Monday, July 22, 2013

Considering Other Options

Today is the last day to vote in the Ink Haiku contest. Go here to learn how. Thank you!

Do you ever feel like your novel ideas are just too weird? Like you love the book, but when you really sit down to think, you're not sure if anyone else will understand it the same way you do. You worry that if you try to explain it to someone, they'll give you a funny look and try to scoot away discretely.

Recently, while I was on the phone with one of my friends, he asked me what my novels are about. I always hate this question, but I attempted to answer. I told him that THE TRUE PRINCESS is about a princess who gets cloned...He thought it was strange. And while I firmly believe in my story, his opinion did not exactly boost my confidence.

As I've been working on THINKING OF YOU, rearranging the plot and trying to better build the story, this has been a concern that has crossed my mind a few times. What if I spend all this time on my story and then no one else thinks it's as amazing and creative as I do? What if everyone just thinks it's bizarre?

I've read many posts on self-publishing where people have explained that they self-publish for this very reason; their book is a bit too unique for the current market. However, self-publishing in its entirety is not for me. I do not have the skills nor the desire to produce an entire book by myself.

But I have thought of something else.

Many people my age who write don't see physical publication as an option, at least not at this point in their lives. However, they still want people to read their stories. So they go to what teenagers go to for everything: the Internet. They post their stories, their poems on sites like Wattpad, Fictionpress, Figment. The latter I use myself-very, very rarely posting shorter works there.

Perhaps you can see where this is going, but, if not, I am considering posting THINKING OF YOU on an online writing site. Even though I already have a Figment account, I'm leaning more toward Wattpad. Of course, I would research as many options as possible if this is what I decide to do.

Why am I considering this?

Well, there are a few reasons. It would let me know how people feel about my writing beyond my short poems and short stories. If I work at it, it might help me build a reader base so there are people who would buy an actual book from me. Also, being able to show an agent "see? people like me" could never hurt. It would give people something to read while I work on something I believe to be better for the market and publication. And you never know what feedback I might get; someone could point out a major flaw I need to fix or point me in a direction to make my story even better.

Obviously, there are also drawbacks to publishing an entire manuscript on the Internet. For one, the site I used would most likely get non-exclusive rights to my story. That is always my biggest concern and consideration before I post anything on the Internet and that would be no different here. I would also have to spend a fair amount of time reading others stories on the same site. As us bloggers know, you do not get without giving.

I have to take all of this into account while making my decision. In the meantime, I will continue to make my story as good as I can, to make it as good as it can be. Because no matter what decisions I make in the future, I will always want that.

What are your thoughts about "publishing" work on online writing sites?

8 comments:

  1. I publish work all the time on a writing site (that shall remain unnamed because you are too young to be looking at said pages). Anyway, I get quite a bit of fan mail from publishing my stories there. I'm serializing a novel, etc.

    ANYWAY...self-pubbing is super easy and it's a lot of fun. If you want to give it a try, I'd help. I'll do a cover for you :) Just let me know and after I move, I'll whip out the acrylic paints and we can see what happens.

    I think it'd be funner than you think it will be.

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. I don't know. The self-pubbing authors who I've seen seem to work pretty hard. :P

      Really though, self-pubbing seems so permanent. And I don't know if I'm good enough to reach "permanent" by myself. :/ I haven't even managed to get through one round of revisions yet.

      Delete
  2. I'm a big believer that nothing is too weird and strange when it comes to stories. It makes you story stand out among the masses of books, which I think is a good thing. Focus on writing the story how you want first...:)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. And that's exactly what I want to do! Which is why I think it would be good to try one of my stories online first. Take some of the pressure off so I can focus on my writing.

      Delete
  3. I don't ever publish my main works online. Because the moment I do, I lose my firm hold on copyright. My works are worth too much to me to risk someone stealing it without me being able to protect my rights.

    You need to see that worth in your books too. Weird is good. Scratch that. Weird is awesome!

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Yeah. That's my biggest concern surrounding this idea. :/ Though, for me, the fear is not so much that someone's going to steal my work as that I just don't completely own it anymore.

      And, yes, weird is awesome. ^^ But I think there are different types of weird.

      Delete
  4. For me, the very idea of a princess getting cloned (and that all on its own) makes me want to read it. I guess I like the quirky weirdness, and there are others out there who'd like it too. :)

    ReplyDelete
    Replies
    1. Aw, thanks, Trisha. ^^ I'm glad you like the idea behind THE TRUE PRINCESS.

      Delete