CALLING FOR NAMING CREATIVITY!

[purpledice]

As you may know, I already have three other blogs--one to track my writing, one for my poetry, and one for my non-poetry writing. They're pathetic really, with the latest update to any of them being in March

Comments

[purpledice]

First off, thank you for both your replies, both have advice I need!

It's interesting to read this after recently going through all my favorite online comics and making a list of those who sell books I want to buy. They all have the entire archive of the comic up for any and all to see, and they still sell books--quite a few of them. I guess that's been one issue with me--even with my slightly irrational fear of plagiarism, I'd been thinking in the online-comic-book model: if enough people like it online, they'll buy it in dead-tree format.

So, is it only a comic thing, or would it actually work for non-illustrated writing as well?

Which reminds me: I may have asked you this before, but have you ever heard of WEBook? (http://www.webook.com)? With them, you put up your writing, get feedback, and, with enough "votes", can get published. The writing you post is up for anyone to see, WEBook member or not. Does that count as self-published? I've also been wondering if they're completely trust-worthy. Maybe it's that irrational fear again, but I just don't completely trust it. I'd be interested to hear your take on the whole thing.

Thanks again for the advice, it's been very helpful :)

[dr_pretentious]

There are a few fiction writers who have made the give-it-away-for-free-and-people-will-buy-it model work. One of them, Cory Doctorow, argues that it's the Way of the Future. It works for Cory Doctorow because he already had one of the most famous, most followed blogs on earth before he started publishing fiction, so he started out with a massive platform for self-promotion. He also already had several personal friends among the editors of the publishing house that has published the paper editions of his books, which, along with his notoriety as a blogger, accounts for the publisher's willingness to use him as their guinea pig for new media, new models, and creative commons licensing. For those of us who are not Cory Doctorow, this model has an uneven record of success. I would not recommend it to a not-already-famous person.

The version of that model that has worked is the Baen Free Library, where Baen Books gives away electronic versions of the first volumes in several series. For the reader who has heard good things about, say, Lois MacMaster Bujold's books about her unlikely intergalactic hero, but who is daunted by how very many books are now in that series, the prospect of diving in late is mitigated by the chance to dive in for free. The Baen Free Library has boosted sales for the authors who have titles in that list so much, a lot of the publishing industry is trying to figure out whether and how they can adapt the idea to what they do.

I'm not familiar with WEBook, but from your description, I would say that an acquiring editor would count that as published for purposes of first publication rights. If the author is not selecting which individual people look at the work, then it counts as published.

One thing to sensitize your alarm bells to: is the company's advertising targeting readers, or writers? If it's targeting readers, then it's a publication enterprise that is about selling books (or, in the case of magazines, issues), which increases the likelihood that they're legit. If the advertising targets writers, then they do not expect their sales of books to readers to produce a significant revenue stream. Who, then, will they get their revenue from? From writers.

The rule to remember is: Money flows TOWARD the author. If money's flowing away from the author, assume a scam, and look elsewhere.

WEBook may not be asking for literal currency, but the currency of your attention (which could be used for writing time) has value. Would you read a bunch of slush by strangers for any reason other than to try to promote your own writing? Neither would the strangers, who are all there for the same reason you are. Networking is worthwhile, but look for networking opportunities where a critical mass of people know (at least a little) more about the craft and the business than you already do.

Check out the resources at Writer Beware. They, along with Jim MacDonald and Teresa Nielsen Hayden, dedicate a lot of time and energy to protecting writers from classic scams and repeat-offending scam artists. Read up on the Atlanta Nights caper, and get a good laugh as well as an education about vanity-publishing-in-disguise.