Do people read fiction on blogs?
Are blogs a good medium for fiction? I am wondering if people look to blogs as a place for reading fiction? Blog is very popular for advise on technical matters and products, travel tips and a common man's perspective on latest news. But I am wondering if at all there will be people intrested in reading fiction from blogs.
I won't even ask about poetry because I know the answer. Only very few people want to read poery even from books and don't think too many people are keen on even Wordsworth and Tennyson. But fiction everyone likes. So wondering if anyone would read fiction from blogs. Of course lot of people like to write fiction on blogs. And the people who write visit the other people's blogs to encourage them in order to get reciprocal visits. Similarly other genre bloggers visit fiction bloggers to get visits back on their traveI or social topic blog. I am not talking about those people. I am talking the general reader like the ones who buys and reads fiction books. Would they read fiction on a blog?
TF, I think blogs are not a good place to keep writing fiction. It is good for starters. To gauge reaction to your stuff. But once that is over, I guess it is better to seek other avenues. Send your stuff to publishers and so on. There is a time when the leap must be taken. :-) I guess you should take the jump now.
@The Fool:
I think people will love reading fiction on a blog, especially if it is broken down into short stories. I am following your own Hogwarts Origins, and I like it. I like it because I get a short interesting story delivered to my inbox at fairly regular intervals. The story doesn't keep me engrossed and completely cut-off from the world as a novel does, but it makes my day slightly more interesting.
Personally, I write about experiences from my life. But when I wrote my first short story, my friends/followers were enthralled. They urged me to continue the story instead of writing non-fictional stuff.
So based on my own and my friends' opinion, there is a market for blog-fiction.
Thanks Radha. Makes me feel very glad to know you enjoy my Hogwarts Origins series. People have liked my stories but not on a regular basis. And the ones who regularly seemed to enjoy are the ones who expect me to read what they writed and enjoy their works.
You missed an "if". I said if e-readig was an effective alternative for paper reading, books will no more get published.
About encyclopedias, I have clarified that in this forum.
About my blog, I'm happy if people read my posts online. But my humble request to them is,
For better reading experience, take a print out of my posts and read.
I shall do what is most convenient and efficient for me, as do you.
But why are you using a non sequitur as part of your argument? Or, are you saying that no one watches films in cinema halls because they can watch a pirated DVD, that no one buys CDs and music from the Internet because they can buy pirated copies, and that no one buys computer software because they can get pirated copies--is Microsoft about to go bankrupt?
Also, you dd not justify your argument by stating to what cost you will continue to read published, printed books. As the decades go by and more and more people read original works via Kindle, pdf, online and others, there will be fewer printed books. Even now, Encyclopaedia Britannica and Oxford English Dictionary are available only online. As more and more publishers become reluctant to print books, the supply will lessen, and the costs to consumers who buy those books will go up. How much are you willing to pay for a book?
Finally, why are you arguing against your own best interests? It is difficult for me to define your blog in one word, but I think that "stories" would be apt--either in the form of fiction, or in the idea of trying to get a point across. Are you saying that your readers ought to get such stories from printed books rather than from your blog?
And if e-reading was an effective alternative for paper reading, books will no more get published. No one will buy books if they can read a pirated pdf copy. That means this is not only my personal mannerism.
I will buy a book if I want to read it. I do not want pdf. What will you do Micky?
I beg to disagree with you. Mahabharatha was born when it was written. It was written down by Ganapathy when Vyasa recited it to him. From then onwards people read it. On leaves and now on paper.
You may or may not be correct. However--unless I see evidence to the contrary--it is my strong belief that The Mahabharata is a collection of very ancient stories that were told orally from one person to another and from one generation to another until a human wrote it on some medium. The events related in The Iliad and The Odyssey occurred about 400 years before the time of Homer, so those stories were most definitely oral in origin. The oldest written story, The Epic of Gilgamesh was most likely oral in origin. And of course the Biblical story of the Flood was most definitely oral in origin.
I hate reading bad quality print of classic novels.
That is just a personal mannerism; it does not detract from objective qualities. Moreover, do you really hate reading bad quality print of classic novels? Do you prefer to drink bad milk out of a beautiful bottle, or to drink good milk out of an ugly bottle?
Mahabharata IS the work of Vyasa. It contains more than a lack shlokas. Not easy to memorise! Now the question is how you want to know about it. You have these choices.
1) To read it on paper.
2) Read it on your tab.
3) Hear it from your teacher.
For me, I do not want to read it on a tab. I want to read it on paper.
Hearing from a teacher is good as far as its learning aspect is considered. But taking its artistic aspect, I want to explore it myself.
I believe there are two routes that I could probably explore but each one is for a different purpose.
The problem today is getting self-published is easy but selling a book is not as simple because bigger publishing houses invest in publicity and that helps sell more books.
If one looks at well known authors, the idea is to keep the readership engaged through various means online and offline and this is where blogs oe Twitter come into the picture. The day they have a book being released that is when they can tap into the readership and be able to get the mileage and leverage in selling their books.
