Comments for

James Patterson To Release "Crowdwritten" Novel Next Month

2009-02-19T13:54:26Z

Best-selling crime author James Patterson will release a new kind of novel next month - one that's been collaboratively written with the crowd. Called AirBorne, the upcoming novel will feature 30 chapters, each written by a different author except the first and last - those will be written by Patterson himself. With the release of this book, it appears the Web 2.0 movement of collaborative writing is about to hit the mainstream.

]]> About the Novel

Earlier, Borders Australia and Random House held a contest to find twenty-eight writers who would be able to write the bulk of the book. The chapters they produce will need to be less than 750 words so, obviously, this book will be a little lighter than Patterson's other novels.

Once complete, Airborne will be released electronically, one chapter at a time, starting on March 20th. Later, a print edition will be published, but only as a prize of sorts for the participants in the competition - it will not be mass produced.

Collaborative Writing is So Very Web 2.0

The roots of the collaborative writing movement can be found in many web startups, including those like Novlet, Potrayl, Ficlets, Unblokt, Protagonize, and others we profiled here. A popular activity for creative writers, these communities offer various takes on how a co-written story should be developed, some focused more on "choose your own adventure"-style stories while others focus more on linear narratives.

Although the James Patterson novel is more of a marketing campaign than anything else - and, in this case, the "crowd" is actually a hand-picked selection of aspiring writers - it's still interesting to see such a widely-read writer embracing the co-writing trend. While those passionate about the subject may say this particular effort doesn't qualify since it isn't truly written by "the crowd," it's events like this that take the general idea behind the trend and cross it over to where it can make a mark on the minds of the mainstream.

What remains to be seen at this point is whether a crowdsourced, co-written novel can actually be any good.

Those interested in following the progress of AirBorne can do so on Facebook, Twitter, and via RSS.

Comment from ITrush on 2009-02-19

2009-02-19T14:36:44Z

Very interesting.. checking your twitter link now, just to make sure I'm updated with the latest info re AirBorne.

Comment from Palermo Project on 2009-02-19

2009-02-19T14:40:42Z

This is indeed interesting. I am curious to know if the different authors knew each other and they consulted each other before writing their respective parts. If not, this will make for a very fascinating reading. It will also be interesting to get feedback from each author about other author' parts..

Comment from Goodmars on 2009-02-19

2009-02-19T15:10:18Z

how much more web2.0 can we get? Nonetheless, I like the idea and hope it succeeds!
http://tr.im/gk8j

Comment from Mike Smith on 2009-02-19

2009-02-19T16:42:17Z

Sounds interesting.

Have you actually read a James Patterson novel. I'd suggest that 750 words a chapter would be longer than any chapter he's ever written. Most of his books have about 2 small pages per chapter. I'd guess around 400 words!

Comment from nickb on 2009-02-19

2009-02-19T16:45:11Z

Very cool idea, although Patterson pretty much has everything ghost-written these days anyhow. ;) Should be interesting to see how it plays out. I'll be watching it carefully, as it has a direct bearing on my site...

Kinda sad to see that 2 of the 5 collaborative writing sites listed in this post are down, though. There are other non-Web 2.0 writing sites out there too, but the majority of them are pay, and not free like the current crop.

-nick / protagonize

Comment from Sarah Perez on 2009-02-19

2009-02-19T17:07:36Z

@Mike: really? I thought they were normal sized books. {Pulling one down from shelf}. Ah, they are. They just have over 100 chapters.

Comment from Dimitry Z on 2009-02-19

2009-02-19T23:56:15Z

If this article is accurate, then this attempt is disappointing and should not have been covered. What happened was not crowdsourcing, but outsourcing.

A crowdsourced book would probably be more like version control in programming in that each contribution would refine certain elements, or one user may branch the book and take it in another direction.

Now that is something I would love to read and re-read as it becomes updated with language, detail and story.

