What goes around poll

[rolanni]

There's been a sort of movable discussion wandering through a couple writer communities I'm part of, brought on in part by writers who are trying to figure out how best to grow their audience, make a living, and maybe even get a bigger piece of the action.

Not surprisingly, many of these conversations come 'round to web serialization for fun and profit, what works, what doesn't. Some folks are of the opinion that giving one's work away "for free" is always a bad deal for the writer, some folks think that giving work away "for free" is the wave of the future, whereupon we're all gonna starve, some folks think that asking readers to kick in a buck for downloading a novel direct from the author is tacky, some think it's OK, but that no one will pay.

In other words, it's a complicated subject and lots of bright people are struggling to make sense of it, and to figure out how to work current realities to their benefit while simultaneously trying to figure out where current realities are going to take us in one, three, six years.

Now, Steve and I did well with our web serializations. I honestly don't know if that's because of a Paradigm Shift, or because we have Incredibly Cool Fans(TM), or because we were writing a Liaden story -- or a combination of all those factors and a bunch that I haven't thought of.

In the spirit of trying to figure some stuff out myself, I offer the following poll, going from the general to the specific.


[Poll #1381306]

Comments

[brownkitty.livejournal.com]

I haven't read any serialized novels with the exception of the ones Baen puts out. Not that I'd be unwilling to read any others, I just haven't yet.

If I'm going to receive a completed copy of the book, that's not exactly a donation, is it? That said, I would be willing to donate, and I would be willing to donate more for an autographed hard copy if that's a possibility. I don't care what format of hard copy.

Regular updates would be nice, but with some flexibility built in. "First week of the month" as opposed to "first of the month", for instance. Life interferes, cats get sick, authors have cons, all sorts of things can mess up scheduling. I'd personally rather wait a couple more days for something you'd be willing to have someone else see, instead of on-time but something you wouldn't want your reflection to see.

How much would it be a pain to you, to have people discussing your works in progress? Would the money be worth the trouble to you?

[adina-atl.livejournal.com]

I wanted to clarify one of my odder selections: I said the most I'd donate in order to receive a copy of the book (a PDF in my case) is $5, while the most I'd donate for the pleasure of reading the web serial is $20. In my mind, "donating" to receive a book is buying a book, and the most I'd be happy paying for an ebook is $5. Donating just to support the serial is patronizing the arts (in the good meaning of patronizing *grin*) and supporting the author, and the limits on that depend only on my finances and my love of the author's works. Not really rational, but there you have it.

Re: Kindle versions, please!

[redpimpernel.livejournal.com]

Thanks! I didn't know that. Going to check out Baen site now...

[gilraen2.livejournal.com]

I have not yet submitted to a Kindle and my ebook library - including all your available works - is in Microsoft Reader. I would prefer that an ebook be in that format than in pdf.

[wdonohue.livejournal.com]

In reading the comments, the other advantange of ePub comes to mind - the format's underpinnings are XHTML and CSS. This means that ePub files can be modified in-browser for the visually-impaired, or read out by any web-capable screen reader. You can force PDF files to do these things, but it's a lot of post-production work.

-- Brian out --

[(Anonymous)]

Loved reading Theo on the web and will do again, but have been stung in the past by someone who started but never finished a book - talk about frustrating!; love PayPal & wished everybody used it; would pay up to $30 since that's getting to be the going price for a hardcover these days; definitely want some version of a printed copy; Precise scheduled updates proved impossible, did they not? More Liad from anyone's point of plot!

Cathy C.

[adina-atl.livejournal.com]

I agree on the flexibility, because as you said, life interferes. The way Steve and Sharon have done it with Fledgling works rather nicely--regular updates, notice in advance that an update won't happen because of whatever, very rarely a day late but never a dollar short. Having said that, I think authors need to take a good, long, hard look at themselves and their work habits: if the author's life frequently interferes, they should finish the damn book before starting to serialize it.

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

but I'd really like to see a strange and far out idea that you've been kicking around a while and haven't been able to place/market.

Ah, those would have been the Fey books, and Carousel Tides all of which Baen took under contract. I had thought about serializing Carousel Tides, actually. I don't think I could have survived the serialization of the Fey books.

