Making Money Writing (But Perhaps Not In The Way You'd Think)

[anamardoll]

I was reading a self-publishing guide this week and couldn't help but be a little disconcerted by how much the (indie) author was still locked into "Traditional Publishing" mindset, by which I mean zie seemed to feel that the ONLY way to make money from a book was with the One Price Per Admission model, i.e., slap it onto Amazon for $2.99 or what-have-you.

Now, I'm not talking about piracy. (Seriously, if you make this another thread about Piracy I will glare at you and shake my finger sternly. Don't do it.) Specifically, this author seemed very dismissive of the idea of giving out book coupons or posting a book online for "free" or for distributing free podcasts/audiobooks of same on YouTube.

Now, I'm a blogger first and an author second if you go chronologically, so this surprised me. I'm coming off the high of finding out that I made about $100 in Amazon referral fees and another $100 in Google Adsense fees since I started my blog early this year. (MUCH OBLIGED, INTERNET.) So I'm in THAT mindset over here, reading THIS $2.99-is-the-only-way-to-make-money mindset over there. Kind of a trip.

Now, the author is entitled to zie's opinion that giving away books "devalues" art. But I think this advice greatly limits the earning potential of the indie author. Let me give a few examples, just off the top of my head as a blogger:

1. Author posts a blog post with a free coupon/deal for their book. The description of the book is "It's like [AMAZON AFFILIATE LINKED BOOK] mixed with [AMAZON AFFILIATE LINKED BOOK] with a sprinkle of [AMAZON AFFILIATE LINKED BOOK]." Every person who clicked over to Amazon to figure out what your book is like just enabled a cookie in their browser that gives YOU a percentage of everything they buy in the next 24 hours.

2. Author sets up a blog site with their entire book "free for online reading", carefully sprinkled with Google Adsense ads.

3. Author sets up audiobook recordings or podcasts of their book on YouTube with Google Ad Revenue Sharing enabled.

I would actually think you could make a lot MORE money that way, if only because while I as a buyer rarely buy from a complete unknown (I wait for a promotional copy and then buy the rest of their work if I liked it), I *do* read and listen to stuff "for free" online and at least some of those places are getting paid for my eyeballs.

I'm wondering if anyone else has tried anything like that, and what kind of results they've seen in terms of "free book, paid eyeballs"? OPEN THREAD. (Except for piracy conversations because I'm sick of them.)

[HarryT]

Interesting idea, but I'd personally consider it dishonest to have affiliate links without an accompanying clear declaration that clicking the link would result in financial gain to you for any book bought within the next 24h.

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Interesting idea, but I'd personally consider it dishonest to have affiliate links without an accompanying clear declaration that clicking the link would result in financial gain to you for any book bought within the next 24h.

All Amazon affiliate links work that way. That's how Arcadata -- bless zie's heart -- makes money from the Kindle daily deals, and how the ereaderIQ kindle watch site makes money.

You can easily tell by hovering over Arcadata's links in the kindle deals and seeing the "tag=arcadata-20" at the end. That ensures that Amazon knows who to credit for the referral.

SOMEONE is paid pretty much every time you go to Amazon; no reason it shouldn't be the nice author who gave you their book for free.

[HarryT]

Yes, I know how affiliate links work . I'd still personally (and it's purely a personal opinion) prefer an open declaration of the financial gain involved in such a link. It's simply a matter of being open about your commercial affiliation, and that's always a good idea, to my mind.

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Yes, I know how affiliate links work . I'd still personally (and it's purely a personal opinion) prefer an open declaration of the financial gain involved in such a link. It's simply a matter of being open about your commercial affiliation, and that's always a good idea, to my mind.

I guess I would say that I consider it to be common knowledge. I've never seen anyone on Mobile Read announce that their Amazon link is an AMAZON AFFILIATE link, and I don't think them any less moral for it.

I wouldn't point out that an Amazon Affiliate link makes me money any more than I would feel the need to point out that a Google Adsense ad makes me money. I mean, I'd be afraid that Captain Obvious would bean me on the head.

