Writing your novel online is a great idea. People will see your work, publishers may see it and you get the personal satisfaction of having your work read. There are just a few problems with this.
People don’t like reading entire novels from their computer screen. In fact, anything over 1500 words becomes a stretch for most people. Another problem is getting people back after they leave. Then there is the small matter of earning money from your writing. So how does understanding that television and online novels being similar help and how are they similar?
Firstly, television has stories that go on for years. Some of the best series would take weeks to watch from start to finish. Think of the great series like M.A.S.H. or Dallas and then imagine watch all the episodes in one or two sittings. You need to start to think of your online novel in this light. Sure, publish your work online, but rather than put it all out there, consider turning it into a series.
Some simple techniques to have people returning to your site is to either set up a membership site that allows you to email the readers every time a new chapter appears. This ensures they return to your site, read what you have without fear of them leaving and keeps people wanting more.
If you don’t think a membership site is for you, try a basic site with a sign up form attached. Put you first chapter up to perk their interest, then when they sign up for more chapters you can set up an autoresponder to send the chapters to the person every few days or weekly depending how often you want your story sent out to them.
Keep the episodes under 2000 words and the chances are the person will read it all. Which leads to the money making side. With repeat business set up, you can sell banner space, put in AdSense or a Clickbank advertisement up. All three will earn you money in such a way as not to annoy people. It takes a while to build the income up, but it does grow.