Open Culture - Latest Comments in How I Sold My Book by Giving It Away

Re: How I Sold My Book by Giving It Away

Rick — Thu, 01 Dec 2011 05:02:17 -0000

Thank you Seth Harwood,

I've been at this game a little while now and you are confirming what I've started to come to the conclusion of. Develop your own audience, go straight to the people, enjoy the fact that people are reading/listening to your book.

Very few people will spend money on an author they're not familiar with or isn't backed by a multi-million dollar marketing campaign, but you passed that hurdle by letting them download it for free and listen on the go.

Thank you for your inspiring story,
Rick

Re: How I Sold My Book by Giving It Away

V.V. Denman — Sat, 13 Nov 2010 20:11:04 -0000

So interesting and encouraging. I'm just beginning to learn about podcasting and so far I like what I see. This may be the medium I need to push my manuscript into life. Thanks!

Re: How I Sold My Book by Giving It Away

Bean — Tue, 21 Sep 2010 12:04:20 -0000

seeking assitance where and how to set up a web-site to sell my short stories by the chapter and audio books thanks bean

Re: How I Sold My Book by Giving It Away

G. Ward — Mon, 24 Aug 2009 19:35:20 -0000

I have written my memoir book. of life back in the 30's and 40's. I gave away about 50 books hoping to get feed back on my book. I asked people to rate it 1--10. I only received back six answers. I learned a lesson sell them if you get back the cost to print them then your head of the game.

Re: How I Sold My Book by Giving It Away

tanya — Thu, 09 Jul 2009 17:05:24 -0000

i am a new author attempting to self publish a childrens book. i have used printshopm 12 for some graphics. do i need special permission to do this since i will be selling the book. any help is appreciated.

Re: How I Sold My Book by Giving It Away

tristan — Fri, 26 Jun 2009 18:01:29 -0000

thanks seth i might start doing that now

Re: How I Sold My Book by Giving It Away

Seth Harwood — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 14:38:50 -0000

John,

No, no I guess I don't find it at all surprising that I'm my own best agent/best seller/best advertiser. My problem before I started using podcast though was that even with knowing this I didn't have any tools to use to advertise myself. I had a lot of energy to put into the process, but all I could do was send out agent queries, a process anyone can tell you is thankless and hardly gratifying.

So now I have something I can do that feels like it works. It IS gratifying and that keeps me working even harder.
I'm currently on my own version of a book tour--in Boston now for a few events after a great reading in NYC--and guess who set it up? Guess who's paying for it?

Yes, it's all self-run and self-funded and that's how things are in today's publishing world. I've gotten my dog in the fight now and I'm doing all I can to help it/me "win."

Glad you found my story encouraging!

Seth

Re: How I Sold My Book by Giving It Away

Seth Harwood — Mon, 08 Jun 2009 14:35:00 -0000

Tristan,
On a Mac, it's very easy to put podcasts on a website. I started using their iWeb software, the easiest website software I can imagine (imagine Print Shop for web sites if you're an old-timer like me and remember Print Shop) and there's a feature right in there to upload and use your podcasts. If you're on a PC, you'll want to check out the software at Libsyn.com and recording software called Audacity (freeware). From there, if you include a link in your blog posts to a podcast ep, iTunes can pick it out of the post and will recognize it. So will Feedburner.com.

These sites, and a few others, are the backbone of the tools we teach in the Author Boot Camp class. I'm happy to go over more detail at http://authorbootcamp.com and we'll be running an online version of this class in the winter. (with thanks to Dan)

That's a really short answer. I'm happy to give more detail as needed.

Seth

Re: How I Sold My Book by Giving It Away

John Wiswell — Thu, 04 Jun 2009 01:20:59 -0000

Mr. Harwood,

I truly appreciate you sharing your story - or the story of your story. It's fascinating to hear how new media can help authors sell their work.

Do you actually find it surprising that you're your own biggest advertiser? From all the writers I know, it seems even with publishing deals you're still expected to be the commercial tool. Is this not the case for the authors you know? Do you expect your situation to change in the near future?

Thank you again for the insightful column, and cheers on your smashing success.

Re: How I Sold My Book by Giving It Away

tristan — Wed, 03 Jun 2009 09:05:34 -0000

I have been writing books for about three years now and i have finished one book and im on my second im just wondering if u have a website how do you get podcasts on your website

Re: How I Sold My Book by Giving It Away

Seth — Fri, 29 May 2009 01:25:50 -0000

One last thing I might not've made clear (or I might have): I felt like it was to my advantage to get my work onto the web. The challenge was finding a way to do it so people could experience it. This is why I turned to audio.

