2 ms·

I suspect much of this won't work at all for fiction... but then again, is that true? Would you read an incomplete piece of fiction and provide feedback to hel

by swombat 17y ago

I suspect much of this won't work at all for fiction... but then again, is that true? Would you read an incomplete piece of fiction and provide feedback to help shape its direction? And, as an author, would you take people's advice about how you're supposed to change your baby to suit their demands? For non-fiction books, though, this is a no-brainer.

patio11 17y ago
A lot of authors I read rely on "beta readers" right now (largely drawn from the fanfiction communities where they got their start writing for an audience), but the actual publication of the book is still a one-shot. It is sort of the pro-am convergence coming to fiction publishing, in a lot of ways. An anecdote on the general subject: I bought Gratuitous Space Battles while it was still in a highly volatile beta state and, while it was interesting enough for me to not ask for my $20 back, the balance was broken, the controls were a mess, and the game did not quite live up to my expectations given the premise. It improved later but I had already "consumed" the game -- I didn't want to re-play levels that I found repetitive/unchallenging/overly challenging even if the new versions were much improved, because I had already sucked out the "new game smell" (new mechanics, new graphics, etc) that I was there for. So in that particular instance, I got a bit burned by the release-early, release-often suggestion that I'm generally a big proponent of. However, the company certainly benefited -- they get to keep my $20 and the game is probably better today as a result of having folks provide feedback for improvement during the beta.
spatten 17y ago
Peter and I are both really curious about how fiction books will work with Leanpub. As you say, we think it's a slam dunk for non-fiction books (both Peter and I have written non-fiction books, so we have a bit of experience here). For fiction, I think it's a really interesting and open question. Dickens, for example, wrote all of his books in serialized format and wrote them a chunk at a time, publishing them as he wrote them (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Dickens http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Dickens). This was an unusual way to write serialized novels, but Dickens was no slouch and he (in my opinion) stands the test of time. Did he receive and welcome feedback as he wrote? I don't know the answer to that (I'm a coder and physicist, not an English Lit major :), but I can imagine that he got feedback whether he welcomed it or not. My guess is that for certain types of fiction, and certain types of authors, Leanpub will work really well. Others will run screaming from the very thought of it. Hopefully Leanpub will help us find out more.
- peterarmstrong 17y ago
  As Scott points out, some great novels have been published in serial form. We're not claiming that this has to be the rule though. However, there's another interesting question: how many good or great novels are sitting half-written on hard drives right now as Word documents, with a discouraged author about to give up on them? If those novels were published as they were written (with automatic distribution of updates and a community of a few passionate readers / fans), maybe some novels worth reading will get created that otherwise might not be... That said, the obvious market for the Lean Publishing approach is, of course, technical books. Scott and I have both written computer books, so we're very much scratching our own itch here. Another great market for using Lean Publishing principles is cookbooks, we feel. Lots of people are blogging and even tweeting cookbooks (although I want more than a 140 character recipe!), and this is definitely something that could be published using a Lean Publishing approach. Neither of us have any idea if it will work for fiction :) Obligatory plug: we welcome computer books, cookbooks and even novels on Leanpub :)

by swombat 17y ago

patio11 17y ago

A lot of authors I read rely on "beta readers" right now (largely drawn from the fanfiction communities where they got their start writing for an audience), but the actual publication of the book is still a one-shot. It is sort of the pro-am convergence coming to fiction publishing, in a lot of ways. An anecdote on the general subject: I bought Gratuitous Space Battles while it was still in a highly volatile beta state and, while it was interesting enough for me to not ask for my $20 back, the balance was broken, the controls were a mess, and the game did not quite live up to my expectations given the premise. It improved later but I had already "consumed" the game -- I didn't want to re-play levels that I found repetitive/unchallenging/overly challenging even if the new versions were much improved, because I had already sucked out the "new game smell" (new mechanics, new graphics, etc) that I was there for. So in that particular instance, I got a bit burned by the release-early, release-often suggestion that I'm generally a big proponent of. However, the company certainly benefited -- they get to keep my $20 and the game is probably better today as a result of having folks provide feedback for improvement during the beta.

spatten 17y ago

Peter and I are both really curious about how fiction books will work with Leanpub. As you say, we think it's a slam dunk for non-fiction books (both Peter and I have written non-fiction books, so we have a bit of experience here). For fiction, I think it's a really interesting and open question. Dickens, for example, wrote all of his books in serialized format and wrote them a chunk at a time, publishing them as he wrote them (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Dickens http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Charles_Dickens). This was an unusual way to write serialized novels, but Dickens was no slouch and he (in my opinion) stands the test of time. Did he receive and welcome feedback as he wrote? I don't know the answer to that (I'm a coder and physicist, not an English Lit major :), but I can imagine that he got feedback whether he welcomed it or not. My guess is that for certain types of fiction, and certain types of authors, Leanpub will work really well. Others will run screaming from the very thought of it. Hopefully Leanpub will help us find out more.

peterarmstrong 17y ago
As Scott points out, some great novels have been published in serial form. We're not claiming that this has to be the rule though. However, there's another interesting question: how many good or great novels are sitting half-written on hard drives right now as Word documents, with a discouraged author about to give up on them? If those novels were published as they were written (with automatic distribution of updates and a community of a few passionate readers / fans), maybe some novels worth reading will get created that otherwise might not be... That said, the obvious market for the Lean Publishing approach is, of course, technical books. Scott and I have both written computer books, so we're very much scratching our own itch here. Another great market for using Lean Publishing principles is cookbooks, we feel. Lots of people are blogging and even tweeting cookbooks (although I want more than a 140 character recipe!), and this is definitely something that could be published using a Lean Publishing approach. Neither of us have any idea if it will work for fiction :) Obligatory plug: we welcome computer books, cookbooks and even novels on Leanpub :)