Doesn't mean you can't post at the same time something familiar if it's already written,

The sad truth is that I don't have anything that's already written, except, yanno, the things that are already written, and published. It's a terrible state, but there you are.

[rolanni.livejournal.com]

How much would it be a pain to you, to have people discussing your works in progress?

Folks discussed both Fledgling and Saltation as they were being written, over in theo_waitley. Sometimes I looked, sometimes I didn't. As long as someone isn't emailing me or ambushing me in some way, I don't much care what people say. Though some of the guesses of what's going to happen next are, um...funny.

Would the money be worth the trouble to you?

The aspect that was the worst on the other projects was the Keeping Track of Subscriptions so that we could be sure that people who had "earned" a book through sufficient donations would get their books. The writing part of it wasn't much trouble -- we are writers, after all.

[gingerwood.livejournal.com]

Ditto. I really want something that I can convert easily into something that my kindle can read. A choice of formats would be ideal

[debmats.livejournal.com]

me three...

[romsfuulynn.livejournal.com]

I am good for about $30 for access to the book and will donate at least that and possibly as much as $10 every two weeks on payday (Tuesday).

I have donated to several online novels, including Diane Duane's multi year - "oh, I'm sorry, terrible stuff is going on in my personal life" and I don't even regret that. Much. I've got seven chapters of her stuff that I didn't have before.

I donated to both of Lawrence Watt-Evans novels, and am making occasional donations to his current effort.

I would like a finished book I can easily read and keep - my personal preference is Mobipocket or eReader, but I'm happy with an HTML file that anyone can use to "roll their own."

I'm not fond of PDF and would use the mobipocket creator to make a Mobipocket out of it.

Downloadable formats

[malkingrey.livejournal.com]

I can't stand PDF as a reading format. Mostly I read electronic texts on my Palm, and the PalmOS Adobe reader is a slow, clunky memory hog and ugly to boot. If I'm going to have a downloadable copy of a text, I'd prefer it in Mobipocket (.prc) or Palm Reader (.pdb) format, if I can't have it in .rtf format so I can convert it to my favorite Palm reading program myself.

[pgranzeau.livejournal.com]

I've been reading e-books in various formats recently. The worst reader is the protected PDF thing--it's just plain awful. I can stand most any of the others, but prefer something I don't have to scroll on my 1024 x 768 screen. Unprotected MS Reader (as per Baen's e-publication of a number of your Liaden novels) is fine by me.

[jryson.livejournal.com]

Let me know when I can get the whole thing, and I'll pay what I would for hardcopy.

Would prefer HTML or PDF. Even TXT would be OK. RTF would be great, unless you have illustrations or other art.

Re: Kindle versions, please!

[queenmaggie.livejournal.com]

OOO! Thanks for the tip...I'm still learning.

[amm-me.livejournal.com]

I'd prefer a single payment over driblets weekly, but not necessarily only at the beginning - I donated to both Fledgling and Saltation, but I couldn't have right at the start, so was very grateful others had taken up the initial challenge.

Please not PDF. an e-book is great for me, as good or better than hard copy, but pdf and my e-reader don't play at all well togother. HTML, txt, mobipocket, but not pdf.

[paulcory.livejournal.com]

To add a little more detail.

I'd want a free taste, before I was required to pay. Two to three chapters should do it.

I want to decide to pay once and be done with it. This is an important distinction - you could charge my card for each unit/episode/chapter individually, but I only want to the make the purchasing decision once.

I'll pay more if I get a physical copy of the book at the end, but not for an electronic copy.

Update timeliness is absolutely vital to me if I'm paying for the content. If the content is free, I'm much more tolerant of missed deadlines.

[rose-07.livejournal.com]

I 'donated' to both Fledgling and Saltation in one go - I don't have a paypal account and it ended up costing me almost $100 - Australian - which is well and above what I would have paid for the books if I had bought them here... but you did promise to sign them and I can't get that over here. I didn't donate until after Saltation started as it was more cost effective for me to do two than one (but I felt really dreadful about reading Fledgling without donating).

