The Shattered Glass Project experiment in online fiction writing

I interviewed Jess Hartley about her experiences with an online writing experiment she calls The Shattered Glass Project.

Q.  Hello, Jess. Thank you for agreeing to speak with me about your online publishing experiences. I understand you have started an experiment called The Shattered Glass Project. Can you tell me a little something about it?

A.  Certainly, Peggy! Thanks for chatting with me! The Shattered Glass Project is an experiment in directly-reader-sustained fiction. In its most basic form, I offered to write a short story in the urban fae/modern supernatural genre, specifically for those readers who were interested in supporting my efforts to do so. It will be provided directly to them (in various forms based on their Patronage levels), and at least for the first year, not to any other readers.

The Shattered Glass Project is built on the Patronage model (a modern variation on the medieval idea of being a Patron of the arts) and allows readers to directly support a project--in this case a short story--and the creator of that project without dealing with intermediaries like agents, publishing houses, distributors and book sellers.

By becoming a Patron of Shattered Glass (the first story in the Shattered Glass Project), they are enabling me to create something especially for them. They take their place as a part of a very small community that will have access to Shattered Glass in one form or another on an exclusive basis for at least a year from the start of the Shattered Glass Project - so until at least the first day of Spring, 2011. There are other benefits to some of the Patronage levels - Personae Patrons actually will be represented as a character in the story. Artisan Patrons will receive a beautiful hand-crafted copy of the story.

And there's some other benefits that are being released as the Patronage period progresses - we're not talking about all of them publicly yet, so they can be a surprise for those who've shown their support for the project through Patronage. I'll be talking more about them when they've been revealed to the Patrons, but I don't want to spoil the surprise!

Q.  What is your writing background?

A.  For almost a decade now, I've been a freelance writer and editor. Much of my work has been in the roleplaying game industry, although I've written for everything from greeting cards to international magazines. I've got one novel out, and am currently shopping another around (a historical paranormal romance). I run an online advice and etiquette column called "One Geek to Another", and have contributed to several "online only" projects, ranging from write-for-hire game supplements to "Conventions for the Aspiring Game Professional", a non-fiction .pdf product designed to help those who'd like to get their foot in the door of the gaming industry do. I'm kind of a Jill of All Trades, when it comes to writing, but The Shattered Glass Project is my first foray into directly reader-sustained fiction. I'm treating it like an experiment (hence the "Project" in the title) and learning a great deal!

Q.  What made you decide to start this reader-sustained fiction project?

A. While I'm an active part of the traditional publishing industry, I've been intrigued by the idea of reader-sustained fiction for quite some time. Because of its size and other integral requirements (overhead, marketing, etc), traditional marketing can't consider every creative work as a viable publication, even if there are readers hungry to get their hands on it.

I've seen authors like C.E. Murphy and Catherynne Valente provide their readers with additional material--stories that might not have been able to be produced through traditional publishing routes--on a reader-sustained model, and loved the idea of experimenting with a project that helped foster that close connection with readers. Game creators like Wolfgang Baur have been doing something similar with roleplaying games and supplements, and I think it's a unique opportunity to build community between readers and writers.

To be honest, it's a very scary prospect - as a writer, you're opening yourself up to rejection and (perhaps worse) being utterly ignored without the buffer and validation of traditional publishing. It's just you and the reader, and that's a very intimate relationship. And since my freelance career keeps me very busy, I'd procrastinated on taking the risk of attempting something like this, even when readers encouraged me to write more material in their favorite genres.

Then, in March, my laptop decided to give up the ghost. And I took that as a sign that perhaps now was the time for me to take that chance and see if this was something that my readership was really interested in supporting.

The answer, to my boundless joy, has been yes.

Q.  How many reader have become a part of the Shattered Glass Project, and in what forms?

A. The Patronage responses have been wonderful so far. There are just over 40 Patrons of one sort or another, thus far, and we're just a month into the project.

In fact, there was such a positive response to the Personae Patronages that we had to close them after only 24 hours - I just didn't feel that including more Personae into the story would do the story or the Personae justice. We are, however, taking reservations for future stories, just in case the opportunity opens to create more stories with the Shattered Glass Project.

I was actually a little surprised by the ratio of Artisan to Virtual Patronages. I expected, at $5, the Virtual would be much more popular, but readers have said that they really want the "something special" physical version of the story, and the Patronages have reflected that. We have more than twice as many Artisan Patronages (at $25) as Virtual, which I think really shows how hungry readers are to be a part of something unique and special on a larger scale.

Artisan and Virtual Patronages can be purchased on the website (www.shatteredglassproject.com) with the purchase button found there, or by sending an appropriate Patronage payment to "jesskhartley@gmail.com" with a note that it is for a Shattered Glass Patronage. Both levels will remain open until the last day of Spring (June 20th). After that, no one additionally will be added as a Patron of Shattered Glass, and that story will not be read in its entirety by anyone but the existing Patrons until at least March 21st of 2011.

Q.  What else would you like to share about your online publishing experiences?

A.  There's a fine line between self-marketing and annoying people. It's important to stay on the right side of that line. That being said, social media like Twitter, Facebook and LiveJournal are a marketing tool that shouldn't be overlooked. More useful, in my experience, are other media sources - bloggers, podcasters, reviewers and the like. If you are marketing your own work, no matter how careful you are, you're always going to sound a bit like a sales pitch. And we all are so inundated with commercials and advertising, it's easy for a reader to just tune that out.

If, on the other hand, other folks support and promote your work, readers will recognize their words as something other than a direct plea for sales, and may pay more attention. So networking, making connections and reciprocal promotion can be a very effective tool for spreading the word about your project.

And--always--be nice. When you're publishing things online, you're selling yourself as a creator, along with your product. Don't argue with bad reviews, don't fight with folks in forums, don't ignore or insult your readership. Professionalism is a virtue that readers appreciate in a creator, in my experience.
 

This concludes the interview.  Thank you for your time, Jess. The best of luck to you.

Thank you, Peggy! It's been a pleasure!