Way back in the fall of 2010, I participated in the month of craziness known as National Novel Writing Month (NaNoWriMo). If you’re not familiar with this madness, each November writers set out to write a novel in 30 days. See, I told you it was madness. I completed the task and thus my first novel, Talkeetna Trouble was born.
I was intimidated at first and then as I hit my writing goal (and then some) for each day, I became more engrossed. It was pretty amazing, actually. Before I knew it, characters were saying and doing things of their own accord. I let the story flow.
When it was finished, I printed out the manuscript and decided to let it sit for a while.
Fast forward to August of 2012. It popped into my head that it would be an interesting experiment to publish the book on Kindle “as is.” Talk about madness. It occurred to me that there might be some intrigue involved with allowing readers to see a manuscript in its raw form. No polish whatsoever.
I figure one of two things is going to happen. Either the readers are going to be hip to seeing the seedy underbelly of writing, or they will be so annoyed that they throw the thing in the trash – Kindle and all. Now I have just enough faith in folks to believe that they will be more fascinated than disgusted. We’ll see.
I put a huge disclaimer in the Amazon book description, letting potential readers what was in store for them. I also emblazoned the cover with “Raw and Uncut.” I really would hate for someone to not realize they were participants in this grand experiment.
Which direction do you think this will go? Are books like sausage and laws where you enjoy the result but don’t really want to see how they’re made? Or will there be a market for raw books?
Doing this kind of experiment is really good…I want to try this also..thanks a lot for sharing with us..
Natalie´s last [type] ..Vacation Traveling
I think it will be snapped up because we are curious people… writers love to see others’ process. I do hope you’ll report back on how this goes.
And, good for you for being willing to take this risk!
Walker Thornton´s last [type] ..Women, Film and WIGS-Strong Positive Films For and About Women
Thank you so much Walker. I do have high hopes for feedback if nothing else!
Cheers,
George
It worked for Indie musicians, so why not with books? I think it’s got great appeal in the current market. Good luck with it, and I look forward to reading about its success!
Derek Haines´s last [type] ..Understanding Self Publishing
Very nice to see you here, Derek.
I hesitated for quite a bit because I felt that in some respects, I was throwing the novel away. I will keep folks up on the experiment, you can count on that!
Good day.
George
Hi George,
The Amazon link on your photo does not work. I will go check it out.
I do not know if I want to read “raw and uncut” but I applaud your testing this model. If you have something written, and you know of a way to use it, then following up on that urge will lead to more opportunities.
Are you thinking about trying Nanowrimo again, perhaps with an outline this time?
Tammi Kibler´s last [type] ..Doesn’t Suck Doesn’t Cut It When Striving for Excellence
Hi Tami,
Thanks for the heads up on the link. I’ll check it out and see what’s up.
I understand the hesitation in reading an unedited book. I think it will probably drive most writers a little buggy.
No plans for NaNoWriMo this year, but that’s always subject to change. If I do, there still will be no outlining for me. I just can’t write that way, it feels like I’m writing a term paper and it kills my creativity.
Nice to see you again.
George