>>> Item number 10628 from WRITERS LOG9303E --- (143 records) ---- <<< Date: Wed, 31 Mar 1993 17:05:01 JST Reply-To: WRITERS Sender: WRITERS From: Mike Barker Subject: Re: TECH: Sharewrite - A dream? catch-up time, as the net slows... - Is this really a dream or is this possible now? I'm interested. - How do I go about this? Karen Lowe Karen, as far as I can tell the technology is already here. I.e., the pc (or other computer) you write on, the BBS, networks, and listservers, and readers "out there". For software programs, shareware is already a strong, going method of distribution. The section headed THE SHAREWRITE ANSWER provides a brief outline of the process as I envision it. Tell me (I'm from the technonerd community, and sometimes can't see problems), do you understand that section? Tell you what, let me outline the steps, and you tell me which one(s) you don't understand. Ok? 1. Write your book (collection, etc.) 2. Select a part to distribute on the BBS and networks 3. Add a distribution notice to that extracted part (include permission to distribute part and directions to obtain the complete book) 4. Post copies of the extract to all BBS, networks, etc. you can (you may be able to "upload" instead of posting - check with your local system adminstrators) 5. Wait 6. When orders arrive, make a disk copy (or paper copy) and ship The economic side of the picture is a little bit shakier, in terms of simple cost. I.e., books and magazine prices, while constantly rising, aren't that much more expensive than I think the sharewrite author's prices will need to be to break even or get a small profit. However, I think the real key to sharewrite is the size of the audience required for a book. According to at least one article I've seen, most books need a minimum press run over 5,000 to break even (anyone have a better figure?). Smaller anticipated audiences either pay exorbitant prices (e.g. limited run books, vanity press) or are ignored (not printed). But given the simplicity of copying on a pc, the individual author CAN directly provide copies. If you want the software comparison, Microsoft claims that they cannot afford to publish a program unless there are one million copies to be sold. Most other software publishers will accept smaller audiences (er, markets), but they do demand fairly hefty numbers before they start gearing up for production. At least part of the shareware market consists of "niche" audiences - small groups looking for carefully targetted software, if you'll excuse the tech lingo. Brad yeah, it'll be a long haul. but didn't someone near you point out that a thousand-mile trip starts with one step? gotta get folks started taking that first step. -Your idea of giving out sample chapters and then selling the rest on -disk is good. However I think it will suffer from the short -attention span and laziness of people on the net. Most people who -want to buy your book would do so if it was easy and fast. Writing -out a check and sending it by snailmail and then waiting for weeks to -receive it is not difficult, but it is not fast and many potential -sales will be lost. Most shareware does it this way, and some people are drawing heavy amounts of money that way. 'Sides, Brad, I'm not really trying to topple the normal printing industry (although I can hope:-), I'm just drawing out an alternative that I think writers should be aware of. Actually, I'd expect most writers to submit their work to the normal press, then fall back to sharewrite if/when they fail there. If sharewrite becomes a common practice, of course, the process might flip, with writers first using sharewrite and only letting publishers talk to them when the audience reaction demands mass printing. -A possible solution is to place the book on something like a -commercial WAIS server where people can set up a credit card account -and then telnet the text whenever they want. Another idea is to see -if bookstores who now accept orders by internet, are willing to sell -the disks for you on spec. Both good ideas (what bookstores accept orders by internet?), but I was trying to stick to something that an individual author can do now. If the notion catches fire, I'd expect services such as this to spring up. I guess my main frustration is in thinking about how many books are being lost because people don't realize the alternatives to ordinary printing which are available. This one seems simple to me and workable, but I haven't seen people doing it. Maybe I should have headed my piece the publishing route not taken? Same comments apply to pricing - I'm not looking so much at trying to compete head-on with similar products as at providing an alternative for the small ("niche") products whose audiences can't buy a 4 buck paperback because the books are not being printed. Frankly, even for similar products, I'd be willing to pay similar prices given the added certainty that reading a chapter would give me. I've spent too much on books that looked good by the cover and quick skim I felt like doing standing in a bookstore, but were really bad. (Incidentally - 4? When was the last time you were in the States? More like 5 or 6, even for skinny mass pulps, I think) I think there is a difference between software and writing "products" in that while spreadsheet A and B are likely to be relatively interchangeable, most books (and authors) even from true hacks in a genre are more distinct. That means you don't need to be massively inexpensive compared to the normal press - you just need a way to advertise your style to your readers, and that is what I think we have the technology to do relatively easily. Freewrite ... Brad, you didn't sneak a peak at my earlier drafts, did you? I had a rabble-rousing section about exactly that, then cut it because that is such a big jump for most authors. If we ever get into that, then CD-ROM collections start to make sense (for a 1,000 disk run, reproduction costs are rumored to run about 2 bucks a disk. Imagine 600 novels for, say, 12 bucks - letting the collater collect rughly 10,000 dollars profit. Problem comes in paying back the authors, but for freewrite, that's not necessary). Incidentally, there's Project Gutenburg busily collecting public domain writings, people seem much happier now about downloading 100K or 200K files (thanks to faster modems), and there are other hints that electronic alternatives to the standard print methods of text distribution are about to take off. I think the market is big enough, what we mostly need are creative people putting together the methods and showing everyone what is possible. As you say, I should cut off before this runs on even longer. My main point is that current technology provides alternative publishing methods that aren't being used. The best one I've come up with that still offers the author some return and is easily implemented is sharewrite. No fancy software necessary (just leave the text in ASCII as a "standard" book), no additional startup costs, just borrow the shareware model and go! dreaming brightly hopes mike