I've spent a lot of time thinking about the ebook idea and carefully reading and considering what others have said about it. I have to say, as an author, I still think it's a good idea.
My conception of how this idea would work has changed over time and with others' input, so let me summarize my current understanding of what it is that's being proposed, just so we're all on the same page. Plus, it helps me think.
The ebooks would be:
1) Completed stories only
2) Created only with explicit author permission.
3) Created by the mods
(per Foo)4) Hosted by xita (I don't know if the php BBCode could support it, so I'm not sure if they would technically be on the board or on a webpage of hers)
We've had a lot of discussion about the issue of control, about why an author would or wouldn't opt-in to this idea. That's an important discussion, but my goal isn't to rehash it here. We've mostly heard from authors who feel strongly one way or the other and have given solid, respectable reasons for how they feel. And if we do decide to implement this idea, it would be a good discussion to have as authors decide what they want done with their stories.
I want to address the question of
should we implement ebook hosting. I see two fundamental questions that relate to this.
1) What do we do about feedback--does it get included? It's a fundamental part of the stories here.
2) Is hosting ebooks good or bad for the health of the forum?As for the first question, I've actually changed my mind; as important as feedback is to the experience here, I don't think we should include it.
Kajun wrote:Also, some of these stories, and feedback given, include very personal comments. People don’t expect the private things they share here will be copied and sent into the ether. Doing that could cause a great deal of harm to kitten members.
There are a lot of things that need to be taken into consideration. Privacy issues and supporting this community are, IMHO, at the top of the list.
This completely convinced me. I started to think about things I've seen people leave in feedback, everything from flirting to condolences. Bam. Totally swayed.
Perhaps we could suggest that authors look through the feedback and responses, to see if there are explanations in that text that are vital to understanding the story. If so, maybe it isn't a good option for the ebook format. As an alternative, people frequently include chapter notes, so this information could be added there.
What I see as the fundamental question (hence the bolding) is, "Are ebooks are good for the health of the board?" The reason I still think that ebooks are a good idea is that I believe the answer is "yes." But to answer that question, we have to consider not just what motivates people to write, but what brings them to the board.
See, I'm kind of late to this party--I only joined two years ago. I didn't watch the show until a a little over two years ago. When I went looking for fanfiction, I didn't go looking specifically for stories about Willow and Tara. I was enchanted with the Buffyverse, and I wanted more. I loved the characters, and wanted to spend more time with them. So I looked for fan-fiction. I found other archives of Buffy fiction first. When I found authors I liked, I chased them.
I followed them here.
I don't know if I would have ever found this forum if I hadn't seen links in other places. That really influences how I feel. I came here because I found compelling writing that made me want more. The more I read here, the more I wanted to engage. So to me, it feels natural that making it easier to read what we have here will draw more people into participating. I'm not saying we should distribute the ebooks elsewhere; rather, that by making it easier for people already at the board to read the stories here, we'll coax more people into actively participating.
Will ebooks decrease the number of comments the completed fic gets? I would guess it depends on how you look at it. On a comments-per-reader basis . . . well, probably. As Kajun's mentioned, it's hard enough to get people to comment when they're already on the page. Take the reader away from the page, and you make it harder. But that's not the only measure. I think ebooks will increase the number of readers a story gets. Every reader is a potential active board member. That makes it hard to predict if the raw number of comments-per-time will decrease; if readership increases, you could end up with more comments. It all depends. Why someone writes is going to inform the decision on whether or not to opt-in.
Kathryn wrote:Feedback comes when you've just enjoyed something, not hours later.
I beg to differ. I
never leave feedback when I've only just read something. I can't imagine leaving feedback on something without reading it multiple times and really thinking about what I read and what I want to say. Do that mean I leave fewer instances of feedback? Yes. But I've also been known to leave feedback that's a couple of thousand words long. For me, having ebook versions of completed stories would make me
more likely to comment, because it makes it easier to reread. Am I insane? Probably. But it's the way I interact with the content here.
Speaking of content interaction, we should also keep in mind that not everyone has 24/7 internet access. Providing ebooks of fics provides a service to people that want to read when they don't have an internet connection. How many people read on the bus? Or train? Or tucked into bed? Or in class (you naughty, naughty people)? How many people have to compete with family members for computer time? How many people live in places where internet access is spotty?
I understand that I'm coming at this from what Kathryn described as a 'type 1' position. More specifically, I write for me: I get stories stuck in my head, and I need to put them down on the page to get them out. People reading them, and people commenting on them, is a wonderful bonus and all, but not why I write them. I'm sure that this colors my opinion on how ebooks would impact the health of the board. I still maintain that my argument that they're overall positive is sound; I just believe in proper disclaimers.
But, really, what's on my mind right now is that AD is 10 years old as-of May 20th this year, and I got an email feedback from someone just recently - sent from their iPhone. Author, email address, "Brought to you by The Kittenboard - W/T 24/7 (
but it would be my general opinion... Just saying there's a significant chunk of that out there and I think we'd lose feedback from some of those people as a community if they were ebooking on PENS (not archives.) More about the potential dangers than the four points...