Writer-Talk Tuesday: Are Serials Making a Comeback?
Charles Dickens is well known in the 21st Century for having written some very long classics of Victorian literature: Bleak House, Great Expectations, The Pickwick Papers, David Copperfield, A Tale of Two Cities. But when he wrote them, he did so and published them as serials: episodic writing published weekly or monthly in periodicals of the time. And because of this, he was able to adjust the stories based on the feedback he received.
Commercial fiction is no longer published in this manner . . . but with the rise of fan fiction sites and e-self-publishing, serial fiction may be making a comeback.
According to this article on the Dear Author website, the benefit that fan fiction writers have been receiving for years—feedback from readers that can help shape the direction of the story—is now being sought by self-published authors. Some writers are uploading and selling portions of their novels online.
One author who is burning up the charts is self published author Sara Fawkes whose series “Anything He Wants” sells on Amazon for .99, $2.99, and $2.99 for the published versions so far for a total of 111 pages of fiction. Serials can build anticipation and lead to increased word of mouth. The pricing for serials, however, is problematic. Even Fawkes’ fans are chafing about the wait and the price. Says Gina D on Amazon “I guess I wouldn’t be as annoyed if they were all out but I hate waiting. plus 2.99 is a little much for a quarter of a book, .99 cents probably would be more appropriate.” The first entry is #20 in the Kindle store, the second is #63, and the third is #79. It’s hard to say whether Fawkes will lose readership and part of the problem may be the lack of defined schedule.
~”Thursday News: Is the serial revival around the corner? Or a gimmick with a limited life span?” DearAuthor.com
There are obvious benefits to getting feedback as you’re writing a story. That’s why many writers work with critique partners. But there are also drawbacks to publishing in serial format before a story is finished—and that is the problem what a lot of people run into working with critique partners, which is the temptation to endlessly tweak what you’ve already written and not move forward and complete the story.
As a writer, would you want to publish serially? As a reader, would you be willing to pay for pieces of a serialized novel with no indication of when the final installment might be published? Do you see serial novels making a comeback?
Reading-Chat Monday: Is Someone Watching What You’re Reading?
I read a post yesterday on one of the general-market review blogs I follow which is the first in a series she’s going to be doing on privacy issues and e-reader technology.
It didn’t come as a surprise to me at all that there is technology in e-readers that can track annotations, bookmarks, and highlights. Nor is it a surprise that these companies can track your purchasing habits (do you download mostly free books or are you paying for them? what genres do you download most?) and even your reading habits (what time of day do you read most? how fast do you read? where do you stop? do you skip pages? how many page-turns per hour?).
I guess I’ve always lived with a constant sense that someone is watching my every move. I mean, you can’t have grown up in an evangelical church without having it pounded into your head that God is watching you all the time (Santa Claus, too, apparently). And for years, Amazon has tracked my online purchases to be able to customize a recommendations list for me based on what my purchases say about my interests and needs.
So many people think nothing of letting every website they log into (it seems) access and post to their Facebook account—even though it means that website now has permission to mine all of the personal information they have on their page, and possibly that of everyone they’re connected to. (This is why I don’t add apps or play games or log in anywhere with my FB account.) Yet these same people, if they read the post I linked to above (and the articles/webpages she links to in it), would throw a fit about the invasion of their privacy.
I personally don’t have a problem with this (though I do keep my wifi on my Kindle turned off unless I’m downloading something, just to minimize the tracking they’re able to do, hopefully). I like getting personalized reading recommendations. I like getting e-mails telling me about books I might like based on other books I’ve purchased/read.
But what about you?
Would it bother you to know that your reading habits are being tracked? What would an objective outsider learn about you through tracking your book buying/reading habits?
Fun Friday: Firefly Reunion, a Rescued Raccoon, and Light Sabers for Everyone!
Let’s start off with some of the best news I’ve heard all week . . .
(video will open in a new window–and sorry about the ad you have to watch first)
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Olympic Uniforms for the 2012 Opening Ceremonies
The 2012 Summer Olympics start in two weeks. Are you a fan of what your country’s team will be wearing to march in the opening ceremony?
Team Jamaica by Puma
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25 Stranger-than-Fiction Real-Life Names
You think you’ve heard some weird/unusual names? Check these out!
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And now, for the Daily Asgardian News . . .
Click through for the *full* report!
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Celebrities Bashed Each Other Publicly LONG Before Twitter Warfare
The phenomenon of celebrities bashing each other publicly isn’t an invention of the twenty-first century—or even the twentieth century. Here’s a list of “The 30 Harshest Author-on-Author Insults in History.” Which is your favorite?
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Light Sabers for Everyone!
Click here to see even more iconic sword fights turned into light-saber duels.
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What fun stuff have you seen around the web this week?
Thursday Thought Provoker–Is That Your Phone Ringing?
Writer-Talk Tuesday. Let’s Talk.
I can’t think of anything to write about for this Writer-Talk Tuesday. I overdid it at the gym on Monday and, since I write my posts the night before, I’m about to crawl into bed and hope that my PM pain killer will keep me asleep as my body gets sorer and sorer.
So I’m risking a commentless blog and throwing the choice of writer-talk chat up to you.
What question(s) or topic(s) about writing and/or publishing do you want to talk about today?
Reading-Chat Monday: Hating Books by Favorite Authors
We all have favorite authors. And we all have favorite books by our favorite authors. And if we’re lucky, we might have some that find less favor with us, but which we still like.
And when our favorite authors are long-since gone, that’s not problematic. But what about our favorite authors who are still alive and writing?
