Tried Micropublishing? Here’s Why You Should
For most writers, the dream of success looks like published books. But there is, as the saying goes, more than one way to skin a cat. If you haven’t already considered micropublishing, it might be the alternative, less traditional path that allows you to achieve a viable income as a wordsmith.
What is micropublishing?
Micropublishing is simply small-scale publishing. Instead of working with a publisher, authors typically publish and market the writing on their own.
Two of most common forms of micropublishing are blogging and newsletters. These can be published on author-run websites, but plenty of people use third-party platforms like Substack and LinkedIn, as well. But even consistent posts on social media can be considered micropublishing. Authors might publish a short poem or a few paragraphs of a short story at a time, for instance.
Micropublishing also can include chapbooks and micro-books. Chapbooks are quite short — typically only 20 to 40 pages. Micro-books are slightly longer — typically 50 to 80 pages. If you work in fiction, short stories and novelettes are good respective category examples. But micropublishing is not limited to fiction. Many writers publish essays, devotionals, short memoirs, or other non-fiction content. Some authors use micropublishing to serialize larger works, as well. For example, they might post individual chapters of their books on their author sites or a third-party platform.
Writers who want to micropublish might need to pay attention to any existing rights on their content before releasing it in snippets. Traditional publishing typically transfers rights to the publisher, which limits what you can do with the content without the publisher’s permission. But if you self-published the work, you are free to republish however you want, as you still own the rights to your work. Many article publishers ask writers not to republish content for a specified period (e.g., two weeks), and they often want authors to link back to the original platform.
Benefits of going tiny
Micropublishing offers three huge benefits, the first being the ability to engage more frequently with their readers. It’s easy to generate content in a short period, stir up some short-term hype around it, and get a conversation going about it. When writers can interact with their audience consistently, it supports reader loyalty. Writers even can let their audience participate in the writing process (e.g., asking what should happen in the next scene or chapter), which some authors appreciate to stay motivated and inspired.
Secondly, micropublishing lets writers experiment. They can publish in a range of genres if desired without committing a massive amount of time and money, and it’s possible for them to respond quickly to trends, even on a daily basis. This can help writers discover what kind of writing they truly enjoy or are good at, or simply give them a break from their usual niche. Many authors find that micropublishing contributes to their ability to hone their authentic author voice, and writers can reach more highly niche audiences that are truly interested in the content, too.
Lastly, publishing on a small scale allows for more frequent reader feedback. That means that authors potentially can develop in their craft and develop polished full drafts more quickly. It’s a dramatic shift from being confined to getting feedback only after months or even years of work, as is the norm with books.
What are you seeing?
Right now, micropublishing is having a major moment, with more authors using it as free or low-cost publishing tools become accessible. Let me know what you’re seeing with this type of writing by leaving me a message on LinkedIn.
[Transcript summary]
Most writers, like yours truly, we really focus on publishing books, and there’s totally nothing wrong with that. That’s great. But have you considered micropublishing?
Now, micropublishing is basically just publishing on a small scale. And there are some really good examples that most of us probably already do, even though we don’t know it’s micropublishing. So, for example, publishing a newsletter, or if you do blogging, even social media posts can be a form of micro publishing. So, we also have chapbooks. We have microbooks. There are a lot of different ways that you can do this, and it’s relevant for both nonfiction and fiction.
So, it’s really beneficial for writers in a lot of different ways. The biggest thing is that it allows you to interact with your audience very, very quickly. You can potentially put pieces up every single day and have that connection with your audience, which is really great for keeping you motivated and establishing reader loyalty. You get feedback from people very quickly, so that can keep you motivated as well. You can even have them establish where your piece is going to go, and have them kind of direct that for you and be collaborative that way with you.
So, if you want to learn more about micro publishing, go ahead and use the link in the comments or the thread, and I’ll talk to you later. Bye.