Breaking up the novel

[Pepper Jay]

I want to self publish my 107,000 word count novel but I’ve been considering breaking up the chapters and selling them as episodes.
About three chapters would be 12,000 words with the last few being the end to the first series.
I’d bundle the whole thing for a lower price when series one is finished.

Can this work? Each chapter does end with a cliffhanger.

Thanks,

Pepper

 

[LOTLOF]

I think people usually prefer more material if they are paying for it. The serial format works fine if it's on a blog or some other public forum. But not as well if they have to buy each episode.

I would stick with selling it as a novel.

 

[sarahdalton]

PepperJay, you might want to look at some other authors who have serialised their work. I think Hugh Howey did it with Wool? I might be wrong on that.

There's a long thread on serialising fiction on Kboards. That might be useful.

I've not got any experience in it, but I know some self-publishers do it.

 

[Pepper Jay]

I think Hugh Howey did it with Wool? I might be wrong on that.

Yes exactly. That's where I got the idea from.

The first Wool chapter was published as a short story.
I only read the first one but the additional stories, I believe, might be complete story arcs.
When the series finished, Howey made them into one book for a lower price.

I'm also hearing about published series being put out like a TV a season, released at about 12,000 per episode.
Just wondering if breaking up a novel would work?

 

[stranger]

But most serials are designed as such. Each portion is usually some completed arc. Each section of the first Wool is a completed story, each one following on from the other.

I've no idea what your story looks like, but breaking up a novel just because you can is likely to merely annoy readers who bought it expecting a completed work.

 

[Old Hack]

Series works only tend to work if each piece is a self-contained story.

If you try to sell it chapter by chapter, or segment by segment, you might well end up with a frustrated readership and put people off reading your work, rather than making them interested in buying more of it.

 

[LBlankenship]

I want to self publish my 107,000 word count novel but I’ve been considering breaking up the chapters and selling them as episodes.
About three chapters would be 12,000 words with the last few being the end to the first series.
I’d bundle the whole thing for a lower price when series one is finished.

Depending on your genre, 107k is not all that long. Why break it up?

 

[Polenth]

I can think of TV series where each episode ends on a cliffhanger, but it's a different medium. In books, it seems to annoy more readers than like it. But even with a cliffhanger, there needs to be a resolution to the story arc of the episode.

All that said, I doubt many stories written as single novels will be episodic enough to really work.

 

[Pepper Jay]

Much thanks guys. I had a gut feeling this was the case.
I just needed some clarity.
I won't break it up.

Pepper

 

[LongWave]

I considered this after seeing what Mr. Howie did.
The pros are: I think it is easier to actually get someone to test out your first chapter/section.
Cons: I felt conned after I thought I was reading a whole book, then suddenly after 40 pages it says "Buy book two now."

However, my novel breaks up nicely into three sections, so i've been toying with the idea of doing it. I have the three sections all formatted and the cover art ready to go, but I havent pulled the trigger because I feel like there is some lingering hangup about having a full version of my book and three split up sections as well...I worry that it could confuse some folks. But I suppose I could do it for a month and if it isnt working, just delete it.

 

[J. Tanner]

Just for clarity, Hugh Howey did not take a novel and break it up to release as a serial.

He wrote a one-off novelette that got such positive reader feedback asking for more that he quickly switched gears and wrote a sequel. Then 3 more. Each longer than the last, but each still a standalone novellette or novella. These 5 stories were then compiled into the Wool Omnibus ebook and the trade paper WOOL.

For serial format Platt & Wright are a much better example. They've done several but their most popular,Yesterday's Gone, is a pure serial, with each of the six "episodes" in the "season" ending on a cliffhanger. They've experimented with a variety of release strategies over their seasons and other products.

 

[Cealarenne]

Perhaps you might want to consider releasing it in sections on Wattpad. That's exactly what it's for.

 

[NoelleAD]

I did this. I had a 170,000 word novel, which is crazy long for a contemporary romance, so I broke it up and published it as a serial novel. There will always be some people who complain about serialized novels, so you have to expect that in the reviews, but I was very pleased overall with how my serial novel was received.

It started out rather slow but started to pick up steam in sales after the fourth volume. The last three volumes were in the top 100 on Amazon the day after they were published. I bundled all the volumes afterwards, and naturally that is the title that has sustained sales months afterwards. I did a BookBub promotion with the bundled book shortly after I published it (which they accepted even without reviews because of the high reviews on the individual volumes) and made the USA Today bestseller list that week.

I don't think every book will work with this strategy, though. You need to make sure you have a substantive piece of the story with each volume (my volumes were between 20,000 and 35,000 words each). I don't think you need a definite climax and ending point with each volume (my highest reviewed volume ended with the heroine about to die), but it has to be enough for readers to feel satisfied that the story has genuinely moved along. Each volume needs a turning point at least.

And a couple of things you must do to really pick up momentum with a serial novel. First, you need to put the schedule in the book description, so readers know exactly when to expect the next volumes, and then commit to publishing on the schedule. Amazon got held up for some reason with getting my fifth volume up for sell, so it wasn't available the morning of the scheduled day, and people were stalking my Facebook page, waiting for news on when it would appear. Since it was Amazon's slowness and not mine, they were completely understanding, but you definitely don't want to lose the faith of readers by not following your publicized schedule.

And then--and this is the hardest thing--you need to give readers a reason to pick up the first volume. Asking readers to pay $.99 for one little piece of a novel (when they can get an entire book bundle for $.99 now) is a really hard sell. I put the first three volumes of mine on Kindle Select, so I could offer them for free, and that's really what got the serial moving. Readers could try it out with no risk, and then they were hooked and didn't begrudge spending $.99 for the three remaining volumes. I'm sure there are other ways to get readers to start reading, but this is definitely the biggest hurdle.