Should you write for free to build your career?

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In “Giving It Away”, an article in Forbes, Cory Doctorow, writes:

When my first novel, Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, was published by Tor Books in January 2003, I also put the entire electronic text of the novel on the Internet under a Creative Commons License that encouraged my readers to copy it far and wide. Within a day, there were 30,000 downloads from my site (and those downloaders were in turn free to make more copies). Three years and six printings later, more than 700,000 copies of the book have been downloaded from my site. The book’s been translated into more languages than I can keep track of, key concepts from it have been adopted for software projects and there are two competing fan audio adaptations online.

Cory’s had brilliant results from giving away his writing.

I’m a great exponent of giving away your writing too. Since around 2001, I’ve been blogging, and developing Web sites and ezines for writers - in essence, writing for free, giving my work away.

Over the past five years, my own “give it away” policy has had an amazing impact. Not so much on my public writing career, because that’s established. I have copywriting clients, magazine clients, and if I wanted to write another book and go the traditional publishing route, I have publishing connections.

The biggest effect has been on my enthusiasm for my work, and my confidence.

Enthusiasm and confidence from giving it away

The confidence comes from the freedom of writing what I want, when I want, This freedom generates enthusiasm for all my writing, including my commissioned writing.

When I was younger, I often wished that my creativity lay with art, not with writing. I loved the idea of being an artist, in a studio, surrounded by tubes of paint, and brushes, and splashing color onto a canvas on an easel. An artist seemed the epitome of freedom - just painting, without concern over editors.

Writing for free - giving away my writing - gives me the same freedom I imagine an artist would have. I can write what I want, when I want. If I want to create a Web site for an area which intrigues me, I can.

Should YOU give your writing away?

That depends on you. The career-stage you’re at, whether you’re a new writer or established, and what you want from your writing. It also depends on your confidence.

Giving away your writing is not for every writer. If you’re unsure whether it will work for you, try it.

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