Do you feel compelled to sequester and safeguard your intellectual property?
Say you write a compelling short story or novel. Are you afraid for its safety as you release it into the world to be beta read, edited, teased? Do you imagine someone stealing it, making it their own, publishing it under their own name?
I used to think this; and frankly, I’m still not fully convinced that such a scenario is rare in the world. But, the more I read about the tsunami of published work that floods the market every month, every year, the less and less I believe my fears are warranted.
In fact, more and more I think my fears could be my downfall.
I recently read a fresh author’s novel that he gave away for free. “Come download my book for free!” (For a limited time, of course.) Why, I asked him, would he do this?
“I’ve discovered,” he said, “that my only (and if you’re an author, then, your only) task is to gather a readership — any way you can!”
Work is cheap. Quality written work is cheap too. Novels are free for the taking from the library, BookBub, author giveaways, Amazon deals. “No, nobody wants to steal your work. In fact, you can barely find people you can pay to read your work.”
So, in the spirit of this revelation, I’ll continue to offer continuous installments of my latest novel effort Shadow Shoals (1.2): https://goo.gl/tSbWXJ
Anonymole - apocryphal agitators 