The increasing trend in "serial" books.

[LadyKate]

Originally Posted by theducks

This
I remember waiting years to hear about 'Ruth"

Hummm, this has me wondering what "Ruth" you are referring to and it has me very curious

[cadele]

No matter how much I would want to read the book, I would have to wait until it came out in one piece. I waited months last year for Meljean Brooks' The Kraken King to come out in one volume, but I think it was a more satisfactory read.

Plus, I couldn't bear the clutter in Calibre!

[HarryT]

Originally Posted by cadele

No matter how much I would want to read the book, I would have to wait until it came out in one piece. I waited months last year for Meljean Brooks' The Kraken King to come out in one volume, but I think it was a more satisfactory read.

Plus, I couldn't bear the clutter in Calibre!

If you use Calibre, there are plugins available which allow you to easily combine several separate books into one.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by LadyKate

Hummm, this has me wondering what "Ruth" you are referring to and it has me very curious

'McCaffrey' help

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by Fbone

It's just a way for authors to take advantage of Kindle Unlimited.

It started way before that. Ilona Andrews released one chapter at a time for Cleansweep on various blogs, generating interest. The entire book was then published when all chapters had been released.

There was another major publisher (I deleted the book off my GR because I hate serials) who released the book in two parts. So you could buy half the book and then (if I recall correctly) 3 months later, buy the second half. Or you could wait something like 8 months for the whole thing to come out. It was a steampunk novel that I had actually marked as TBR, but when I found out it was coming out in parts, I nixed it.

Stephen King tried a serial release of chapters as well. I can't figure out if authors try it for the income stream, the motivation or because it can generate a constant reminder about a series/ author.

One indie who did it for a while via Amazon said she did it because it works for TV--people want to come back and read the "episode" of the week. I stopped following her, so I don't know if it worked long term (she was on something like episode 24). It doesn't work for me as a reader, but then, I don't watch many a tv show because they never end. For example, I loved the idea of x-files, but I soon tired of the neverending threads. NOTHING was ever resolved.

So while it isn't for me, there are more authors and publishers trying it--probably for various reasons.

[BearMountainBooks]

Although I should add that KU has made the technique more popular. Several fairly popular authors (the one who comes to mind is both trad and indie) took books and broke them into 2 to 4 sections in order to increase revenue. (And the reader doesn't really pay more because that reader has already paid for the subscription. The hope there was that it wouldn't annoy the reader.)

[cadele]

Originally Posted by HarryT

If you use Calibre, there are plugins available which allow you to easily combine several separate books into one.

Thank you, HarryT! I have the ePub split plugin (which is great for anthologies) but I have never used the merge plugin. Off to investigate.

[LadyKate]

Originally Posted by theducks

'McCaffrey' help

Ahhh ok. Strange I didn't make the connection. One of my favorite characters in Pern. I find myself disappointed that Todd McCaffrey hasn't come out with more books in the Pern universe I miss my every year or so Pern novel.

One of my reread comfort foods is the Harper Hall trilogy lol.

[cromag]

I draw a distinction between these serialized (but stand-alone) works and novels that were serialized in magazines like Analog and Galaxy. In the case of a magazine serials there are other stories that can justify the purchase and the wait.

[eschwartz]

Originally Posted by DiapDealer

I find the long-book (novel) serial format—where the gap between installments can be measured in years—to be much more disruptive and frustrating than a short-format serial where the gap is reduced to a months (or even weeks). But make no mistake; I dislike them both. It's just that the intensity of my dislike isn't based on the length of the installments; it's based more on the length of the gap between them. For instance; John Scalzi's Human Division serial (a couple of chapters weekly) cheeses me off much, much less than GRRM's ASoIaF serial (huge incomplete novels separated by years and years).

I'll take short but consistently frequent over long and sporadically infrequent any day. But I wouldn't cry if the one-story-published-in-multiple-installments mentality fell out of favor entirely. I just find it humorous that many attribute the former to money-grubbing, but the latter often gets a pass because it's obviously only a side effect of art and vision (certainly not marketing!).

and The Human Division had the advantage of working well both as a bunch of short stories, and as a collected story arc. That is an important difference which made it bearable.

