Ep 80: Your Writing as a Gift
In this season of giving, it seems apt to talk about our writing as a gift.\n\n"Hold on, now," you say. "I was kinda hoping to make some money at this whole writing gig, so are you saying we have to give our words away?"\n\nWhether we're paid or not, isn\u2019t viewing our words as a gift\u2026isn\u2019t that how we begin the process of connecting with people? We toil over our message and send off something for a reader to consider.\n\n\u201cHere. I wrote this for you.\u201d\n\nI recently published a blog post about the longing we writers have for applause\u2014not for how amazing we write or how heroic we might be for sharing the depths of our heart or pain, but to hear the sound of someone responding to the words we've composed and offered. We long to build a bridge from writer to reader. To connect.\n\nAuthor, poet, and essayist Scott Russell Sanders explains his motivation. In an essay entitled \u201cThe Singular First Person," he says, \u201cI choose to write about my experience not because it is mine, but because it seems to me a door through which others might pass\u201d (p. 8, Earth Works).\n\n\n\nIf we share that mindset, we write to solve someone\u2019s problem or ease their pain or show them we know what it\u2019s like, how it feels. And in writing that down as best we can, we build a door \u201cthrough which others might pass\u201d or a bridge over which a reader might cross. We create a threshold. Or a safe passage.\n\nA gift.\n\nAll of our writing in that sense seems to be a gift, even if we receive payment for it.\n\nNow the funny thing is, literally giving away our work for free can have a literal payoff.\n\nScience fiction author Cory Doctorow partnered with Litographs in an article published on Medium, where Doctorow writes, "I\u2019ve been giving away my books ever since my first novel came out, and boy has it ever made me a bunch of money\u2026\u201d\n\nWhen the print version of his first novel was published, he made the electronic text available for free at this website as a digital download\u2014a gift\u2014and within a day he saw 30,000 downloads. People \u201cmet\u201d him through that free copy\u2014it introduced them to his work. He created an instant audience that suddenly knew him and wanted their friends to know him as well.\n\n\u201cMy problem isn\u2019t piracy," he explains, "it\u2019s obscurity, and free ebooks generate more sales than they displace.\u201d\n\nGetting known by readers is a challenge for all of us; obscurity is indeed a problem for those writers trying to build a platform. Giving away some of our work to introduce ourselves could pay off in the long run.\n\nSo if you\u2019re kinda hoping to make a little money at this whole writing gig, never fear. View your work as a gift to the world\u2014as a bridge built to create connection or a door opened wide through which others might pass. Pour your heart into it, knowing you might make a difference in someone\u2019s life.\n\nYou can sell it. Absolutely. Or you can give it away, expecting no particular gain. Either way, you're holding it out to the world, to a reader, as a gift, saying, "Here. I wrote this for you."\n\n\n\nClick on the podcast player above or use subscription options below to listen to the full episode.\nResources:\n\n \tWhat Do Writers Dream About?\n \tWhy Give Away Your Work for Free? (Medium article featuring Cory Doctorow)\n \tYour Writing Platform episode collection\n \tEarth Works: Selected Essays, by Scott Russell Sanders (includes "The Singular First Person") affiliate link\n\n* * *\nYou can subscribe with iTunes,\xa0where I'd love to have you subscribe, rate, and leave a review.\n\nThe podcast is also available\xa0Stitcher,\xa0and you should be able to search for and find "Ann Kroeker, Writing Coach" in any podcast player.\n\n____________________\nIs your writing life all it can be?\n\n\n\xa0\n\nLet this book act as your personal coach, to explore the writing life you already have and the writing life you wish for, and close the gap between the two.\n\n"A genial marriage of practice and theory. For writers new and seasoned. This book is a winner."