I Did a Bad Bad Thing (Help! Advice!)

[Christopher]

I don't grasp who is raking you over the coals--the 22 people who had bought your book? You really had nothing to lose in doing what you did. Perhaps you'd have had another eight sales? You might have promised a trilogy, but not everyone who buys the first book will buy the whole trilogy. So let's say of those 22, fifteen will buy all the books. Are you really writing for fifteen people? What you did makes sense, and I don't see where the guilt comes from. Are you getting more readers in serial form? Forget the guilt. Take "bad thing" out of your vocabulary. As a business person, you have to be willing to try new things.

[John]

M.R.:

Interesting that you should bring this up, because I just did a post on the Goodreads SciFi and Fantasy group entitled "Serialization Syndrome" -- started off with a comment on the fact that nobody seems to write just one book anymore, and then got into the difference between a "series" (same world, maybe same characters, but new storylines in each book), and a "serial" (unfinished storyline, cliffhangers at the end, leaving the reader to wait for the next book to find out what happened). Wow! Did I start something -- lots of people had very strong opinions on the subject; but surprisingly, a lot of them said they would put up with the "serial" mode if a) the story was interesting, and b) they didn't think the writer was "milking it" i.e. deliberately drawing out the story to make you buy the next book.

Something to think about; and that thread is still going over there, if you want to look it up. BTW, I published my first book (in a series, not a serial) last November, and Book II is coming out next month. While sales have been slow on the first book, I'm seeing signs that things are picking up -- more reviews, more favorable ratings.

Takes time to build up a following. Even the authors on the NY Times list had to start somewhere.

[A.L.]

If I knew it was a serial that is fine, can always re-read it when the next one appears. Series also are fine. I am writing my own so I hope so.

Just make it clear it is a serial. Deadlines change, shit happens which delay things. If they like the book they will wait.

Good luck but as a reader so long as I knew what i was getting I wouldn't mind.

Can't please everyone.

[Rosen]

Smashwords don't accept serials? That's a bit restrictive for a site that's built on the principles of indie publishing (i.e. diversity.)

If people don't like serials, they don't have to buy them. As long as they're clearly marked, I don't see the problem.

[A.L.]

Just as query what are you charging for them and roughly what is the word count for each part? I have no problem with serials but I would hesitate to pay £3 or £4 per part if it was quite short.

If the book is available as the whole thing then people could just buy that if they prefer.

[Daniel]

My only issue with this would be the price difference. It would strike me at "milking" if for instance the full first book was $2.99 and you went to a serialized mode changing .99 for each episode thus make the full price after purchasing all episode greater than the original publication (i.e. 4 episodes at .99 would be a dollar more etc). As long as the price is the same I don't see a problem with this business wise. I do think that it would be smart to still have the full book available somewhere (especially if you have fans who want it that way). Regardless of how many fans one has, fans are fans. If you are going to a serialized format for your future books I think it would be important to remain consistent and have a full second book purchase option once all the episodes are out.

It intrigues me that a serialized release would get more sales. Why would that be the case?

[Eric]

M.R., I am confused about who is complaining, as well. If you have a mailing list or a Facebook page, you can post a letter explaining why you made the shift. But be aware that people do distinguish between a true serial, which is open-ended, and the serialization of a novel.
I'd suggest that you wait until book two is finished, then put out the complete novel at $5.99 AND the 6 episodes at $0.99. This way, anyone who doesn't like the serialization process can buy the entire book at a slight discount, and they don't have to wait.
I think you'll still get a lot of traction from the serialization, but you'll have to wait until the book is complete.