Quote:
Originally Posted by ZodWallop
The confusion is due to me not explaining, because I really didn't understand the formats and differentiations myself. Sorry for that.
I don't tend to read series and have only just started because:
a: I have so many of them and
b: I recently tried a book from the self promotion forum that was advertised as an episode of a larger cycle
I don't mind an open-ended series where each book tells a complete story following a set of characters (the Sherlock Holmes stories or most of TV before The X-Files).
But I would not be willing to try an episodic story (there is a single overarching struggle and each book builds on the last) unless I knew there was going to be some sort of conclusion (The Lord of the Rings, f'rinstance).
The book in the self promotions section sounded like it would be right up my alley. But I only bought it after the author confirmed that he would be wrapping it up at book six. So then I started wondering if these authors would be better served if they clearly labelled these stories as '1 (of 6)' from the get go.
Like many members here, I also read comics. But even there I for the most part avoided on-going superhero stories in favor of mini-series that had a definite ending.
I'll read 100 Bullets, that ended at issue 100, but have avoided The Walking Dead (which seems like something I would enjoy) as it just seems to shamble on forever (pardon the pun).
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Even when authors CLEARLY state it's a serial with x parts, the reviews are less than kind. When they DON'T state it, they are seriously less than kind.
It's hard for the author to specify, however, because of the confusion between series and serial installments. Some authors list their entire "series" and it can be mistaken for "installments."
Serial installments has picked up popularity with authors. I see more of it now than ever before and even came across a trad publisher that put out a book in two installments. Ilona Andrews has done installment releases across several blogs on at least two books (in the Innkeeper series). If I recall correctly, they released a chapter each week on a different blog. You could click around and read the entire book for free--or wait for it to be self-published like I did and pay for it.
I am sure it helped with publicity as several blogs participated, but I avoided all mention or discussion of the books because I wanted to read a book, not installments. To each their own!