Online fiction

Most of what is explored in this guide is available online. Online fiction comes in every size and shape and genre imaginable. Some of it is self-published, much of it is published in the hundreds (thousands?) of magazines and journals that proliferate online (Duotrope is a great resource for searching these), some of it comes in the form of e-books, and some of it takes other forms (blog fiction, twitter fiction, new media fiction, collaborative fiction etc).

There is a difference between the online fiction that simply uses the internet as a means of distribution - where work is written as if for print and there is no creative consideration of the possibilities allowed by the platform being used; and the online fiction that is written specifically for digital presentation or distribution.

The Electronic Literature Organization says that the latter is ‘born digital’. In these instances the form the writer uses is influenced by the digital platform it will be presented on:

The confrontation with technology at the level of creation is what
distinguishes electronic literature from, for example, e-books, digitized
versions of print works, and other products of print authors ‘going digital.’

There are a few very audible concerns when it comes to online fiction (whether 'born digital' or not); one is that it seems to be impossible to make money from it, another is that quite a lot of it isn't that good, and another is the fear of copyright abuse.

I'd recommend the following for some thoughts on these issues:

Digital Livings (a report on how digital writers make money - although as most writers, digital or not, make hardly any money this probably shouldn't be the foremost concern of anyone who wants to write).

Applying the Long Tail to Fiction (how to be found amongst the crap).

And make sure you read the copyright post.