Building a website myself versus hiring a Publisher

[bretbernhoft]

Currently in the middle of writing a science fiction story that I'd like to share with a wide audience. I have never published a book before, but have a decade of experience with building websites; especially those sites that are home to longform bodies of text. With all of this said, to get the best long term traction with my story, should I first seek a Publisher or should I simply build a website and self-publish the whole thing Online for free?

 

[Ogma]

How would you drive traffic to the website?
Maybe think about something like Wattpad?

 

[Venusian Broon]

Define "share with a wide audience"

i.e. If you don't care at all about fame or fortune. and just want friends and family to read your work, then just self-pub in any format you wish!

If you want to explore whether you might have a career in writing then that's different. If you decide to sefl-pub then you are responsible for getting editing, marketing and advertising etc. You will likely put a lot of effort, time and money into it. And note that generally (although there are exceptions that break the rule, say if you were to sell millions) if you self-pub, traditional publishers will likely not be interested in your work.

But getting a traditional publisher is difficult too, if you decide that route.

Also, and this is just my personal preference, I would never read a novel length work from a website, even if it was free. IF you were set on self-pubbing then I would recommend producing an e-book.

 

[Elckerlyc]

You might consider self-publishing via a website, but make it a serial in stead of one, novel-length, dump. Create an account on Patreon to get your work sponsored. You will not be the first.
As an example, I'm a huge fan of The Wandering Inn, a story currently 8 million words long and growing with plenty of supporters.
Or visit The Web Fiction Guide for more examples.

 

[Montero]

Or you could publish it for free via Smashwords. If you are going for free you don't need an ISBN. If you publish for money on Smashwords and live in the US then you can get a ISBN cheaply and don't need to worry about recovering tax deductions - oveseas authors finish paying US taxes as well as their own country's if they don't register with the US Inland Revenue (whatever the correct name is) and they can't have the special deal on ISBNs.

You could publish on Wattpad - a lot of people put out stories as a serial with in theory followers commenting on each episode. From what I observed several years ago, military sf and especially vampire romance are big with other things struggling. Really gorgeous cover art is also expected. (I seem to remember intertwined bodies, dripping blood, slinky dresses and the like.)

@Elckerlyc like the sound of the Wandering Inn, must go look.

 

[Jo Zebedee]

What is the purpose of the website? It's to give a landing place for anyone interested in finding out more about you, as a writer. Unless your publisher is the sole publisher of everything you write, and the only place to go, then they will not provide a website for you - for that, you're talking the likes of Stephen King (although he publishes with more than one publisher - most do).

It's your name. It's your writing. A publisher does not own your writer brand - they own the writing you have contracted to their responsibility.

Get your own domain name, at least, to give you that control. It costs about a tenner a year. After that, it's up to you, but I always always always hold onto my brand. I work with publishers, and mags, and all sorts of things. But I never compromise that by giving up control of who I am.

In terms of the other, it's up to you. Every way of publishing has its merits and demerits. What do you hope for, in your writing career? Once you know that, the path becomes clearer.

 

[The Judge]

I'd suggest you do set up your website, but you don't -- certainly not at this stage -- put up any of the book you're writing.

A website can act as a shop window for you and your work, especially if it incorporates a blog so that there is something fresh for people to see on a regular basis. If you can attract sizeable numbers to your site before you publish or seek an agent/publisher, then you'll have gone a long way to help in selling the novel. Certainly some 12 or so years ago when I was looking into the issue, it was standard practice to advise writers to set up a website asap, so that there was a readership all ready and waiting when the book was done.

If all you want is for your family and friends to see your work, then certainly one option is to post the novel on the website, either as you're writing it or when it's all written. In your post you speak of "long term traction" for the story. I'm not sure quite what you're intending by that, but if you're thinking of writing a series, posting the completed work on the website might be an option, in effect giving the first novel away in order to get readers who will want to buy the sequels.

However -- not wanting to rain on your parade, but simply being pragmatic -- if this is your first draft of your first novel, then unless you're a genius, that draft isn't likely to be any good; nor in all probability will your second or third draft. It's like expecting to be a perfect driver the first time you get into a car -- no matter how many times you've been driven and seen it done, it really isn't as easy as it looks. For that reason, it's best not to push the first -- or second or third -- draft into the world on the website or anywhere else, simply because it won't be the advertisment for your talent that you want it to be.