I have only read the above books via web serialisation. It became one of the highlights of my week to read the chapter and then to go to 'book club' and read/listen to the discussion and add my 2 cents worth - or not. (I actually often pictured you rofl about some of our speculations). The great thing about reading the first draft is that when the paper copy finally gets here it will be a whole new book.

I would definitely read anything from the Liaden universe (the next one after I Dare would be a great start for me :o)). I would like to have the option of 5 or 6 sample chapters from an author I was not familiar with before buying (I like this word better - though the difference between buying and donating necessitates a much more sophisticated password protected site.) And I would pay less if I was not going to get a hard copy of some sort on completion. If it was only going to be available online or electronically then I would expect to be reading the final version not a first draft and so would not expect 'life' to interfere.

[chaddai.livejournal.com]

Web serialization is very addictive for me... I read a lot of free serialization or complete books on the net and ended up buying the books (I'm an avid reader in all formats : electronic, paperback, hardcover...). I discovered your work recently with Fledgling and was interested enough that I now possess a complete collection of your Liaden universe books and as much of the short stories that I could find (and the Fey books).

30$ is probably my limit for donation, probably in one shot (I just don't like paying/donating several times for the same thing). Note that this amount depends more of my appreciation of the writer than on any eventual reward. If there is a book in the end, the ideal would be both electronic and paper version (I read one or the other depending on situation) and anything but PDF for the ebook.

The work I would most enjoy seeing serialized right now would probably be Mouse and Dragon but failing that (I guess your contract would have to include this beforehand) anything by you would be welcome ! :-)

--
Jedaï

[deor.livejournal.com]

I'd prefer an HTML file to a pdf, actually.

And I chose pay-as-you-go mostly because I've been burned by pre-paying for an entire book by *mumble* which hasn't materialized after well over a year. I don't mind somewhat irregular updates, but there must actually _be_ updates.

With authors who have a track record of doing regular updates, I might be more willing to pre-pay for the whole thing.

[chaddai.livejournal.com]

The work I would most enjoy seeing serialized right now would probably be Mouse and Dragon but failing that (I guess your contract would have to include this beforehand) anything by you would be welcome ! :-)

The sequel to I Dare and/or Saltation would be very nice too !

About the updates schedule, I don't mind a somewhat irregular schedule as long as it stay within limits. Also the updates shouldn't be too short, the size of Fledgling chapters was a nice compromise.

--
Jedaï

[mbarker.livejournal.com]

5: What about RTF or other formats? I read on my pda, which is happiest with RTF.

6 and 7: Regarding what to put in the pot -- $25 or $30 at a shot isn't too hard, $50 or so is a bit of a strain and might be best done through a series of donations?

8: Prefer fairly regular schedule, but occasional blips and slips are part of life.

Preferred book: Probably Chi or dealer's choice first (I trust your intuition), and White Sheep last (largely because I think a mystery almost needs to be pre-written, or at least heavily plotted, to come out well, and I'd prefer to start reading a serialization soon!)

Does this mean cerealuniverse is going to start getting milk added soon? Yeah! Snap, crackle, and pop!

[paw3pals.livejournal.com]

The continuation of the story after I Dare is what I Greedily Anticipate the most, but anything in the Liaden Universe is Always Read.

Though it seems that the I Dare continuation is not on the immediate radar for you yet (ref: Mouse and Dragon is next, and your question re: Chi's story). I just hope it does not take as long as Plan B did, to happen (my original copies of the first 3 books are worn to pieces after so many years of re-reading).

On Web Serialization

[cschanck.livejournal.com]

I have to concur with what others have said -- my familiarity with and love of the Liaden Universe was a major factor in paying and reading Theo. Your proven track record on reasonably timely output during the serialization is a big plus.

As to what I would pay, well, I *think* I donated a chapters worth for each book, but that was because they books coincided with personal windfalls.

I would foresee it being hard for an unknown author to go from zirch to lightspeed through web efforts -- it is a little harder to read a serialized novel. That may not, however, be true of the younger set. I can see being receptive to read efforts from unknown authors recommended by favorites (how I wish Janet Kagan could do so, for example. Sniff.)

But yes, established storylines are more attractive. I also think short stories (in a known universe like yours) would do well.