EDIT: So, I contradict most of this post one day later. I’ll leave it up rather than remove it, but be aware the plan has changed.
First, City of Angles is really playing well across social networks; you guys are helping spread the word, and readers who had been waiting for the finale are coming back to read it as well. I’m very pleased with the performance, and if you helped by posting links or talking it up with your friends… you deserve a pat on the back. Keep it up!
We’ll need one more big push when the retail version of vol//003 is released. Don’t miss out on it; it’ll include a bonus chapter which details the state of the City, decades later and beyond!
Meanwhile… let’s talk Floating Point, my next writing project. After all, November is upon us, and I have a new writing project loaded into the Fiction Factory ingot smelting apparatus, ready to be forged. Do I take the dare and actually join the National Novel Writing Month challenge…?
So, let’s detail how this one will work. I’m shifting up the formula a little, after all. I’ll start out aiming for a NaNoWriMo goal. I don’t know if I can realistically do it, since I have a day job and Desert Bus for Hope is launching that month as well, but I shall do my best.
If I fail to make my goal, that’s fine; it still means I’d have a considerable “buffer” of writing ready to go, for weekly updates. Those updates won’t start right away, though; I still need to get the Floating Point website up and running, after all.
Now, one thing I’m not sure about is… do I make this like anachronauts / City of Angles, where 90% of the content is free aside from bonus stories? Or do I write the thing in a traditional manner — without any public postings aside from a 1-3 chapter sample, and then sell it as one whole book?
I’m uncertain. I’d love your feedback. If I wait until it’s done to post anything, will readers drift away? If it’s retail only, will I make more sales at the cost of far less readers? If I go with the 90% free plan, will I lose out on traditional book promotional avenues? The way I normally do things is quite unusual compared to other authors. Is it time to try something different, or is my existing model already great? Which will net me more eyeballs on the work in the end?
What are your thoughts? Let me know!
Ellen says
As a generally broke college student, I’m super in favor of the current model. I absolutely love being able to come here more or less every week and read new awesome stuff, and I do plan on buying the books once I have the money, but that may not be for a while.
If you really feel as though you need to make more hard revenue, what do you think about releasing the new novel partly as an e-book for more or less pay-what-you-want? I.e., set a low minimum price of $1-5 (which is about what I feel I can afford), but give people the option to pay more if they can afford to do so/feel that it’s worth more. That way, you’re guaranteed some revenue on each copy, but you’re not totally driving away those readers who are on the pressed for cash side.
The above idea is just an idea, though — the actual implementation is something that I know can be done with music, but I’m not sure I’ve seen done with e-books and so might be more trouble than it’s worth. Something to look into, though, maybe.
Ellen says
Oh, sorry, this is late. But I’ll keep this idea thrown out there in case anyone wants to pick it up.
Lirazel says
Hmmm. Pondering, pondering…
If you do this, you will want to have the book ready to sell very soon after Chapter 3 or so goes up, lest people drift. The Internet is not known for long attention span. Otherwise, this makes sense to me. Let people find the samples and buy either access to more on a website or a book, maybe?
And will you miss the feedback?
Ciara says
I am honestly torn, because I’m planning on buying anything you release regardless, but I also really like reading the weekly serial installments and would be somewhat sad to lose that.
AraneArchon says
I’m really not sure what to say.
Currently, I’m reading CoA and you can be sure I’ll buy the books… but I don’t know for sure when. I’m currently pretty much broke and CoA is certainly on my list of things-to-buy-once-I-have-my-own-money (though I’m really skeptical about the delivery services in my country, as they’ve already proved that they have no qualms about fucking people over).
In the meantime I can still read the novel, and I really love that.
I’m just not sure how people treat books normally – I, for one, have a big collection of physical copies of things that I already read by borrowing from a friend or checking out at a library. Maybe other people have a similar idea?
Maybe staying in peoples consciousness with regular(ish) updates isn’t a bad idea.
I have no clue about how book revenues work in a case like this. However, there’s quite some evidence lately that people are quite willing to give money more freely when they don’t _have_ to, right? Y’know, things like Patreon and Subbable?
