December 4, 2006
“indirectly”
Cory Doctorow in Forbes: “I’ve been giving away my books ever since my first novel came out, and boy has it ever made me a bunch of money.”
[NB. Besides being a very prolific and accomplished writer, Cory is also one of the four main contributors of BoingBoing, quite rightly one of the largest and most respected blogs on the planet.]
I cannot urge you enough to go read this article. “Blogs are a great way of making things happen indirectly” is something I’ve been saying for years. Cory is living proof of this, just about more than anyone I can think of.
“Indirectly”. Look at this brave new world of ours in terms of “indirectly”, and you’ll be fine.
[Thanks to Doc for the link.]
what an amazingly inspirational story! and it isn’t science fiction!
“Things they don’t teach you in business school.” Very inspirational, reminds me of the Threadless success story.
Give it way, indeed! Hugh, in the year or so that I’ve been reading your blog, and Thomas Hawk’s too, you’ve both really inspired me to give more freely of my time and expertise — even more than I used to (which was already a lot). In addition to community volunteer efforts, I’ve given away my photos (ok’d another small biz today to use ‘em under creative commons); I’ve given away writing/interviewing services; add in a bit of pro bono marketing and brand advice; been a regular guest speaker for other instructors; and throw in the usual “help” we often get asked for from friends and aquaintances (and online strangers, too!). It may sound like a lot, but each of these only takes a couple of hours in a week — and they don’t happen every week — so it really isn’t that much of an effort. You just have to have the “intention” and things start blossoming.
The result? More business, more friends, more happiness, more money, more satisfaction, cooler projects .. and more help than ever reciprocated back to me. I’m sure that many others have experienced this same thing — thanks.
btw, I never did get back to you on the “historical marketing of tartan” thing … ping me if needed.
Hugh, check out this article for another great take, John Kay’s 2004 piece, “Obliquity”: http://www.johnkay.com/strategy/317
Hugh, I’m catching up with your blog after a spell of losing track and all I can say is; hale to you and Hallelujah! What a fantastic article this was, you were right. What an exciting articulation of what’s really happening today in publishing. Amen and thank you.
River of Possibilities, my new paranormal novel:
I am also in the camp that believes giving the content away actually leads to more sales. I blogged the entire book, one page per post.
http://riverofpossibilities.blogspot.com/
Enjoy. Then worry if it’s true.