Web-Novels | Fantasy | Throwback
Can a Web-Novel Work on Medium?
A look back at Chapter 1 of ‘Sorcerer’.
A lot of people will tell you that Medium is not the place for fiction, and especially not for novels.
I gave it a try all the same. Here’s the first chapter of my web-novel Sorcerer, published on Apr 23, 2022…
…and here is the final one, published earlier this month (though there is also a postscript):
87 chapters! More than a year of posting these on Medium!
In the rest of this article, I’d like to share a bit more about the story itself, as well as my experiences and reflections on sharing it here.
What’s it about?
Sorcerer is a fantasy gamelit web-novel. The full title is “Sorcerer, Level 1”, because as gamelit, there is a focus on how the main character advances, rather than being a more generic fantasy story. You could say that it has a strong Dungeons & Dragons flavor, and in this particular story, we see the main characters as level 1 noobs!
It’s a fast paced fantasy with a lot of humor, and a definite youthful vibe, as it follows wannabe adventurers in their late teens who get swept up in bigger events across the realm.
There is dungeon diving, drinking, thievery, magic, drug-taking elves, loyal dogs, and lots of nasty imperials. In short, it’s a lot of fun.
How is it performing?
While it’s a little hard to judge the recent chapters, I don’t think they’ve been doing any better or worse than the earlier ones. Nor did it make much of a difference whether I shared them in specialist publication Dungeons and Gamelit and LitRPG, or in the more generalist The Fiction Writer’s Den, or via solo publishing.
In general, the chapters certainly don’t get read as much as my stand-alone articles or stories. However, as there are quite a few of them, it does add up. I guess that if people are into it, they will keep reading, and chapters are less likely to disappear into the void compared to stand-alone pieces.
Does it earn money?
This question has to be put in context — a lot of fiction authors on Medium complain that they earn little or nothing here!
I would say that some of the instalments have done ok. The contents page has earned $4.63 so far, which is not bad for something that is essentially a list of links. The earlier chapters of the book passed ten bucks, perhaps buoyed a little by initiatives such as Jay C Wells’s Fiction Frenzy, where authors read and comment on each other’s chapters.
By the later chapters, it drops quite a bit, with most chapters earning around a dollar. However, when you multiply it by almost 100, it’s not too bad. I don’t know how big a chunk of my Medium earnings it makes overall, but I’m happy to have it!
And I know that some readers like to wait until a novel is complete before reading it, so there is the potential to keep up the reads and interest in the future.
Are there any other benefits?
It’s true of Medium publishing in general, and perhaps especially for fiction, that the benefits don’t come just through MPP.
For a novelist, or someone who wants to work towards the goal of writing a full-length novel, there is a lot to be said for the formative feedback that you’ll get on each short story, chapter, or drabble.
The process of refining the story, editing and sharing it here (with some readers pointing out typos or giving other feedback) has helped me develop not just this story, but also my sense of what readers enjoy.
And though I can’t say for sure whether anyone who read Sorcerer will go on to buy any of my other books, they might! It’s better than being invisible.
Would I do it again?
It was quite a lot of work to share the novel here, especially once I committed to putting up two chapters per week. However, I do enjoy the ease of use of this site, and the writing community here.
I definitely think there is a benefit to gauging how much people vibe with the first few chapters of any novel. That early section is critical, because it’s what people come to first whether on free sites like Royal Road, or via the preview on Amazon.
And as I mentioned, there is something to be gained from the ongoing reader comments and feedback. Though that may be less of an issue if you feel pretty confident that you know what you are doing, and/or if you plan to hire an editor for your novel.
It has to be worth considering that the bulk of fiction readers are not here on Medium. It’s just not where people go to pick up a fantasy novel for their summer holidays.
On balance, then, I think it makes sense to share the first few chapters of a novel. After that, it’s personal choice. For a lot of people, the logical thing to do would be to link to the final, full version as an ebook for people to download, and/or to put it on your Ko-Fi site or similar.
That won’t stop me from sharing more web-novels here, though! 😅
Is this the end of the story?
I’m glad you asked! Sorcerer is actually just the start of the adventures of Alcar, the eponymous sorcerer and main character. He also features in a novella called Meanwhile, the NPCs… which you can find on Medium too, as well as in the LitRPG anthology Git Gud.
And there is more to come regarding both him and the broader world. In particular, Sorcerer, Level 1 could probably function quite well as the first book in a trilogy.
So, I have more to write. Enjoy!
To everyone who read, commented on and supported this work, thank you! It means a lot!! 🌟
And if you have a web-novel to share, check out The Fiction Writer’s Den.
