: Is it a bad idea to publish individual chapters of my book idea online for feedback? I have already typed at least 6-7 chapters of this book I've been focused on, but what I want to ask

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This one is old, but I personally believe that posting your book chapter-by-chapter is the new modern age writing.

A lot of authors are switching to this approach, it lets you stay in touch with your audience on a weekly basis (If you are posting one chapter per week).
When the book is finished you can start working on the next book, and you can transition all your fans from one novel to another.

The main concern was: Reader's reviews will affect your writing. It may be a good thing and a bad thing, but it's only on the writer to decide, which advises to take and which to ignore.
Reader's reviews also are a great support and a driver. The knowledge that there are other people waiting for your creations is the best reason to keep writing.

About money, there are plenty of platforms that let you monetize your books, while you are writing them. And this approach is getting more and more attention from young authors.

I could advise several well-known platforms:

fictionate.me https://webnovel.com wattpad.com https://royalroad.com

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M-O-O-N that spells Tom Cullen.

I recommend against posting chapters until after at least a full first draft is written. For the simple reason that you are less likely to finish the book if you get premature feedback on a few early chapters. That feedback will start focusing your effort on work already completed instead of the job at hand.

Writing is rewriting. But it demands writing first.

Regarding prologue: As a reader, I HATE prologue. I often feel obligated to read it to avoid missing some nuget of info that will deepen my appreciation of the rest of the book. Unfortunately, that nugget often exists. That means I keep reading prologues. Writers keep writing them. But I end up reading the first couple chapters pissed off because the author abused me by forcing me to watch his mental masturbation. Don't do prologue.

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Possibly, maybe 1 or 2 chapters. However, be warned. The critique online isn't the best by far. In fact, it's usually the opposite.

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Posting online for comments is a great idea, if it's in the right place. Getting feedback from people experienced in writing and editing is almost always helpful.

I recommend posting at Critique Circle. You can post your ideas and/or chapters and get multiple critiques (at least 3, usually more) back. It helps to give people an idea of what your primary concerns are, but what you get back is usually pretty awesome, ranging from substantive / structural suggestions to full-blown line edits you'd normally pay for.

The best part, it's basically free. You do have to review other people's work in to earn review credits, but even that isn't bad as you can stick to your genre.

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I don't know whether this is considered self-promotion or not: if you try YouShelf.com, you can find a place to publish your novels chapter by chapter as you create. Readers will also pay by chapters (or by thousand words) as they are drawn into your story. Author will be able to set from which chapters the story will be paid, and at what price. Usually we encourage authors to set a friendly price of [CO].03-0.05 per thousand words, but it is totally up to you. We are at Twitter(twitter.com/youshelf) & Facebook(facebook.com/youshelf) too. I am an author support team member at YouShelf - a San Francisco Bay Area startup. Currently we pay out 100% of the net revenue back to author, mailing out monthly royalty check when exceeding US0. Sorry for the ad like response, but this might be a good fit for what you ask. Readers not only give your story their feedbacks, but they also vote with their dollars :) If you and others like the idea, please tell your writer friends as well.

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Maybe before posting it online where you have limited control over who accesses and/or shares it, give it to individuals or contained groups - [maybe a book reading group] for comment. At an individual level these people are more likely to provide considered comment/opinion because you have engaged with them directly and there is potential of ongoing consultation. A meaningful discourse that can be acknowledged when publishing.

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I think posting a work in progress online for feedback is enormously dangerous.

Not because people will steal it. They almost certainly won't.

Not because those readers will refrain from buying the book when it's published. Those readers might refrain from buying it, but the number of people would would have bought your book otherwise is a vanishingly small fraction of your potential audience.

Posting a work in progress online for feedback is dangerous because the feedback will influence you.

Here are some things that are generally true:

The people who give feedback online have no better idea than you do about what makes a good book.
The people who give feedback online have no idea how to give useful feedback.
You will get feedback from people who would not have bought your book if they saw it at some retailer. They are not your audience.
Most of the feedback you can get online is from writers. And not only writers, but unsuccessful writers spouting fallacious rules about stories and how to write them.

You will find some people for whom those things are not true. But most of the feedback you get will be worthless.

If there is any chance that you will take the feedback of anonymous strangers to heart, you are setting yourself up for trouble. And if there is no chance that you will take it to heart, there's no point seeking it.

My recommendation: Finish the novel. The worst that can happen is that you get lots of practice writing the middle and end of a book.

Then get feedback from a few readers who typically enjoy the kind of book you wrote.

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I've been posting my stuff online for years.

Some things I've noticed:

Your idea isn't as awesome as you think, so people aren't likely to steal it.
Maybe your idea is awesome, but people can't see it (someone once told me that some people can't recognize a good story even if it bites them in the butt).
Yes, your idea is awesome, but people know that it's yours and they rather come up with something original themselves (or else they will be afraid to get caught).

The advantages on the other hand are way more. You get to improve not only the grammar of your novel but the plot, pacing, characterization, descriptions, and things that you would have never spotted yourself.

So my advice is. Go on. Post it.

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As a sci-fi, fantasy writer you are lucky to be in the minority of writers that are supported by other aficionados and even sometimes by published authors mentorship.

So, I think the potential gain far outweighs the risks.

Also, there is an automatic copyright , you can always prove ownership with your original computer files.

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