E-Fiction is Eli

It was a nice surprise to see that my blog buddy Eli James was grabbed for interview by Sheila Rahman today. Eli as you know is the amazing (don't blush, Eli!) young chap from Sarawak behind Novelr pioneering, as Sheila says, the interface between fiction and the digital world.

It’s really only through community that you can raise the bar of quality in a medium.

says Eli (and that strikes me as a very wise observation). And he talks about why he started the blog :

I originally wanted to explore the medium of blog storytelling. There are actually people who blog their novels first, gain reader feedback, and then publish them through Printing-On-Demand publishers like Lulu. There are others still who blog and are then approached by publishing houses to turn their blogs into books. I found this interesting. I’d done a blook before so I leveraged Novelr to be a starting platform for new authors looking for an alternative to the traditional publishing industry.

We need blooks of significant literary merit so now Novelr has a forum. I also encourage and help set up quality filters for online fiction, plus whenever I can, highlight works of merit.

And how has blogging changed his life? :

My work in Novelr has put me in contact with a lot of really amazing professionals – SharonBakar, who writes Bibliobibuli for instance*. I’m mostly gobsmacked to be even in touch with these people.

I’ve also met a number of writers and editors.

A few of the ideas and the articles in Novelr have also been referenced in a PhD thesis on blog fiction – which was really very flattering. I suppose blogging has done wonders for my analytical ability.

I’m being quoted now, so I better make sure each and every post I write is well thought-out, well argued, and clearly presented… or else!

His immediate plans? :

Sometime next year, I’m starting up a digital publishing house (for want of a better name) – where we promote, redesign and highlight online fiction. ... I’ve started prelim discussions with several other writers, editors and programmers.

You see just what you start when young people get internet access and start communicating with others across the world?

* Nope, it's me who'd humbled, Eli. I believe you are going to go very far, and if there is anyone who has a spare scholarship to a top-notch university hidden about their person, please send it Eli's way.