rolanni: (Sleepy)
rolanni ([personal profile] rolanni) wrote2009-04-10 01:33 pm
Entry tags:

What goes around poll

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]
alicebentley: (bluestars)

[personal profile] alicebentley 2009-04-12 10:08 pm (UTC)(link)
Elaboration:

I found my answer ranging wildly depending on whether I was answering for my Younger self (read voraciously, had fairly ready spending money), my Bookseller self (would read for pleasure only the most favorite of authors, could justify truly remarkable expenditures in the service of promoting books) or my At-The-Moment self (in grad school, unemployed husband - no time, no money).

I decided to choose my answers based on what I hope to be my Future self - working at a demanding and rewarding job, both me and my husband working, but also paying for our son's college fees.

For Question 5, I could not decide between Hardcover - the format most likely to survive multiple readings, or Tradepaper - the format I have less trouble holding. In truth, I would want the paper copy mostly so that I could pass it along to someone else.

Regarding updates, it's not that important to me when they occur, but very important that they occur when I was told they would.

What goes around... answers

(Anonymous) 2009-04-13 01:11 am (UTC)(link)
Not LJ member, so: read serialized? Only favorite author or story I really wanted to read. Generally speaking, I prefer reading in one go rather than a serial; Fledging/Saltation was a major exception!
Donate? If it was a favorite author, sure. Prefer to make one donation (as I did with the Theo books & Diane Duane's Big Meow).
Prefer to receive something? Nice, but not vital; though I think it's appropriate when the story is done to at least repackage it in a compact all-at-once form (epub, non-DRM Mobi, zip of HTML, whatever). Nice to get a paper book, but not a requirement; whatever the author is able to do, though of course HC is best.
Re donation, if I'm supporting the author, then it depends on my budget and how desperately I want the story; for the Theo stories I was willing to pay quite a bit! But that's uncommon. I would consider $5-$10 to be a fair price for something picked up blind.
For a serialization, regularity is important; even more so if regularity is promised (then you end up going to the site regularly, disappointed if not there...)
Would like to read more of anything Liaden!
Note: PDF bad! Need format I can read on any reader. DRM double-bad! Need format that can be transformed easily, again because I use a variety of readers, and will have different ones in the future.
--John N.

[identity profile] green-ogre.livejournal.com 2009-04-13 01:23 am (UTC)(link)
If I am getting something, the maximum price I would pay would vary.

For a PDF, 5-15
For a massmarket, 15-20
For a copy of the book (trade or hardcover) 25-50

I don't mind giving you guys a premium in advance over the cost of the "item" I will get especially if it is signed.

For a PDF or ebook, though the value is less. I buy a lot of ebooks from Baen and if you're going to publish there, I can get a nicely formated ebook for my Sony eReader whereas a PDF is a pain to read except on a PC.

Web of the Trident

[identity profile] joythree.livejournal.com 2009-04-13 03:17 am (UTC)(link)
ditto.....but only when you and Steve are ready to continue.

Hit return on comment, gah!

[identity profile] dorfird.livejournal.com 2009-04-13 07:25 am (UTC)(link)
I haven't read the first two mysteries yet.

Re: reading your books on the computer

(Anonymous) 2009-04-13 05:14 pm (UTC)(link)
Hi Sharon,
I agree with those who have posted/commented that reading a novel on a computer screen is a struggle at best, and painful to the eyes at worst. That said, I love your Liaden work so much that I read the first serialized novel on PDF for hours straight, and just took tylenol for the eyestrain and headache that I got from doing so.
Call me a luddite if you will, but I prefer having an actual book in my hand to read when I sit down to entertain my weary self, and I don't think that will ever change, no matter how many Kindles or E-readers with bigger screens they come up with.
Sadly, due to the economy and my chosen profession (journalism) I've not been able to afford to buy as many books as I used to, and that includes buying books online or paying for serials.
However, when things start turning around in this recession, I do plan to make a 'donation' for Saltation, though I've not read any of it yet.
I think that your Duanfey and Longeye books are good reads, as well, and I hope to get a copy of Longeye one day soon.
DeAnn

(Anonymous) 2009-04-15 11:04 am (UTC)(link)
Regarding the fee, most sites I've visited seem to charge $5.00. US. Which, with the conversion rate, OW!