[JeremyR]

The thing is, in order to make a blog really pay, you need to spend a lot of time promoting it.

I had a blog for a few years where I wrote reviews of games. I never really made any money off of it, other than a few review copies of games.

But then a while ago, I gave it up and started writing for another blog for money. The owner of the site spends all his time promoting it (and sellings ads and such) and pays the people who actually write the content for it.

I'm not saying your idea wouldn't work, but the indie author is already hard pressed to find time to write just from having to edit and format their books, much less constantly promote it.

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by HarryT

Yes, I know how affiliate links work . I'd still personally (and it's purely a personal opinion) prefer an open declaration of the financial gain involved in such a link. It's simply a matter of being open about your commercial affiliation, and that's always a good idea, to my mind.

I'm sorry to see in the Deals forum that Arcadata can't post affiliate links anymore except in a special thread? That was not my goal for this discussion, and now I feel like a heel. I was hoping to talk to authors and indies about how to make *more* money without squeezing the reading public with higher prices.

[HarryT]

It had nothing to do with your post - it was purely a coincidence of timing. It's something that the moderating team has been discussing for a long time. We've had numerous complaints about people using MR for commercial purposes without being open about it. You had no part in our decision, I assure you.

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by HarryT

It had nothing to do with your post - it was purely a coincidence of timing. It's something that the moderating team has been discussing for a long time. We've had numerous complaints about people using MR for commercial purposes without being open about it. You had no part in our decision, I assure you.

Thank you, that *does* make me feel better. I was feeling seriously guilty.

Is the new rule going to apply to signatures with affiliate links and Dropbox referrals and such? Are no affiliate links allowed, or do they just have to be disclosed as such? Ya'll are probably working up a formal announcement, but just wondering to get it all straight in my head.

[HarryT]

No, affiliate links in sigs are fine; this only relates to forum posts.

[Pablo]

Originally Posted by anamardoll

1. Author posts a blog post with a free coupon/deal for their book. The description of the book is "It's like [AMAZON AFFILIATE LINKED BOOK] mixed with [AMAZON AFFILIATE LINKED BOOK] with a sprinkle of [AMAZON AFFILIATE LINKED BOOK]." Every person who clicked over to Amazon to figure out what your book is like just enabled a cookie in their browser that gives YOU a percentage of everything they buy in the next 24 hours.

This may be a good way to make some pocket money, but a very poor way to present a book. If I were a writer, I would like to think of my book as a fine piece of literature, not as a cheap rehash of other people's ideas.

As a reader, I don't feel inclined to have a look at a book thus described by the author.

[anamardoll]

Originally Posted by Pablo

This may be a good way to make some pocket money, but a very poor way to present a book. If I were a writer, I would like to think of my book as a fine piece of literature, not as a cheap rehash of other people's ideas.

As a reader, I don't feel inclined to have a look at a book thus described by the author.

Maybe it's just me, I consider ALL books to be "like" another book.

I also have no problem with people looking at multiple books in addition to my own. A lot of the readers I know are more likely to buy MULTIPLE books on a whim than a SINGLE book on a whim. I'm sure there's a psychological reason for why a "present" of several books "counts" less than a single purchase...

ALSO: As a reader, you'd be getting the book *for free* which is kind of the point. Some people will get the book without looking at the description. Some people will read the whole description and if there's a line like "It's like Twilight meets The Long Dark Tea-Time of the Soul", they might click the link... or they might not. It's not about catching every fish in the sea, in my head.

[MeiLin]

I've done very well with #2. I wrote the draft version of my series as a web serial and did quite well with donations and advertising. When it became painfully clear that I could not sustain it as a serial from a writing perspective, I sold pre-sale packages, used the money to hire an editor, cover artist and typographer, and put out the first of what will be a series of books. Part of my promotion strategy is to RE-serialize book one, two segments at week, each about a thousand words. I'm hoping when it's done I'll have book two ready to go. It'll be serialized just the same way.

[anamardoll]

MeiLin, totally off topic, but your avatar is the cutest thing ever!

[MeiLin]

Thanks! I bellydance. A friend drew that of me.