Writers make it online

PETER GRIFFIN talks to first-time authors who have ventured into the brave new world of e-publishing.

New Zealand writers are taking their novels to the world via the internet, but most are hanging on to their day jobs because they find it hard to make e-publishing pay.

It is the private fantasy of a surprising number of New Zealanders - to pen a novel that could sit proudly beside New Zealand classics such as Man Alone, The Bone People or Once Were Warriors.

The unfortunate reality for aspiring scribes is that New Zealand's publishing industry is a relatively closed shop. Thousands of manuscripts land on editors' desks around the country every year. Most return to their authors with a brief rejection slip.

But just as the internet has given the traditional music industry a new lease of life in the form of MP3 music files, the web is opening up new, albeit overseas, publishing opportunities.

While New Zealanders have not bought into the personal digital assistant (PDA) hype to the same extent as the Americans and British, many who have invested in PalmPilots or similar handheld computers have the ability to download entire novels for as little as $1.

Dedicated e-book readers such as Franklin's recently launched e-bookman allow readers access to the pages of thousands of novels on a paperback-sized screen.

Nelson-based writer Loren Teague is one of dozens of New Zealand writers who are making a go of their craft online. Her debut novel, Jagged Greenstone, was released by US online publisher New Concepts last May.

Teague's book was a recent runner-up in the UK Romantic Novelists Association New Writers Award, but you won't find her 65,000-word romantic thriller reviewed in coffee table magazines. In "online circles," however, her work is drawing attention.

Teague came across New Concepts while surfing the web, and with little interest in Jagged Greenstone from New Zealand publishing houses she decided to try submitting online.

She e-mailed to the e-publisher a couple of chapters with a brief plot summary, expecting a quick response via e-mail.

In fact, she had to wait seven months before an editor replied confirming that New Concepts was interested in publishing her work.

Although happy with the process so far, Teague has no firm idea how her book is expected to earn. It sells for $US3.99 to $US5.99 depending on whether it is downloaded as a portable digital file (PDF) or delivered on a floppy disk. She earns 30 per cent in royalties on each copy sold and is eagerly awaiting news of how Jagged Greenstone has been selling.

"I'm a bit scared to ask, to be honest. I've really no idea of how much I may make out of it, but it's great to be part of a pioneering industry."

Teague has already completed her second novel, An Irish Promise, which will also be published online and is substantially longer at 90,000 words.

Other New Zealand writers publishing online have made similar modest progress. Fiction writer and freelancer Sue Ames is making a tidy sum publishing articles online, but says it is a dicey outlet for first-time fiction writers.

"A lot of people are on the net at the moment because print publishers won't look at them. As everyone knows, the net is inundated with con artists and dreamers.

"Writers have been sucked in, but as things shake down, more and more quality sites are appearing and, along with that, a better quality of writing. If you're already a big name it would be okay, but for new writers, forget it."

Ames says the real money in online publishing at the moment lies in non-fiction articles.

"I'm usually paid in American dollars, which translates very nicely at the moment thank you."

The major publishing houses have made moves to publish their authors in electronic format, but publishing books solely online is yet to receive the endorsement of the heavyweights.

HarperCollins broke ranks last week to launch an international e-book programme called PerfectBound.

Its first e-book is Nobel Prize-winning author Gao Xingjian's Soul Mountain, downloadable from ebooks.com for $US19.95. The paperback sells in bookshops for $NZ29.95.

HarperCollins hopes to put out 15 e-books in the next two months. Extra features not available to readers of the print format will help to lure readers online. The e-book of Soul Mountain, for example, includes the complete text of Gao Xingjian's 2000 Nobel lecture.

It is those added extras and the ability of e-books to include audio, video and links to the web that could prove successful in creating an online audience.

Local novelist Betty Fry has sold about 400 copies of her romance Adam Grant through the online publisher Nitelink. Her children's book Simon's Story has 16 chapters, each with linked graphics. The CD version of Simon's Story also has a bonus series of classic children's stories such as Treasure Island, Anne of Green Gables and Robin Hood.

Tony Fisk, joint general manager at HarperCollins New Zealand, says e-publishing is in its "embryonic" stage and not yet a viable option for local publishers.

"We'll certainly get into e-books but we wouldn't publish a book exclusively at this stage for the e-book format. I don't think you'd sell that many books online. Even Stephen King ran out of steam."

He points out that a number of websites exist where authors can submit anything they want and have some assurance it will be published. In fact, sites like Fatbrain.com even pay for submissions. Is this the ultimate in vanity publishing?

Kate Strong edits books for two US-based online publishers and rejects the claim that online publishers have more relaxed editorial standards than traditional publishers.

"As a publisher, if you're going to offer rubbish then you're not going to stay in business long."

Online publishing, she adds, is less concerned with fitting writers into easily marketable boxes.

"The print industry for too long has dictated the genres: a romance had to be a romance, not overshadowed by the suspense, or the sci-fi aspect of the plotline.

"Now anything goes. There can be half-and-half stories. This is forcing the print publishers to look at what their readers want."

But don't think e-publishers necessarily offer an easier route to getting published. There is still writing and submitting a manuscript, the wrangling with merciless editors and the contract and copyright negotiations. The only difference is that it all takes place via e-mail. You may never meet your publisher in person.


Links


New Zealand Writers

Harper Collins

inkspot

Themestream

New Concepts Publishing

Nitelinks

eBookNet

Franklin NZ

fatbrain

A Directory of eBook publishers

eBook Connections