Thread: Letting them read

I've finished the last draft of my novel, and it's just about as good as I can make it. So, I figured it was only fair to let friends and loved ones finally read what I've been working on for all this time, whilst I accumulate a list of agents that I will, in the near future, be querying, as well as polishing my query letter. My question is this: How many do you let read it at once? Manuscripts are expensive to print. If I print just one, it seems like it would take too long for everyone to have their chance at it. I'm afraid of sending it electronically, too.

How do you guys and gals handle this stage in the process? There's no right answer, I imagine. I'm just curious how others have solved this problem.

Hmmm...how many people ae you planning on letting read this?

I send everything electronically - have for years and have never had a problem.

Short articles I email directly, not as attachments but in the body of the email as plain text. If I need to format it myself because it has illustrations, tables, or such, I attach the file to the email if it's short, say 30 pages or less. For longer work and for audio or video files I use yousendit.com. Their basic service is free if you don't upload really large files or want to use their options like download notification. They've recently upgraded and there were a few bugs for a week or so but that's all worked out now.

If you write something as big as twilight then leaving electronic copies around will be a problem. See what happened to midnight sun?

On the other hand the chances that your first novel will be published are pretty thin. The chances that it'll make enough money that one of your friends will leak an electronic copy are even slimer.

What I have done is made excerpts from the first chapter widely available electronicaly. You'd be surprised how many of your friends loose interest after they have read that much. Then you only need to print one or two hard copies, you can keep those under tight control.

But when I finished writing it I sent the entire report on the 2010 Annual General Meeting of the Ministry of Agriculture and Fisheries electronically and so far as I know not a single pirated copy of it has shown up for sale.

*ahem* I do the jokes.

Joke? Who's joking?

Seriously, even one printed copy out of the house for someone to read opens the door for scanning and mass distribution. Technology helps us but can also be our undoing. Fortunately for me the projects I'm involved in today have little value on the open market, though they are valued highly by those who commission them.

A good work of fiction, on the other hand, can be a tempting target for theft.

Originally Posted by BoredMormon

What I have done is made excerpts from the first chapter widely available electronicaly. You'd be surprised how many of your friends loose interest after they have read that much.

Your friends must be fair weather friends. If what I read around here is anything to go by, the friends of a certain other WF member who publishes electronically are beating his door down with cudgels to get at his writing.

Then again, I haven't seen your writing. Although I haven't seen the other feller's either, so there you go.

You haven't told me the most important thing of all: How long is the novel? A 150,000-word novel (approximately 400 6x9 pages) will cost you just over seven pounds to print via Lulu. Give yourself a budget of £50 and you have seven copies to distribute around your family. Hardly breaking the bank, and worth it if you want to make your novel the best it can be. I would advise against giving the novel to just family. Their replies can often by sycophantic because they don't want to hurt your feelings. Hand the book to a complete stranger to get an unbiased review.

Thanks for the responses, everyone.

Sam: My manuscript is about 80,000 words. When I printed it for revisions at Staples, it cost me about $25. That's way too expensive to be printing three or four copies just to pass around to friends. A man's gotta eat, y'know? I'm unfamiliar with LuLu, but if it's that cheap (7 pounds is about 12 dollars or so, right?) then it would definitely be worth it.

Also, I know what you mean about family. But, when you say a complete stranger, you don't really mean a complete stranger, do you? That would be difficult. I wouldn't think people react well to a 300 page manuscript being handed to them at the laundromat. Or, "Thanks for pumping my gas, sir. Also, would you mind reading..."

Though, I suppose I'd be better off letting an acquaintance read, rather than my mom.

Thanks again.

Well, no, not a complete stranger. That would be kinda weird. Someone who you can trust to be completely unbiased in their review. You see it all the time on shows like American Idol; families deluding their children by telling them they have talent. It's never good in the long run. You need someone who won't pull any punches. It's the only way you learn.

An 80,000-word novel will not cost £7 on Lulu. It will cost around £4, which is about $8. Five copies for $40. I know we're in an economic downturn, but that isn't a lot if you're really serious about getting feedback. I spent £700 printing 100 copies of my latest novel. I sold them all for £10, making £300 profit. It was a risk, but I'd gladly take it again.

Sam, if you printed them all for £700, and sold them all for £10, I make that a loss of £690.

Hello again!

Thought I'd come back with a followup.

Sam: Thanks for the recommendation. I was all set to make use of it, but then I got impatient and just went to Staples and printed two copies. It was a bit expensive, but they look gorgeous.

My novel is in the hands of a few people now, and they're test reading it. Dear Oprah, but this is nerve-racking! I'm having trouble containing my bouts of excitement and distress.

Why don't you print different watermarks on some of the pages or put in intentional typos so that you can trace the theft?

Also, I've heard good things about Lulu. My synagogue used them to publish a compendium of our sermons.

I doubt it's going to be stolen.

That would imply that a "thief" would have the determination to query agents or contact publishing companies for six months, and still probably never make a dime.

Besides, I know the people reading copies well enough to say, with some certainty, they're not selling it on the literary black market right now.