In 2004 author Dave Wellington began a new blog publishing a serialised horror novel, chapter by chapter. Three years later, Wellington has completed five novels in this manner, and is nearing the end of the sixth, and he has been offered publishing contracts for four of his novels. Wellington has a large fanbase, many of whom read his blog three times a week and leave comments.

How much work is involved?

Wellington published one chapter every Monday, Wednesday, and Friday, in order to keep fans interested and coming back for more. Initially that regime was intense because he was writing only one or two chapters ahead of the posting. This “no safety net” approach won the admiration of many fans who returned to see how he would develop the story strands that seemed unsolvable.

With later novels, Wellington made the decision to write part of the novel ahead of time so that he had a decent buffer for holidays and emergencies.

Wellington also made an effort to respond to at least some of the comments on his blog, and also set up a forum for readers who wanted to discuss the books and other topics in more detail. Wellington posts almost every day to the forum.

Marketing and publicity

Wellington had the help of Alex Lencicki, the marketing and publicity director at Orbit Books US, who brainstormed the blog novel concept with him at the start. Lencicki dealt with much of the publicity campaigning and advertising leaving Wellington free to write. One successful campaign involved a contest for sending the most visitors to the blog from a website – the winners were written into the story in cameo roles.

Word of mouth advertising by Wellington’s fans also helped to generate a great deal of buzz about Wellington and his novels.

Choice of genre

I think Wellington’s decision to write horror has gone a long way to helping with his success in an online medium. It seems that there are many readers in cyberspace who enjoy a gore fix and are willing to read a short chapter on screen. Wellington milked this by using intriguing characters and plot twists to hook those readers who just stopped by through curiosity.

Genres like Science Fiction and Fantasy probably require too much concentration up front from the reader, but Comedy, Romance, and Erotica may work with a strong hook.

Copyright

Wellington hasn’t indicated that he’s had any trouble with copyright infringement, and with four novels already published and well received, he doesn’t need to worry about the online version’s impact on future publishing deals.

Income

All Wellington’s novels were made available to the public free of charge. Wellington included an optional donation button for those readers who wanted to contribute to advertising and marketing costs.

Wellington continues to offer his serialised novels for free, with links to purchase his published novels in a “support the author” bid. He also offered a free pdf chapbook, with extra content not available elsewhere, to all fans who purchased the paperbook version.

Read my reviews of Dave Wellington's novels.