Young writers like uploading their works on the Internet

VietNamNet talked with some young writers who are well-known on the Internet about online and printing publications.

Doan Dung: Whenever I write stories or prose, I often upload them online immediately. It is very interesting if your articles are welcomed and praised by the online community. It’s like dope that inspires me to write. Without that dope, I would not write because writing is time consuming, while I’m very busy.

Online readers are not simple readers, but sub-editors or publishing houses and they order me to write for them.

I’m self-confident when I write but I’m impatient. When I was a boy, I submitted my stories to some newspapers but I didn’t receive any reply. I hate that feel of waiting.

I now like both ways of publishing. I will immediately get feedback from online publications for instant gratification. Print publications are… more imposing.

The things I write online are things that I like. Luckily, some readers also like them. I would have been a screwball if I wrote about things that I like but nobody likes reading.

I don’t think that what I write is literature or art at all. I also don’t think that I’m a writer because the concept of writer is very vague. So I nod my head whenever someone calls me an author or a young writer or something.

Keng: Previously I wrote to express myself. I’ve never sent my stories to newspapers or publishing houses, I post everything on the Internet. Initially, I didn’t make public anything about myself. I only post my stories and lines of feeling.

Then many people made supportive comments and some contacted me to say that my stories could be printed in a book with other authors. I started wanting my stories printed in books.

I don’t have illusions about my literature. Stories that I post on my blog come from reality. I also don’t like that if they are printed in books, there will be many readers. But when the Literature and Art Publishing House bought the copyright of my works, I, like other authors, wanted readers to welcome the book.

I only post complete works on my blog. I’m not interested in sending them to newspapers and waiting to see whether they are published or not.

DiLi: I and other Vietnamese writers have our works uploaded to websites and get no royalties. I think I have to adjust myself to the environment where I live.

Many people complain that American and Chinese writers earn a lot of money from the Internet. This is not the US or China so we should not dream quixotically.

Moreover, our reading culture hasn’t reached the level that attractive works can make the pageviews of websites rocket to millions. If pageviews soar, web owners would pay high royalties to writers.

However, I hope that if my works are uploaded to any website, I will receive a symbolic copyright fee or at least be asked for my permission.

These things show respect for the author. Many websites post literature works without asking for the authors’ permission. But I think this fact will change to adapt to the world.

Le Anh Hoai: I posted part of my novel named “Chuyen tinh mua tap ky” on vanchuongviet.org site. I sent the draft of this novel to two publishing houses but they wouldn’t print it. When the Da Nang Publishing House agreed to print it, they asked to me to stop putting that work online to not affect the sales of the book.

It is quicker to receive the reader’s attention from the Internet than from printed books. It is more open to write online.

For example, my original novel had a sentence like this “The dream makes trousers wet”. In the printed book, the publisher deleted it because it is “sensitive”. There are many similar examples so I think the gap between publishing articles online and printing is very large.

Publishing online will have readers’ comments and it makes writers happy. But I see many comments are flighty. I think no matter publishing online or printing, writers have to take responsibility for readers and themselves anyway.

Nguyen Quynh Trang: Many of my works are posted online. A large number of readers know about my works through the Internet. I set a principle for myself: the printed version first, the online version after.

Sometimes I post several chapters in my novels to my blog to inform my readers that I’m really working and these are the results. Sach.com website asked to post my works without paying royalties.

I and other writers have our works posted on the Internet without our permission. In literature, money is not the most important thing. It is good when literature works can get to readers.

The matter here is the attitude of respect for the labour of writers, which website masters don’t have. It is not difficult to ask for permission or put in a line about the source of the work.