Give it away
When my book Love To Write came out I gave a lot of them
away. Fellow writers and marketing experts told me that this was not a wise
thing to do. “A writer never gives their product away,” they say. “It’s just
not done. It lessens the value of your product.” OR “If you’re giving it away,
there must be something wrong with it.”
Well, while some of that may be true, I believe if my work
is good, it will be worth something to someone. I doubt that I will ever think
like a businessperson. All I can do is obey the rules of the publisher and do
the best I can to get my book into the hands of people who will like it, read
it, find something special in it and perhaps give it to someone they know.
Some of the home educators are still using my book
(published in 2006) and that’s better than money.
Give it to the library
Many writers insist the library pay for their book. I
totally understand that a library has to purchase a Grisham novel. But I’m not
Grisham and probably will never be. The library has always been there for me,
letting me sit for hours in their warm building, reading whatever I wanted and
taking notes, using their computers and copy machines and wifi, letting me talk
about writing with other writers … all for free. Why shouldn’t I give my new
novel to the library – for free – maybe even two copies (one for the shelf, one
for the gift basket to be raffled off in December). And I found that for every
copy I gave to the library I sold two more. I can’t explain it, but that’s how
it has worked for me.
I wrote Before Coffee, God for women who are going through
struggles in their lives and are finding it hard to talk to God. God wants to
hear all our heart aches and I wrote examples of crying out to God for women to
read and agree with or read and use or just read and ponder. I give a lot of
those books away too.
The Porch is not self-published so I must buy my copies from
the publisher. But I have still given copies away. I had five sweet people that
read my draft and gave me excellent comments and suggestions. They did not
charge me. They should get a free book signed by me with my gratitude. There
were others that inspired a piece of the book in the midst of creating it. They
should also get a free book, shouldn’t they? I sent a copy to the offices of
National Novel Writing Month because The Porch is the novel I wrote for
NaNoWriMo 2015. NaNoWriMo is full of inspiration all during the month of
November all for free. They should get a free copy too.
Give of yourself in your writing
I used to write stilted, stiff, plastic stories. I was
trying to mimic other people, searching for my own voice, not trusting my own
voice. Now I write as honestly as I can. It’s still difficult. Some writing
hurts deep deep down, but I push through and get it done. I’m giving myself.
Some people don’t like me – that makes me a human. So those
people might not like my writing. But I can’t please everyone. I tried! It’s
not possible! I try to please God in my writing and the only people I should
please are my editors, or the people I am working for. That’s a contract between
business persons. Other than that, I write to give myself, my ideas, my views,
my geeky weirdness, my fails, and a tiny bit of my success.
Give the readers what they want
I’m not sure I know how to give the readers what they want.
Even in the newspaper business you never know how a story will hit the public.
Some of the simplest, most innocent stories created an explosion. People are
funny. They like what they like.
But I will give people the truth (unless I’m writing
fiction). I will be open and not hide anything. I will be honest and tell
people that some of the things I know I cannot publish out of respect for
others. I will do my best and write the best piece I can.
Give the truth
I’ve always been a truth teller. But sometimes I cheaped out
on the truth to tell people something to make them feel better. It made me feel
sick. So now in my writing I tell the truth. One of the reasons I went
freelance was to tell the truth. I hate lies. I hate it when people tell lies.
I hate it when people tell me to tell lies. Lies are bad. Truth is good.
There’s a lot of gray out there, so I strive to find the black and white. When
the truth is hard, I write with grace. When the truth is ugly, I write with
mercy. When the truth is uncomfortable, I write with humor.
Give people a reason to come back
I’ve heard this a lot – “Give the people a reason to come
back.” I’m not sure I know how to do that.
Give back
I want to help other writers. I give back as much as I can.
I have been paid for workshops, but I don’t like getting paid for workshops
because so much of what I have learned I got for free. Even those first few
1982 Writer’s Digest Magazines were free from a friend.
Hopefully these blog posts about writing will give you
something you can use.
Richland Source online newspaper
Galion Inquirer online newspaper
The Morrow County Sentinel online newspaper
October 2 – GIVE – 31 Days of Writing about Writing
#31days2022
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