Also today the books have to cater to all formats from a hardcopy to soft versions on Amazon for laptops and tablets.
To answer the question if one reads fiction on blogs, personally I do read and if a person comes out with engaging content and then I would go out and by his or her book to be able to see the difference and the more difference in the content then the better it is.
As for people copying the content, that is not going to stop but a smart person is one who writes engagin content but is able to end the stories in unconventional manner and be original because the best defense is usually to be able to tell the story with different endings and each one with a twist :).
To The Fool:
I do not think that the medium through which fiction is offered is critical for its success. I read non-fictional blogs--because I prefer informative and factual information. I prefer non-fiction because of those stated reasons, so I can benefit from non-fiction regardless of whether it is on a blog or on the computer, or on television, on in a newspaper, or in a book, or on a CD/DVD/audiocassette, or other medium. Those who prefer fiction do so for issues irrelevant of its medium: perhaps they prefer to be entertained, or perhaps the character(s) is/are interesting to them. There was a time when fiction was not even available in the books of today; there was a time when stories were told to one person to another, and that is even how it passed from one generation to the next. (Has no one heard of The Mahabharata?)
If someone likes fiction, but likes it only in a certain format, then that person is not using his/her thought processes to their logical conclusion, and is not being consistent with his/her own beliefs.
Hi Micky,
I beg to disagree with you. Mahabharatha was born when it was written. It was written down by Ganapathy when Vyasa recited it to him. From then onwards people read it. On leaves and now on paper.
Medium is important. Even quality of paper is important when it comes to good books. I hate reading bad quality print of classic novels. Since they are free of copyright, every publisher publish it. Some are printed on very bad quality paper. You might be knowing this.
According to me, it is not convenient to read long stories on the computer. I do read books on the cellphone to kill time. But the kindle version or the book itself is my most preferred read. I dont mind reading really short stories from the blog, especially when i trust the blogger to give me a good time :)
I have read a lot of fiction books which are free (from Amazon). I have also noticed that people who release their book free on Amazon, usually write a series with 2 or 3 books following the first one, which probably will not be free. There are some books which are free for some period of time only.
That is what I am trying to get an idea of the opinion to see if there is a market - In case if a site like story in pieces is created where everyday a good story comes up, will there be regular readers to make it sustainable?
I will read any good fiction in my preferred device when i trust the author. So, i would suggest you start broadcasting your fiction, gain trust and loyal followers who will follow into the site also. Social media, FB groups would be helpful here. I would really encourage you to upload a e-book version because it is real hard to enjoy a book on the laptop.
Good Luck!
Contrary to few ppl who said above, I have equal preference reading online or on talblets (I have read many novels on my cell phone! can be irritating at times but I do when I really want to)
Most ppl do prefer reading from a real book in their hands or in some cases an e-book which they get off from the internet for not wanting to buy, otherwise reading fiction from blogs is not something I would do by myself (which I and others already stated) The issue is not reading on a screen, but from random blogs.
@Aditya. So do you think instead of a random blog, if someone gets good writers together and starts a dedicated fiction website, will that find regular readers enough to generate revenues on a sustainable basis?
Yes exactly! that is well what I strongly feel
There is a dedicated fiction web site, although it is mainly used for long stories. Wattpad.com, in case you haven't heard of it.It has people like you and me, writing 13-14-50 chapters with a book cover and everything. A lot of the really popular books are now available as e-books and some of them even got printed! That's why on that site, you'll find some really popular book which looks interesting has like 10 pages, because after being published, it got taken off Wattpad.Anyhoo, I think that site, people use. To put fiction up and read. I use it on my droid and read the stories.But if you go to check how many people read fictional blogs, as opposed to fiction readers, the number is sadly very small. :/
I do not know about other people, but I know that I do not read fiction on blogs. I do not even read fiction! At times, I find this peculiar because one of the greatest books that I have ever read was Atlas Shrugged by Ayn Rand. Stefan Molyneux has some fictional books available at freedomainradio.com. I may read some of those some day.
@Micky - That is a different problem all together. If person does not like fiction at all, he is never part of one's market anyway. What I am trying to see is people who in fact love fiction - but not reading the same on blogs - trying to understand if medium through which it is offered is so critical for its success.
TF. I would suggest you to start wtv venture u want to start. People who like you already would for sure read you and that will bring more audience. Though new ideas face lots of hardships but you never know when you will set a trend. Moreover, a new fiction daily seems really good. Blogposts have made so many non-readers-readers. And have given so many people who are interested in reading a decent page to follow. Lots of my friends, who had no clue what to read where to read have started reading me(though i dont write that great still) and the pages i recommend to them. They ask me where to go. Again once on hard copy, one still don't know if he/she will be read or not. I feel if you can manage a fictional, interesting read, that is neither too long nor too short, you can fetch much of an audience. Plus social netwroking sites like twitter, google+, and facebook provide extra traffic and recommendations. (I have strength in Hindi Poetry, which I do not publish much in my blog. Plus not many people read it, so i have to struggle alot) Fictions of different kinds are everybody's taste! I got increament in followers after writing a few fictions. People Like them. All the best!
