Apply HN: Fiction as a Service

[jay_kyburz]

Hello HN, with all the excitement of Apply HN this morning I couldn't help myself. I had to throw an idea out there.

I really like reading Science Fiction and Fantasy novels, but I would like to explore an alternate method for discovering new authors and funding their writing.

I'm a game developer, and I would like to apply some of the lessons we have learnt in the games industry in the last 10 years or so.

I think books should be free up front, and readers who are really enjoying a book should be invited to contribute to development of more books by asking them to buy premium content.

This lowers the barrier to entry, and because there is no fixed price for a book, fans can spend as much or as little as they like delving into the world that the author has created.

Premium content for a book is probably special chapters, side stories, back stories, more detail, more to read; but it might also include getting involved in the writing, naming characters and helping determine the outcome of events. Readers might even be interested in chatting with their favorite author.

I want to build a platform that authors can use publish their own books, and help them structure and sell their content in this innovative way.

Think Steam for Science Fiction and Fantasy, but with a focus on making great free fiction easy to find, and exciting premium content easy to buy.

[jib]

I read a lot. My problem is discovery, not price. Do you really think there are enough people out there for whom the price is a barrier?

If you could solve the problem of discovering interesting and high quality content for me I am much more interested than in the difference between a few dollars and free.

I also really don't like small pieces. Your premium content idea would remove value for me, not add it.

This is not to be negative - it is a problem space worth exploring. If you do it right you can certainly solve a problem for me. I am much more looking for say Pandoras recommendation engine rather than the freemium model though. And I think that might be a general thing.

[arijon → jib]

I agree! Discovery is a problem for me as well, hard to find quality.

[Qworg]

I love the idea of story pitches/short teasers being greenlit by the community via prepurchasing the finished work at a discount. An interesting middle ground between the publisher mode and the self-published model. Especially if the org can offer editing etc, maybe via the crowd?

[jay_kyburz → Qworg]

I like the idea of crowd editing. Getting the crowd involved in development.

[atroyn]

I ingest mountains of fiction (and dabble in writing), and have also worked in the (Free-to-play) game industry.

- How will you ensure quality from authors?

- How will you get your first authors, and first readers?

- How will you help authors deliver 'premium content'? Authors typically think of a story as a complete whole, rather than as sets of experience you can add to.

[jay_kyburz → atroyn]

These are all really tough questions, and I don't necessarily have all the answers yet. I think part of what was exciting about throwing the idea out there is being forced to think about these things.

1. I think there will probably need to be some kind of reddit/hn voting system so that good authors float to the top. (Perhaps even a steam greenlight system were your compete for space in the store?)

2. I don't know. I imagine we will have to just do the hard yards. Reach out to aspiring authors and get them to try this platform. We won't be exclusive. Authors can publish on Amazon as well and compare the results.

3. Yep, another of the core problems, but I think authors could consider the premium content as short stories in the same universe.

In its simplest form you could think of the Novel to get you hooked on the world and the characters, and the follow up short stories as what you buy, but I would like to think we can come up with some premium content that is more exciting than that.

If the platform looks like it's working, in the same way we had to change the way games work in f2p, we might see authors building their books for f2p as well.

[chadnickbok]

Good for you on posting so soon! Must be pretty scary but I'll be nice :)

Cool idea - I've always loved reading through the Hugo Awards each year to find new books, but I can never really trust that they're doing a great job. And sometimes Amazon does an even better job, recommending books like The Martian before anyone I knew had even heard of it.

What do you imagine 'Premium Content' being? And how do you think you can differentiate from what platforms like Amazon Kindle are doing?

You say your background is a game developer - care to expand a little? It seems like something like this would need lots of web development and payments integrations; when you say something like Steam, would this be primarily a website or a desktop app?

And would it let me get things in formats I can easily put on my Kindle/e-reader/iPad? Are those formats difficult to generate or pretty straightforward?

[jay_kyburz → chadnickbok]

To be honest, I'm not entirely sure what the premium content will be, its something I would like to talk more to authors about and test a variety of things as the platform develops.

Imagine that you were reading Game of Thrones, you might consider paying a dollar to read an extra chapter about the Iron Islands. Perhaps a short story of a Greyjoy adventure.

We would be different to Amazon simply because the structure is very different. Most of our content will be free. Our focus will be on building a fanbase for the author, and selling those fans special privileges.

I've been a game developer for many years. I worked for about 10 years on AAA games like Bioshock for Irrational Games and 2K, but about 5 years ago I went indie. I have 2 web games online right now. Neptune's Pride and Blight of the Immortals, both are large web apps with lots of moving parts like payment integrations. www.ironhelmet.com

I think the core technology would be a web app, but we would bundle it as a native app where that makes sense (mobile).

I'm not 100% sure how easy it is to push content to a users kindle directly (which would be ideal), but putting text in an open format and emailing it to them is very easy. I only read on my Kindle these days, and I think one of the core challenges would be to work out how to make it easy for users to spend money with us when they are sitting on the couch with a kindle, not sitting at their PC.

[Mz]

Please clarify how this will differ from Patreon.

Thanks.

[jay_kyburz → Mz]

This is probably very similar to Patreon, and we'll have to look very closely at its success if we move forward.

My understanding is that when you pledge on Patreon you sign-up for a recurring subscription and then author then produces the work. You then have to unsubscribe if you no longer care about the authors work.

On this platform, the content would already be written ready for you consume. If you are enjoying a novel, you can pay to unlock more content immediately. You are not committing to a subscription, instead you are making a one time small purchase.

I think this can be better for authors too, because if somebody discovers an author with a large back catalog, they can go back and buy all their old premium content.

[_AllisonMobley]

I like it, and want to partner with you either way.

[wayn3]

should rename to PR as a service. Same product, bigger market :P

[_AllisonMobley]

I'm a writer, btw.