Discovering Web 2-Point-Oh 101: A Grey-beard’s Adventure in On-line Marketing

Share! Share! Share! Is That All You Guys Can Do?

I’m sick of publishers. I’ve written (I think) seven books and nobody wants them. Surely by the law of averages at least one of them should be good enough to hit the shelves?

And another thing: it’s boring – bo-o-o-o-ring – submitting your stuff to a new desk wallah every month in the vain hope that he/she will actually, like, bite (not to mention the fact that it’s expensive AND environmentally insensitive: most publishers won’t accept electronic copies of your manuscripts – you have to print them out and post them. And if you’ve been following the Amazon-won’t-deliver-to-South-Africa saga you’ll know what THAT means. And then again – even if they do receive them, I’ve only ever once – once! – received the courtesy of an acknowledgement of receipt. Kwela Books – thank you Nicola, even if you didn’t, like, bite).

And then there’s this, too: I hate being bored – I’d rather write. That’s where you get the real terror.

And finally: what’s the point of writing unless you find an audience? (now let’s not get all Buddhist here: I know that the point of the journey is always the journey and not the destination, but hey – I have an artist’s ego).

So what I’ve decided to do is, I’ve decided to publish at least one of my books (maybe eventually even all of my books) for free – and it won’t cost me a cent more than my monthly hosting costs.

That’s the beauty of the internet. And Web 2-point-Oh, as we all know, is all about sharing, sharing, sharing.

But, I hear you wail, what if someone steals your stuff?

Enter Creative Commons.

This is a site and a concept that’s intrigued me for some time, and I’ve only now started to explore it.

On it’s FAQ page, (and there seem to be a hell of a lot of Qs about Creative Commons), we’re told that “the idea underlying Creative Commons is that some people may not want to exercise all of the intellectual property rights the law affords them. We believe there is an unmet demand for an easy yet reliable way to tell the world ‘Some rights reserved’ or even ‘No rights reserved.’ Many people have long since concluded that all-out copyright doesn’t help them gain the exposure and widespread distribution they want. Many entrepreneurs and artists have come to prefer relying on innovative business models rather than full-fledged copyright to secure a return on their creative investment. Still others get fulfilment from contributing to and participating in an intellectual commons. For whatever reasons, it is clear that many citizens of the Internet want to share their work – and the power to reuse, modify, and distribute their work – with others on generous terms. Creative Commons intends to help people express this preference for sharing by offering the world a set of licenses on our Website, at no charge.”

Lovely – you can choose the level of license you want to apply to your work, register it with Creative Commons – and then let your baby go out into the world safe in the knowledge that it’ll be used in the way that you want it to be used (and Creative Commons licenses are recognised legal instruments in South Africa, too – their local site is  administered by Wits University’s Link Centre).

So you might register a Creative Commons license that allows anyone or everyone to use your work – and even change it if they want to, as long as they credit you as the original author. Or you may, as I think I’d like to do, register your work for anyone to distribute, share and even print – as long as they always credit you and never change your product in any way.

And just as I was thinking of going ahead with this, along comes an article from The Independent on the science fiction author Scott Sigler.

Man, this guy’s got it waxed. He’s read all his books aloud, recorded his readings and created podcasts out of each of them – and then put them onto his site for his fans (he calls them junkies) to download for free. And he’s got pdfs there, too – all for free.

And – get this – he’s had so many downloads that he’s now finally got a real life publishing deal. So now you can hear him on your iPOD or read him electronically – but if you want to give him to your girlfriend for her birthday (he’s quite a hottie) you can buy him in real, like, book form.

I LOVE it. And I’m sure there’s a lesson in experiential marketing there for the tourism industry, too.

So mother was right after all – share, share and share alike and it’ll come back to you every time…

Talk to me – and mail me martin@thistourismweek.co.za if you want to know when the book goes live (I think I’ll start with my short story travelogue ‘Travels In My Head.’ The first story – The Vampire of Steynsburg Pass – is already available here). Or leave your comments below for everyone to see.