Anne Louise Bannon, author of Fascinating Rhythm, is joining us today to get your feedback on how readers feel about serialized fiction. Is it relevant and appealing for today's reader? Please comment below to let her know your thoughts!
MUSINGS ON SERIAL FICTION
By Anne Louise Bannon
I'm afraid this is not one of those
wonderful posts where I solve the problems of the world with my succinct, yet
powerful prose. I'm not going to solve any problems. I'm writing because I have
a problem and don't know what to do. So I'm going to throw it out there for all
of you to weigh in and see what happens.
I'm trying to figure out if
serializing a novel on a blog is a viable way of publicizing it before
publication. Or even another way to publish a novel or story, in general. You
see, I've got my nice little cozy Fascinating Rhythm out now, in which my two
heroes search the streets and speakeasies of 1924 New York City to find out who
killed her boss. But there's a sequel, Bring Into Bondage. Would it make sense
to publish it as a serial on my blog before putting it into book form? Or maybe
serialize one of my other novels?
I already have WhiteHouseRhapsody.com, a romantic fiction serial about a single president and his aide
trying not to fall in love with each other. Years ago, I decided to do that one
as a blog because the novel just wouldn't end. Don't feel bad if you've never
heard of it. It hasn't exactly taken off.
Even though there is a sizable
community out there publishing serial fiction, I'm not entirely convinced that
it's going to get popular enough to use it as a promotional vehicle.
On the plus side, folks love novel
series. And TV series (yes, that's relevant, I'll explain in a minute). And
Charles Dickens did very well by the fiction serial, admittedly over 150 years
ago, but the way the Internet works, there are some of the same advantages to
reading this way. Fiction serials are published in easy digestible chunks, so
that you can read an episode or two while commuting, for example, or during a
quick work break.
On the other hand, it's not like
novels are that expensive these days, as they were in Dickens' day. Most folks
could afford a penny paper every so often, as opposed to a whole novel, which
made reading a story over several editions of a paper much easier. Nor is it
that hard to pick up and read a bit of a full novel, especially when you've got
e-readers that will hold your place for you.
But there are two more important
reasons why I don't think serial fiction will fly. One is that Amazon tried
selling it about three years ago and dropped the program pretty quickly. It's
possible they just didn't give it a chance, but methinks there just wasn't
enough of a market. The other reason is something that's happening in the world
of Television.
Up until last year, I was a TV
critic and had been one for over 15 years. So, as you might imagine, I'm
usually pretty up on how people consume media. And the big trend these days is
binge viewing – watching all of a series' season in one fell swoop, as opposed
to watching week by week. Whether they use a DVR or a streaming service like
Netflix or Hulu, more and more people are watching series kind of like they
read novels – in large chunks at a time.
This is interesting. People love
investing themselves in a great extended storyline with characters they care
about, but now have the freedom to watch several episodes in a row rather than
wait for a new one each week. And they're increasingly choosing to do just
that.
That being said, it is possible
folks just don't know about the serial fiction alternative. Maybe Amazon just
didn't give it enough of a chance.
So I'm putting it out there. Do you
like the idea of reading a story over several months in small bits or would you
prefer to binge read, like you would a novel? I think it's a question worth
asking, even if I didn't have some personal skin in the game.
About the Author
Anne Louise Bannon is an author and journalist who wrote her first novel at age 15. Her journalistic work has appeared in Ladies' Home Journal, the Los Angeles Times, Wines and Vines, and in newspapers across the country. She was a TV critic for over 10 years, founded the YourFamilyViewer blog, and created the OddBallGrape.com wine education blog with her husband, Michael Holland. She also writes the romantic fiction serial WhiteHouseRhapsody.com. She and her husband live in Southern California with an assortment of critters.
