Poll: Do you LOVE or HATE serialized ebooks?

[John F]

I voted "I never read serialized books". Unless the author can produce faster then I can read, I'll pass on serialization and wait for the final book.

However, in regards to the first post, I think the author should be able to do serialization if they wish; I can see how many readers may enjoy serialization.

[Tattncat]

No, I don't read them.

[JLYates]

I pretty much read only series. I hate to read a stand-alone and wonder what happened to the other characters.
EX: read a sci-fi years ago and still think of it and wish the author would have written the follow up. What happend to the rest of the people on the ship? The girl the man character meets at the end, did they fall in love, marry? They had met natives but similar to how Europeans gave diseses to natives of N. Americans, they gave a disease that was deadly.
Did they find a way to interact without harming them? Did they survive, did they chose to live in the cities or create their own town? They learned their home planet was under attack, was anyone able to escape and come to the planet they were on?

I think a lot depends on the genre. It seems paranormal romance readers prefer series. Historical romance like either, comtemporary like stand alones as do western; although there are some great short series in that genre.


I do know that many do like the series to end and not continue forever. I don't mind the ones that are 20 or more (have lots of those on my keeper shelf); but quite a few that post at Amazon pnr community like ones that end after approx 10 books.

What needs to be understood is that there is a difference between the different subromances (historical, western, paranormal) is that many see Urban fantasy as romance, and it can be, but their is a difference.
UF seem to be more written as short series, or even stand alones. UF also do not have a HEA, unless it is planned to be at the end. "Regular" romance has to have a HEA at the end of each book, but leads into the next couple.
Some genre's I don't expect it to have a HEA. The genres of thrillers, murder mysteries, horror I don't expect a HEA or even a series; altough in some it would be nice, to have a short series, three-five. Westerns can have stand alone HEA, but some have short series.

Heather Graham did that with her Flynn brothers series; three brothers inherit a plantation that is haunted.

Stand alones can be nice, but I prefer series. I want to know what happened to the other characters, series provides those answers.

Janette

[DuskyRose]

Stand alones can be nice, but I prefer series. I want to know what happened to the other characters, series provides those answers.

The topic is about 'serials' though, not series or stand alones.

There's a huge difference for me. I love to wallow in a series I enjoy, but won't read serials. Just like there's a difference between a tv series and a soap opera. Love a lot of TV shows, but won't watch a soap opera.

I do know that many do like the series to end and not continue forever.

My only problem with series is when I hit that point where the author has clearly lost interest but is still plugging away for what ever reasons. It's like the joy has left.

It's a shame when they don't continue on, but I'd rather they stop when the author just isn't in it anymore than to continued on and lead to disappointment.

Nothing lasts forever, but I do admit is is nice when the author can see it coming and at least wrap up the major plot points as well as they can.

[JLYates]

I had not considered that concept, and that was "stupid" of me. When I read the world "serial" I was thinking another word for series.

I honestly admit that I read on the first two pages; and just finished all of them. (teaches me to read all the posts before I give a response )


First, the poll is definitely skewed, the questions poorly written, and there is no allowance for "it depends ____________" (please note that depends in your response for clarification). That would give better insight as to how readers feel about serials. This poll reminds me of my sadistic class (statistics) where my instructor said "you can have apples or oranges, but there are no such things as orples". In this situation, there can be no "yes or no" there are too many variables. The area is too grey.

I would not like to read a serial that has no ending, that leaves me hanging to the point that if the author would give up I was left with not knowing of what would happen. So, no I would not like serials. However, if there was a guarrentee that there was an ending and a set timeline for each block to come out, even if I was left with a cliff hanger at the end of each block, then I would go yes.

Thas was a strong possiblity with Dean Koontz (forgive me if I have spelled his name wrong). The Frankenstein series, that he was co-writing, stopped at the second book due to problems with the two authors being able to work together.
I was left wondering would I ever find the ending. So, yes, that can/was be VERY frustrating.

