Novel is imperfect, but free---would it interest you?

[ficbot]

I wrote a novel for National Novel Writing Month a few years ago. At the time, I thought it was The Best Thing I Ever Wrote and that with some polishing, it may be worth putting out there. I still think it's not a bad little story---it moves a tad too briskly, perhaps, and the subplot isn't what it maybe should be. It has some nice moments, and I like it. I've since moved on to other projects, but in spite of the novel not being perfect, I think it's good enough to maybe put out there somehow.

Obviously, I would not sell it if it is not a polished, final novel. But I was thinking that perhaps if I released it for free it might at minimum be worth a 'nice job, Ficbot' comment or two, which is more than I have gotten so far by keeping it on my computer where nobody but me can see it. And perhaps it might a) get me a bit of an audience so that if I release something else later, there will be readers or b) perhaps some of the readers may be moved to send me some constructive feedback which might help me edit the novel into something perhaps commercially viable. I do not have huge ambitions in that regard and am happy to be an indie ebook author, maybe with Books for a Buck or some such thing. But maybe if people did enjoy the freebie 'draft' and had suggestions, I could re-release the book later in an altered form...

Would such a thing interest people? Would you guys be willing to read my book if it was free, and might it perhaps help me either gain an audience or gain some nice comments or constructive feedback or some other type of reader-author rapport which might benefit both parties? Or am I just opening myself up for 'but YOUR book wasn't perfect!' every time I write a comment about another book when I post here?

[Dr. Drib]

Absolutely, to your questions and to your concerns.

Might I also suggest that you make it available here on MobileRead? In my other incarnation (temporarily on hold here while I deal with "difficult" people [hahaha]), I assembled quite a number of books for MobileRead.

If you have your book available as a RTF or html file, then I'd be happy to put it out as an LRF (Sony) file.

I'd be happy to offer my constructive criticism. (Of course, I might then send you my novel, one that deals with dead cats and lawn-mowers....Just joking!)

Don

[Renaldo]

If you want to put it out there, by all means please do!

I 'won' NaNoWriMo in 2005 when I did it. I don't think I'd let another soul read it. If you want to put yours up, I support it 100%.

[dreams]

Originally Posted by ficbot

I wrote a novel for National Novel Writing Month a few years ago. At the time, I thought it was The Best Thing I Ever Wrote and that with some polishing, it may be worth putting out there.
.....
But I was thinking that perhaps if I released it for free it might at minimum be worth a 'nice job, Ficbot' comment or two, which is more than I have gotten so far by keeping it on my computer where nobody but me can see it.
.....
Would such a thing interest people? ....

May I say , ficbot just for writing a story in the first place. Many of us haven't even attempted that.

Originally Posted by Renaldo

If you want to put it out there, by all means please do!
.......
If you want to put yours up, I support it 100%.

I love reading anything new. By all means, please share. (Remember that the reason we have so many genres and authors out there is because of the wide variety of tastes in reading. No one author or genre will please everyone. All authors have editors -paid or unpaid- that give critiques and cause the author to rewrite before it ever becomes a finished work for a particular section of the population.)

Originally Posted by Dr. Drib

Absolutely, to your questions and to your concerns.

........
If you have your book available as a RTF or html file, then I'd be happy to put it out as an LRF (Sony) file.
......

Don

I would love to have it in the epub or lrf format to make it easier to read.

[ficbot]

Maybe I will put it on Feedbooks, would that be good? That way, people can pick their own format...

I just figure there has to be something better to do with it than just leave it on my computer. Any feedback I get, positive or constructive, would be wonderful! I really would not take money for it at this point---it's good, in my opinion, but I wrote it more for fun. If it ever got revised into something a little better researched and more 'complete' than perhaps

All right, here's my synopsis

HEL'S ANGEL
by (Pen name TBA)

Helena is coasting comfortably along as a fairly hack journalist in a small college town when suddenly, she stumbles upon a real, legitimate story---her estranged father dies under mysterious circumstances, leaving her with an odd little brother to care for. And if that weren't bad enough, her arch-rival Alex Calvin is after the story she needs to support her sudden family. Does she have what it takes to get the big scoop, now that she's after a story that matters?

[Moejoe]

Originally Posted by ficbot

Maybe I will put it on Feedbooks, would that be good? That way, people can pick their own format...

I just figure there has to be something better to do with it than just leave it on my computer. Any feedback I get, positive or constructive, would be wonderful! I really would not take money for it at this point---it's good, in my opinion, but I wrote it more for fun. If it ever got revised into something a little better researched and more 'complete' than perhaps

All right, here's my synopsis

HEL'S ANGEL
by (Pen name TBA)

Helena is coasting comfortably along as a fairly hack journalist in a small college town when suddenly, she stumbles upon a real, legitimate story---her estranged father dies under mysterious circumstances, leaving her with an odd little brother to care for. And if that weren't bad enough, her arch-rival Alex Calvin is after the story she needs to support her sudden family. Does she have what it takes to get the big scoop, now that she's after a story that matters?

Put it up there on Feedbooks, if it makes you any happier insert a note into the description saying it's a work in progress or whatever you like. There's an old saying, can't remember where I heard it but it goes something like this:

All fiction is unfinished until it has an audience

give your work an audience, see what happens from thereon in. You don't lose anything, you might even gain

[Elsi]

I agree with the above posters -- I'd love to read your novel. And, if I find it enjoyable, I'd be happy to drop a few bucks into a tip jar. You probably won't get rich off of the MobileRead crowd, but you might pick up enough to buy a cup of coffee.

[columbus]

Along with the others, I am waiting for the chance to read it!!