I recently started reading historical romances by Eloisa James. I’d read a novella of hers last year and really enjoyed it, even though I don’t usually read novellas. So when I saw she had a new series out that are Regency-set retellings of fairytales, I decided to give her another shot. I downloaded the audiobook of the first one in the series, A Kiss at Midnight, and thoroughly enjoyed it. The second book in the series, When Beauty Tamed the Beast, was just okay—but, as already mentioned, there will always be books by our favorite authors which we might not like. I figured that one would be the misfire in this series for me. And then I got to the most recent book, The Duke is Mine. I couldn’t even finish the book, I disliked it so much!
But I really enjoy James’s writing style and the way she structures her story. She’s one of the only general-market historical romance authors I’ve read recently who doesn’t have her hero and heroine start lusting after each other on the first page and start making out and/or fall into bed together by the fourth or fifth chapter. She takes time to let the relationship between the characters develop before she brings in the physical aspect of the relationship, and I appreciate that. It means there are fewer scenes I need to skip/skim and more story to dig into.
But she was now only 1 of 3 for me with her full-length novels. So I decided to try a book in a different series. I got onto Audible.com and searched for her and then started reading the blurbs of her books. I found one that sounded great—Fool for Love—and started listening to it. Unfortunately, I didn’t realize it was the second book in a series or that she would spend half the book focusing on characters from the first book whose viewpoint scenes have absolutely nothing to do with the developing relationship between the characters who are supposed to be the “stars” of this book. So it’s been hard to convince myself to listen to it, when more than half the time (it seems), I’m hearing about characters I care absolutely nothing for. Would this be different if I’d read the first book first? Maybe. But maybe not—because I just really don’t like these characters from the first book, at least not the way they’re presented in this one.
So that brings me to my Reading Chat question for today.
What do you do when a favorite author (or one you thought might become a favorite author) disappoints you with a book you don’t like? How many chances will you give an author before you give up on his/her books completely?
Fun Friday: Iconic American Foods, the Hokey Pokey, and the Lord of the Libraries
Strap yourselves in—it’s time for a found up of fun stuff seen around the web.
Iconic American Eats – A State-by-State List
Did they get your state’s food right? Because I’ve never heard of the one they listed for Tennessee. Not Memphis-style barbecue? Chicken biscuits? Goo-Goo Clusters? (They did, however, peg two of the states I grew up in: Alaska and New Mexico with two of my absolute favorite foods in the world; for Louisiana, though, there are so many iconic dishes other than the one they picked that I’d like to know their methodology for picking it—other than that it originated in New Orleans, and most people don’t know there’s a full state outside of N.O. Oh, and when I think of South Carolina, I think of shrimp and grits, not the one they chose.)
Dog Raids Fridge
Actually, it’s more like “dog DEMOLISHES fridge”:
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“You put your right foot in . . .”
The possible origins of the “Hokey Pokey”
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The 88 Books that Shaped America
According to the Library of Congress, these are the 88 books that shaped America. According to the article, they’re not meant to be the “best” books but definitely influential. Do you agree? What book(s) would you put on the list?
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The Lord of the Libraries
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10 Shocking Secrets of Flight Attendants
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Vincent Van Dominogh
Van Gogh’s “Starry Night” is one of my favorite art images (it’s even on the sun-shade for my car). So seeing someone set up thousands of dominoes in the design of this famous painting—just for the sake of knocking them down—is fabulous.
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Have you seen anything fun online this week you’d like to share?
Thursday Thought Provoker: Collecting and Saving
Writer-Talk Tuesday: How’s Your Writing Going?
It’s time for your monthly update on how your writing is going.
Mine is . . . going very slowly. I was supposed to start writing An Honest Heart on June 1 and write at least 1,000 words per day every day in June, July, and August.
As you can see by the word counter, that hasn’t happened.
However, now I have even more incentive (though, as of yet no momentum) to really get cracking on the manuscript this month. You see, I’ve agreed to teach a Freshman Comp class for the online program in which I’m a full-time academic advisor—starting August 18 and running for five weeks. Which means an intense workload of grading (though, thankfully, the class is intricately planned and already laid out, so no lesson planning other than coming up with discussion topics for each of the five units).
But that five weeks is going to take a chunk of time out of my writing time between now and October 15. So I know how important it is that I make myself write every single day whether I feel like it or not. Whether I write 500 words or 5,000 words. I must write every day if I’m going to get this draft finished and maintain my sanity.
Of course, I’m also kind of hoping that by getting myself scheduled to the nth degree with responsibilities and obligations and deadlines, it’ll help me focus better and give me the momentum I desperately need. After all, I wrote prolifically (and with much joy) back when I was working at the newspaper full-time, putting in anywhere from 20–40 hours a week as an officer with ACFW, and taking 9 hours of undergraduate and/or graduate courses. Only when my life was so busy was I able to completely abandon the real world for my story worlds. I’m hoping the same will still hold true.
So I’ve decided to blitz my writing this week to try to capture my characters and dive into the deep end of my story instead of just wading in the shallow end. I’m planning to do at least one 1k1hr writing sprint every evening this week—and several on Wednesday (interspersed with cleaning the house). If you’re interested in participating, I’ll post the sprint challenges and results on Twitter.
Which brings me to the first-Tuesday-of-the-month question:
What are you working on writing-related, and how’s it going?
Reading-Chat Monday: What Are You Reading? (July 2012)
It’s the first Monday of the month, so you know what that means!
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- What is the most recent book you’ve finished reading? (Please tell us a little about it, and whether or not you enjoyed/would recommend it.)
- What are you currently reading?
- What’s the next book on your To Be Read stack?
KayeDacus.com 