E-publishing offers hope for authors

Kirk Baird

Saturday, Feb. 3, 2001 | 10:11 a.m.

When Stephen King turned to the Internet last year to distribute his serialized novel, "The Plant," the publishing world took notice.

Never before had such a well-known author broken rank from the traditional methods of distributing a book -- at least when it came to the Internet. With King embracing this new electronic form of publishing -- call it e-publishing -- it gave hope to other aspiring writers that there was an alternative.

That hope, however, was dimmed recently when King ceased writing more installments of "The Plant" (there are six so far) and has temporarily removed them from his website.

King said he will return to the novel at some point, but wishes to devote his time to other projects. For now, though, it would appear the prolific author simply lost interest in his grand experiment.

So much for the future of publishing. Or is it?

Paul Harry and Anthony Casares said they don't believe so. In fact, the two are counting on the opposite, having recently created the Writing Zone, a Las Vegas-based Internet site that allows authors -- published or not -- to upload their work for a small price.

A writer himself, Harry grew increasingly frustrated with trying to get publishers and agents to publish and/or purchase his work.

"I know some of the intrinsic problems writers face in getting their works out to the public," Harry said. "There is a limited number of books and movies made each year. Consequently there are a great deal more writers than material produced."

So a year ago he came up with the Writing Zone.

The site, which can be accessed at thewritingzone.com, features almost all types of written work, from poetry and short stories to novels and screenplays. Even small articles and legal briefs can be uploaded to the site.

This is nothing new; there are other websites out there that provide this type of service.

Harry said what makes the Writing Zone unique is that writers can profit from it.

For example, when readers access a screenplay, the first one-third of the script is available for free. After that, they have to pay a fee -- anywhere from $1 to $3.25, depending on the size of the document.

That money is then given to the author.

"That's an extremely high royalty," Harry said. "I would say only the well-known writers, like Stephen King, would get anywhere close to that."

As for the cost to the authors, the Writing Zone charges a fee anywhere from $1.25 for 100 words to $14.95 for 50,000 words or more. This pays for the works to be displayed for three months. After that the works are archived and available only to industry professionals, such as publishers, agents and producers.

"The reason there is a time limit on the stories online is to keep the site continually fresh with new works coming in," he said. "We want readers, publishers and agents to come back continuously to look at the new material loaded."

And anyone who does come to the site is encouraged to post their thoughts about what they read. In fact, this type of one-on-one feedback is an important asset websites such as the Writing Zone offer over traditional publishing methods, Harry said.

Susan Davlin agreed.

As president and chief executive officer of Real People Publishing Group, a Las Vegas independent publishing company, Davlin said she has 149 published writers, all of whom could have benefited from the feedback while the manuscripts were still in the draft stage rather than already published.

"In the old world, we had to send out pre-review copies, but the book had already been published," she said. "So essentially every little change can't be done without a great deal of expense."

Plus, Davlin said, publishing groups tend to only "fix the words, and not change the content."

"What the Writing Zone has done for us is it's allowed the authors to preview their writing on the site and to get immediate feedback before we go to press," Davlin said.

The only real drawback, she said, is that having work posted online opens the author up to plagiarism.

Although the Writing Zone does offer some form of copyright protection with a "digital signature" -- whereby any literary work is turned into a legal document and protects the writer from copyright infringement -- Davlin said it may not be enough.

In electronic form, anyone can copy the story, change its title and some of the words and present it as a new work, whereas in the traditional hardback or paper form, theft of the work is very difficult.

"There's going to be some legalities and legal stances that will have to be taken on this as authors find their work pilfered," Davlin said.

Despite the risks, however, she does endorse the Writing Zone.

"I think the idea itself for authors is a great one, and the time has come," Davlin said. "It's a great way for new authors to get out there."

Currently, the Writing Zone has 16 works on its site from various authors, many from out of the country, such as Julie Randall, a specialist screenwriter from London.

Randall learned about the site in a comedy screenwriters forum after Harry posted a bulletin there urging writers to visit the Writing Zone and to read some of its available works.

She said she was intially skeptical of the service, but after discussing the merits of the Writing Zone with Harry, Randall posted a short, unproduced script on the site.

Nearly two months later she remains unconvinced.

"I have received no feedback as Mr. Henry has originally claimed may happen as an inducement to me," Randall wrote in an e-mail. "To my knowledge no one has downloaded even the part of the script that is available for free.

"I haven't seen anything to convince me that Web publishing, and in particular the Writing Zone, is in any way a useful outlet for screenwriters. There is simply too much material in cyberspace, and intellectual property has been unvalued by people who 'dump' it there."

For Harry, though, there is no doubt of the website's validity. It's simply a matter of time before others learn about the site and begin accessing it. And in that respect, the Writing Zone is part of the future of publishing.

"We're looking at a way to put the writer closer to the reader," Harry said. "And the Internet seems to offer the venue for that."

Robert Moore, a student in his fourth year of a professional writing course who lives in Australia, submitted two children's stories on the Writing Zone after publishers told him the works needed "exposure to a bigger market."

He submitted the stories to the website in December, hoping for some feedback or offers. Although, similar to Randall, he has yet to receive either, Moore said the opportunity is there.

"I feel that my interests have been well looked after with the Writing Zone," he wrote in an e-mail. "I guess it's having the patience to wait and see what will eventuate."