There was a bit of a debate in my household about the subject of this week's blog post. Some of you might be like me and subscribe to a few (dozen) blogs. You gave them your email address in exchange for a free book or "10 Secrets to Starting Your Day Right" or some other enticing giveaway at the price of your email address. Or perhaps you just liked their writing and subscribed to their blog for updates. That's what happened for me and Sam Harris.
Sam Harris is a five-time NY Times bestseller/modern day philosopher/atheist /debater of Ben Affleck /writer of books on religion, politics, meditation, you name it. He speaks boldly and has strong opinions. He'll tell anyone, politely — if not-so-gently — they are wrong, and he'll back it up with deep knowledge of whatever he's talking about. He's no joke and I enjoy his writing, even if I don't always agree with him and sometimes find him arrogant. He's making a living being a good writer. Then he sent an email that sort of… um… at first… offended me.
What could he possibly have done? He asked for a donation. To keep his blog going… because it is "expensive and very time-consuming." Ugh.
Before you tell me to stop being so sensitive, let me explain. I spent 15 years as a professional fundraiser for numerous non-profits before I moved to a more "corporate" setting (i.e., one that would prevent the starvation of my family.) So I've asked people for money… a lot. To this day, I volunteer for non-profits, helping raise money. I believe in supporting good things that don't have traditional income streams.
But… come on. Now, I'm not mad at Sam Harris. I'm mad at a system that leaves a bestselling author asking his readers for donations to keep his blog going. Sure, he's got audio and video content and sells books. It's a robust site that generates a lot more traffic than I could ever dream of, so there are designers and bandwidth to consider. There's no free lunch and there's no free Internet. I once subscribed to a blog where the author got sick and sent multiple postings PER DAY asking for money to cover medical bills. I felt bad for him, but I didn't know him.
What does this have to do with self publishing? What is self publishing anymore if the traditional publishers haven't got the modern mindset to support their clients' brands? In what other profession do we ask for donations because the revenue just isn't cutting it? Should we have a tip jar at book signings? "I'm sorry, my job doesn't pay enough, make a donation to me." A successful writer, commentator, and speaker should not have to get all "Go Fund Me" for something as basic as a blog. I'm sure someone would argue that being a bestseller in a non-fiction/political/religious subject isn't exactly Stephen King territory. JK Rowling doesn't have to email her readers to ask for a contribution to support her author page.
An indie author must establish a brand to get noticed by a publisher. And once they have a book deal, they might still find themselves head of their own marketing campaign — or at least the chief fundraiser, like Sam Harris.
Don't misunderstand. I'm not trying to slam Sam Harris for doing what he needs to do. I just want things to be different. In my last post I talked about self publishing ourselves right into a book deal — one that doesn't involve mass-emailing my readers for donations so I can keep my author page live. For that reason, I'm sending him $25 for letting me abuse him a little in my blog today.
I'd love to hear what you think about this. As indie writers we all have to build identity, hound our social media contacts to check out blogs and shamelessly promote our books. If you aren't prepared to do that, you need to hire someone to do it for you or find a publisher who will. Books, even great books, don't sell themselves. But where do we draw the line?
By day Jonathan Kile is a peddler of petroleum products, navigating a Glengarry Glen Ross landscape of cutthroat sales. By night he assumes the identity of novelist and child-wrangler. Jonathan’s first published novel, The Grandfather Clock, is available on Amazon. He's writing his second and third novels, blogging at Well-Oiled Writer and cursing his editor. He loves to hear from readers, so email him if you wish!
This article appears in Mar 31 – Apr 6, 2016.