4 years ago when I was setting off for a time of wandering through Asia I took along an early draft of a book “Shadowboxer” written by my good friend Erika Archer. It’s about a girl who impulsively decides to ditch her life and finds herself in Hong Kong. The perfect companion for my trip! (…later I nearly died of HAPE while hiking in Nepal and had to be evacuated by helicopter.. But that’s another story…)
She’s now put the first chapter online in an online writing contest. Check it out:
Shadowboxer – Chapter 1 – By Erika Archer
(Be sure to rate it after reading.)
And on a deeper note, I’m fascinated by how the online world has changed (is changing) book writing. Just take a look at all the comments (constructive and otherwise) that appear after the chapter. Imagine how hard it would be for an author to solicit that much feedback pre-web.
Microsoft is in the news today on that matter for their rip into Google. Also, I loved the way Tom Evslin released bits of his book Hackoff.com a chapter at a time, and then eventually offered the upsell to an Amazon hardcover.
A question for people more literary than I: How are other authors dealing with the online world?
(HK Taxi photo uploaded to flickr by willster)