Just a note in passing regarding something that came up

[dianeduane]

I ran across this reference to the Big Meow project in a nice weblog called Everyday Literacies:

Online narrative writing practices, especially those associated with fanfic writing have spawned a reading and peer editing process generally referred to as 'beta reading'. Basically, the process involves the author posting a narrative, or a chapter from a more extended narrative, to a relatively private public space like a blog before publishing it in a wider or more formal venue, including as meatspace novels, and asks for reader feedback on work done so far (e.g., the novel,Four and Twenty Blackbirds was written this way). Now, Diane Duane, a writer of young adult fiction, is posting online installments of her latest novel, Feline Wizards 3: The Big Meow, for readers to review and provide feedback on....

Erm. Can I clear something up here (before the mailbox starts filling up with kindly offers)? I'm not posting the chapters "for readers to review and provide feedback on." I'm publishing them to publish them. :)

...Oh, doubtless there'll be some critique and comment here and there; but that was never the point of putting the chapters up. (Nor would I dream of trying to blanket-pressgang beta readers in such a manner: it'd smack too much of trying to get other people to do my work for me.) The idea has been (a) to let people see the material as it would go to an editor in first-draft form: (b) and just plain to let them read and enjoy it, since a lot of folks clearly want access to it the very minute each chapter is ready. (BTW, editorial is handled: I've already hired a professional editor -- one I've worked with before on more conventionally published books -- to assist me in going over the material when the book is done.)

So if anybody sees anything in the pages on the Big Meow website suggesting that I'm soliciting beta-readers, please let me know where it is so that I can get it out of there. I don't want anyone getting the wrong idea of what's going on.

Tags: The Big Meow, self-publishing, book, Diane Duane, fanfic, fan fiction, beta, beta reader

Comments

[satismagic.livejournal.com]

I did not get that idea (yay, something I understood correctly!).

There's something about which I'm wondering though (and I've been wondering about it for a while...):

When will a publisher have problems with the way of working described in what you quoted from "Everyday Literacies"? When will posting a WIP to "a relatively private public space like a blog before publishing it in a wider or more formal venue" be a problem for conventional publishing? How wide or narrow is the line between "sharing a WIP for feedback" and "online publishing"?

[dduane.livejournal.com]

That's a real good question, and fortunately one I won't have to be the test case on...not on this book, anyway.

I suppose it might depend on where you stood with a publisher, contractually, at the time when you posted the material. If you hadn't yet signed a contract, I'd guess the publisher would just have to lump it, and later put some kind of statement at the front of the book of the kind one uses when material has been published in a magazine. (The phrase "substantially different form" often seems to crop up at such times.)

If you're under contract, of course, everything changes -- depending on the contract. If you don't have an agreement such as Cory Doctorow had with Baen on Down and Out in the Magic Kingdom, and you post your material where the general public can get at it, this may contravene the "exclusivity" concept that most first-publication contracts embody. For my own part, my understanding is that the publisher gets first crack at making the material public, unless the contract specifically allows otherwise. (I have very occasionally published bits of books in my blog, but such small bits that they'd probably qualify as "fair use".) :) Normally, though, I avoid it, to avoid possible contractual conflicts.

...As I said, an interesting line of inquiry. And fortunately not one I have to worry about at the moment. :)

[bodhibird.livejournal.com]

I certainly didn't get the idea that The Big Meow was a WIP offered for beta/critique! I expected each chapter to be fairly polished before posting--and Chapter One, which I read yesterday, certainly fulfilled my expectations. :) I think my favorite part was Ith looking at his "dailies" and saying, "Did I look good? I think I looked really good."

[posicat.livejournal.com]

It looks like someone trying to promote an idea came across TBM and didn't really read all the details.

Though to play devils advocate, in essence you're getting some feedback by continued contributions of money towards the chapters. But, I understand that's the fuel that keeps the fire burning (and the kitties fed) not a method of soliciting feedback.

The beta writing process is an interesting process, I've written a few stories and shared them around the office, so in a vague way I've participated in this process, and the feedback is most definitely helpful.

[hiddenshoe.livejournal.com]

I agree. I heard about your project from boingboing.net. I admittedly haven't read your prior books, and the chapter I read had me a tad confused (what ARE these portals!) but starting with book3 in a series will generally do that to you... :) It was riveting enough to keep my attention, and that's what matters.

But one point I was not confused about was that this was a "beta"... it's pretty clear that this is a "pay for play" type project. I admire you for doing this, and I wish you (and your readers) the best of luck!

HS

[azurelunatic]

And (c) relatively few people who are used to beta-reading fanfic have experience in editing things intended for actual publication.

Lois McMaster Bujold often invites her diehard fans on the official e-mail list to join her in going over the hardcover version on a Typo and Problem Patrol so things that shouldn't be don't get re-printed in the paperback.

[keristor.livejournal.com]

I didn't think it was for beta readers, and I didn't read the first chapter with that in mind (although since my method of reading effectively proofreads everything I would have noticed anything major). To be honest, I don't think you need fans as beta readers, their main use is in spotting continuity errors and you either don't make those much or you spot them yourself, unlike some other authors who really need to have their books read by fans for continuity (was it D. H. Lawrence who had his couple standing on the East coast of Scotland looking at the sun sinking into the North Sea?).

[particle-person.livejournal.com]

Do you want to hear about errors if we do spot them? I noticed something about movies playing at 12fps, which seems to have been corrected now, but I wasn't sure if you wanted to know about stuff like that. I opted not to say anything because I figured the editing process would pick it up.