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I Give Up
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The Thread About Serials
Thanks for posting this really helpful stuff 
In your pricing model A - did you mean $1.99 for the second book?
Also, do you do a detailed outline or have some kind of guide to where the serial is going? I could imagine getting to the final installment and realising I needed something in an earlier book that wasn't there!
In your pricing model A - did you mean $1.99 for the second book?
Also, do you do a detailed outline or have some kind of guide to where the serial is going? I could imagine getting to the final installment and realising I needed something in an earlier book that wasn't there!
Thank you so much for posting this. Your insight is great and I always look forward to your posts. If you could go back and give yourself a piece of advice before you published, what would it be? Is there anything you are going to do differently between your first serial and your next one other than length?
It's awesome that you are so upfront about what works for you and what doesn't. I've read the first two of Claimed by the Alphas and I enjoyed them. Will probably get the rest of the series soon. Here's to your continued success!
It's awesome that you are so upfront about what works for you and what doesn't. I've read the first two of Claimed by the Alphas and I enjoyed them. Will probably get the rest of the series soon. Here's to your continued success!
Great tips on writing the serial, succinct and to the point. You've tapped into the heart of serial success, and I wish you continued success. Sliders was a cool show for its time.
Thanks for posting your experience. I just launched my first serial a few days ago, and most of what you talked about were things that I was concerned about. Wow, selling 10,000 books a week is just phenomenal! Just out of curiosity, did your 1st installment start selling a lot more than just a handful of copies in your first week or did your sales only take off once you had parts 2 & 3 out?
You are incredibly generous to do this. The whole indie community owes you a debt of gratitude.
Wow! Tons of great points. I love hearing about what is working for everyone. I guess with growing up with TV, thinking in terms of sitcoms and episodes almost comes natural. I know what you mean about imagining the scenes unfold. All the situations can wrap up, but leave one problem unsolved for the next installment.
I was curious about what you think about length for a serial. I've started with novelettes, and have a series that I will finish and eventually put into a novel length collection. The project is just turning out that way. I've got another project that is a novel length time travel romance about half done. Which do you think sales better? I mean, I've taken a few hits on comments saying they don't like the short length. But then, some love the world and characters and want a lot more. So, I think of the readers and their comments as I'm working on the next novelette. I figure I can always go back into the same world later with other characters.
Plus, I'm wondering if serialization is just making a come back. All writing in general is getting shorter. Attention spans of people is getting shorter. Our writing and literature is evolving with the internet. I mean, really, if you look at Victorian novels you can see what I'm talking about. Those things are wordy. Don't even get me started about how chatty Jane Austin is. But then, she wrote so people could read at night by the fire. People most likely visualized differently since they hadn't experienced TV.
Now, people want to digest a book or novel fast. I mean TV has simple plots and maybe one subplot. I think serials are evolving to people's new need for more with less of an attention span. Simple is better. Plus, they were popular before when magazines paid authors for the story. I've seen the original text for Les Miserables. Victor Hugo wanted to eat. The more he wrote, the more he got paid. But he did it in magazine installments, like a soap opera.
So, I think this serial craze might just turn into a new evolved genre for writers. What do you think?
I was curious about what you think about length for a serial. I've started with novelettes, and have a series that I will finish and eventually put into a novel length collection. The project is just turning out that way. I've got another project that is a novel length time travel romance about half done. Which do you think sales better? I mean, I've taken a few hits on comments saying they don't like the short length. But then, some love the world and characters and want a lot more. So, I think of the readers and their comments as I'm working on the next novelette. I figure I can always go back into the same world later with other characters.
Plus, I'm wondering if serialization is just making a come back. All writing in general is getting shorter. Attention spans of people is getting shorter. Our writing and literature is evolving with the internet. I mean, really, if you look at Victorian novels you can see what I'm talking about. Those things are wordy. Don't even get me started about how chatty Jane Austin is. But then, she wrote so people could read at night by the fire. People most likely visualized differently since they hadn't experienced TV.
Now, people want to digest a book or novel fast. I mean TV has simple plots and maybe one subplot. I think serials are evolving to people's new need for more with less of an attention span. Simple is better. Plus, they were popular before when magazines paid authors for the story. I've seen the original text for Les Miserables. Victor Hugo wanted to eat. The more he wrote, the more he got paid. But he did it in magazine installments, like a soap opera.
So, I think this serial craze might just turn into a new evolved genre for writers. What do you think?
Wow, this post couldn't have come at a better time for me! I've been trying to figure out if I should just go to novels or if I should do another serialized romance. I'm still a little torn between the two... I don't know. I'd like to just do novels for the streamlining element, but I like serials because I could use the visibility and extra products out there.
