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Thoughts on Web Serializations
I'm going to preface this by stating the obvious: Web serialization is not easy; it's not only not for every author, it's not for every story. I believe that web serialization is best done (as in "most profitably," for a number of values of profit) by established writers working in a universe that already has a reader following. It can work for established writers working in a new universe, though it may be more difficult, initially, to drum up reader interest. Web serialization is not, in my not-so-humble-opinion, a good way for a brand-new author to find their audience, nor is it necessarily a replacement for so-called traditional publishing.
Steve and I got into the web serialization gig through necessity. We had created a universe that had a following, the existing novels of which were entangled in a messy publisher meltdown. That same publisher meltdown had entangled many dollar$ owed us in royalty payments. It was December, in Maine, and we were, in a word, broke, with a habit of living indoors and cats to feed. Clearly, something had to be done, and quickly.
We were aware that other authors were experimenting with web serialization -- Lawrence Watt-Evans was serializing an Ethshar novel to meet fan demand; Diane Duane was doing something sort of like it with The Big Meow, Don Sakers was trying yet another variation on the theme. And then of course, there were the web comics.
We decided, Steve and I, that doing something was infinitely better than doing nothing, and that writing for money is honorable work. What we needed to do was come up with a story.
The mainstream Liaden novels were, as above, entangled, so writing the sequel to I Dare was ...iffy. However, there was a character, whom the authors had known about for, well, years. A side character, really, who appears in the very last pages of I Dare and whose story was completely unencumbered.
Now, we're messy writers. When we start writing a book, we have a vague, general idea of where the story may go and where we would like it to end up. We may have a few scenes in mind. Definitely, we have characters in mind. But, for us, the writing is the thing; the joy is in the discovery of the story as it unfolds. (Proof of our messiness -- in case it's needed -- is the fact that the one book-of-Theo we had intended to write spontaneously became two.) Generally, I would think, web serialization should be undertaken by neat writers, who produce and follow an outline. However, as I said, necessity existed.
Steve and I put our heads together, came up with a rough idea, wrote five chapters, agreed that we could do this thing, and announced our intention to the world.
As all of you who have been playing along at home know, the serialization was profitable, for values of profit ranging from feeding the authors' cats; to building a community of interested readers; to producing not one, but two credible drafts; to finding a publisher to willing to adopt the finished novels and distribute them widely.
Win-win-win.
Having now completed two years of web serialization, we did learn some things about the process.
The first thing we learned is: Given the right story, it's fun to do a web serialization.
The second thing we learned is: It's stressful to do a web serialization. Especially during the first year, when there was a lot going on in our professional and personal lives -- not all of it happy; not all of it horrible, but all of it having to be dealt with right now.
Even lacking the outside stresses, it does take a great deal of commitment to write and post that weekly chapter. (Web comics folks who post three times a week, or -- my ghod! -- every single day, my hat's off to you guys. You are made of awesome.) We had started with good intentions, and chapters written ahead, but quickly fell into the pattern of needing to write Monday's chapter on the weekend immediately prior, which meant late nights and, sometimes, opportunity for much-needed relaxation turned aside.
One huge thing that we didn't realize going in was how much ancillary record-keeping, correspondence, and database work would be involved. Because we're writers first and geeks a very distant second, we've fallen behind all the latest and greatest, and had no time to learn. That meant all the html-ing of the chapters, all the data entry, all the tallying of contributions, and posting of how many chapters were funded now -- was done by hand, by us, adding hours to the weekly commitment of writing the chapter.
Frankly, if there is one single thing that would hold me back from ever again doing a web serialization, it's the "side work." It just about killed me, and contributed to the difficulty of meeting the deadlines for the other contracted-for novels that we were writing concurrently with the web drafts.
Though it's wonderful that Baen agreed to publish both books, we learned that there is much more reader excitement generated by having a graph showing how many chapters are funded, versus how many books have found homes.
Also, we learned that having a graph showing how many chapters were funded works against us, in that there are some folks who become...annoyed... that the authors have received "extra money" for their work, and felt that readers were being ripped off. Answering cranky emails accusing me of dishonorable behavior really isn't one of my favorite things to do.
I don't really know how to resolve those things. Perhaps that tidy, outline-oriented author mentioned above wouldn't have this problem.
