Byliner, the Web site that sells original narrative nonfiction, is getting into fiction. The Web site launched in April with Jon Krakauer's story "Three Cups of Deceit" (a takedown of Greg Mortenson's bestseller Three Cups of Tea), and has since released 13 other original narrative nonfiction pieces. The first Byliner fiction original, a short story by Amy Tan called "Rules for Virgins," will become available on December 5, selling through the existing storefronts where Byliner stories are currently available: Amazon, Apple and B&N.
John Tayman, founder of Byliner, said that since the site launched the intention has always been to bring fiction into the mix. The Byliner originals have been priced between $0.99 and $3.99 and, although Tayman could not provide sales information on the titles--the retailers Byliner is partnered with prohibit him from releasing such information--he said sales have been strong. Currently most sales are coming through Amazon's Singles store, since it was the first mini storefront to appear that was dedicated to short form content, but Tayman said that is shifting. Apple recently launched a similar dedicated storefront, QuickReads, and Tayman said the company is seeing "very dramatic and promising growth" from that outlet. B&N also has plans to open its own mini storefront dedicated to shorter content, and Tayman expects that to be a boon to sales as well.
Although Tayman could not speak to other fiction originals in the works, he has a team of editors in place--novelist Walter Kirn (who wrote a Byliner original) is overseeing the fiction staff--who will be talking with established writers, as well as emerging authors. While Tayman plans to tap existing relationships with some of the big-name authors who have already worked with the company--other writers who've written Byliner originals include Anthony Swofford (Jarhead) and Mary Roach (Stiff)--there will be a concerted effort to find new voices. To that end, Tayman points to an exmaple like Rachel Corbett. Corbett contacted Tayman directly about a story that she felt was too long for a traditional magazine piece. The result is the roughly 13,000-word Byliner original "A Killing in Iowa," which is currently #4 in the Kindle Singles store.
Tayman also expects to build a database of short fiction at Byliner.com, similar to its nonfiction database. There are currently 60,000 stories on Byliner.com by over 4,000 writers. (Readers are directed to other Web sites for archival pieces, and only the Byliner originals are for sale.) The fiction will also mirror the nonfiction in length which, Tayman said, is, on average, between 1,000 and 10,000 words. When the fiction program gets fully underway, Tayman sees Byliner releasing two original pieces every month, alongside two to three pieces of original nonfiction.
