I enjoyed the comments, suggestions, and the many kind remarks about my work. Thanks. The suggestions in particular have been noted. We want to make this the best site we can create (which also means "we can afford".)
The reason for writing an episodic series like SHADOWMARCH is very simple: I already write novels, so I thought it might be interesting, fun, and challenging to try doing something different. During the years of my professional writing career, I've also started up an interactive television business and co-produced video and film projects, all of which were funded by money I put up myself. (And none of which have made me any profit. Oh well.) It's nice to experiment. Change is good.
I also like working in different ways. Back in my theater days, I loved to do improv. I like spontaneity. By the time I publish a novel, even if it's only part of a larger story, I've had months to think about it, rework it, change it. There's not really a practical way to write installment fiction for ordinary publication unless you're Stephen King and can convince a publisher to let you do something like THE GREEN MILE. But I'm not Stephen King (an arrangement that Steve must wake up every morning saying "hallelujah!" about.) And even GREEN MILE is more like a regular novel than I'm interested in trying here. I have -no idea- where the plot of SHADOWMARCH is going and that makes an exciting change.
I'm not doing it to make money, although I'll be very pleased if I do, and can only afford to -lose- money for a while. In fact, I can't imagine anyone doing online fiction at this point in time with money-making as a primary goal. Yes, Stephen King made half a million, but he makes a huge amount more than that with any of his regular novels, which don't take any more time to write.
So I'm doing it mostly because I want to. I hope people will like it.
We (I'm now speaking also of the four other people involved in getting the site up) are going to try to make something fun and involving. We'll make mistakes, I'm sure of it. There will be times when we're overambitious. But I can promise these things:
- We'll make it as easy to use as we can -- trust me on this: it's to our advantage more than anyone else's.
- We'll make the price as low and fair as we can. We've never done this before, so we're still trying to figure out how much work it's going to take from me and the producers, how much we're going to have to earn to support it, etc. I promise we will do our absolute best to make a price and stick to it, and create a payment system and stick to it.
- We'll be as transparent about it as is practical and sensible. That is, we'll treat our readers as intelligent people and keep them informed. If we have to change something, or we've made a major miscalculation about format or something, we'll tell the truth.
- Even if we've made a mistake, we WON'T suddenly up the rate once someone has subscribed. This seems obvious to me: a subscription is a contract. But if we've badly misjudged what we need to make to stay afloat, we may then have to offer a higher price at the next season-subscription. (As of now, we plan to run in six-month "seasons".)
(Remember, we're paying for this site ourselves, so if we make an error and underprice, or don't get enough readers, that means we'll be in the red for that season and paying for it out of our -- the "us" being me and my family -- own pocket. Contrast that with writing a regular novel where the publishers pay me before I even start, and ask yourself "What kind of idiot is this guy?" If you come up with an answer, let me know.)
I appreciate the interest here and elsewhere on the net. I hope some of you will check us out, make suggestions, get involved, and most of all, read the thing. Who knows -- it might turn out pretty good...
Slashdot Mirror
I enjoyed the comments, suggestions, and the many kind remarks about my work. Thanks. The suggestions in particular have been noted. We want to make this the best site we can create (which also means "we can afford".)
The reason for writing an episodic series like SHADOWMARCH is very simple: I already write novels, so I thought it might be interesting, fun, and challenging to try doing something different. During the years of my professional writing career, I've also started up an interactive television business and co-produced video and film projects, all of which were funded by money I put up myself. (And none of which have made me any profit. Oh well.) It's nice to experiment. Change is good.
I also like working in different ways. Back in my theater days, I loved to do improv. I like spontaneity. By the time I publish a novel, even if it's only part of a larger story, I've had months to think about it, rework it, change it. There's not really a practical way to write installment fiction for ordinary publication unless you're Stephen King and can convince a publisher to let you do something like THE GREEN MILE. But I'm not Stephen King (an arrangement that Steve must wake up every morning saying "hallelujah!" about.) And even GREEN MILE is more like a regular novel than I'm interested in trying here. I have -no idea- where the plot of SHADOWMARCH is going and that makes an exciting change.
I'm not doing it to make money, although I'll be very pleased if I do, and can only afford to -lose- money for a while. In fact, I can't imagine anyone doing online fiction at this point in time with money-making as a primary goal. Yes, Stephen King made half a million, but he makes a huge amount more than that with any of his regular novels, which don't take any more time to write.
So I'm doing it mostly because I want to. I hope people will like it.
We (I'm now speaking also of the four other people involved in getting the site up) are going to try to make something fun and involving. We'll make mistakes, I'm sure of it. There will be times when we're overambitious. But I can promise these things:
- We'll make it as easy to use as we can -- trust me on this: it's to our advantage more than anyone else's.
- We'll make the price as low and fair as we can. We've never done this before, so we're still trying to figure out how much work it's going to take from me and the producers, how much we're going to have to earn to support it, etc. I promise we will do our absolute best to make a price and stick to it, and create a payment system and stick to it.
- We'll be as transparent about it as is practical and sensible. That is, we'll treat our readers as intelligent people and keep them informed. If we have to change something, or we've made a major miscalculation about format or something, we'll tell the truth.
- Even if we've made a mistake, we WON'T suddenly up the rate once someone has subscribed. This seems obvious to me: a subscription is a contract. But if we've badly misjudged what we need to make to stay afloat, we may then have to offer a higher price at the next season-subscription. (As of now, we plan to run in six-month "seasons".)
(Remember, we're paying for this site ourselves, so if we make an error and underprice, or don't get enough readers, that means we'll be in the red for that season and paying for it out of our -- the "us" being me and my family -- own pocket. Contrast that with writing a regular novel where the publishers pay me before I even start, and ask yourself "What kind of idiot is this guy?" If you come up with an answer, let me know.)
I appreciate the interest here and elsewhere on the net. I hope some of you will check us out, make suggestions, get involved, and most of all, read the thing. Who knows -- it might turn out pretty good...
Tad Williams