It always surprises me when I meet writers who don’t read fiction. Of course, nearly all writers enjoy reading, at least the successful ones, but when I decided I wanted to be a writer, being a journalist was not the main dream – I wanted to write exciting adventure-filled novels and stories. And I still do.
As a young Tintin fan, journalism also seemed fun, and as I got older, I realised it was a bit easier to make a living as one compared to becoming a best-selling author. I have written some fiction, but not a lot. Now though, the bar to entering fiction writing is lower, thanks to self-publishing.
It is pretty tricky getting noticed as a new fiction writer, so I am aware it will be a slog. Nanowrimo starts today, so I will kick off writing my novel. I also have a few short stories that haven’t appeared anywhere, which can help me find the best way to get started.
As mentioned above, I have some fiction on Amazon, but there are so many more options available these days, which is what I intend to investigate and share.
Newer options and markets for fiction, like serialisation
I have just skimmed the surface of all this as it seems like something to focus on after having written a book. One example is Royal Road, where it seems you can share your progress, and get feedback, as you write it. Wattpad is another well-known option where you can gain popularity and feedback, helping you to get noticed in a ludicrously competitive market.
Then there are combo options like using Royal Road but releasing it first on Patreon and charging readers to get the latest chapters earlier. This almost harks back to serialisations and how Charles Dickens or Arthur Conan used to write.
People are also publishing on Reddit and their own websites. I posted the opening part of my non-fiction ebook on Thai ghosts and demons on Medium, as I have a good following there. It even made a tiny bit of cash.
Before, you sent your fiction – books or stories – to a publisher and then sat for ages with fingers crossed. You can still do that. And with short fiction, you usually get to keep the rights to the story, so you can then publish it elsewhere, such as the options above – although not another magazine, as they don’t like that. I use Duotrope for pitching and finding publications, but there are others.
My main concern is that I love to research and may well spend more time looking into all this than actually writing the fiction. We shall see. I have moved away from a few of my more time-consuming clients recently, and now is the time to get started. Good luck to all trying to do the same.
If you have any insights or recommendations, feel free to share them, or send me an email at jasonwardwriter@gmail.com.
