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Once you have completed your project, you have a number of choices of how to proceed. You could simply leave your content as a permanent website as a public resource - you might generate some income from Google or MSN Ads and Amazon links, but essentially you are allowing readers to enjoy your work free-of-charge. Even if you allow readers to browse your website you might charge them to download the work in e-book form, on the assumption that an e-book is more useful than a website. But you may decide not to charge for the e-book either.
What are the advantages and disadvantages of publishing your work free-of-charge, and why might you want to do it? It really depends on your main objective in writing - do you want to earn money, or do you want to be read?
One advantage of free publication is that your work is much more likely to be read. If your main motivation is to get something "out there" then this is probably the best approach. The awful truth is that most writers who use the self-publishing route sell their books in tens rather than tens of thousands. If you want your voice to be heard then selling printed copies is not a very exciting way of doing this unless you have a rare runaway success or you are extraordinarily good at marketing and publicity. E-books have zero production costs, so giving them away becomes an option. Of course just because you allow your readers to have a copy for nothing does not affect your copyright - you still control who may make copies and you should make this clear in the materials you make available.
Another advantage of making your work available in this way is that you may make contact with other writers and build up a network of contacts which may be helpful later. The more people you can get to read your work on Blooki and, better still, comment on it, the more interesting and exciting your writing projects will be.
The main disadvantage of the free publishing approach is of course that you sacrifice any income that might have come from selling e-books or hardcopy books. If this is likely to be a significant amount then perhaps this is not the right model (it didnņt work for Stephen King). On the other hand, if you are a new or unpublished writer then the loss of income is much less likely to be significant. At this stage of your writing career you may feel that the visibility is more important than the income.
Another drawback is that there is a small risk that you will be seen in the traditional publishing world as an amateur. The solution here is to take the website down if you think you are about to hit the big time, although be aware that websites are cached by Google. If you want to publish a piece of work while completely fireproofing yourself you could consider publishing under a pseudonym. |