Earlier, I mentioned that it's important to have the "right story" in order to do a successful web serialization. Theo's stories were, in my opinion, dern near perfect for serialization: They mostly stuck with one viewpoint character to whom interesting things happened. The single-POV storyline is more forgiving of a slightly episodic narrative. Other stories, such as the upcoming Mouse and Dragon, which will almost certainly involve tricky timing and multiple POV switches, are not the sort of story you want to first-draft under the eyes of hundreds.
This has gotten 'way long, and I'm out of insights.
Questions/comments, anyone?
Steve and I got into the web serialization gig through necessity. We had created a universe that had a following, the existing novels of which were entangled in a messy publisher meltdown. That same publisher meltdown had entangled many dollar$ owed us in royalty payments. It was December, in Maine, and we were, in a word, broke, with a habit of living indoors and cats to feed. Clearly, something had to be done, and quickly.
We were aware that other authors were experimenting with web serialization -- Lawrence Watt-Evans was serializing an Ethshar novel to meet fan demand; Diane Duane was doing something sort of like it with The Big Meow, Don Sakers was trying yet another variation on the theme. And then of course, there were the web comics.
We decided, Steve and I, that doing something was infinitely better than doing nothing, and that writing for money is honorable work. What we needed to do was come up with a story.
The mainstream Liaden novels were, as above, entangled, so writing the sequel to I Dare was ...iffy. However, there was a character, whom the authors had known about for, well, years. A side character, really, who appears in the very last pages of I Dare and whose story was completely unencumbered.
Now, we're messy writers. When we start writing a book, we have a vague, general idea of where the story may go and where we would like it to end up. We may have a few scenes in mind. Definitely, we have characters in mind. But, for us, the writing is the thing; the joy is in the discovery of the story as it unfolds. (Proof of our messiness -- in case it's needed -- is the fact that the one book-of-Theo we had intended to write spontaneously became two.) Generally, I would think, web serialization should be undertaken by neat writers, who produce and follow an outline. However, as I said, necessity existed.
Steve and I put our heads together, came up with a rough idea, wrote five chapters, agreed that we could do this thing, and announced our intention to the world.
As all of you who have been playing along at home know, the serialization was profitable, for values of profit ranging from feeding the authors' cats; to building a community of interested readers; to producing not one, but two credible drafts; to finding a publisher to willing to adopt the finished novels and distribute them widely.
Win-win-win.
Having now completed two years of web serialization, we did learn some things about the process.
The first thing we learned is: Given the right story, it's fun to do a web serialization.
The second thing we learned is: It's stressful to do a web serialization. Especially during the first year, when there was a lot going on in our professional and personal lives -- not all of it happy; not all of it horrible, but all of it having to be dealt with right now.
Even lacking the outside stresses, it does take a great deal of commitment to write and post that weekly chapter. (Web comics folks who post three times a week, or -- my ghod! -- every single day, my hat's off to you guys. You are made of awesome.) We had started with good intentions, and chapters written ahead, but quickly fell into the pattern of needing to write Monday's chapter on the weekend immediately prior, which meant late nights and, sometimes, opportunity for much-needed relaxation turned aside.
One huge thing that we didn't realize going in was how much ancillary record-keeping, correspondence, and database work would be involved. Because we're writers first and geeks a very distant second, we've fallen behind all the latest and greatest, and had no time to learn. That meant all the html-ing of the chapters, all the data entry, all the tallying of contributions, and posting of how many chapters were funded now -- was done by hand, by us, adding hours to the weekly commitment of writing the chapter.
Frankly, if there is one single thing that would hold me back from ever again doing a web serialization, it's the "side work." It just about killed me, and contributed to the difficulty of meeting the deadlines for the other contracted-for novels that we were writing concurrently with the web drafts.
Though it's wonderful that Baen agreed to publish both books, we learned that there is much more reader excitement generated by having a graph showing how many chapters are funded, versus how many books have found homes.
Also, we learned that having a graph showing how many chapters were funded works against us, in that there are some folks who become...annoyed... that the authors have received "extra money" for their work, and felt that readers were being ripped off. Answering cranky emails accusing me of dishonorable behavior really isn't one of my favorite things to do.
I don't really know how to resolve those things. Perhaps that tidy, outline-oriented author mentioned above wouldn't have this problem.
Earlier, I mentioned that it's important to have the "right story" in order to do a successful web serialization. Theo's stories were, in my opinion, dern near perfect for serialization: They mostly stuck with one viewpoint character to whom interesting things happened. The single-POV storyline is more forgiving of a slightly episodic narrative. Other stories, such as the upcoming Mouse and Dragon, which will almost certainly involve tricky timing and multiple POV switches, are not the sort of story you want to first-draft under the eyes of hundreds.