Comment from Keren Dagan on 2009-02-20

2009-02-20T16:01:12Z

Very interesting. I just think that the crowd behind this book is more like the Tribe that Seth Godin describe in his recent book. It is not about the numbers as it is about initiative and leadership. Seth is a marketer and this does sound like a web 2.0 style marketing campaign. I still like to read this book:)

Keren

Comment from Heidi S. on 2009-02-20

2009-02-20T17:21:01Z

Each chapter will be huge compared to what James Patterson has written!!!!
Has anyone ever read all of his books!!!!I have just to let everyone know..

Comment from Kylie Williams on 2009-02-21

2009-02-21T22:40:29Z

Hi all,

I'm one of the authors picked to do this and will be happy to answer your questions after it's all done :)

I'm really looking forward to this opportunity and hope that you will enjoy what we come up with.

To answer one of your questions: no, none of us know each other. There were over 2500 submissions from all over Australia, so it's kinda nice to be selected from so many.

Stay posted!

Kylz.

Comment from Tom Powell on 2009-02-23

2009-02-24T02:14:04Z

Interesting development in the crowdwriting arena.

I recently wrote a post about collaborative content creation and have a few other examples in different creative areas.

It seems thus far the examples (in terms of both sheer volume and, perhaps, success? I'm not sure) have been in the film-making world. Extremely skeptical of collaborative writing producing anything of value beyond a fun, interesting diversion/gimmick. If anyone has any examples of even decent writing born out of this process, please share.

Comment from Emily Lloyd on 2009-02-26

2009-02-26T17:30:50Z

If a tree writes a novel in the forest, and no one sees it, is the novel by James Patterson? :) http://is.gd/kQa3

Comment from Emily Lloyd on 2009-02-26

2009-02-26T17:33:09Z

Yikes--posted wrong link at #12. Meant: http://is.gd/kYgM

Comment from söve on 2009-03-14

2009-03-14T09:25:22Z

To answer one of your questions: no, none of us know each other.

Comment from Joseph on 2009-03-25

2009-03-25T19:52:16Z

This is pretty cool way to collaborate, but to me "crowdsourcing" implies a lot more democracy and broad based collaborative input. This seems more like an edited collection of short stories with similar theme and I'm guessing it'll read that way as each author tries to distinguish their stuff from the other material. With first and last chapters from the same author the storyline seems pretty much constrained by him.

To me far more interesting as a real crowd sourcing effort would be a novel written page by page or even paragraph by paragraph with voting on each segment, pushing the story forward as the readers and writers collaborated on a broad scale. Might work, might not, but it would sure be interesting.

Hmmm - want to do that here? I'll help fund that project.

Comment from neon on 2009-03-29

2009-03-29T19:59:44Z

wee most of his books have about 2 small pages per chapter. I'd guess around 400 words.oky web.

Comment from neon tabela on 2009-04-26

2009-04-26T20:44:49Z

watching it carefully, as it has a direct bearing on my site...

Comment from Oyun on 2009-04-26

2009-04-27T01:40:08Z

ı have followed your writing for a long time.really you have given very successful information.

Comment from pornoizle on 2009-05-21

2009-05-21T14:29:19Z

Comment from porno izle on 2009-05-30

2009-05-30T20:06:06Z

1) It's extremely difficult to craft a good UX for N providers, making the button path -- used by social bookmarks and the demonstration above alike -- very appealing;
2) The data necessary to build a value proposition, like a contact book, is not available consistently from all providers;
3) There is no trust framework to support a diversity of provider

Comment from cet on 2009-06-22

2009-06-22T07:04:36Z

bugünlük yeter

Comment from nancy on 2009-08-11

2009-08-11T07:55:31Z

Very interesting. I just think that the crowd behind this book is more like the Tribe that Seth Godin describe in his recent book.

Comment from Sam Stephens on 2009-08-19

2009-08-20T06:47:46Z

I was also one of the writers selected (Hi Kylz!), and from the writers point of view, the project was a lot of fun.

Collaborations like this can expose new writers to sides of the publishing industry not yet seen.

I know I've made a number of contacts from this project, and all round it's been a lot of fun!

Sam Stephens