Once the novel is completed and with the help of your beta readers you're in the final stages of making it the best it can be, then is the time to consider whether to go for self-publishing or to try and attract an agent/publisher. As Jo says, there are advantages and disadvantages to both, and much will depend on why you are writing, what you expect from it, and how much effort you're prepared to put into it. But do be aware that the vast majority of people submitting to agents don't get picked up, many of those who do get agents don't actually get a publisher, and those who are published get a lot less than you might think. But on the other side of the coin, the vast majority of people self-publishing don't sell many books (fewer than 100 is a figure that comes to mind, though I'm not sure where I've picked that up or how accurate it is) and make even less money.

 

[Venusian Broon]

I'd suggest you do set up your website, but you don't -- certainly not at this stage -- put up any of the book you're writing.

A website can act as a shop window for you and your work, especially if it incorporates a blog so that there is something fresh for people to see on a regular basis. If you can attract sizeable numbers to your site before you publish or seek an agent/publisher, then you'll have gone a long way to help in selling the novel. Certainly some 12 or so years ago when I was looking into the issue, it was standard practice to advise writers to set up a website asap, so that there was a readership all ready and waiting when the book was done.

If all you want is for your family and friends to see your work, then certainly one option is to post the novel on the website, either as you're writing it or when it's all written. In your post you speak of "long term traction" for the story. I'm not sure quite what you're intending by that, but if you're thinking of writing a series, posting the completed work on the website might be an option, in effect giving the first novel away in order to get readers who will want to buy the sequels.

However -- not wanting to rain on your parade, but simply being pragmatic -- if this is your first draft of your first novel, then unless you're a genius, that draft isn't likely to be any good; nor in all probability will your second or third draft. It's like expecting to be a perfect driver the first time you get into a car -- no matter how many times you've been driven and seen it done, it really isn't as easy as it looks. For that reason, it's best not to push the first -- or second or third -- draft into the world on the website or anywhere else, simply because it won't be the advertisment for your talent that you want it to be.

Once the novel is completed and with the help of your beta readers you're in the final stages of making it the best it can be, then is the time to consider whether to go for self-publishing or to try and attract an agent/publisher. As Jo says, there are advantages and disadvantages to both, and much will depend on why you are writing, what you expect from it, and how much effort you're prepared to put into it. But do be aware that the vast majority of people submitting to agents don't get picked up, many of those who do get agents don't actually get a publisher, and those who are published get a lot less than you might think. But on the other side of the coin, the vast majority of people self-publishing don't sell many books (fewer than 100 is a figure that comes to mind, though I'm not sure where I've picked that up or how accurate it is) and make even less money.

The last figure I read for SP numbers was a few years back and it stated that self published books sell 200 units on average.

I have no idea how 'skewed' this data was though. It could be the top 1% sell 50,000 copies and the remaining 99% only 10.

 

[tinkerdan]

Here for reference is someone who has serialized their story on a website.

The Legion of Nothing–Chapter One: Villains and Vigilantes

Cassie held out the latest issue of “Double V,” flipping the front half of the magazine under the back to make it easier to hold. She pointed to an article titled “Twelve Threats:…

inmydaydreams.com

I'm not sure how he is doing these days as far as making a living .

However he has used it for a springboard to at least two published novels.

I have mentioned him twice before in the following threads.

Does anyone have any interest in web serials?

I was thinking about this after Phyrebrat's serial thread, there's a whole online community of writers making web serials, does anyone here have one? Is anyone thinking about writing one? For anyone unaware of the genre/style(?) it can be seen as a different form of self publishing, and done...

www.sffchronicles.com

Advertising in Self-Published Works

When self-publishing on your own site, has anyone here tried just allowing the book to be read for free but using advertising to make your money? Is that even feasible technically?

www.sffchronicles.com

 

[Ursa major]

military sf and especially vampire romance are big with other things struggling. Really gorgeous cover art is also expected. (I seem to remember intertwined bodies, dripping blood, slinky dresses and the like.)

That may be fine for military SF, but what sort of covers work for vampire romances...?

​

 

[Guanazee]

Your website and how you publish your book doesn't really have anything to do with each other. If you have web experience, certainly create your own author website. What you do with your book, though, depends entirely on your goals. For most authors, publishing a book directly to a personal website isn't going to be seen by many readers.