This has gotten 'way long, and I'm out of insights.
Questions/comments, anyone?
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I'm very much looking forward to Mouse and Dragon, because Aelliana is one of my favorite characters.
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I fail to understand how any reader could have felt that you were "ripping off" anyone, simply because manymany (to borrow your phrase) people chose to support your efforts. Each reader, it seems to me, paid for the privilege of reading the novel as it came to life, not to mention receiving the published novel as well.
Thank you for Mondays that were well spent, and well rewarded.
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Monetizing web publication has been the hot topic of the last decade, and there is no One True Way, but here's some techniques to smooth the path:
Advertising - banner ads let you get money in, let someone else help support your work, and let your readers see something that the advertiser thinks they might be interested in. Project Wonderful takes all the horrible parts out for a reasonably small fee. Most pages can support a header banner, a side tower and a collection of button ads at the bottom without distracting badly from the main focus of the page.
Updates - Never Miss An Update seems to be the Golden Rule in catching and retaining web visitors. Never less than once a week seems like a good one too, and MWF is coalescing into some sort of Ideal. The good news is that while the readers are desperate for that update, they seem less picky about what it actually consists of. Short sections are fine, and don't even need to have internal flow (setup, devel, climax, wrapup). For a text work like yours I would be tempted to break updates up into smaller pieces than Chapters, perhaps to allow more frequent updates, or just to permit a less frantic need to produce it. Frantic cannot be sustained over the long haul and rarely leaves room for fun, which is absolutely required.
Donations - What I've seen is that it is more successful (productive? profitable? just works better?) to ask that donations reflect the readers enjoyment of the work, and their encouragement to your future efforts than to tie them to any particular schedule or requirement. So instead of a progress bar that lets everyone know what is needed to reach the next update (which is a pain to update anyway...), make a blanket appeal for support. When your Paypal button says "I need just this much" many readers conclude that it was either way beyond their means (my $5 won't really help) or that you are close enough anyway. If it instead says "Are you enjoying what you read? You can thank us for that!" it disconnects your needs from their abilities - and you want that.
Another factor for donations is "thank you"s. A surprising number of websites have no response when a donation is sent. Paypal sends the invoice, but that's it. Far more effective is if you set up a reward system such as special downloadable graphics or access to a special side story. Make it an automatic part of the donation process and your part of the work becomes changing the reward every now and then, and redirecting the few donators who don't get taken to the correct subpage (that happen about every 50 to 100 donations). Wallpapers that people can use on their desktops or cellphones are particularly effective, since then your reader is reminded of your work every time they boot up. Acquiring good art does take some work, but it's amazing what even top name professionals will work for if it's a project they like and they know they'll get extra exposure for it. And considering your fanbase, I bet you get some amazing fan art every now and then, and would get a lot more if there was a chance more people would see it.
Wow - this really has run long, and I'm far from out of opinions (worth every penny you have paid for them!), but I better at least consider getting some of my real work done. Ah, grad school.
Disclaimers: I have no connection to Project Wonderful, I don't run any web services, I don't run my own bookstore any more (but I was The Stars Our Destination for 16 years), in fact I don't work for any one at all at the moment (but I worked for Studio Foglio for a couple of years).
effectiveness of third-party ads
Re: effectiveness of third-party ads
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That said, the only nitpick I had throughout the project -- and this really was minor -- was in the matter of linking. I wanted the teasers to be posted at the time the chapter became available, with a link, so that I could go straight to the story. Later, I stumbled over the fact that chapters not yet posted were nevertheless linked in the chapter list. Several times when I'd fallen behind, I'd go down the TOC to catch up, and having those extraneous links served to make it harder to find my place ("I don't remember what the last chapter number was that I read, but I'm three weeks behind, so I should start three links up from the bottom, right...? No.") and led to a couple of disappointing moments when I'd finish the last posted chapter and click through, anticipating another, only to land abruptly on a 404 error. Having the unpublished chapter headings in plain text, rather than dead links, would have indicated that they were forthcoming without disorienting me.
You were smart to put the PayPal button and the publication schedule at the bottom of each chapter. The two questions that pop into a reader's head, upon reaching the end, are (ideally) "How can I fund more of this?" and "When will there be more?" You provided answers exactly when and where they were needed. I've suggested to the Shadow Unit folks that they ought to do the same; over there, when you finish an episode, you aren't led to donate or discuss in the forum, either of which would be a logical next step.
