The Eden Cycle Trilogy

[jon_chaisson]

The Eden Cycle Trilogy
(this section x-posted to jonchaisson--sorry if anyone's seeing this twice)

First off, after reading a certain passage in John Scalzi's You're Not Fooling Anyone You Take Your Laptop to a Coffee Shop about his posting Old Man's War on his website before it got published, it's kind of made me think about possibly doing that myself. And yesterday bonniers mentioned the same thing on her LJ. Out of all the writing I have, I believe the Eden Cycle Trilogy is prime for this same thing.

Of course, it's a double-edged sword: there are those who are going to say that this will nix any possibility of it being professionally published (read: it's free on the internet, why should we lose money publishing it?), but at the same time there's the possibility (like Old Man's War, actually) where it does eventually get picked up and published.

I'm going to be blunt and honest here--as much as I love the trilogy and think it's one of my favorite projects I've ever written, it's far from being my best work, and I doubt I'll ever be able to find the time to completely rewrite it to the point of it being picked up by a major publisher. I've come to the conclusion that if I do end up publishing this online, then it will have found a good home and others will be able to read it. Many of my writing friends out there have already read at least the first book, and while it still needs work, they did enjoy it, so I know at least someone out there would check it out.

I also want to bring up the fact that the trilogy has a considerable amount of backstory, worldbuilding, maps, notes, reference and outtakes (its original idea, The Phoenix Effect, included). Utilizing these things as multimedia "extras" would be a lot of fun to work with. I could even keep an ongoing separate blog tied in with it, explaining how the scene was written or thoughts and memories about writing it. If you haven't guessed already, I could easily see the whole trilogy project as the online version of a Special Edition DVD--a director's cut with commentary, outtakes, pictures and other fun easter eggs. I mean, why not?

Am I annoyed that I possibly wouldn't make one thin dime out of it? I was for awhile, and to an extent it still feels like I'd be giving up in a way, but I've been over it for awhile now. Am I shooting myself in the foot, effectively throwing this ginormous project away, all this work for nothing? Maybe, but that's looking at it from the point of view of novel-as-potential-paycheck. I don't think I'm throwing it away; in fact, this is more along the lines of giving it the outlet it desperately needs. It's not doing anything, its paper versions gathering dust on our bedroom bookshelf and closet, and the digital version sitting around doing nothing on my hard drive (don't worry, kids--I have it saved elsewhere too).

I would love to hear what people think about this idea...

Comments

[dollydelusion.livejournal.com]

Idea 1: Publish it online free on a site of your own that has banner ads that you can earn money via pay-per-click

Idea 2: Publish it online free on a site of your own withOUT banners but add a paypal donation button for people that would like to donate after reading.

Idea 3: Publish it online free but make a lulu.com profile, format it and all that stuff and offer it as a digital download for x-number of dollars and as a book perhaps and see if people will buy it.

Or try variations of all three at some point or another and see what works best.

I don't think you should make it completely free and not generate any cake from this because this is your work and whether you think it's your best or not, you put time and effort into this and you should turn some sort of a profit from it. Even if it's not an exorbitant amount.

[joncwriter.livejournal.com]

SWEET! Thanks for the suggestions!!! I kinda figured you'd know a bit about this, having self-published your music already... :p

My comments below--

1: Interesting, but not sure if I want banner ads...it's an idea, though!

2: This one is definitely a possibility. I know a lot of webcomics do this as well, to varying degrees (some don't offer archives or only offer certain day's cartoons until you actually pay for it, but others post a PayPal link with the line "We're broke, please donate" :p). It's something to think about, and one I'd probably choose if I don't do #3 (see below)...

3: This one I REALLY like, and am tempted to try this one. Sure, it's a lot of wishing and hoping people would be interested enough in it to merit it (although it's not as if I'd be losing much money with it being POD...). The only problem with this one is that it would end up being a crapshoot--who knows who would actually want to buy it?

Looks like I'm going to have to do some more serious thinking and planning about this. I definitely want to see this one through, though. Will keep you posted!

Thanks again!!! :) *HUGS*

[bonniers.livejournal.com]

But it's a crapshoot anyway, isn't it? Who knows if a publisher will ever actually want to buy it? They'll only do it if they think readers will buy it, so you're in the same spot, really.

[dollydelusion.livejournal.com]

Anytime :) The great thing about lulu is that you're not paying anything up front so you really lose nothing at all. That's why I ended up going with them because most places want you to purchase a certain number up front or pay for some aspect of their services. Lulu is completely DIY unless you WANT to purchase the services in terms of formatting and what not. If you need help with such things I can certainly lend a hand as I did everything on my own. :)

[joncwriter.livejournal.com]

I may just hit you up on that--I'll let you know! Thanks! :)

[dollydelusion.livejournal.com]

We also must remember that I can hook you up with a banner and bring you some pub from my fan base since I love to promote my friends' work via my music so you'd at least have the potential of 4,000+ people at one time or another seeing your name affiliated with EN. I love the abuse of power that comes from minor internet celebrity in the "scene."

[joncwriter.livejournal.com]

Like I said to abennettstrong just a few moments ago, I had that in mind at the beginning. I definitely want to do banner ads, but I'm not sure what art I'll have.