When Was On The Internet Book First Published Online?

I remember digging into this topic a while back because I was obsessed with the evolution of digital literature. The concept of an 'internet book' is a bit nebulous, but if we're talking about the first full-length book published online, it likely dates back to the early 1970s with Project Gutenberg. Michael Hart, the founder, typed up the U.S. Declaration of Independence in 1971, which is often cited as the first digital book. But if we mean a book intentionally written for online consumption, that's trickier. Early hypertext fiction like 'Afternoon, a story' by Michael Joyce (1987) pushed boundaries, blending narrative with digital interactivity. The internet as we know it didn't exist then, but these works laid groundwork for web-based storytelling.

Later, in the 1990s, with the rise of the World Wide Web, authors began experimenting with serialized online novels. A standout is 'The Spot' (1995), a soap-opera-style serial written by a group of authors and published on a dedicated website. It was groundbreaking for its time, using the internet's immediacy to create a communal reading experience. The line between 'published online' and 'internet-native' gets blurry, but these milestones capture the spirit of innovation that defined early digital literature.

Honestly, pinning down the 'first' internet book is like chasing a ghost—it depends how you define it. Some argue it's 'The Electronic Labyrinth' (1967), a hypertext experiment predating the web, while others point to 'Myst' creator Robyn Miller's online novel 'The Immortal' (1993). My take? The true pioneers were fanfic writers on Usenet forums in the '80s, uploading chapter by chapter before 'publishing online' was even a concept. The internet book wasn't born in a single moment; it evolved through shared creativity.