Quote:
Originally Posted by CalmApparatus
The eBook community is the future of our species. It is based on a "gift economy" or in other words, "scratch my back and I will scratch yours."
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Hello, Damien!
I admire your generosity and definitely agree that assistance freely-given and with no strings attached is an excellent way to build connections and learn the ropes of the industry. Some of my most useful education came from unpaid slush-reading for an online magazine, so I definitely think you've chosen a good path.
I'm going to contest your statement that the ebook community is based on a "gift economy". Or, to be more specific, I'm going to contest the implication that it
should be so.
There's no question that a lot of authors on kindleboards and elsewhere consider it an imperative to review each other, retweet each other, and promote each others' work. And there's no denying that established pros do favors for each other, too -- by blurbing each others' books, and so forth. There's nothing wrong with doing something nice for someone you genuinely like.
But to presume that the ebook community is built on the foundation of mutual backscratching is, in my opinion, a grave error. The ebook community is built on the same foundation as traditional print publishing: on the power of a good story. It is the strength of your story, and not the strength of your industry connections, that will ultimately determine the success of your book.
Said another way: the ebook community is based in its readership, a readership willing and even eager to pay cold hard cash for its entertainment. My goal as an author is not to solicit publicity and sales from other authors, but to reach outward and find an audience that genuinely enjoys the stuff I write; so much so that they eagerly grab their friends by the collar, shove a book under their nose and say: "This. Read this. You don't want to miss it."
I find that industry connections are primarily useful as a source of information, not as a marketing avenue. The incredible advantages of belonging to an online writing community come from knowing which editor is looking for what, which marketing avenues are most successful and -- most importantly -- which writing techniques will help make my stories reach their full potential.