How much should be posted on-line?

I recently submitted a novel online, (Blood Money) and posted three chapters at a time. I would suggest that you post the entire novel, unless you wish to have it published at a later date. Me, I am impatient and have given up with the so-called big publishers. Seven years ago, I had three novels published as print on demand, and a couple of days ago, I published a novel, (The Eternal Chain) with Lulu, after recieving my copy of ABC's, Let's Start Again. If the book is acceptable to me, I will consider publishing more of my other fourteen novels with them. Lindzz, I would complete your novel before starting on other projects. Welcome to this great site and good luck with your writing.

Let's Start Again was a competition hosted ny ABC Tales in which the entries were published in a book. No, print on demand is not self publishing. Instead of printing a large batch of books for a relatively unknown author, the publisher prints the book when it is ordered. I made very little money from the three books, but it was still a rewarding experience.

Hello Lindz, Personally I would advise you not to publish online if you think you might want to go down the traditional publishing route with the ms sometime in the future, be it with one of the Big Boys, or a small Indie. Publishers are not fools and will check authors and titles sent to them. I run a small, traditional independent publishing house, and get many mss submitted. If the book has been published in its entirety online, or self-published (by Lulu, say) or published by a vanity press (iUniverse, for example)or by an 'author mill' (such as Publish America) I'm afraid I won't touch it. http://www.ukauthors.com

I'd like to point out though, that's there's nothing particularly wrong with going down those routes if that's what you want to do (and Lulu for example is excellent, and great value for money), it's just that if you do, you'll probably scupper your chances of landing a deal with a traditional publishing house. http://www.ukauthors.com

After extensive converstions with the a number of agents and major publishers they, by and large, tell me that a whole novel on here would be no bar to publication - and if it got ecstatic feedback then that would help in their considerations. They would, of course, expect it to be taken down by the time it was submitted to them - and you would tell them that the 'first draft' had been up on ABCtales and had the following feedback. However different publishers say different things - but that is the view of the vast majority of them. Cheers, Tony

Quite right Tony. I wasn't so much talking about posting on websites such as yours and mine (after all, most 'completed' works are not that at all, but in early stages, and would need much editing and polishing before submitting to a publisher). As mentioned above, I meant more published in complete form (paperback and/or hardback) by the likes of the estimable and very worthy Lulu, which obviously means the book is 'out there' and the initial push is lost. You have no idea of the number of mss I get sent which, when checked, turn out to be in book form already. In fact, to illustrate your point, our latest book (due for release soon) was first published in chapters online, although on release it will bear little resemblance to the original (online) work. However, I'm not sure 'ecstatic feedback' from an online website would have much influence on a publishers decision as to whether or not to accept an ms, although it's always worth a try :) Sorry if I've confused the issue, anyway! http://www.ukauthors.com

Linzz, From the perspective of getting comments and reviews of your work (which I guess is one of the main reasons for posting) I would not recommend posting large sections of your writing. I have limited time to do this and when I see vast amounts of text it is a de-motivator. I also understand that I may not be representative of the majority. My take home message is to give a little flavour of your work and let the clamour for more begin! Scratch.