Need Input

[kriadydragon]

So the other night my brother and I were talking about publishing and ways to get published. Because, let's face it, I suck at writing short stories. It's not that I can't write short stories, because I can, and have, I just... really don't like it. I have very few short story ideas that have managed not to turn into novels but very little motivation to write them. And the one short story I do have I can't quite bring myself to publish as I'm feeling rather protective of it and don't want to send it in just anywhere.

And I know what you're going to say - if you want to get published, then you need to whip out those short stories and send them in where ever you can. Sometimes accomplishing goals means doing what you don't want to do.

But my very stubborn nature rebels at this. Most especially since forcing yourself to do anything where anything of an artistic nature is concerned is always a bad idea. It's not that I refuse to write short stories and send them in, but at the rate I'm going I might as well find another alternative.

So my brother - who apparently knows people who have gotten published (writing technical books and other such as) - came up with the idea of giving a story away for free. Either write it as a PDF file that people could download or post it to a blog or both. Then, once people start reading, offer it up for sale. I believe his exact plan was that I post the first part of a series or trilogy and if people like it, they can buy hard copies or downloads or podfic or what have you of the rest of the series/trilogy. The point being not so much to make a sale but to get my name out there so that when I am published I become a name people look for.

And... I kind of like this idea. At least some of it. I'm a little iffy about publishing part of a story then getting people to buy the rest, as that feels a bit skeevy to me, especially if they're only reading to find out what happens but overall end up not liking the story. I'm uncomfortable with the idea of getting people to spend money on something they may end up disliking (I'm paranoid like that). But I do like the idea of offering a free story, especially since I have a trilogy I could use (and, in fact, seem to feel more comfortable giving it away than trying to get it published. Don't ask me why).

However, on the other hand, thanks to my self-publishing experience I'm feeling rather hesitant about this. There's only so much you can do advertisement-wise and I would hate for this to end up another publishing attempt that peters out and leaves me back at square one. Mostly because I would hate to waste a story that I could have attempted to publish professionally.

So... opinions on the matter? Other than "I would totally read an original fic you post" as that's not really what I'm looking for. I know there are some who would read it, but does posting a story for free sound like a risk worth taking? Have you heard of others doing the same or similar with good outcomes to show for it or nothing but failure? Is this something you would try, or are already doing, yourself? Or should I stick to the usual method of getting short stories published (which I still plan on doing, but remember that I don't have that many short story ideas). Input would be so very much greatly appreciated on the matter.

Comments

[aim2misbhave.livejournal.com]

As far as giving out the first chapter or so of a story and asking people to pay to read more, commercial publishers do that all the time. They just label it as a "free preview", so as long as you specify that it's a free preview or something to that effect, I don't think there's anything wrong with doing that.

I do know someone who's gotten original fiction he wrote for NaNoWriMo published, although I'm not sure of the details - I think he started with ebooks, and then was able to sell his ebook on Amazon.com, and then later got published? (Or maybe he's still just selling ebooks)

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

They just label it as a "free preview", so as long as you specify that it's a free preview or something to that effect, I don't think there's anything wrong with doing that.

Okay, that makes me feel better :D I tend to be one of those "aims to please" types so hesitate a lot over things I probably shouldn't even worry about.

[sholio]

First of all, according to the writing articles and stuff that I've been reading over the last few years, the "short stories as a route to novel publishing" conventional wisdom is outdated and basically wrong. :D I wish I had something on hand to link you to, but I've run across several writers' blogs talking about how writing short stories is a whole different skill set from writing novels. One doesn't prepare you for the other, and people can't necessarily move from one to the other easily. Lots of writers do both, it's true, and publishing short stories CAN be a good way to get your foot in the door, but if your natural talents incline towards novels, there is a growing school of thought that there is no benefit to forcing yourself.

... which is good news for me too, since I also have trouble writing short. :D

And it seems like offering free samples and then having the rest for sale is a pretty standard way of doing business in the ebook era. I don't see anything wrong with it -- actually, when I am looking to buy books online, I will rarely pay for something if I can't read a chapter or two first. Like aim2misbhave said, it's just important to make it clear that the whole thing won't be free (unless you want the whole thing to be free, of course).

At the same time, I TOTALLY relate to the nervous feeling of squandering something that you've spent a lot of effort on. I have a lot of completed original stories that I'm kind of sitting on right now, because you only get one "first" shot at putting them anywhere, and I'm not sure what I want to do with them.

However, as an author starting out (and a prolific one, which you seem to be!), I think there is a huge amount of benefit in making some of your original writing available for free. Especially if that's what "feels" right. You could perhaps start a new author blog and serialize it there? Then have the second and third books in the trilogy available for sale? Or something like that ...

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

Heh, that's good to know since short stories are really not my forte except when it comes to fanfic :D

I think that if I did go this route then my current trilogy would be the way to go. Though I do like it and am happy with it I feel like it wouldn't be the type of story to catch a publisher's eye, so if I did go the ebook route and the plan flopped, I don't think it would be quite as big a loss as something that I feel would have a better chance of standing out.

Plus, it's a trilogy. My brother's idea is along the lines you mentioned, to post the first book of a trilogy for free then put the other books up for sell. Of course first I have to finish the other books, but I plan on writing book two sometime after the summer, anyway.

