Jealous of Stephen King? Well, I’ve got a perfect solution for you. Here are NetWorker’s tongue-in-check tips for e-authors keen on fame and fortune:
1. Write five books, all available in open formats.
2. Offer all five books through Fictionwise.
3. Pick the best of the five and write an intriguing flyleaf-type blurb.
4. Using a pseudonym, post the book and the blurb to alt.binaries.ebook (it will get picked up and spread [to] the P2P servers fairly quickly).
5. Over the course of the next fortnight request a repost of the book 2-3 times, using different pseudonyms (be discrete).
6. Next, post a message to alt.binaries.ebook saying you’ve read the book and asking the original poster (abbr OP) if he or she has any more books by [your name].
7. If no one else responds, be prepared to post yet another anonymous message to the group pointing out that other books are available for sale at Fictionwise.
I would suspect that, over time, if your books are any good, that all five will eventually become available via P2P; but by that time your profile will have been raised, and you will be actually be selling more e-books than you otherwise would have.
(Via the eBook Community list.)
One of Cory Doctorow’s favorite points when discussing copyright is that obscurity is a far greater problem for the majority of authors than piracy is. Freely distributing your books is a great way to increase exposure – I’ve bought a ton of Baen books and Cory’s books just based on what I’ve read online.