This guest post is by Jeff Goins of Goins, Writer.
Writers have this horrible tendency to hoard their work.
They stash half-written manuscripts in drawers and never let them see the light of day. They write a blog but only share it with friends and family. They publish a book and charge money for it.
Wait a second — do you mean to say you shouldn’t charge money for your writing? That’s what I’m saying… sort of.
Let me clarify: You shouldn’t charge for your best work. Give it away for free — and watch the money roll in. Does that sound contradictory? It’s not.
Your two choices
A writer who wants to support herself has two choices: a) the short-term profiteering route, or b) the long-term generosity route.
The first will earn you some quick bucks but also burn a lot of bridges. The second will take a lot of time but also teach you how to wait for the best things.
Most beginning writers operate from a scarcity mentality. They are afraid of failure, so once they publish something they pinch pennies and try to to get what little they think they deserve.
Why? Because they’re afraid. Which is the last thing an artist should be.
Three reasons to be generous
Here are three reasons why you should consider giving your best work away for free:
1. It will build your audience.
Jon Morrow, one of the web’s leading experts on blogging, says if you want to earn subscribers you should create something worth charging money for and give it away. This will cause you to stand out in a world full of noise.
2. It will earn respect and loyalty.
For a year, I wrote a blog and never tried to sell a thing. My subscribers grew from 100 people to 1000 to more than 10,000. When people started asking me to stop giving stuff away so they could pay me for something, I knew I had done my job.
3. It will make you money… eventually.
A new author’s greatest challenge isn’t how to make a quick buck; it’s how to overcome anonymity. People buy books based on personal recommendations, so if you’re virtually unknown, the best thing you can do is get your work into the hands of future fans.
This is why Seth Godin was able to give away a million copies of Unleashing the Ideavirus and turn around and sell another million (the book, by the way, is still free and still sells).
So what do you say? How about you create something amazing and give it away?
By the way, you can grab my eBook, You Are A Writer, for free until Monday at midnight on Amazon. If you miss getting it for free, you can grab it here for only $3.99.
Jeff Goins is a writer, idea guy, and difference-maker. He lives in Nashville with his wife, newborn son, and dog. You can connect with him on his blog or follow him on Twitter.…