A Question about Serials

WeaselFire · Jan 23, 2017

Super_Duper said:
Fun fact: The Martian by Andy Weir originally ran serialized (self-pubbed) on his website.

Not uncommon now days. Much easier to publish on your own blog than get space in a mystery or sci-fi mag, especially for a serial.

The other posts concerning Sanderson's videos show a more modern take on an old process. While I don't classify them as classic serials, these are more the serials of this century. Twenty-somethings don't have a clue what serials are and probably nobody born after WWII read a classic serial in its original form, unless you were a young fan of sci-fi or some mystery. The rest of us are all part of the "Tune in next week to see what new adventures our hero survives" generation.

But, I'm a big fan of well-written fiction, any genre and any format.

Jeff

CathleenT · Feb 17, 2017

In case anyone's interested, I have a coda to this whole affair.

I thought I'd take advice and publish a serial first on my blog. I started small--four one-thousand-word stories that resolved into a larger arc. I reasoned that this would be a good place to start since I've written more flash than any other short story format. It required some dedicated plotting and generous beta and SYW help, but the whole thing ended up at 4003 words, which was very close to my goal.

The stories are up now and the results are interesting. Only one segment (episode three) ended on a cliffhanger, and for some reason I can't fathom, that was the most popular, although episode four's only been up for a couple days, so perhaps it'll catch up. Overall, I had slightly better results than I usually get for stand-alones, but nothing to knock your socks off. About 20% more hits overall.

Starting small made it more manageable, and now I can think about writing a longer one. Maybe I'll ease into something novel length.

SylviaFrost · Feb 17, 2017

Waves. Hey, I'm a serial girl. Paranormal romance to be specific. Serials a great because they ideally allow one to publish frequently. Frequency is HUGE component to self-publishing success. You will get readers who will chew you out (check out my serial, Moonbound, if you're curious for an example of this) but most will quietly plunk down the 2.99 for the next volume and move on. Or buy the box set. They've been profitable for me, although I think now with KU the novel model has a little more bang for its buck.

Markiemoo · Apr 10, 2017

I have started a dystopian erotica serialization. It has been picked up by a distributor. "Mediplex" on Kindle. It has allowed me more time for each segment, rather than rushing to finish a whole story. This series will be going quite a while to encompass all the ideas my partner and I have

A Question about Serials

WeaselFire

Benefactor Member

CathleenT

I write

SylviaFrost

Markiemoo

Not Throwing Away My Shot