Future of publishing

**D* G* <d*@gmail.com>**

I want to offer a few thoughts on the topic of "free" information in our
future-publishing world - and I do apologize for not having the specific
quotes or person writing in front of me (and nothing personal intended in
any case).

Somebody said there would be problems moving to receiving income for
producing content because of the history of free information on the Net.

Let me disagree (as if you couldn't see that coming).   Yes, there's a
tradition of "free" on the Net and yes some folks still resent (and won't
pay) for content.  I get one or two readers every month who flame me for
trying to sell ebooks via my newsletter.  I simply ask them where they work
because I'm sure they'd be willing to provide me with equally free services
(and that pretty much takes care of that).  You want everything for free -
you aren't my customer.  Get it from my website but don't expect premium
service for free.

I'm not telling you anything you don't know when I tell you I sell enough
e-books to make it worth my while to expand that side of my business.
Planning another 6-8 this year.  And those are "paid content" - not free.

It's also not going to be telling you anything you don't know that there are
a great many paid content membership-sites on the Net (and increasing) and
that I'm about to launch one myself.  I will tell you that I know of one
gardening-topic site - a single author site - that has made a significant
amount of money (6-figures) selling premium content (and sorry, I'm not at
liberty to tell you who/what/where or how much).

Bottom line:  If you think it can't be done or that you can't do it - then
you're right.  But if you want to make it happen, there is a way to do this
online and make money.  Now, I'm not saying I'm going to make 100K from my
next adventure (that would be nice though) :-)  What I am saying is that
there are other folks selling premium content across the Net in a wide
variety of topics and subject areas.  The model exists.

This is all part of the paradigm shift writers are going to have to make in
order to figure out an individual income model.  This thought of "free is
the only Internet model"  along with the old "I don't write for free"  model
are getting in your way of figuring out a pathway to the future.  Sometimes
I do give it away for free - sometimes I don't.  Some things I never do -
some things I always do.  Some people I share with - some I never share
with.  You get to create your own working model, and you get to change it as
the Net changes (mine is changing again btw - sigh).  So if you close off
one pathway and model, you limit your own income.

The  problem of course is that there isn't "just one" way to be a writer
anymore.  And even the best writers can't guarantee themselves an income in
our brave new world.  Quality writing has never been the only criteria for
success as a writer - and that remains the case now.  The good news is there
are now a great many options to make money.  The bad news is there's no
guaranteed road map to getting there.

This is starting to sound like a rant, so I'm going to grab another coffee
and figure out how to explain  a way to design your own roadmap.

Doug

-- 
Doug Green @douggreen
Editor-in-Chief
SGF Publishing  www.simplegiftsfarm.com
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