Hatrack River Writers Workshop: Serialized stories

This is topic Serialized stories in forum Open Discussions About Writing at Hatrack River Writers Workshop.

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Posted by jeffrey.hite (Member # 5278) on :

This used to be a very popular way of getting your longer works published. I believe "Around the World In 80 Days" was published like this as well as some other very popular stories. By publishing in a newspaper or monthly publication you were give to a very large audience that didn't have to invest much time each sitting, but if it was done right kept the reader wanting more.

Until about year or so ago I thought that this method of publishing was pretty much dead, until I found podiobooks.com and sites like it. Granted Podcasts by their nature are self published, but here was a forum for the serialized story.

I would love to hear what other people think of this method past and present of getting things published. What you think the pros and cons of it were and / or are. Has anyone else tried services like this and what do you think?

One of the pros that I can think of is that, at least in the past, you had a deadline to help push the creative process. I know some people don't like a deadline and other people thrive with one so I could see this as an either or, For me defiantly a pro.

A negative could be if your story didn't have a good hook at the end of each installment and it lost readership then, at least in the past, the publication could presumably drop you. Some stories don't lend themselves to having every chapter be an edge of your seat type of experience

Posted by Christine (Member # 1646) on :

I don't think it's a truly viable option.

Episodic stories still exist. They're called television shows.

But a novel in parts would be a very hard sell, especially for a no-name author who hasn't proven he knows how to follow through or end a story. Even if you did get a book published in a serial like this, it's not likely to be in a place where you will draw a big audience.

Posted by rstegman (Member # 3233) on :

Best advice,

Start with the biggest paying puiblishers in the market for your type of work, and work your way down the next paying publisher in your marketsuntil you either run out of markets, or figure out how to fix the piece.

Self publishing and free publishing tend to be used for things that are not worth publishing. Of course, when you hae sold several books, you can rewrite your old failures and start offering it to the market all over again.

Posted by skadder (Member # 6757) on :

quote:
Self publishing and free publishing tend to be used for things that are not worth publishing.

Yeah, like Eragon.