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Don’t Write for Free: Publish a Book Instead

Marcy Goldman
4 min readNov 12, 2021

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Stop Publishing Your Work for Free on Platforms — Publish a Book Instead

Without any ceremony or bit pronouncements I’m going to tell you the biggest secret in publishing that will change your life: you can’t make a living selling features, at least when you compare hours, writing and revenues earned. Self-publishing your work on freely-accessed platforms in hopes of going viral and something BIG happening to you that leads to revenue is a very far reach and one that can easily lead to burn-out or disillusionment.

All writing is speculative — that’s the first thing. But we do it because we need and want to. And then you hope someone notices, relates and someone (Patreon supporters? An editor?) also pays you. I get it. Or maybe you write something so landmark and consistently write that you are the one in a million that gets noticed and a publisher actually approaches you do something for them.

But stop watching clicks, and hits and all things viral. There is no algorithm that has proven that those markers equal a paycheck. While you’re creating, expressing and honing your craft — all good thing, you’re chasing air.

The truth?

Here’s the ways and means to the publishing truth that no one is sharing with you because they either don’t know…

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Marcy Goldman
Marcy Goldman

Written by Marcy Goldman

Cookbook Author, Master Baker, Writer, contributer to Costco Connection, Washington Post. Author Tango Confidential, a memoir and creator of betterbaking.com.

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