The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect - Publishing History

Publishing History

Roger Williams started writing The Metamorphosis of Prime Intellect in 1982, while studying at college. After writing a basic plot outline, Williams realized that he "had no clue how to end it", and thus put it to one side for over a decade. In 1994, with the initial plot outline now lost, Williams claims to have had an unusually vivid dream which compelled him to start writing—resulting in the completion of the first chapter. This continued intermittently, with each chapter resulting from a burst of inspiration, culminating when the final chapter—the ending—was written approximately a year after the first. As Williams describes it, the actual writing time was about 14 days in total.

At this point, Williams showed it to a few friends, but otherwise claims to have made no serious attempt to publish the work. This differs, however, from Henrik Ingo's account, as he states that Williams made "numerous attempts" to find a publisher.

In 2002, Williams was writing articles for Kuro5hin, and was encouraged to publish it there. Thus it was finally published approximately eight years after completion. It was published online under a copyright scheme that permits free distribution and printing of the electronic version of the novel, but prohibits distribution of printed copies of the work. Printed versions were later made available by the author through Lulu.com, who provide print-on-demand services.

While the online version was free, Williams provided a PayPal tip jar, which had raised $750 US by April, 2003. This is considerably under the typical advance paid to authors, and led Williams to describe internet tip jars as an insufficient model for authors hoping to pay for "the rent and groceries". Nevertheless, Williams was happy with his success.