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eBay Auctions Spot in Author’s Latest Novel

Nathan Tyree is writing a novel, and he wants you to be in it. Yes, YOU. How? He’s auctioning off a place in his novel on eBay, right now. The bid (as of today at 11 AM) is currently at $40 (US), and if you win, shipping is free. Did I mention that you get to be a character in his novel? A major one, too, not just some stiff that shows up in the morgue or a guy or gal functioning as wallpaper or set decoration. As Tyree himself puts it, your character will be “Not the protagonist, but integral to the book.” How hot is that?

“Okay!” you say, “I get it! But who the hell is this guy?”

A brief history: Nathan Tyree is the author of three books (Mr. Overby is Falling, Stygiophilia and How to Make Love Like a Zombie), all of which can be found on Amazon.com, and all of which are self-published. Lest you think he’s just a vanity publishing type, you can also find his work in a variety of journals and anthologies, including Bookmunch, Word Riot, Gustaf, Poor Mojo’s Almanac(k), The Beat, Dogmatika, The Flash, 3AM: London, New York, Paris, and about a hundred other places. He’s been writing for the past 20 years or so, hence the publishing credits stacked up to the ceiling. He lives in Kansas, which may seem like a strange place for a writer to live, but then again, if you’ve got the Internet and ideas, who cares where you write from? Tyree describes his style as “literary, experimental, horror, existentialist, strange, comedic,” and notes that he tries not to limit himself when it comes to genres.

As for the eBay auction, Tyree admits it’s “obviously a tacky gimmick,” which was inspired by fellow writer/blogger Tao Lin, who claims to have sold his MySpace account for $8,100. However, he also says that his motives are slightly more complex. In his own words:

I’m not going to get rich off this thing (I figure top price possible is around a hundred bucks [...]), but I will make a couple of bucks. There’s also a secondary way that this profits me (maybe): whoever wins the auction will have friends and family that may want to buy the book because a loved one is in it. That could equal an extra 10 to 20 copies sold (maybe 20 to 40 dollars in my pocket). Plus, if this auction generates any internet buzz (what an annoying term), that could drive a few sales too. I could maybe end up making $200 more than I otherwise would have from the book, due to my weird pimping technique. There is also the chance that (were “buzz” to occur) it could entice some small press (Muumuu House? Social Disease? Eraserhead?) to take interest in the book and maybe set up an advance deal with me (this seems unlikely).

With the proliferation of blogs that have been turned into books, Tyree’s aims are certainly no worse than any blogger who dreams of achieving a book deal with their scribblings. Indeed, as a published author, his chances are already better. But if worse comes to worse, Tyree says he will simply self-publish the novel and pimp it out himself, just like he’s done with his other works.

In the end, it’s not about the money. Tyree is obviously driven to write, in many different forms, and says the real reason for wanting to auction off a character in his latest book is for motivational purposes; he needs a deadline. As he told Black Heart, “When this auction ends, I must write a novel in less than a year. I will have no choice. In college I was never able to write a paper until the last two days before it was due. This is like that.”

Whether or not you choose to participate in Tyree’s eBay auction, you’ve got to admit it’s an unique way to go about writing a novel. While people have certainly put product placement to work for them in the past (one notable example being Fay Weldon’s “undisclosed sum” from Bulgari for her product placement novel, The Bulgari Connection), this is perhaps the first time an American author has auctioned off a spot in their novel to the highest bidder. According to The Guardian, the first writer to attempt the feat of auctioning off characters in their novel was Jason Johnson, aka “the Irish Irvine Welsh”, who tried the scheme back in 2006. As of the writing of this article it doesn’t seem Johnson has finished the work (his third novel), though you can certainly check out his previous two, Alina and Woundlicker, to get a feel for his writing style.

Is this the wave of the future, auctioning off characters and scenarios in one’s novel to the highest bidder? Are reader-directed plot twists and choose-your-own adventure novels really what people are looking for in their fiction? These are certainly questions to ponder, as is the concept of immortality as guaranteed by the fictional you appearing in Tyree’s book. Is this, ultimately, hot lit, or just a cheap trick? You’ll have to turn that page yourself to find out.

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