I'm very glad these projects worked out financially. It's been great fun following Theo. Thank you for letting us come along! I'm eagerly awaiting the printed copies -- I'm vastly curious as to what changes your revisions have wrought.
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For a start, thank you very much for the experience! And for all of the side-comments about writing (like this post) as well. I really like getting an insight into the writing process, and many of your side-comments about it are not only informative but also entertaining.
Were you to do something like this again, I think that at least some of the extra work you did could be farmed out. There are probably many of us who could take a word processor file (in whatever format you do them) in and convert it to HTML, add appropriate extra bits, and post it. The same for keeping track of the chapter funding posting, probably.
As far as the people who think that they've not got their money's worth, well, I can see their point. Not agree with it, but I can see how they feel that way. But when I signed up for it I knew that the amount I was paying was more than the cost of buying a mass-market book anyway, what I was paying for was to help keep a couple of authors (and cats!) alive and sane enough to write more stuff that I like, and any 'return' in the way of an actual book is gravy. For most authors (and in fact most people who work in the arts) I know the actual money per work hour is way under the minimum wage, so we actally get the books at less than the real cost.
The same, honestly, with the occasional production waits. Yes, I was looking on the Mondays, and sometimes then remembering that you were having a break, but for me that only meant that the next installment was more precious when it did arrive. There's this thing called Real Life(tm), I think too many fans need to get one so that they realise how it gets in the way of mice and men...
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The more authors who start things like this and then poo out before they finish, the harder it will be for other, more responsible authors to generate interest in similar projects. If an author does not have a good track record for finishing projects on deadline or if they have a habit of allowing "life happens" to interfere with writing, they should either avoid web serialization or complete the novel and then start serializing it.
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I'll also second Keris' thoughts above about farming out the techie bits elsewhere - it'll make it a bit easier all around (for you and the readers).
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A. I adore your work and love reading it no matter what format it is in.
B. I never felt pressed to send money and when I had none didn't send it in. Once I did have money, I sent it in. No huhu.
C. 1. Having read Asimov, Bradley, etcetera etcetera, etcetera I know that an author does not get much money from the sale of one of their books. Ergo, they get more if they sell a book directly.
2. I have relatives who are musicians. They don't make much money. This is true of probably 99% of artists.
D. Given the points in C I would prefer to either buy books/writing directly from an author and/or donate to them so that they get more money if it is at all possible for me to do so. This also why my tendency is to not buy second hand books.
E. If you can, get a secretary to handle the 'paperwork' so that you can concentrate on writing.
F. Should you serialize again, set it up so that the chapters are coming out every two weeks. This gives less pressure from the get-go. Also set up out front that chapters will be delayed for holidays and conventions. In fact, a calendar might come in handy. One that can be linked to and changed. This calendar could also have links to the cons... muahahahahaha. (What? Me evile??)
Support your local author, for heaven's sake.
Those dead links were a bit disconcerting (as I've mentioned before), but I totally understand why they were there—it made your life much easier to only have to code the chapter links list once.
Finally, it... perturbs me to read about people sending you angry e-mail accusing you, essentially, of fraud.
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I don't think I had a job until Fledgling was finished -- and I still sent in my $25.00 -- the bargain being that this contribution would get either a trade copy or a cloth copy of the book, did it find a hardcopy publishing home. I was fully certain that the story of Theo would find a home, but if it did not, I was still satisfied to contribute to the effort.
You see, it worked because so many of us can read.
Thank you.
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(Anonymous) 2009-01-18 10:02 pm (UTC)(link)I can almost see where the whiners are coming from in that if, say, you had posted one chapter, I'd contributed $25, and then there were no more chapters, I think I would feel upset and disappointed. But beyond that extreme, whining is whining. The World is Complicated and Things Happen.
Anyhow, you guys did an awesome job! It's easy to see how the administrivia got out of control, but you sure made it seem like you were on top of it, and that was good. And the product-so-far has been excellent as well (only to get better!).
John Hawkinson
The "Side Work"
2. Could you write more (maybe all) before releasing, then release a chapter per week? When Scheherazade told stories in sections, she wasn't composing them one night at a time (one hopes.)
In any event, I enjoyed both stories, and am, as always, waiting on more Miller/Lee output.
On the care and feeding of authors
Complaining about how much they eat is kind of tacky.
I made a donation at the first chapter of both books. I did not actually read them until after the authors declared a draft.
