Today I received an email from an author who has invested “heart and soul” in publishing a free newsletter for 15,000 subscribers without deriving any income from it. She now has a book about to hit the shelves, which she will market to her subscribers. Her question of me was about requests she’s been receiving from other websites wanting to reprint her articles. Should she charge or offer them for free?
My advice is to offer them for free with a required byline that links directly to a page on her site that promotes the book AND links to an online retailer (such as Amazon.com or where ever she’s an affiliate.) If she had asked the SAME question before the book, I would have advocated charging for the articles.
What do you think?