.

Giving away free books was once a gimmick that few were daring enough to try. Considered an uncommon practice, it worked. Free attracted readers who then bought the other books in a series or by that author. Today, free gives me reason to pause and wonder if the book is worth the investment of my reading time.  

Too many indie authors too readily use free. Stop and think about what's free in your life. When you see something for free, don't you instantly wonder what the deal is? Don't you sense that it's a lesser quality than something you'd have to buy? And most of all, wouldn't you rather pay a discount for a quality product than get something of lesser quality for free?

That's the public's general mentality about free, and why shouldn't it apply to books?

When I give away a handful of free books, it's done with a clear understanding that a review is expected. Sure, about a third of those people just run off with the book and never write a review. While that saddens me, I still collect a fair number of reviews. 

But that book club issue hurt that author's feelings. I understood and asked her to consider moving on and not letting it get under her skin. But it's hard when you, the author, are not respected. I was once signing books at a book release event in North Carolina and a tenured college professor in creative writing came up to me and just took a book, said she'd TRY to review it, turned on her heel, and walked off without paying. She never did the review, probably never meant to. I remember her to this day.

We work too hard for that. Free isn't that big a deal anymore, and in a way it just might cheapen you as an author. Be careful how you use it.

Joel has created coupon code FFW35 for FFW readers. When you use FFW35 at BookDesignTemplates.com shopping cart, it will give you a 35% discount on anything on the site.

NOTE FROM HOPE: I've used these templates for ARCS, review copies for Edisto Jinx and fell in love with them!

Answer Ads Late

By Leah Zitter

I am contrarian to the bone. When everyone masses in one direction, I head in the other. Then by happenstance, this quality became one of my freelance habits.

Job-seekers are advised to answer ads within twelve hours of their posting. Wait too long, we are told, and competitors will beat you. After all, recruiters dislike clicking through reams of digital resumes, and several hirers, according to Alison Green, author of Ask a Manager.com, either call the first five incoming qualified applicants or respond to the top five resumes that dominate their stack.

"Apply as soon as you know you’re interested, because if you wait, you may miss the window of opportunity entirely." 

This may be particularly so with writers. Supply is higher than demand. Competition is ferocious. Your competitors may sound more appealing than you, particularly if they whittle their price down to cents. Remember the proverb that “the early bird catches the worm?” Shouldn’t you be this bird? Or, maybe, there’s another way . . . 

Reverse direction.

I answer freelancer-recruiting advertisements several months late.

The idea first came to me on Carol Tice’s job-board.  Carol advertises her Board for Freelance Writer's Den membvers as Junk-Free, but she fails to mention that jobs are snatched up as soon they reach freelancers’ eyes. I salivated for that Board. But as soon as I saw those first few listings, I despaired. Advertisements of Wednesday, Thursday, and Friday quickly fell off, filled. And then on a whim, I scrolled down to the bottom – one year ago, two years ago - and recklessly dispatched queries:

Hey Mr. X:

I noticed your ad on MakeaLivingWriting.com. I’m a writer who can professionally and punctually do your job. Are you still looking? (Note: this was not my literal query).

Four out of five recipients answered affirmatively.

I didn’t land the jobs. I wasn’t good enough for those particular positions. But I came away with a mesmerizing idea. What if I answered ads late? Very late? I would have the hirer’s unswerving attention, and he’d see how good I am!

I experimented with random adverts, checking terms such as "writer wanted", "blogger wanted", and so forth and queried ads that were four months, eight months, one year old. I received some affirmative Craigslist responses: copywriting, a PR assignment, requests for blog posts. I landed a regular assignment on XpatNation and another on WomenMakeWaves. The Turkish Diplomatic Observer gave me a weekly column. That was huge. The paper paid $100 for 300 words and had a German readership, too.

I could relax. I didn’t have to browse Monster, et. al. every morning nor click on each and every alert within seconds it appeared. I could focus on my work and have the pick of advertisements.

The concept made sense. Mr. or Mrs. Smith, disgruntled by previous freelancers or the advertising process, may have not wanted to advertise again. They had all the time in the world to read my resume. I was one amongst none, and so Mr. or Mrs. Smith gladly hired me.

So, reader, if you tire of rushing to the fresh ads, reconsider. Wait until the ad is stale, maybe a month or two, and answer it then.  

Make sense?


Leah Zitter
Reporter: Politics, Economics, & Culture
https://www.linkedin.com/in/leahzitter
http://freelancersmarket.com/
 

BLOGGER - HR/RECRUITING
https://theapplicantmanager.com/jobs?pos=HR132
The Applicant Manager (TAM) is looking for a talented Freelance Blogger to write timely blogs on Human Resources and Recruiting. If you’re an experienced HR blogger/journalist and know the in's and out's of the recruiting/HR space, you’re a perfect match for us. You will be expected to write: weekly blogs averaging 900 words, about timely topics that are helpful and interesting to our blog readers and not the same old churn, blogs that can also be thought provoking, that draw a following, and that demonstrate your expertise. Compensation: $80-$100/blog.

 

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A new software program automates scheduling and tracking tasks for book projects, particularly great for indie authors. It's called Book Planner, another Joel Friedlander product, so that alone sells me on it. ~Hope







 


 

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