Over the last year, there's been a growing trend to serialise narrative fiction and non-fiction. There is an inherent believe that this will lead to increased recurring customers, increased loyalty and retention among those customers, and increased opportunity for social engagement among readers. New digital publishers aimed at showing this is indeed true seem to be popping up every month.
For readers interested in finding some of the best serialised content available, check out Tuesday Serial, which offers a collection of some of the best web serials. You can also check out the specific publishers now offering serial storytelling. Below I've outlined the top 5 publishing platforms that have launched over the last year.
For readers interested in finding some of the best serialised content available, check out Tuesday Serial, which offers a collection of some of the best web serials. You can also check out the specific publishers now offering serial storytelling. Below I've outlined the top 5 publishing platforms that have launched over the last year.
1) Plympton - Founded in 2012 by Jennifer 8. Lee and Yael Goldstein Love, Plympton publishes serialised fiction via Amazon's Kindle platform. To date they have published three stories and claim to be profitable. Their stories appear once or twice a month and they claim to be able to pay authors a handsome five figure fees. Their close partnership with Amazon seems to be working for them but it also means authors are beholden to the exclusivity rights Amazon demands from its serials.
Serials give readers a steady stream of the stories they love at a price point that’s competitive with other digital content. And, with new technologies, writers can engage with their readers as they work, making the creative process a continuous two-way conversation. - Plympton team
2. Kindle Serials - Launched in 2012, Amazon's initiative offers readers a pay-once alternative for serial books. Unlike Kindle Singles that split 30/70 revenues with Amazon, the Kindle Serials split vary per contract and appear to offer a better deal for authors. They also introduced Kindle forums where readers can discuss the stories as they are published, adding a layer of social engagement. That said, the Kindle Serials are exclusive to Amazon, so authors will not be able to publish their works in any other format or website.
3. Byliner Serials - Launched in 2012 with serialised books from Margaret Atwood and Joe McGinniss, Byliner seems to be at the forefront of publishing some of best living authors in both fiction and non-fiction genres. With a mission devoted to serialised storytelling, readers will be able to access the stories at a reasonable $2.99 from Apple's iBookstore, from Barnes and Noble's Nook, from Kobo, Amazon Kindle store and even Google Play. With its early success in publishing short-form text, Byliner Serials seems like the next logical step in growing their portfolio of great storytelling.
4. JukePop Serials - Founded in 2012 by Jerry Fan, JukePop publishes story chapters and lets readers vote on the best stories which in turn get compensated. They do have a formal submission process and if they like your story will pay $100 for the first chapter. Compensation after that is based on reader votes, though it's unclear how the algorithm is set up. This is a fairly new platform and not the most reader friendly but the social aspect to it could prove to be very useful.
5. The Penny Dreadful - Founded by Angie Capozello, a serial novelist and blogger, The Penny Dreadful is more of a discovery platform for serial stories and their authors. It links you to Amazon to purchase the stories. It is still early days for this platform but worth following to see how it develops. .
Check out this great video from TuesdaySerial with some of the current serial publishers.
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