Crowdfunding vs. Free Samples

[ysabetwordsmith]

sylvaine asked me about crowdfunding vs. free samples, and I thought other folks might be interested in my answers.

I'm curious; how do you decide which poems to put up for free and which ones to crowdsponsor like these?

* I always post at least one free item per event. For some things like bingo cards, I may do a batch (for instance, to complete my first line bingo). For the Asexy Valentines Fest, I wrote something for each person who mentioned a favorite fandom or something else I could use as a prompt.

* Also my audience activity and donations have gone up since I started doing the bingo fests. This makes me suspect that regular posting of free content is contributing to that, which makes me inclined to do more of it. I've had some folks just dump a chunk of money into "Feed the Bard" because they liked what-all I was writing. Happy circle makes everyone happy.

* I'm learning that it's a good idea to post the first poem in a series for free, so if I think a poem has potential to continue, I'm more likely to do that.  This is why "Starfather" and "The Janardanakavita" went up that way.

* Sequels to other things I've written are less likely to get posted free. So are things based specifically on audience requests. People are more likely to buy those. However, I do send backchannel copies to prompters, even if it's outside an event and I just used their comment as a prompt.

* Free verse is more likely to be given away than form poems, because I write more free verse and it's easier.

* If I'm more busy, I'm less likely to post things for free. If I'm less busy and writing a bunch of stuff, I may give out more free samples.

* If we're even more broke than usual, I'm more likely to announce new poems for sale. Sometimes I just stick them into the Serial Poetry listing.  That's for serial poetry; one-shots written outside of events typically go into my magazine submission archive.

* If I've got lots of unsold backlog, I'm more likely to post freebies. If I'm low on backlog -- which I use for several things including linkback perks and half-price sales -- then I'll usually focus on refilling that.

* Poems based partly on other people's work, I usually don't charge for unless we've made arrangements to do that. So fanworks (see "Squaring Off"), sequels to folk songs (see "Come Midwinter at Carterhall"), etc. typically get posted free. My poem "When of Rome" was bartered for "Lost Jews" by thesilentpoet.  I don't mind doing things like these occasionally, but I try to keep it low so as to leave room for things I could put up for sale.

Is it a matter of how much time you put into it? 

That's part of it, yes. I'm less likely to post free epics (except as perks) than shorter poems.

Comments

[zeeth_kyrah]

This is interesting data. Perhaps you could link to this post from crowdfunding?

Done!

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

Thanks for reminding me.

[ellenmillion.livejournal.com]

Heh! Most of the work I'm doing these days is Torn World, so most of it ends up being free - I'd like to keep more of it reserved for sponsorship, but I want the big north/south storyline to be all public, and I like seeing a good mix of free and supporters-only work on the main page. If there are a lot of supporters-only pieces up, and also in the queue ready to post, I often go ahead and make mine public just so it doesn't look too unbalanced.

Yes...

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

Sometimes I post Torn World things for free if they are especially vital to the storyline or fill some other gap.

[ariestess]

Thank you for this. It's something that I've been debating with trying to redesign my free fic/poem days.

You're welcome!

[ysabetwordsmith.livejournal.com]

Crowdfunding takes practice. My parameters have been evolving for several years and I'm still learning new things.

Re: You're welcome!

[ariestess]

*nods* That makes sense. I'm just feeling impatient. Haha!