Quote:
Originally Posted by LadyKate
I've seen several new authors listed with series that are several books long but with the same name and "episode" (eg: the series is club alpha. The title is The Debt. The series number is six. the title is The Debt episode 6) Each episode is rather short... a chapter or two lol.
This seems to me to be something like the original publication of Dickens novels in episodes in the newspaper.
|
Amazon has been encouraging this particular form of experimentation:
http://www.amazon.com/b?node=5044445011
Quote:
|
Kindle Serials are books published in episodes. When you buy a Kindle Serial, you will receive all existing episodes on your Kindle immediately, followed by future episodes as they are published. Enjoy reading as the author creates the story, and discuss episodes with other readers in the Kindle forums.
|
Given that the economics of ebooks allow for a pulpish publishing model (among other things) it makes sense for adventurous writers to give serials a try. (Comic books these days are serials, after all. So are most TV series. And even movies are getting into the serial business, again.)
Serials don't fit all kinds of fiction, of course, but they do work with some plot structures in SF&F and Thrillers. The approach is not used as often as it could be (I can think of a few novels that would've fit the format nicely) but it might catch on...
...or maybe not.
Not all experiments succeed.