free for how long?

[themaskmaker.livejournal.com]

Hey, those of you who have been doing this successfully (based on what you perceive as success, natch) for a while:

How long did you give away your stuff for free, and how many readers/viewers did you need to accumulate before the scale tipped toward funding?

I'm getting the feeling that, in this venue, "free and intriguing" is an important first step. Am I right?

Comments

[ladyqkat.livejournal.com]

I do want to thank you for asking this question, though, because it is something I am trying to work on as well.

Right now I* am posting a free story** to gage the audience for our stuff. Most of the story was posted in sordak's LJ, but what we are doing is making it more readable and consistent on the re-post.

I am also noodling on the main site*** about other stories that we are working on - giving hints and such - to, hopefully, intrigue people enough to want to read more of our stories. Plus I am checking out ideas for sponsoring or funding the additional stories.

People who do artistic things - drawing, jewelry, craft-type products, poetry - can put their works on items like t-shirts and coffee cups to supplement their works and, perhaps, catch the interest of people who otherwise might not see it.

Working only in prose limits what and how we can supplement out work. Poetry will work on a coffee cup - a paragraph from a story won't. So I am trying to think of ways to promote our words. "Free and intriguing" won't help us promote our stuff for too long.


*Actually we - my SO, sordak and myself

**Keyword "The Roman View" on the links list to the left here

***Make A Wish Upon Tomorrow

Try this...

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

Prose can be promoted via quotes, which fit on mugs, t-shirts, buttons, etc.

You can also put up a "fan art" page, and if you get a good rendering of your character, ask the artist for a mutual promotion arrangement.

My Answer...

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

>>How long did you give away your stuff for free<<

I had been blogging for five or six months when I launched the Poetry Fishbowls. The first two fishbowls (at the end of 2007) were free. I opened the Buy It Now option in January 2008.

>>and how many readers/viewers did you need to accumulate before the scale tipped toward funding?<<

Hmm ... I think I had maybe a couple hundred people on my Friends list when I opened the fishbowls for payment. However, my writing career has been going for years; some of the people on my Friends list have been fans of mine for 10 or 15 years. They helped get the ball rolling, not just by donating, but by promoting my new activities.

>>I'm getting the feeling that, in this venue, "free and intriguing" is an important first step. Am I right?<<

Based on my observations of the cyberfunded trend, yes, you're right.

[haikujaguar.livejournal.com]

You're right about the first step. My art archive has been my "free and intriguing" set-up for years and years... a lot of people became interested in my writing through my art. :)