Blog Novels on the Rise

Any first time author who wants to get his novel published should ask John Grisham about the process.  He endured a relatively modest 28 rejections before finding a publisher for his first novel, A Time to Kill.   Twenty-Eight rejections may not seem like a lot but if you consider the time it takes to write a query, send a manuscript and await a response from the publisher or agent you can easily come to the conclusion that it is a process that takes anywhere from one to six months in most cases – for one rejection.  If you multiply that by the number of rejections the average first time writer must endure for his first time novel then you will easily see why alternative sources of publishing are always attractive.   The most recent alternative source of publishing is the blognovel.

The word “blognovel” is still relatively unknown to most people.  Though blog is a word that most everyone has heard at one point or another “blognovel” is for the most part under the radar.  It is hard to say who it was that first coined the phrase but for certain it was the Salon blognovel “Plan B” by Diego Doval that gained the most attention.  It was shortly thereafter that a fair number of blognovels started popping up.  Ever since that time the idea of the blog as a logical media for artistic expression has gained momentum.  The site Slashdot.org has archived some particularly interesting debates concerning this subject.   Other interesting articles on the emerging form have occurred in many places as the form begins to be embraced by a larger population of the artist community.

One other event that seemed to cement the concept of writing novels in the form of a blog was the fact that the National Novel Writing Month participants chose the blog as their media of choice for the 50,000 word novellas.  You can see a list of the 2004 contest at the organizations official blog.  The contest will be running again starting this November so the posting of a whole new wave of blognovels is sure to hit the internet community regardless of whether they read them or not.

For some fairly professional examples of what can be accomplished with a blognovel see the following:

Simon of Space (Which was recently picked for print by publisher Ephemera Bound.)

The Fifth Tomorrow (Nice format though there are only 4 chapters posted of this effort by first time author C.F. York.)

Le Spirale Fantastique (Very professional effort by an author previously published in print)

Irrational Histories (A somewhat regular serial style novel by up and coming author David Moles)

American Invisible (Fine effort by writer Hugh Madison.)

As you can see there are a wide variety of styles and genres, which can be found in blognovel form.  If you would like to explore more existing works before trying your own you can find a nice catalog of online fiction along with synopsis at Interactivia.org.

So what are the possibilities for this new media? Or more importantly, can you get paid? YES.  Blogger.com, which seems to be the forum of choice for most blognovels posted a concise and informative article on what it takes to go from cyberia to print along with a few success stories. 

If you have decided that the blognovel is for you, there are detailed instructions at blogger.com on how to format and post a novel to a traditional blog.

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