Would you let fans read your book as you write it?
UK author Silvia Hartmann will launch “The Naked Writer” project on September 12th, letting her readers follow along on Google Docs as she writes her next novel. Hartmann (pictured) will share the Google Docs link via her social networks. Whoever clicks on the link can offer feedback and watch her work.
Hartmann explained in the release: “This is an amazing opportunity for me as an author to push the boundaries of the author/reader relationship. It will be amazing to write knowing that people will be viewing each word, paragraph and chapter, each backspace as I go along! Some authors plan their manuscripts in advance, but my stories tend to have a life of their own and I look forward to seeing what unfolds with everybody else!”
In the past, several authors have started collaborative projects. In January 2012, The Sydney Morning Herald collaborated with their readers and published a novel called The Necklace. In April 2012, writer Willy Chyr invited the internet to contribute sentences to a novel. Since June 2012, YA author Kimberly Pauley has been polling her readers through her blog to help her write the third title in the Sucks to be Me series.