The state of serialisation

Now is a good time to be a writer of serials

I wrote a short How to Write Serialised Fiction guide back in 2016. The world has moved on since then and I’ve given the guide a long overdue re-write and expansion. So as to be as meta as possible, I’m serialising my guide to serialisation right here on my Substack. If you’re not already subscribed you can do so very easily:

I started writing serialised novels in 2015. Turn out it was the best creative decision I’ve ever made, in that it got me away from procrastinating and to where I am today, with three completed novels out in the world. As I’m writing this it is 2021 and serialisation feels on the cusp of tipping over into becoming something much bigger. If you’re new here, you’ve chosen a good time to jump on board.

It was a different world back in 2015. Politically and socially it may as well have been a different century. The way people encountered creative works on the internet was also still very nascent - Patreon had only been founded a couple of years prior. Substack didn’t exist. Kickstarter had been making waves, but the creator economy was in its relative infancy. In the literature world, self-publishing was treated as if it was something unpleasant you might step in. Social media was the dominant form of expression online, and while there were some grumblings about its negative effects we had yet to live through the political and social calamities that were triggered in the US and UK in 2016.

So, 2021. The creator economy is in full swing, with more and more individuals earning a living - or a decent chunk of their living - through producing their art and being supported directly by their audiences. Social media is still dominant but it feels that we’re all considerably more savvy and aware of its significant design flaws. The ancient notion of an email newsletter has made a glorious resurgence via the likes of Substack and Buttondown, which have taken the overly complex, corporate model from Mailchimp, whittled it down, blended it with blogs and packaged it up for individual writers. The Wattpad readership of the early 2010s is now another half-decade older: still demanding quality serialised fiction, but with greater diversity and breadth and maturity than ever before. There are more platforms and options for writers than ever, with many providing built-in monetisation options. New communities have emerged on platforms like Discord, with serial and online writers joining forces to discuss the form, the craft, the art and the financial models (take a look at Elle Griffin’s work if you haven’t already). As I’m writing this, a ton of comics writers and artists have jumped on Substack to try a new form, as has none other than Salman Rushdie. The world is shifting.

Those three books I published in serial form on Wattpad? One of them won an award, cumulatively they’ve gathered over 268,000 reads and readers have left 2,980 comments. Those numbers still blow my mind, but bear in mind I’m tiny compared to many serial writers. I’ve spoken at festivals and on panels and podcasts about serialisation, all thanks to doors which have opened in response to writing this way.

TL;DR - opportunities for writers are growing exponentially and there’s never been a better time to start taking your writing more seriously. Whether you’re new or established, I’ve packed as much of my knowledge and insight from six years of doing this into this guide. I hope it’s useful. I’m going to be posting every Monday with new tips and advice, from explaining what serialisation is to the nuts-and-bolts of planning, designing characters, working out pacing, how to do foreshadowing in a ‘live’ serial and how to handle writer’s block.

Next week we’ll be taking a look at all those unfinished novels we have lying around in drawers and on hard drives - and hopefully doing something about them.

In an act of putting my money where my mouth is, I’m also going to begin serialising my new fiction project on Friday. It’s called Tales from the Triverse and is a lot of fun. See you there!

Good writing, and let me know what you create!

Simon K Jones