A new year, a new experiment.

So, it’s 2010 now, and Donna and I have been thinking about what we’re going to do with ourselves when it comes to free content.  Both of us love writing freebies.  Sometimes they’re supplemental to existing series and sometimes they’re original.  Some were stories we’d gotten the rights back to and didn’t want to resubmit elsewhere.  In 2009 we had almost 10,000 downloads on our free reads, so I’m assuming someone is enjoying them.  And that makes us both happy!

One thing Donna and I both find fascinating is the promise and the potential of the digital marketplace.  It has its bumps, to be sure.  Most people caught the big vanity vs self vs traditional publishing flap that followed in the wake of Harlequin’s move to open their own pay-to-publish venture.  Many of you probably caught the cliff notes, too, as it was hashed, rehashed, remixed and remastered all across the internet for the weeks to follow.

I mostly kept my mouth shut as much as possible.  Why?  I believe in the promise of traditional publishing.  I believe in the potential of epublishing.  I even believe in the magical possibility of self-publishing. I recognize the possible benefits and pitfalls of all three, and I think that which is the best path for any given person and any given project will depend on a thousand different things.

Thus far Donna and I have had no projects where self-publishing seemed like our best bet.  We enjoy the editorial oversight we get with our epublishers, and their distribution and visibility is far superior as well.  Since we’re lucky enough to publish with several epubs who can assure us a certain level of income, self-publishing has always been too much risk for not enough reward.

Not anymore!  In 2010 we have one project that we really wanted to work on.  We considered this series of shorts for a few of our publishers, but in the end one thing kept holding us back.  Though we know we would probably make more money if we have someone else publish it, in this case there was something we wanted to do that we absolutely couldn’t without retaining all of our rights: give it away for free.

During all of 2009 I talked a lot of smack, in private and public, about how I think there is something to be said for the argument that you can make money on something that is also available for free.  So this year, Donna and I are putting our money where my mouth is and testing the waters.  People have done it before, with varying degrees  of success, but hey.  We’ll never know until we try, huh?

Of course, that doesn’t mean we’re jumping ship.  I can find some of the experimental possibilities of self-publishing intriguing without forsaking all else.  We’ve got a full release schedule in 2010 and plenty more projects on the horizon.  But now we also have something else–an experiment.  We’re finalizing the details this month and will be posting about our experiences and expectations as we go.  Consider this an open experiment…and hey!  Maybe interactive too! If you see something you think we could do to make it better, tell us!

For now I can say this: we have three stories planned.  They’ll be published for a very affordable price in several places yet to be determined, then offered as a weekly serial on our blog.  If you enjoy the story and want to read it faster, or have it in a nice shiny convenient download (or even just support our wacky experiment), you’ll be able to buy it.  If you don’t, you can wait and see it all for free.  We plan to play it all by ear, learn and evolve as we grow, and hopefully end 2010 with a little more insight into how it all works.

Coming in 2010: Three Hot Futuristic Paranormal Stories