From the time our parents told us stories of princesses with inappropriate footwear and golden-haired home invaders, we were storytellers too. Every time we played pretend or recanted a funny memory or told an elaborate lie, we became a little better at telling tales, one story at a time. We turned to books and writing to put our stories to paper.
Growing up around technology, some of us may have lost our enthusiasm for the written word. Perhaps we decided that YouTube videos were more appealing than the pages of a novel, or found television shows more immersing than the worlds in a book.
However, with the introduction of eReaders (that just won’t stop getting fancier) and the popularization of digital novels, books have taken a step closer to reasserting their status as one of the oldest and long-loved storytelling formats. One of the most prominent bestseller lists in the world, the New York Times Best Sellers now includes an entire section dedicated to bestselling e-Book titles. Our own Calgary Public Library also includes a large e-library collection. In more than just a few ways, the written word making a transition into the digital age.
On Sept 11, the third book in Sarah J. Maas’ “Throne of Glass” series will be released. Attaining New York Times No. 1 Bestseller status with her second novel, Maas has quickly become a rising author of young adult fiction. But what makes her now well-known story unique was that its original inception took place on Fictionpress.com, titled a decade ago as “Queen of Glass” under the pseudonym sjmaas. With the help of a massive online fan following and hundreds of readers, her debut novel – dedicated in the end to those same readers – was propelled to publication.
“Throne of Glass” is among a small group of published novels in North America that started out online. Elsewhere, however, the market for online literature is much larger.
China is among the leaders in online literature, with 12.2 million users accessing its top ten literary websites every day, according to Internet market research firm iResearch. Readers pay a small amount to authors through literary websites in order to read one thousand words, and through this simple model top authors have earned millions and risen to great fame. Online novels have become incredibly popular in China; 23 of 100 bestselling titles on bookseller dangdang.com were online novels that had since made it to print. Many others have been adapted for television dramas and movies.
Despite the success of the online literature market in China, it has also been heavily criticized for their system which demands hundreds of thousands of words that an author must write in order to profit. Critics however cannot deny that online novels have and will continue to shape the future of popular literature.
Here in North America, Fictionpress.com and wattpad are two of the most popular online literature sites. Trying to end a book drought? Passionate about writing but don’t know where to start? Want feedback from fellow writers? Pop over to one of those sites and check some stories out. I promise it’ll be worth your while.
Sources:
http://www.tealeafnation.com/2013/04/whats-behind-chinas-growing-legions-of-online-readers/
http://sjmaas.livejournal.com/
