There’s quite a bit of free stuff for authors online—free webinars, teleseminars and podcasts. There are free reports, free introductory classes, free ebooks, free consultations and free editorial estimates. We offer a free book of your choice (among 10 books and ebooks) when you join or renew your membership with SPAWN (Small Publishers, Artists and Writers Network). http://www.spawn.org
Are you taking advantage of those freebies that could benefit your writing career or project? Or do you reject free offers because you don’t think anything that’s free has value? Some people get their entire publishing education free or at a discount through newsletters, library books, free presentations at writers group meetings, free ebooks and reports, discounted courses and so forth.
It’s sort of like using coupons at the grocery store. But it can take some time and research to locate those opportunities that could benefit you and your project most.
Let me offer some suggestions:
• Sign up for the FREE SPAWN enewsletter AND get a FREE ebooklet—“Promote Yourself: 25 Ways to Support Your Work Whether You’re an Artist, Author or Small Publishers” at http://www.spawn.org
• Ask for my FREE ebook, The Successful Author’s Handbook. This is available only to my blog followers who contact me here: PLFry620@yahoo.com and who will provide feedback for the book once they read it. Many of you have my print or ebook, The Successful Writer’s Handbook. The Successful Author’s Handbook is brand new and specific to authors. Read the book description here: http://www.matilijapress.com/successful_author_handbook.html
• Join SPAWN and get a free book or ebook of your choice (among 10 books). Included are Mark Levine’s The Fine Print of Self-Publishing, Susan Daffron’s Publishize, How to Quickly and Affordably Self-Publish a Book That Promotes Your Expertise and several of Patricia Fry’s books, including How to Write a Successful Book Proposal. http://www.spawn.org Membership in SPAWN is $65/year.
• Most professionals offer free reports and ebooks. Some offer free manuscript evaluations. Many provide free enewsletters. Visit the websites of your favorite publishing/editorial professional and see what they’re giving away.
• I’m offering a 20% discount on all 6 of my online courses. Learn more about this in my May 24, 2010 blog post.
• I give free manuscript evaluations. PLFry620@yahoo.com.
• Both SPAWN and Matilija Press ( http://www.matilijapress.com) have large selections of resources and informative articles free to site visitors.
Do you want to promote your freebies in my next post? If you’re offering something to authors or freelance writers for free, send a description of the item and the link to me at PLFry620@yahoo.com or leave a comment here.