Thanks Viola for posting the KDP graph. Nothing like visual aids to put things in perspective! If mine looks half as good as yours by the end of the month, then I'll be happy. I was a little hesitant transitioning from full-length novels (written under a different pen name) to a serial, but the format looked like it would be a lot of fun to write, and I wanted to at least give it a shot. I'm about a week and a half away from publishing Part Two, so I have a long ways yet to see how well my story will be received.
At 5 episodes, it looks like you're probably near the end of your series, so all the best at writing that killer ending!
I was a little hesitant transitioning from full-length novels (written under a different pen name) to a serial, but the format looked like it would be a lot of fun to write, and I wanted to at least give it a shot. I'm about a week and a half away from publishing Part Two, so I have a long ways yet to see how well my story will be received.At 5 episodes, it looks like you're probably near the end of your series, so all the best at writing that killer ending!
Congratulations on your success.
I would love for Amazon to come up with a royalty rate with serials in mind. Maybe it would mean that we need to submit at least three volumes at the start, or that the higher royalty didn't kick in until we had a certain number of releases in a series, anything that would allow us to price at .99 without taking the huge economic hit. Readers complain about 2.99 and I don't blame them, but with royalties as they are it's hard to justify going below 2.99 a lot of the time.
I would love for Amazon to come up with a royalty rate with serials in mind. Maybe it would mean that we need to submit at least three volumes at the start, or that the higher royalty didn't kick in until we had a certain number of releases in a series, anything that would allow us to price at .99 without taking the huge economic hit. Readers complain about 2.99 and I don't blame them, but with royalties as they are it's hard to justify going below 2.99 a lot of the time.
Thanks for sharing, Viola. Much appreciated. Congratulations on your success!
I've been thinking about writing serials, too, but I wonder how much sales an average serial writer makes. I think your success is quite unique. Or not?
It would be really helpful if other serial writers shared their numbers, too. Right now I'm torn between writing a serial and a novel. The story I have in mind would work as a serial, so I'm considering my options.
I've been thinking about writing serials, too, but I wonder how much sales an average serial writer makes. I think your success is quite unique. Or not?
It would be really helpful if other serial writers shared their numbers, too. Right now I'm torn between writing a serial and a novel. The story I have in mind would work as a serial, so I'm considering my options.
Thank you for sharing. One of my WiPs on the backburner will be a serial suspense/thriller (not sure yet which it'll be, but probably suspense). I plan to have it all written before I start releasing, but these kinds of threads are helping me think through what I plan to do with it.
Thanks!
Thanks!
Thank you so much for this detailed advice, Viola. You are so generous to share what has worked for you. I'll definitely be following your tips as I work on future projects. Continued success to you!
Bookmarked this! Thanks so much for the detailed post!!!! I'm going to try my hand at an erotica serial after I get through with my next two series that I have planned, so I'll definitely come back to this when I do so.
Thanks again, Viola. You rock!!!!
Thanks again, Viola. You rock!!!!
Great thread, thanks for sharing.
I'm interested in whether serials and shorts are going to take off more with digital publishing...a lot of novels in Victorian era were first published serially (Charles Dickens comes to mind) and Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock stories...maybe readers are circling back to that way of reading again.
I'm interested in whether serials and shorts are going to take off more with digital publishing...a lot of novels in Victorian era were first published serially (Charles Dickens comes to mind) and Arthur Conan Doyle's Sherlock stories...maybe readers are circling back to that way of reading again.
Thanks, Viola. You're so generous!
Even though we don't write erotica or serials, this thread has been very insightful and inspirational. Maybe we can apply some of this to slower-paced novel writing, too.
Even though we don't write erotica or serials, this thread has been very insightful and inspirational. Maybe we can apply some of this to slower-paced novel writing, too.
Okay, forgive my ignorance, because I freely admit I know nothing about romance, but it would seem really difficult to pull off a serial. One of the things I THINK people love about a romance is that two characters they think belong together actually end up together. That back-and-forth of will they or won't they is a great draw, and in the end, the reader gets the payoff, the HEA. Well, if there's a sequel, they really weren't HEA, right? So, unless your recurring characters are the ones setting people up, and you only have a new couple that needs to be brought together in each book of the series, you're gonna have to break the couple up. How will reader's react to having a couple's relationship destroyed? These are people they rooted for all through the previous book. How does this work?
HEA is one type of romance. HFN (happy for now) is also acceptable.vrabinec said:
It's possible that a serial could also work as long as there was always progress toward the final HFN or HEA, but romance genre readers tend to get upset if there isn't at least a HFN.
J Ryan said:
Yeah, and by the second book, the reader would realize this, and they'd know that THIS isn't really the right guy for the girl, and that there will be another one when book 3 comes out, so how enjoyable is it for the reader to know she's just making another mistake?Carradee said:
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