Composite novel/online serial. Does it work?

[Elí]

I'm working on translating my fantasy novels into English and releasing them on Amazon, but after a short story competition I've developed a real itch to work on my own space opera setting.
The idea is to write ten short stories, each one about a different character during a different year of a ten-year space war of succession. I'm thinking 15-20.000 words for each one, and releasing them cheap on Amazon, maybe one a month.
Hopefully this will scratch my itch, raise my online profile a bit and entertain people.

I am new to the English-language online market. Does this seem like something that would work?

I would very much appreciate any advice, stories of this being attempted and/or opinions. :-)

[Alan]

Eli, I think it depends entirely on your marketing skills. Once you have a half-decent story (and name no names, but in a few notable cases, even if you don't!) then the greatest remaining problem is coming to public attention.
And there, I have no advice to offer - I have failed too badly to dare offer anything!
Remember, Amazon will carry your work, but not market it unless/until it is doing so well that you don't need their help anyway. Sites like this are good in theory - but you need a substantial presence and a bit of luck as well if you are depending on Goodreads and/or BestFantasyBooks. Twitter and Facebook claim to be the answers to Life the Universe and Everything - but building and maintaining a presence is a LOT of work (and some of the sites that claim to do this for you are just after the fees, they don't actually do very much!)

[Jim]

I was trying to read a serialized novel that was released once a month. The author didn't send me reminders, release on the same dates each month, nor finish the novel, so it was a failure. I'm not sure I'd buy into another unless the stories each stood alone. Releasing on the same day & sending reminders would be a big help.

[Elí]

Jim wrote: "I was trying to read a serialized novel that was released once a month. The author didn't send me reminders, release on the same dates each month, nor finish the novel, so it was a failure. I'm n..."

The idea is that each part will be a fairly self-contained short story, with a general thread running through the whole thing.

[Lynne]

I think anything can work, if your audience manages to hear about it and it's well written. It certainly sounds like an interesting idea.

[G.R.]

Absolutely it can work. There are several success stories of authors doing this. But fame and fortune aside, if you've got a story to tell, by all means tell it. Especially if it's burning a hole in your brain and keeping you up at night! But be sure that it's well edited. Nothing kills an author's chances more than lots of spelling and grammar mistakes.

[Elí]

G.R. wrote: "But be sure that it's well edited. Nothing kills an author's chances more than lots of spelling and grammar mistakes. "

Yes, that is a concern of mine. I do have a good proof-reader but I'm already paying him to look at my fantasy manuscripts.
Maybe, MAYBE I've advanced enough that I can manage it on my own with such shorter stories...

[[deleted user]]

Just as an observation from a reader: it seems to me there may be more to writing a serialized story than people expect. While Howey's Wool maybe the SF poster child for serialized novel success, I've seen a couple of well-regarded, established authors stumble trying to serialize a story. It seems to impose yet another constraint on how a story gets told.