For the last three days the Philadelphia Inquirer has excerpted local mystery writer Lisa Scottoline's new book, Lady Killer. With great fanfare, the banner across the top of the front page promises us the first three chapters of the legal thriller and in the middle of each episode, there is a box listing Scottoline's local book-signing appearances.
Now I like Lisa Scottoline. I interviewed her before she made it big for our local paper and she was funny, gracious and very down to earth. I have seen her subsequently at benefits for the Free Library and she is equally unaffected, although a bit more glamorous. She lives on a horse farm in Chester County and has a bevy of animals, large and small. She has very loyal fans and an active web presence. And she has always been very willing to share her work for free in the hope that you will come back for more.
It is an interesting trend in the publishing industry that started with the frenzy over Amazon's "Search Inside the Book" feature that actually lets you read some of the book on line before you buy it. The premise is that you are able to do that in a bricks and mortar book store, so why not on line.
As you might imagine, not all publishers are behind the give-it-away-for-free trend, but I, for one, agree with Scottoline on this one. Certainly her sales have not been hurt by her tendency to tease us with excerpts. Of course the technique works incredibly well for her page-turning mysteries where you presumably want to know how it ends.
Some authors go a step further and actually post chapters of their works in progress on their web sites and invite feedback. There are even some publishing gurus who envision the book of the future to be a continual work in progress, where readers write their own endings on interactive reading machines and email them to their friends.
That worries me. I'm not sure I want anybody tampering with my carefully thought out sentence structure and word choice, but I'm willing to share bits and pieces up front in the hopes that you will come back for more.
What do you think?
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1 comment:
Your blog is so interesting and informative that it has become a regular stop for me each day. It is very inviting to see what new topic you will be discussing, and your take on issues. I enjoy it so very much.
I don't have much time to spend reading blogs, but as far as I am concerned, yours is a "must read" daily.
I am not sure I would enjoy having my words re-written. Editing is always welcome, but the material should not be sullied, as far as I am concerned.
Great entry!
Jo
http://frequentlyfeline.blogspot.com/
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