Everything is Free Now

Life - it's busier than ever. There's so much to do just to get through the day, and so much more we're told we should be doing to make it a day that's worth something. Almost every human second is a monetary event these days.

So you have to ask yourself: what's the best use of the precious few you have left?

If you're engaged in a creative pursuit, this question can become overwhelming, and this has certainly been true for me over the last few years. Right now I don't have an agent (or even an active publisher) so it's up to me to promote my work.

There are many things I should be doing in this regard.

I should be building my mailing list.

I should be honing my brand.

I should be blogging, networking, connecting with other writers. I should be working on my socials; posting photographs of me tip-tapping away in a coffee shop (#amwriting #blessed #caffeineaddict #nomnoms) and crafting flashy graphics for my followers to promote books they have already bought and read.

I should be running giveaways. Finding the right price point. Making a podcast.

What this world needs is another podcast.

But...

The thing is, I know many writers who manage to do all of these things and write amazing books, and I stand in awe of them. But the fact is I just don't enjoy self-promotion, which means I don't do it well.

I suppose what it comes down to is this: I've spent too much time worrying about how to make money from writing, about how to make it support itself, and whether I'm worth anything if I can't. But all that stops now. I have a mountain of books to write and I want to focus on writing them. So from now on you'll be able to download everything I publish independently from this website, and you can pay me as much or as little as you like, which includes nothing at all.

Do I hope you'll be generous? Do I secretly fantasise that I'll receive so many donations I'll no longer need to think about mailing lists, social media and podcasts? Of course I do, and obviously if that happens I can write my mountain of books faster. But I'm not counting on it.

This is my platform, and these are my books. You are welcome to them.

Sometimes the best use of your time is just to do the thing.