Wisdom sometimes lies in recognizing when something isn’t working ...
...and you need to do something new.
Serializing a novel on Steemit seemed like a good idea. I mean, it was a Christmas themed novel and 21 chapters would be a kind of Advent Calendar leading right up to Christmas Eve.
Did I mention it was a full-length novel? Not a novella, or long short story, but a novel offered for sale on Amazon.
I suppose I pictured people relaxing with a mug of hot chocolate, following Bethany and Griff through the Twelve Days of Christmas as they read the daily chapters.
It seemed like a good plan but “The best laid plans of mice and men often go astray.” – Robbie Burns
I know about media literacy—I taught it.
I sat under the guru of modern communications, Marshall McLuhan.
I know the medium is the message—I also know the form imitates the content and vice versa.
What I neglected is the fact the world has radically changed.
A leisurely 5000 word read is not going to happen on social media— it doesn’t even happen on the other site where I post—and those people are serious readers.
No, I missed the boat.
The old rules for print media have changed.
Did you know, as far back as 1944, film and TV media were being referred to as bubblegum for the eye? If old-style technology is bubblegum for the eye, then what are computers and social media—Red Bull for the mind?
Did I really expect someone to spend 20 minutes or more to read a chapter of my book and maybe add a response?
I feel a responsibility to the people who were reading Epiphany. I tried to offer it free on Amazon, but Amazon only offers free on their terms.
@creatr suggested I consider publishing it as an illustrated novel but
I’m holding out for a Hallmark movie…
…and smiling.
pictures from Pixabay.com, Slideshare.net
Hey, John,
Thanks for the "shout-out." ;)
I wish I knew someone inside Hallmark... <Deep Sigh>
I wish; but it's true that people, increasingly, are not reading or are reading less... But, might you be throwing in the towel too soon?
Are you aware that @everittdmickey seems to be having considerable success with a novel of his? I think if you were to visit his blog and do a sum of all the payouts on TEOTWAWKI, you might choose to hang in there?
Of course, Steemit payouts are nothing if they're not inconsistent...
As always, I wish you the best, my friend. ;)
It's not just the payouts creatr but I was having so much difficulty loading if from Word, then having to reformat it for this site (shorter paragraphs, changes in content) and then searching for and adding appropriate images etc. After all that, seeing only a few views made me realize that I would have had to shorten chapters to the length of TEOTWAWKI, but then I planned to do it in 21 days for Christmas. It just had too many probs to work this time.
honestly, creatr, shorter pieces are what work here, but novels are written at a more leisurely pace and I'd have to specifically write a novel with chapters designed for this medium and audience rather than for print media which is my usual genre
and if you're going to do a novel on here, then each chapter has to be an episode leaving the reader hanging with a "to be continued" notice at the end
Understood! :)
BTW, I wrote another Christmas story you might like about the true meaning of Christmas - it's for a Christmas story contest @stevecoins
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