I just didn't see as many people reading a full novel online as I saw people listening to it. A little more work for me to produce, but VERY worth it in the long run.

Re: How I Sold My Book by Giving It Away

Seth — Fri, 29 May 2009 01:23:55 -0000

Hey guys,
Thanks for all these wonderful comments and feedback! yes, I really do feel like I found a way to do this myself and market my own work without spending a lot of money or relying on the publishing industry. Turns out that even after I got involved with them, I'm still the best advertiser of my work (which may not surprise many of you).

To answer a common question: yes, I do use my own voice to narrate my own stories. I had my doubts about how I'd sound when I started, but based on some successes in small-setting readings, I wanted to try it out. I think whatever my own vocal limitations are/were, the enthusiasm of my listeners hearing the author reading his own work really shines through and more than compensates for any losses. I'd really encourage any of you thinking of doing this to definitely give it a try. If you've listened to audiobooks- pro and podcast, you know that there are a lot of bad readers out there. You'd be surprised what you can come up with when you know the work well. And you do!--it's yours!

I'll be posting more here on Open Culture and look forward to continuing this conversation with many of you about how to push your work out there to grab a piece of literary success.

Best,

Seth
(you can also contact me here: seth (at) sethharwood (dot) com)

Re: How I Sold My Book by Giving It Away

Amanda Seyderhelm — Thu, 28 May 2009 16:26:04 -0000

Inspiring story of going around the problem. I've been saying for a while now that 'self=publishing' is no longer vanity publishing - it's the smart way to start and build an audience like you did. Well done.

Re: How I Sold My Book by Giving It Away

J. M. Strother — Tue, 26 May 2009 22:13:28 -0000

Nor is mine, John. :(

This is quite an inspirational piece, Seth. You saw a great opportunity and seized it. I think the web is a truly enabling technology for those with the moxie and creative skill to harness it. Thanks for the ray of sunshine in what is often a very dark realm.
~jon

Re: How I Sold My Book by Giving It Away

Andy Shackcloth — Tue, 26 May 2009 18:28:28 -0000

Just wondering, did you narrate your podcasts yourself or hire a voice'

I have a heavy accent and so doubt if I would keep many listeners past the first page.

Re: How I Sold My Book by Giving It Away

JohnOBX — Tue, 26 May 2009 14:17:43 -0000

Thanks for sharing your experience and opening up another path to success. Followed a link from Editor Unleashed to find this, so the word is out there.

I'm curious; for your Podcast did you read the story yourself or hire somebody to do it? If I wanted to try that route, I'm not sure mine is a voice that would inspire people to listen.

Thanks,
--John

Re: How I Sold My Book by Giving It Away

Steve Weber — Tue, 26 May 2009 11:06:30 -0000

Thanks for posting this inspirational story! Just goes to show that nobody can market a book better than its author -- and thanks to the Net, there are so many ways to go directly to readers.

Re: How I Sold My Book by Giving It Away

Sherrie Petersen — Tue, 26 May 2009 00:21:30 -0000

What an inspiring story! Thanks for sharing.

Re: How I Sold My Book by Giving It Away

Open Culture — Mon, 25 May 2009 03:27:30 -0000

Feel free to reach me at mail@openculture.com

Re: How I Sold My Book by Giving It Away

Chris — Mon, 25 May 2009 02:11:10 -0000

Link to /contact is denied. Is there a contact page, or has it been removed?

Re: How I Sold My Book by Giving It Away

Stephen — Sun, 24 May 2009 22:51:24 -0000

The story of how The Shack went from zero to multi-million best seller is also very interesting in terms of the publishing industry totally missed it, and online plugs and word of mouth built its success.

Re: How I Sold My Book by Giving It Away

John Hilton III — Fri, 22 May 2009 17:27:17 -0000

Very cool. It's great to hear this story.

Re: How I Sold My Book by Giving It Away

Seth Harwood — Fri, 22 May 2009 13:16:33 -0000

Humpty Dumpty Was Pushed!!
http://marcblatte.com

Re: How I Sold My Book by Giving It Away

Benjamin — Fri, 22 May 2009 04:19:55 -0000

That sounds like you are smart. I bet you would love The Adventures of Kid Humpty Dumpty. If you ever want to know what happened to Humpty Dumpty before his fall or if you just love fun, colorful characters check it out at www.eloquentbooks.com/thead...