[black-raven135.livejournal.com]

How about posting one for free, as a carrot, and if they like your writing, then offer more but this time it would involve a price?? e.g. once
I read your Castles in the Sky I needed 'MORE...please'
>;-)
I think you could swing it that way.
JMHO

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

That's pretty much the plan my brother has in mind - I post the first part to a series or trilogy for free then go from there. And the more I think about it the more I warm up to the idea. I have a trilogy I'm already writing, plus The Toymaker to go the professional publisher route.

[black-raven135.livejournal.com]

I honestly think if you did it that way, as I would, it would pique their interest and you would be on your way
:-)
Give it a try!!!!!!!!!
You have nothing to lose and perhaps much to gain.

[imbecamiel.livejournal.com]

I do know that it's getting much more common to make the first chapter of a novel available for free, so people can get a feel for it. As long as they know that it's just a part of the book, I don't think you need worry too much. (And really, isn't buying something that starts out looking awesome and then turns out to be something we just don't like a risk we all take, every time we get a book we haven't read before? ;) )

As for how it works out... Well, I can tell you that a while back my mother (who, as a rule, does not read fiction on her own - she doesn't dislike it, will listen when dad reads aloud to us, but not particularly into reading it herself) happened across a book where the author was offering the first chapter as a free download. So she got curious and tried it out... and then promptly bought the whole book... and then got so into it she kindasorta forgot about making dinner. So yeah, it can definitely be an effective way to convince people to give you a try. XD

More of a personal experience than general publishing rule, but... :3

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

Yeah. I've definitely been giving a lot more books a try than I used to because there's so much more information available. I adore the book reviews at amazon.com - oddly enough, more the negative reviews than the positive. I find negative reviews give me the details I'm really looking for, whether the book has a lot of heavy sex or swearing.

I'm definitely giving this a lot of consideration, mostly as a way to get my foot in the door if nothing else.

[karri-kln1671.livejournal.com]

Well, first I'd say that ways of promoting a self-published novel have increased in the past few years (namely Facebook), so if your previous effort didn't have it's own Facebook page you might want to retroactively make one. As for publishing part or all of it on a website and hoping to get any sort of money out of it, well, I can only say it didn't work out well for Stephen King when he tried it. Beyond self-publishing or giving it away for free (either via your own website or fictionpress), there's no other real alternative other than sending manuscripts to publishers until you find one that fits or give up.

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

When did Stephen King try it? And what about it didn't work? I'm thinking it's one of those things where it either works or doesn't depending, maybe, on what actions are taken - as you mentioned, doing the advertising or free-publishing at the right sites.

Personally, for me, doing this wouldn't be about going professional without the aid of a publisher. I want to be professionally published. I want an agent. But from all that I've researched, most companies and agents won't give you another look if you don't already have some kind of experience with being published. So the more I can do to look professional (that is, say to them "hey, look, I have sold some books), the better the chance that they might give my stories a look.

[karri-kln1671.livejournal.com]

He tried it a couple times back in 2000. One he tried releasing by chapter for something like $1 a chapter, but found that too many people just passed the chapter around instead of paying for it. I think he had better luck with his second try, which was a book in it's entirety. He firmly believed at the time (correctly, as it turns out) that ebooks were the direction the industry was headed. I wonder if you publish for Kindle via Amazon?

[swanpride.livejournal.com]

I don't think that the short-story route is actually cutting it. And while I know that self-publishing or "on demand" is something, which becomes more and more popular, I also know that the "real" publisher and critics tend to ignore a book like this and ignore it. At least they do in my country, perhaps it's different in the english speaking countries.
Normally the route to go is 1. Writing a book. 2. Writing a short synopsis/pitch, adding a chapter which shows your writing abilities and send the whole thing to a publisher. 3. But since you have to be very, very lucky for a publisher to bother to read your stuff, the better solution is finding an agent. 4. The most important part is: Never ever pay anything for getting a book published, or to an agent. If the agend and/or the publisher do their job, they will make money from the readers of your book. If they ask you for money, than they make money from the hopeful writers.
But really, connections are everything in this business. That's the sad truth. As an outsider, it's nearly impossible the get a foot in the door.

[kriadydragon.livejournal.com]

4. The most important part is: Never ever pay anything for getting a book published, or to an agent. If the agend and/or the publisher do their job, they will make money from the readers of your book. If they ask you for money, than they make money from the hopeful writers.

See, I'm always telling people this and they still treat it with skepticism. It drives me crazy.

But really, connections are everything in this business. That's the sad truth. As an outsider, it's nearly impossible the get a foot in the door.

I believe that was one of the... I can't remember how many but part of the list of top-whatever publishing myths. Having connections no doubt helps quite a bit but it's not the be-all, end-all way of getting published as people once thought it was. Just like having an agent helps but it's not always necessary depending on the company. I think these days it's a matter of playing your cards right and being persistent.

[swanpride.livejournal.com]

Yeah, that's true...I know someone who managed to get published a children's book, just by sending it in again and again. And yes, connections alone are not enough, but you have always a better chance to get what you want if you speak with someone personally - every single job I ever got I got because I knew someone who knew someone, which caused this someone to fish my applications from a big pile. With publishing it's not different. You might get lucky and get fished from this big pile (and if you are persistent, it most likely will happen one day if your work is any good), but connections bring your work on the top of said pile.