Using Free Content to Promote Yourself Online

Hi Writers, Sorry for the lapse in posts. I’ve had a lot of catch up work to do at work after being out of the office for some travel, and…

Hi Writers,

Sorry for the lapse in posts. I've had a lot of catch up work to do at work after being out of the office for some travel, and for a few days of vacation. But, I'm getting back in the swing of things.

I just finished some work on a promotion for a line of humor books that I promote where we are offering free downloads of some of the older titles. (Check out the TOW Books promotion here).

I thought it might make a good post for the M-Word to talk about posting a free download of a chapter or section of your book on a website or blog that covers your subject area (whether it's your own blog, or if you approach another blogger about posting it). By offering some good free content, your audience will get a nice sample of your work and may interested in buying more (make sure you have an obvious link to where your book may be purchased).

There are lots of ways you can offer this "teaser" content that make sense, so come up with a strategy that works well for you. Maybe you post a chapter at a time for a limited time (like a serialized novel) or maybe you create podcasts of certain chapters.

Jane Friedman is a full-time entrepreneur (since 2014) and has 20 years of experience in the publishing industry. She is the co-founder of The Hot Sheet, the essential publishing industry newsletter for authors, and is the former publisher of Writer’s Digest. In addition to being a columnist with Publishers Weekly and a professor with The Great Courses, Jane maintains an award-winning blog for writers at JaneFriedman.com. Jane’s newest book is The Business of Being a Writer (University of Chicago Press, 2018).