Meanwhile, I just hope GRRM dies now so someone else can take over and write faster. Brandon Sanderson FTW.

[theducks]

Originally Posted by LadyKate

Ahhh ok. Strange I didn't make the connection. One of my favorite characters in Pern. I find myself disappointed that Todd McCaffrey hasn't come out with more books in the Pern universe I miss my every year or so Pern novel.

One of my reread comfort foods is the Harper Hall trilogy lol.

I was not impressed with T Ms solo work (same for Brian Herbert).
Offspring do not always get the pure chip off the old block .

Maybe they would fare better with me, if they started their own UNIVERSE where there were no expectations.

[Darqref]

Originally Posted by BearMountainBooks

So while it isn't for me, there are more authors and publishers trying it--probably for various reasons.

On Baen's Bar there are a number of authors who "snippet". While the work is still being written, or sometimes just been submitted to editing, small parts are posted on the various fora of the Bar, and eagerly awaited. Eric Flint's stuff tended to get almost half the book posted by the time he'd finish snippets, which would happen about the time the eArc would post. Which also brought about the whole idea of a "snerker" who had read the snippets goading on those who hadn't.

I realize this is different than having the story broken up so that you had to purchase each part separately.

Also, when webscriptions first started, the whole idea was to have parts of the book available early enough to allow those who liked it to pre-order the paper version. In the days before the Kindle, this transformed Baen from a primary paperback publisher into one where the majority of their works came out in hardback first (because the webscriptions were successful in soliciting hardback pre-orders.) Me, I just waited to download until the whole thing was available.

[fjtorres]

Originally Posted by Darqref

On Baen's Bar there are a number of authors who "snippet". While the work is still being written, or sometimes just been submitted to editing, small parts are posted on the various fora of the Bar, and eagerly awaited.

One time, David Weber accidentally posted the entire pre-eARC manuscript instead of the snippet. They called it the oopsie edition.
It was quickly taken down and, later, sold solo and bundled with the eARC to satisfy the curious.

http://www.baenebooks.com/chapters/O...1416591478.htm

[BearMountainBooks]

Originally Posted by Darqref

On Baen's Bar there are a number of authors who "snippet". While the work is still being written, or sometimes just been submitted to editing, small parts are posted on the various fora of the Bar, and eagerly awaited. Eric Flint's stuff tended to get almost half the book posted by the time he'd finish snippets, which would happen about the time the eArc would post. Which also brought about the whole idea of a "snerker" who had read the snippets goading on those who hadn't.

I realize this is different than having the story broken up so that you had to purchase each part separately.

Also, when webscriptions first started, the whole idea was to have parts of the book available early enough to allow those who liked it to pre-order the paper version. In the days before the Kindle, this transformed Baen from a primary paperback publisher into one where the majority of their works came out in hardback first (because the webscriptions were successful in soliciting hardback pre-orders.) Me, I just waited to download until the whole thing was available.

I used to be on Baen's bar/forum, so I knew about some of those things--and I'm all for it if people want it. But yes, it's different than being asked to pay for half a book. Ilona Andrews didn't charge for any of the chapters as they came out. I didn't bother to read any of it until it was a book that was for sale. Cleansweep is a very good book, but I had to wonder at a couple of points if it might have been a better book had they been able to go back and develop a couple of spots more. Of course, for all I know they had the book completed and just released it a chapter at a time so it would have made no difference.

I know how difficult it is for an author to get attention and KEEP it--the ability to remind people you exist and that a new book is coming--don't forget! I know it's also difficult to convince that audience to buy--NOW, before you forget So I kind of understand the marketing and trying to stay relevant. But I still don't happen to support it with my attention span or dollars.

That said, Baen has THE best forum for readers and writers, bar none. They listen and cater to both groups and have some of the best training ground for writers there has ever been. They try new things. It's a fabulous place.

[Katsunami]

It's not even a new concept. The book Musashi, by Yoshikawa, was a newspaper serial in the 1930's. Wikipedia says that the 900+ page English version is abridged....