Nobel Prize Winner Writes Her New Novel Online (for free)
Last week it was reported by Associated Press reporter Veronika Oleksyn that Austrian writer and 2004 Nobel prize winner Elfriede Jelinek is currently posting on her website chapters (as she writes them) of a new book entitled “Envy.†On the surface, this doesn’t seem so amazing; lots of new writers, not to mention some established ones, are using the Web to debut or develop new work. But what makes Jelinek’s situation so amazing is that she’s a recluse who “cloisters herself inside her homes in Vienna and Munich, Germany, and rarely ventures out in public.†However, online, Jelinek — according to Oleksyn’s story — “connects with ease to people around the world. Little wonder, then, that she chose to debut her latest novel on the Web rather than in bookstores.â€
The new novel will be available for free, and will not be protected by any DRM. As Jelinek says, “Anyone who wants to can download it or print it out.†She describes the process of “publishing a text on the Internet†as being “wonderfully democratic.†About the Internet itself, Jelinek says, “I find the Internet to be the most wonderful thing there is. It connects people. Everyone can have input.â€
I think this is a really great development, and it shows just how easily important literature can be efficiently and effectively spread by using the Web. It proves that the Internet is not the enemy of literature, but may ultimately be its savior. So while large chunks of the literary establishment mourn and bemoan the loss book review sections, or the lessening impact of books themselves, Jelinek’s online experiment shows that the Internet — in the hands of talented writers — will actually encourage new works (and reader participation) instead of killing them.
And while this looks at first like a danger to publishers (after all, if writers can publish their novels on the Web — where the entire world can have access to them — why will publishers have to be part of the picture?), I don’t think this will end up being the case. In the future writers will use the Web to promote or shape new works, but there is not yet a workable business model for them selling their own texts online. Stephen King tried this years ago with his novel “The Plant,†and in the end he gave up because it was too much of a headache (he was the only one who received nightmares from “The Plantâ€). What has made Jelinek’s experiment possible is the money she received from the Nobel. Instead, Jelinek’s experiment shows how the Web can be used to generate interest and create an audience; what the experiment doesn’t show is that publishers will no longer be needed in a digital future.
So even though there’s a line in the Busy Signals song “The New You†that says “When the loners get together, it makes no sense,†what I think is happening with Jelinek is really great. It shows that even the most unlikely candidate for attention on the Web (not to mention Web stardom) can generate interest and garner an audience. Next thing you know we’ll have J.D. Salinger blogging, with Thomas Pynchon reading it and leaving comments.
[...] Jul 12th, 2007 by Ryan Lanham Nobel Prize Winner Writes Her New Novel Online (for free) [...]
As a result of all the free content that is being distributed online, not only will the traditional publishing companies be out of business because of the digital age, but so will the self-publishers. There will not be a way to monetize the literary form after the standard of making everything free becomes the norm.
I send my congratulations to those who can afford to give their passion projects away for free, but please take a moment to realize how your actions might effect the future of the industry that made you who you are.
I hate to sound so money hungry, but the bills are not going to get paid unless my passion projects are able to turn into passion PRODUCTS.
For now at least, I think that content isn’t ready to go completely free, but undoubtedly content makers will have to find ways to mix the free with the paid. And they’ll need to be looking for that balance in increasingly creative ways. By giving away her latest work for free, Jelinek is in turn promoting her earlier work which of course, still in print with traditional publishers, will help pay her bills.
Chris Anderson, of Long Tail fame (http://www.longtail.com), is focusing on this very issue for his next book, and has often said his primary income is from paid speaking appearances rather than writing. So, he looks at his writing as a kind of self-promotion for those gigs. Or maybe, those gigs as a way to keep writing and increasingly giving content away for free — expanding his potential audience and the reach of his ideas. Which doesn’t sound too bad.
Brad, who do you think you’re competing with? The market will win regardless, so if your work has a value you will be rewarded because of it. If there’s a sudden influx of free work from talented authors then maybe you won’t. That’s how the market settles on a price for something - supply versus demand. As far as I know, nobody yet has managed to change the market by saying please or thank you.
If the work you want to supply at a price has no value then you need to look at another line of work. This is the same situation that print newspapers are coming up against right now. They have a product that somebody else is giving away for free. When the free giving has been refined to the point that it’s less effort to read news for free than it is to buy a newspaper then newspapers, and their bloated self-opinion, will cease to be.
The calligrapher monks who used to have the bible market sewn up were probably pretty pissed off too.
[...] - Nobel Prize Winner Writes Her New Novel Online (for free) “… what makes Jelinek’s situation so amazing is that she’s a recluse who [...]
[...] to post her new novel online: “Next thing you know we’ll have J.D. Salinger blogging, with Thomas Pynchon reading it and leaving comments.” [...]
[...] wonderful thing there is. It connects people. Everyone can have input.” - cité sur print is dead blog [...]
The nanowrimo - write a novel in a month -is starting up in november & I am keen on posting my novel online as I write it. Where would you suggest I post it to get the most traffic. My personal website is obviously a clear choice but do you know of any more public e-Spaces that I can post it on?
Blog based novels and sharing of thoughts is the way of live interactivity and is here to stay and is the way of the future.
I started a blog novel and here is a sample chapter
http://lifethrillers.com/?p=4
I will be adding more each day and will interact with user comments.
I also have a personal development website at
http://expertlifeskills.com/
Happy writing world community!
RRR
http://www.expertlifeskills.com
http://www.lifethrillers.com