What might successful on-line fiction look like? Some thoughts:
It would be serialized. Like Dickens, or any of the penny-dreadfuls, on-line fiction would probably need to be serialized. Subscriptions, or feeds, could thus be enabled.
Each episode would be short. Technology does not seem to encourage lengthy perusal, or extended meditation. The reader could easily capture the day's episode on their iPhone, or what-have-you.
Each episode would attempt to chart and excite desire. This one has always seemed like a no-brainer, but it is usually the obvious that needs expressing.
More anon, as the possibilities occur. And, as ever, throw your own thoughts into the stew.
How would one make money, you suppose?
ReplyDeleteThat's the real question, isn't it? I'm thinking a serial subscription could be sent via iTunes for, say, a nickel over the cost of production. Similarly with podcasts. The Japanese have been doing this for the last few years, sending serialized installations to cell-phones. Inexpensive subscription rates, something (usually prurient) to read on the subway. Some of these have been published as books, much to the embarrassment of the mostly-very-young writers who got the ball rolling. But because the books are riding the initial success of the subscription, they're also easy profit markers. I'm wondering if that mightn't work out here in the wild west.
ReplyDeleteI'm waiting for someone with cojones, a far-reaching mind, and a playful nature to start that her in the States.
ReplyDeleteI'd say someone like Dave Eggers.
Hey...wait a minute...does this qualify as his first foray?
I hadn't seen that. I must admit it "excites desire" -- a first for the McSweeney's Corp.
ReplyDeleteHmmm serialized or...more like
ReplyDeletesterilized
when you shorten
literary works to fit a 10 second attention span.
Like sands through the hour glass, so go the days of our lives...