I just don't like reading serials.
But I did enjoy both books, and look forward to viewing the final editions. When you come right down to it I made the donations for the authors, not the books.
Considering the years of pleasure their works have given me I would have been willing to make a contribution without the books. I wouldn't want them put in a situation where they were forced to stop writing.
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Words from some of my favorite authors sooner? In a weekly fix? Here! Let me throw some more money in the pot!
For me, the weekly serialization was about right.
Serializations
Well, a check every so often is a small price to pay. I'm personally sorry I was unable to partake during the writing of FLEDGLING, as I didn't have a PC at the time. And now, it's all over!
I hope that in time, you may decide to do another on-line book, only now that you're aware of the Admin/Scut work required, you'll be able to make use of some of these suggestions.
Again, THANK YOU for these most enjoyable months.
A heartfelt Thanks for the serializations
(Anonymous) 2009-01-19 07:20 am (UTC)(link)***
In my opinion, those few readers who felt that 'they were cheated' should go back and re-read the explanation provided regarding this project. Unfortunately there are some people that no matter what you do will never be satisfied or happy.
kudos to you both
(Anonymous) 2009-01-19 09:12 am (UTC)(link)no subject
Lorna
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Oh, yeah, the fan letters that come asking if I ever plan to publish Wandering Lark--that's it... ;-)
But I do thank you for all your thoughts on this subject, Sharon, because it kinda helps me sort it out in my own dilemma and give careful consideration to whether or not it is right for me.
My Lulu titles don't sell as well as I would like, but the couple of free downloads I have there go like hotcakes.
Economic times being what they are, I cannot afford to just give stuff away. But this is an industry where if you don't keep your name out there in some fashion, the fans forget you.
If anything, I don't want to be forgotten. ;-)
Personally, I think y'all did a great job picking and choosing the right story to serialize.
Now if I could just get my own bandwagon rolling...
Laura J. Underwood
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(Anonymous) - 2009-01-19 17:13 (UTC) - Expand(no subject)
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(Anonymous) 2009-01-20 05:01 am (UTC)(link)I've had an overwhelming pair of years, but when I had time, it was fun to go to Theo's webpage and discuss the latest chapter. I think that was a great idea.
The money I gave to you was for the privilege of reading your work. it wasn't because there were only a few readers who wanted to read it or because there were a lot. I gave it to you simply because I love reading, and I believe in supporting artists who I enjoy.
I'll look for _Mouse and Dragon_ on Baen's eBook site. I don't have to dust eBooks, and it's ever so much easier to carry a library! :-) Thank you for being willing to publish DRM free texts. I enjoyed the Embiid reader, but when I switched to Mac, I lost access to my whole library. With HTML there will be converters when the format becomes obsolete or if I switch to some yet to be created OS.
Thank you!
Adrianne
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(Anonymous) 2009-01-20 06:12 am (UTC)(link)Ignore them.
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(Anonymous) 2009-01-20 02:54 pm (UTC)(link)Not your fault they can't understand what they read.
Eta.
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But, as one of the folks just hoping that you'll do it again, I'm wondering if it made financial sense for you once the crisis was less severe. In particular did the presales hurt your advance for Saltation? Is your per-volume cost low enough that the income is well offset against what you'll be doing in terms of mailing out my two books?
I also note the need to produce chapters every week (well almost every week ) and the impact that has had on your personal lives. I can see where having that sort of obligation could be like owning livestock.
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Thank You!!
(Anonymous) 2009-10-22 04:32 am (UTC)(link)My donation was not to fund the next chapter but just to have a copy of the book IF it printed (see "FINE PRINT") and to support YOU. Yes, I could have waited it out and seen if it was purchased and published. A mass market paperback is, what 8 bucks? I don't even BUY hardcover! But again, that was not the point, the point was to support any Liaden adventures by a couple of my favorite authors. Even only e-format would've been welcome. (And my eyesight's bad enough, I'll add...)
So thank you for continuing to support my (and others', I see) Liaden habit. I would say that I'm going to meetings, but I'm too busy reading. ;-) Any future publishings are always welcome at my home, regardless of format.
I'm also thankful that you didn't have to remember how to make willow bark tea with fire from rubbing sticks together and having to catch mice for the cats while sheltering from the snow out in the Maine wilderness. (Of course the cats wouldn't catch the mice themselves... that's what humans are for...)
I did a happy dance when I received my copy of Fledgling and I'm anxiously awaiting Saltation. Write on!