In every area of life, the Internet creates new opportunities for those brave (or stupid) enough to embrace them.
It's been obvious for some time now that the Internet is rendering traditional publishing obsolete, especially as a distribution venue. What's been less obvious is the Internet's potential to change every aspect of how we write, read, and share books we love.
1. Traditional publishing is dead. I know a bit about traditional publishing. I've worked with traditional publishers. Long story short: they offer an expensive, slow, antiquated means of delivering a writer's words to his or her readers. Why give a publisher the rights to my work and a huge chunk of the revenue it generates when the Internet makes it possible to put my words directly in the hands of eager readers ... immediately ... for free?
2. The Internet can make the act of writing into a performance art. Traditionally, the audience gets involved only after a book is published. But the Internet makes it possible for the audience to be involved long before that. Instead of retreating to some secret place to scribble down a manuscript,I can work on the 'net, allowing my readers to follow the book as I create it. Having a window on the process will bore some readers to death ... but some will be more engaged, more interested, and more passionate as a result. If nothing else, seeing my work in progress may inspire them to create a book of their own.
3. Writing a book can be interactive. By writing a book in a public space, I encourage my readers to do more than simply watch. Even as the book is being written, readers can offer comments, criticisms, encouragement, and feedback. I'm a sucker for great conversations ... so I'm betting that writing a book interactively will be a lot more fun than retreating to a secret place and scribbling down a manuscript all by myself.
4. The audience can be a motivator. When I was drafting my first novel online, posting scenes and chapters on a daily basis, I loved the emails and comments from readers ... in fact, once I got going, a lot of what kept me going was a sincere desire not to let that audience down. Since I've discovered that writing for real people motivates me in a way that writing for an imaginary audience doesn't, why not put that discovery to work to help me achieve my storytelling goals?
5. The Internet can let me focus on what I love: the writing. My job is to write the book -- to put the words down, every day, and fine-tune them until a book appears. Meanwhile, the 'net takes care of the rest, from marketing (people who will be interested in the book will be drawn to it) to distribution (folks can read it online, download a .PDF of the finished work, summon a copy on their Kindles, or order a copy printed on demand). At last, at last ... I can just write.
And, finally -- and this is the really hard part, especially for my partner, Clyde, who has far more business sense than I do:
6. ReallyNovel.com isn't about the money.
I want these books out of my head. They've been locked up there for years, and I'm sick of it. Life's short, and the time has come to write them (and feel good about it) or abandon them (and feel good about it), once and for all.
That said: I am writing these books strictly for me, in an attempt to create characters I love and stories I enjoy. I'm not concerned with what is most likely to sell, or what books would best fit into "my platform," or what the market is buying just now. My only concern is this: writing the book.
If other people get caught up in my books (and I hope they will), that's gravy. If other people love them enough to want to buy or share them (whoo hoo!), that's fine, too.
But I want to be clear: if ReallyNovel.com helps me transform books I've dreamed about into completed works ... if it helps me churn out some of the projects that have languished on my To Do list for years ... if it helps me pick a book, stick with it, finish it, and and start the whole process over again ... then this site has fulfilled its purpose -- even if I never sell a single copy of any book created here.
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