Thanks Shesha. Your one of the very few who seems to encourage such a venture. It requires lots of effort to maintain. That is why so much thought. Other alternative is of course compiling 10-15 at a time into an e-book and selling on Kindle for 99 cents. Money is not important but you can't sell free on Kindle.
Its not bad to sell anything wherein you have put your efforts. But do you think Kindle will bring more readers to you or a specifically designed site? Moreover, you can join hands with some fellow bloggers, who have good grip on fiction. This way you will have better continuity, more variety, more topics/genere and more viewership. You can thus get some sponsors to your site to earn from it (I dont know how it goes though). Think about it and make a plan. And Go for what you think can work better.
I completely agree with Infected Mind. Fiction can't be read on screen. E-reading can only be for getting information( eg: wikipedia) .
Because when you read news, informaion comes into you but when you read a story, you get into the story. You can't get into your computer screen as you get into a book.
You can't enjoy E-reading if you need to slide the scroll bar finish a story. So the story must be too short.
I have to beg to disagree here. Computer screens maybe yes. But e-readers like Kindle and Nook are really capturing the heart of the reader. I love my Kindle and I know many others who do too, but that's not to say that I have stopped reading print. I shuttle between both! I have come to really appreciate the little device that can hold so many books that would have otherwise have been so bulky. And the fact that its got e-ink and not the LCD computer screen. But of course, I am sure I am going to get resistance from print lovers who would swear by hardcopies anyday! :) But coming back to your point TF, even though I love to blog about fiction, I do see your point. Most people would rather read fiction in books than on a blog. Guess that's a good tip for me too to slow down on fiction blogging and concentrate those efforts elsewhere.
It's good if that's possible for you. But for me, its an impossible task to read on kindle or a tab or a laptop. For example,I like Jerome K Jerome and I've downloaded his "Idle thoughts of an Idle fellow". I think that book is not available now. I tried to read it on screen and miserably failed.
@Deepa - It is relavent question for all us fiction writers. We all have to stop and re-evaluate where are we heading. We all love to write stories. We will continue to write. But we need to thing whether we want to keep putting them up on blog or form some kind of group that brings out a magazine (Animesh is attempting to make such a venture) - e-magazine or paper maganzine, or by ourselves create a complilation and then self publishing, traditional publishing or e-books? We need to think about all that.
I am new to this blogging syndrom, what i observed in one month of blogging is that the day I posted one fiction I got two follower, one post on our country which was even published by DNA didnt fetch any follower. Moreover with the increase in number of tablets and galaxy note, i think people will read a good story. Global trends also suggest that people are shifting from print to digital.
@ Amit - Even on tabs, e-books are preferred and more convenient than blogs,
Hi TF. I agree with sweta here. People dont specifically search for fictions, but if a rapport is built with a blogger, they come again to read. Personally, I prefer to read best selling writers like you do. Though if somebody tells me to read a certain blog and if i like it, blogger gets the brand loyalty. :)
That is what I am trying to get an idea of the opinion to see if there is a market - In case if a site like story in pieces is created where everyday a good story comes up, will there be regular readers to make it sustainable?
There's this person called Vivek and he has this 55 word story blog (http://55words.blogspot.in) where there is a new theme everyday and people write their 55stories based on it.That is one site I know gets updated and read everyday.. But over all, in general, I don't think so.
I have a fiction blog and as per my understanding it's mostly my friends, fellwo blogers and sometimes random people directed by google come to my blog and read stories.
I feel very rarely someone will go online and search for a fiction to read, but once someone is hokked to your writting stle and loves you stories they will come back to your blog again and again !!
Does that happen is what I wanted to know. Do people come to your blog again and again because they love your stories or because they love you - either because you are their friend in real world or you read and leave comments for them in blog-o-sphere.
I agree with what Sweta said!It's generally people whose blogs I visited, they saw me on their blogger friends' comments, they're my friends, etc.I started writing fiction quite late after I started a blog, so the people who initially read it, read that as well. And writing fiction actually got me more readers!A lot of the people who follow my blog only read the fiction pieces. Some are my friends, see the links on FB/Twitter and read it, and some (rarely) get misdirected :P onto my blog due to the tags and Google.
my view is that if you want to get published and don't want to cry hoarse that your idea got copied by smart Alec. restrain.
But you wouldn't use the same story that you publish on your blog in a book, would you?
The whole idea of writing on blogs is to avoid the tyranny of publishers. I was wondering if an online model is possible where a writer can reach reader directly without the intermediation of publishers. But form the opinions of people here, it seems impossible.
first get published, then people will upload e book.
Yeah Pl. But first to get published, someone should agree to publish you, na? And it requires luck even to get past the sub editors and get read by the main editor.
but fool , the short story publishing chances one gets for fresh takes only. like penguin n harper have come up. st those moments one feels drained and st a loss. if he submitted most benrvolent ideas on blogposts.
I have been through that phase and now got enough inspiration over 4 years. So now it is time to re-think what next.
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