A few of you may remember the “serials,” at the local movie theater: short chapter plays before the feature film that left you with a thrilling cliffhanger you couldn’t wait to see resolved. Before television series gain popularity in the 1950s, movie serials brought patrons to the theater in droves.

A century earlier, Charles Dickens popularized the serial novel with The Pickwick Papers. Several years later, American author Harriet Beecher Stowe’s controversial tome on slavery, Uncle Tom’s Cabin, was released in installments over a 40-week period in 1851-52.

Now, Amazon has announced it is bringing back the once-popular format for Kindle readers with novels released one episode at a time. Kindle Serials launched with the release of eight serial novels to be released in installments, which readers can purchase for $1.99 per subscription.

We at Outskirts Press are waiting with baited breath to see how serial novels go over with modern readers (and writers)! Think releasing an episodic work might be right for you? It certainly can’t hurt to talk to your Personal Marketing Assistant to discuss whether this type of publication will work for your next release, and figure out how to get you to the presses — one chuck at a time, if need be!

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