If the author has the serial planned out, and wants to send it out in blocks and there is a guarrenteed time line (every two weeks, once a month, other); I would have no problem with it.

To me, it would not be so much as that I had to wait for the next chapter, or block, but that I knew there would be one and when it would be there.

Karen M. Moning started what I see as a serial although many others see it as a series (her Fever "series"). It leaves you hanging and there is no set timeline as to when the next book will be releasesd. There are to be five books in the "series"; readers have to wait wondering what has happened to so and so, in such and such situation.
J.R. Ward has a series, (Black Dagger Brotherhood) that is a year between each book; it is a series. If, however it was a serial, as long as I KNEW there was an ending, that she had already written the rest of the "series" and she had a cliff hanger (which she sorta does) I will wait for the books and continue to buy them, even though they are now in hardback.
So, it depends on different factors as to whether or not I would buy a serial. (truthfully though, with Ward, I would probably buy them anyhow, some others, nope).

Set up a separate area, category or whatever where serials can be offered, let the readers make the choice.


Janette

[guyanonymous]

Originally Posted by JLYates

EX: read a sci-fi years ago and still think of it and wish the author would have written the follow up. What happend to the rest of the people on the ship? The girl the man character meets at the end, did they fall in love, marry? They had met natives but similar to how Europeans gave diseses to natives of N. Americans, they gave a disease that was deadly.
Did they find a way to interact without harming them? Did they survive, did they chose to live in the cities or create their own town? They learned their home planet was under attack, was anyone able to escape and come to the planet they were on?

The died. Yes. No. No. No. Town. No.

But I'm just guessing.

[DuskyRose]

>>The died. Yes. No. No. No. Town. No.

But I'm just guessing. <<

Lol! You're evil.

[JLYates]

no, what really happened is that they get married, have five kids, she finds a young stud from the villagers and runs off with him. He finds a cure for the diseases and they see him as a god and worship him, and toss his unfaithful wife and her stud lover off a cliff.
He has them build him a huge tower and places a large globe they finds on top of it. The ones who attacked his home planet, searching for survivors receives a signal from the globe and attack the planet, destroying it and everyone, along with themselves and the dictator who took over the home planet. Which allows the survivors at the home planet to take back their world and they live happily ever after.
The End

[GraceKrispy]

Whoops. Voted wrong because I wasn't paying attention! Change one of the "I prefer" to "hate and avoid.". Can't stand them. Now, book collections (trilogies or whatnot) where each book has a completion, but the next story is like a continuation- great.

[Mickey330]

I usually avoid serials until they are done. But then, I haven't seen many serials as books (and I don't know how many magazines are doing serialized stories). The last serial I remember is Stephen King's The Green Mile - and I waited until he was done (and bought the books as a one-volume compilation).

Then again, I also avoid series until they are done. Again, using Stephen King as an example, I didn't read The Dark Tower novels until he finished number seven. I don't mind books with the same character (e.g. Sue Grafton Kinsey Millhone mysteries) that continue to grow/evolve as each book comes out. I just don't like waiting for the ending.

Of course, this has nothing to do with my short attention span.

Marilyn

[jaxx6166]

It really depends on the serialization. The Spirit, The Green Hornet, Conan, Doc Savage, etc. were all serialized adventures at one point or another. I don't have a problem with individual short stories as part of a serialized adventure.

But, to me it seems like you're only focusing on the novel released in different chunks. I have a problem with that if they're just teasers for next month. . . .what if next month never comes?

They're a fine line to walk. If you're going to serialize a bigger work, make sure that each story or release is self contained. Otherwise, you'll turn me off big time.

IE: If this was the last paragraph of your first serial, I'd be miserable and probably hate you all.

“Retreat!” She screamed, terror creeping a slight tremor into her orders.

There was no sense looking back. He knew what was there. The old man had told him it would be, just as it was. Jake took the lead as they ran for their lives.

