I want a word - buy a word, help write a book

The internet is an amazing place, and a place that has the capacity to change the world around us and the way that we live our lives. In many areas, such as music and film, the internet has already changed the accepted norms.

Personally, I don't think that writers have yet exploited this potential to its maximum, and this is my attempt to change that. Through the website www.iwantaword.com, I am looking for 10,000 people to each pay £1 to contribute a word of their choice to the project. When all 10,000 words have been contributed, I'll add some more of my own to create a single coherent story.

before the internet, a collaborative project involving 10,000 people would have been a logistical nightmare, now it is a real possibility. If the project succeeds, the final novel will be something genuinely unique, a new type of novel for the new internet age: the world's biggest ever multi-author book, and a new template for the written word.

One book, ten thousand authors. That's the aim.

This is a criticism that quite a few people have made. To be honest, I was a bit shocked when the first person said it, but since it seems to come up quite regularly, I think I should probably address it.

If 10,000 people buy words then yes, I will receive £10,000, but this has honestly never been my main ambition for the project. My reasons for running it are twofold:

Firstly, I really do enjoy writing, and I am genuinely excited to see how this book is going to turn out.

Secondly, as an aspiring author it's really hard to get noticed by the publishing industry. I hope that this project will help to raise my profile a bit.

At the moment, I'm just using the project's (rather small) income to support myself and fund the running costs. In the event that it does become properly successful, I plan to give any money that I make to my dad. He's the one who's given me he support and encouragement to make the project happen, so I think he deserves it.

To be honest, it's going slowly so far. I've been going for about a month now, and altogether I've sold 24 words. Don't get me wrong, I'm not complaining - 24 words definitely counts as progress! However, I've given myself until the end of 2008 to collect all the words. If I've not received all 10,000 by then, I plan to close the project to new submissions and write the book with the words that I've received so far. So, if I am going to make it by the end of 2008, I do need to up the rate at which I'm selling the words.

If you like the sound of the project and want to get involved, please do check out the website at www.iwantaword.com, and don't forget to tell all your friends too!