To give you a more useful answer, I like the way you've gone in the past and prefer to make a single donation.

Trica
sraun: portrait (Default)

[personal profile] sraun 2009-04-22 07:22 pm (UTC)(link)
I'll agree with this - my personal preference is plain HTML or some other unencumbered format.

PDF can be significantly improved by allowing the text to reflow. That's my big objection - most PDFs are generated for either a computer screen or a printed page, and they're impossible to read on a hand-held platform. For e-books, turning on re-flow makes a HUGE difference in the usability.

rss and other formats

[identity profile] robbhammack.livejournal.com 2009-05-21 07:59 am (UTC)(link)
have you considered xml + xslt stylesheets?
something like docbook (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/DocBook) markup, for which many tools and editors exist - and which has an abundance of stylesheets to convert to other formats. Docbook is in most respects *simpler* than html, short and easy learning curve - at least for the part's you'd use in a fiction book ;o) and by applying the appropriate xslt stylesheet it can output rss, html, pdf, etc.
I'm a software engineer, with many years of web development under my belt, and I'd be happy to discuss it and help set things up if it's something you're interested in. I'll even tweak the xslt stylesheets for free ;o)


you can contact me at robbhammack@gmail.com

Re: Kindle versions, please!

(Anonymous) 2009-05-29 10:59 pm (UTC)(link)
redp... ,
Baen has the best deal for Kindle users. Buy your books from Webscriptions (they are off baen.com and publish Baen's entire new list a month before the paper version comes out.) They have all Sharon & Steve's Liaden books as e-books at a very reasonable price! Go to the free library to find out how to get mobipocket reader on your computer and download it. Then specify mobipocket format when you download something from the free library or webscriptions - you will be able to read it on both your Pc and on your Kindle since Baen doesn't put DRM encoding on its e-books. I don't know why you can't get Baen e-books from Amazon but they are usually well below what Amazon charges for new books for the Kindle.
When you are downloading to the Kindle, make sure that you put the .mobi or .prc file in the documents folder on the Kindle.
Good Luck,
...Art Parham

Re: Kindle versions, please!

[identity profile] redpimpernel.livejournal.com 2009-05-30 12:17 am (UTC)(link)
(Posting this in reply to Art, and for reference for anyone else who comes to read this thread later.)

http://www.baen.com (http://www.baen.com/) does carry most of the Liaden books, in multiple e-book formats, including Kindle, no need to do any additional converting. Just click the webscriptions e-book tab. Great prices too!

(Anonymous) 2009-05-30 01:17 am (UTC)(link)
Alice, Its good to hear from you. I remember you as the cutest, nicest bookseller in the Windycon dealers room. I bought two hardcovers of Bujold's _Cordelia's Honor_ from you many years ago. Best wishes for your grad school studies. I'm sure you will do well.

Sharon,
I made the requested donations for _Fledgling_ and _Saltation_ and would do it again. I'll
probably buy the finished e-books from Baen altho I may not be around to see the hard copy of _Saltation_, depending on the success of my chemo. I like the serial drafts but would pay just as much for an e-book as for a paperback.
I like the Liaden books but would also go for
_Web of the Trident_ or the second half of the book about the little guy who family could create Teleportation portals (sorry, can't remember the title). I have the book somewhere - you sort of left us hanging in the middle of the story!
SF/F please, I couldn't get into your stories about elves. If you just own the electronic rights to some of your stories, maybe Webscriptions would put them up even if Baen can't publish them yet. You might also put one of your shorter stories in their free
library as a loss-leader to get new readers interested in your work.
Good Luck,
Art Parham(ARParhamATaol.com)

Page 4 of 4