Yes, I’ve been building up to this for some time, with little nuggets of hyperbole like “evil” and “awesome” (which, admittedly, I stole. ‘Cuz I liked it.)
Well, now it can be told, but not shown.
‘Cuz I’m not done with it yet.
But it’s all good, and I’ll explain why after the jump.
As some of you know, I wrote a novel some time back called Road Rules, which my agent and a couple of editors liked very much. Too bad we couldn’t get it past any marketing meetings.
So Svetlana and I punted and will be shopping something else in the near future.
In the meantime, real life and a brief flirtation with standup kept me from writing short stories for quite a while. The net effect is I have hardly any new fiction out there right now. That’s right. Nothing to read.
And I have this hard-to-sell novel. I like it. My agent likes it. But it’s sort of hard to place. Yet we had fun with this project.
So… No new fiction. Novel that’s quite readable but hard to market…
We talked it over and decided to offer Road Rules online.
Now this is not a wholly original idea. Slews of authors have posted their novels online. I remember one in particular that was so bad it literally gave me a headache. And to be honest, if all I was doing was putting it online, it’d look a little desperate. I might as well pack it in as a writer or consign myself to a career of publishing with pathetic POD mills, buying copies to hawk out of my trunk. (Don’t get me started on that.)
No, it’s not a case of “But… but… but… I deserve to be published!!!” If it were between sticking Road Rules in a drawer and just throwing it out there demanding everyone read (*Gasp!*) My Baby, it’s a big drawer. I’m sure I’ll be tossing lots of stuff in there in the coming years.
Instead, it occurred to me I could do much more. I’m big on moving publishing into the electronic age. Yes, other authors have offered free ebooks as well. This goes beyond that.
In the past few years, we’ve been treated to the Kindle and the iPhone. The iPhone has spawned the Storm, the Android, etc. The cell phone, the PDA, and what used to be the laptop are merging rapidly. Nearly every book published today has a Kindle edition. And now Amazon is making Kindle books available for the iPhone.
At the same time, I got into web design. Granted, my first forays did not go so well. But I also needed to beef up my skills. Making a mobile friendly site using WordPress sounded like a challenge.
So does putting up a podcast. And why would I do that?
Because audio is a huge component of publishing’s coming electronic age. And for an author flying without a publisher, podcasting is the best way to present material via sound.
Which brings us back to Road Rules.
“Well, Jim, where is it?”
Glad you asked. I’ll post the web site details as soon as the work is finished. Road Rules itself will begin appearing on April 16, one day after you (if you live in America) file your taxes. Taxes are stressful. Don’t you think you deserve a road trip to hell?
No?
Well, my characters do. And you’ll get to see it. One chapter a week.
Starting April 16, I’ll post a scene a day, probably more that first week. Each weekend, I send out a full chapter as a podcast. When it’s all finished, I’ll make the full collection of podcasts available, along with a free download in ebook format.
In the meantime, let me know what you think. Career suicide? A way to waste time on your morning commute? You tell me.
Edged in Blue 
Well, when you’re trying to sell your next book, and everyone at the publisher LOVES it, I don’t think someone will suddenly say “Wait! He gave away a book online! NO SOUP FOR YOU!” So don’t worry about that.
I personally think it’s worth a shot. If it’s great, you’ll get a lot of attention. If it sucks, it will sink without a trace. So the risk/reward ratio is very much in your favor.
Looking forward to it (in the best possible awesome way, of course).
P.S. I understand Mark Twain, Dostoevsky, and Sir Thomas More also had to post their works online for similar reasons. It worked for them; should also work for you (fingers crossed).
Sounds like a great idea. Especially the podcast.
After all, you got to get your work out there somehow, so why not this way? I’ve been thinking of doing something like this as well, once I get something worth putting out there (so the four novels I’ve got already will stay in their nice, hermetically-sealed jars of Hellman’s Mayonaise on Funk & Wagnall’s porch).