That's a cliffhanger. Cliffhanger = bad, especially if you make me wait a month to see what happens. I'd feel cheated and probably never come back.

[FizzyWater]

Originally Posted by JLYates

Karen M. Moning started what I see as a serial although many others see it as a series (her Fever "series"). It leaves you hanging and there is no set timeline as to when the next book will be releasesd. There are to be five books in the "series"; readers have to wait wondering what has happened to so and so, in such and such situation.

After I read the first of these and realized what she was doing, I stopped buying them. If I'm still around and still interested after she finishes the last one, I may go back and read them all at once.

I do enjoy "series", but I am getting pickier about which ones I'll read.

Serials (even smaller pieces, usually released more often) interest me even less. One, I personally think they tend to cost too much for the "benefit" of reading the pieces early. Two, I'm more of a "gulper" when it comes to reading - I finish a book in a day or two. I just don't want to read in pieces. If it takes me a week to finish a book (because I'm busy at work or just can't "get into it" for whatever reason), I get frustrated. I can't imagine starting something and not being able to finish it for weeks or months on end.

[DaringNovelist]

Originally Posted by jaxx6166

That's a cliffhanger. Cliffhanger = bad, especially if you make me wait a month to see what happens. I'd feel cheated and probably never come back.

It's interesting that famous early movie serials, like The Perils of Pauline, did not use cliffhangers - even though later ones did. Same with a lot of novel serials in magazines. They tended to wrap up the main story, and just have a hook into the next.

For instance, a mystery serial episode might end with the unmasking of the actual killer, and everybody is happy except the detective who walks away thinking "... but that still didn't explain what happened to the diamonds."

(Of course, the movie serials that did use them tended to cheat. They tended to have the characters in an impossible situation, like trapped in a cave with flood waters rising.... and then the next episode would start with "Look, there's another exit" and they were off on the next adventure.)

Camille

[fcoulter]

There are very few serialized novel that I would read. First, if the whole thing is available all at once, I don't know why I'd bother.

Now, assuming that the only way you can get the novel is as a serialization, there are still a couple of conditions that would need to be true in order for me to sign up for the subscription.

First, and most importantly, I have to believe that the author and publisher will complete the project. There have bee multiple examples of serialized novels abandoned half way through the project. I'm not sure what it would take to make this true, but I enjoyed reading The Green Mile (also by King) when it came out once a month.

Second, I have to believe the project has an end. I don't like soap operas on television; I don't know why I'd want to read one.

Third, the cost of subscribing should not be significantly higher (better if it's lower) than buying the book as a unified whole.

And finally, it has to be a subject that I'm interested in. Sorry, but I'm not going to subscribe to a serialization of a romance novel. Nope. Not happening.

When I was younger, I used to buy Amazing and Analog. I know that Analog used to run serializations of condensed novels prior to publication. I read those. I don't see why I wouldn't do so with a well done serialization today. I just don't know of any well done serializations out there.

(I suppose that if you're an author / publisher producing such a serialization, you may try sending me a private message. I read my books on a Kindle, so the serialization either needs to be available through the Amazon store, or you need to be able to email it to my Kindle the way that Baen Books does.

I supposed that puts in one more requirement; it must be convenient.)

Hope this helps...

[jimhull]

If the Smashwords home page was "dominated by five installments of a single ebook", maybe the author is on to something. Your poll, however, makes it look like nobody wants serials, when in fact it only proves that nobody _reads_ them. And perhaps that's only because ebook serials are rare on the Internet ... On the other hand, your compromise plan, which would allow a serial ONLY when the entire book is completely available, sounds like an interesting idea. It might cause an extra coding headache to allow for odd pricing, but that's what computers are good at! Then let the readers decide. -- Jim Hull, author of the Smashwords book THE VAMPIRE IN FREE FALL (complete and non-serialized, thank you)