Fasten Your Seatbelt

   I swore I wasn't going to mention the Tigers in this post, but they completed their third consecutive sweep on Sunday and won again last night ... first ten game win streak since 1968 ... holy schnikies! Okay, enough of that ... what caught my attention outside of baseball this week was a post by Lucy Marsden, titled: “Going FREE” on Amazon: Insane, Inspired Marketing From The Frontier of Self-Publishing. Actually, the post was from last week ... but that's part of the point I'm trying to make ... it'll all make sense ... I hope.

   The concept of giving a book away for free is somewhat radical ... but not really if you stop and think about marketing concepts over the past century ... manufacturers have often given stuff away for free to draw attention to their products. Oh, and don't forget your friendly heroin dealer who is happy to give you your first jolt for free ... he knows you'll be back with dollars to get more. So, if you have a book series, why not give the reader a look-see for free ... get them hooked on a character and away you go. Makes sense right?

   I suppose, but what really made my knuckles go white on the steering wheel was this quote from Lucy: "The market is changing at a remarkable speed. Today’s best advice might not be relevant next month." Now, that is scary.

   I'm grateful to Lucy for the info in this post ... even if I did get it a week late ... but that's exactly what has me breathing hard ... I mean, you stop to tie your shoes today and you're behind the curve.  How's a guy suppose to keep up with this?