Speaking of which, I didn’t find you on either website, or I didn’t search well enough.
How about making an account on Patreon, for instance, and setting it so payments go per chapter?
Basically, whatever you choose, I’ll almost certainly be reading it… eventually >_>
Stefan "Twoflower" Gagne says
Yeah, there’s a distinct advantage to free content which has a “patronage” model attached — in my case, with bonus-content based books which are largely free. Those who CAN afford to support me do so, those who can’t can still enjoy the material and are more likely to support me when they can. It’s worked well for me in the past. But, this is also a very non-traditional model, and the vast majority of authors don’t use it. So, I was pondering… is it time for a change? I’m not sure yet.
Either way there WILL be some measure of free content for this project available, you’ve got my word on that. You’ll have plenty of reason to pop by and read!
Also I’m gonna email you a free copy of the vol//003 bonus story. :D Because you made that excellent Bedlam fanart.
Oh, and regarding Patreon, I considered it — I added it as a possible funding option in my reader survery. About 26% of readers said they’d participate in one, which isn’t a whole lot, but I am considering it as an option.
AraneArchon says
Yes, I guess it is an unconventional and non-traditional way of doing things. But, “traditional” for me personally always had a distinct tinge of “outdated”. I know this isn’t always the case, and maybe it’s more due to the country in which I live (a horribly backwards Balkans hole-in-the-ground), so I won’t linger on that.
Progress can be slow, but you might just be spearheading something here.
I wish I could say something smart with certainty.
I guess I wasn’t yet around for that survey, but I’d vote for Patreon. It might also be a good place to stay in touch with a portion of your readers. I’ve heard almost exclusively good things about it, but it might simply not be compatible with your delivery.
I kinda feel like I’m not exactly qualified to give any good advice, though. I’m really bad at predicting trends, but fascinated by Kickstarter, indieGoGo, Subbable et al. and maybe putting too much faith into them.
Also, thank you VERY much for that bonus story :D
I’ll stash it somewhere and keep it safe until its turn comes up.
Marek says
Honestly, either is fine with me. Even with the previous books, I eventually decided to just wait for the physical books. But seeing some of it before helps to see what it’s all about and how much I’ll like it.
K. Willsen says
I would go with a free sample, then sell the book. You’ve been more than generous with your past work, and I enjoying reading your stories online (yes, I am a shameless freeloader) but it seems only fair that you draw the line somewhere. Having enjoyed your previous work, I would be willing to pay to read your next story. (Whether or not “willing” = “able” would depend on the price and availability, but the willing is there!)
However, I understand your concerns over altering the system that you’ve got in place, especially if it’s working well for you. I’m not in a position to offer advice yet, since my first serialised webnovel is still being written, and won’t even start being posted until May next year. In fact, I’m using your model as a rough guide to my own, so I’ll be interested to see what you do.
K. Willsen says
* enjoy not enjoying.
(I’m a writer – I rely on being able to fix stuff in the edit!)
Schadrach says
I’ll probably pick it up either way. You’ve been a consistently good writer over a the course of a fair number of books. But then, I’ve been a fan since you were doing NWN modules.
Qwertystop says
My personal binary-tree on this:
If (it's mostly free like before)
Then (If (I like it)
Then (buy)
Else (don't buy))
Else (...less sure)
(now to find out if that goes through right)
Qwertystop says
…and it didn’t work. I was hoping that
tags would set it to monospace and let me use leading spaces to indent...
But yeah. If most of it is free I'll probably buy it if I like it, but if it's not I'm not so sure. It depends a lot more on the quality of the sample, because there's less of an "owed" feeling weighing in on whether I buy, I think.
Qwertystop says
Okay that’s twice my tags have just vanished. Once trying to use them, once just trying to say what it was I was trying to use. I was trying to use
. without the spaces.
Stefan "Twoflower" Gagne says
I get the gist. No worries!
Qwertystop says
WHAT THE HECK. Apparently adding spaces inside the angle brackets doesn’t matter?
“code.” But with angle brackets and no dot. Does that go through?