Communities

Writing
Writing
Codidact Meta
Codidact Meta
The Great Outdoors
The Great Outdoors
Photography & Video
Photography & Video
Scientific Speculation
Scientific Speculation
Cooking
Cooking
Electrical Engineering
Electrical Engineering
Judaism
Judaism
Languages & Linguistics
Languages & Linguistics
Software Development
Software Development
Mathematics
Mathematics
Christianity
Christianity
Code Golf
Code Golf
Music
Music
Physics
Physics
Linux Systems
Linux Systems
Power Users
Power Users
Tabletop RPGs
Tabletop RPGs
Community Proposals
Community Proposals
tag:snake search within a tag
answers:0 unanswered questions
user:xxxx search by author id
score:0.5 posts with 0.5+ score
"snake oil" exact phrase
votes:4 posts with 4+ votes
created:<1w created < 1 week ago
post_type:xxxx type of post
Search help
Notifications
Mark all as read See all your notifications »
Q&A

Post History

50%
+0 −0
Q&A Would publishing my story like a TV series be successful?

Is publishing my story like this likely to be successful? I doubt it, I doubt enough Kindle readers would be interested. If by "published" on Kindle you mean sold on Kindle, I think you have a ma...

posted 5y ago by Amadeus‭  ·  edited 5y ago by Amadeus‭

Answer
#5: Post edited by user avatar Amadeus‭ · 2020-01-22T18:07:03Z (almost 5 years ago)
  • ### Is publishing my story like this likely to be successful?
  • I doubt it, I doubt enough Kindle readers would be interested.
  • If by "published" on Kindle you mean sold on Kindle, I think you have a marketing issue. Sold at what price? Who is going to buy the first installment, knowing it is not a complete story? Thirteen episodes, at 99c, is $12.87, almost twice the price of a published book by a well known author. You are competing with 99c novels, and $2.99 novels by known authors, not to mention the free Kindle offers.
  • You **might** get some takers if it was all free, but can they trust you to make the final installment free? Can they trust you to even **finish** the 13 episodes you promised?
  • And even then, if I'm willing to try an unknown author, it would be worth it to pay 99c for a whole book I can read in a week, that I know is done, instead of reading 13,000 words on a Saturday morning (less than an hour for most people) and having to remember the book for a week before I read the next installment.
  • I think the instant gratification demands of the modern world, along with the problematic cost structure and trust issues, will leave you with a very tiny audience.
  • There is a difference between a book and a television show; TV is a visual experience, with recognizable characters, and typically an easily remembered plot line in progress. A book is a literary experience that all happens in the reader's head and imagination. It isn't as easy to remember as turning on a TV show; the show writers and actors make sure you remember the characters and setting and what happened "previously". Unlike Dickens's time, in the modern world, I think there are too many other things competing for our memory for this approach to gain any traction.
  • ### Is publishing my story like this likely to be successful?
  • I doubt it, I doubt enough Kindle readers would be interested.
  • If by "published" on Kindle you mean sold on Kindle, I think you have a marketing issue. Sold at what price? Who is going to buy the first installment, knowing it is not a complete story? Thirteen episodes, at 99c, is $12.87, almost twice the price of a published book by a well known author. You are competing with 99c novels, and $2.99 novels by known authors, not to mention the free Kindle offers.
  • You **might** get some takers if it was all free, but can they trust you to make the final installment free? Can they trust you to even **finish** the 13 episodes you promised?
  • And even then, if I'm willing to try an unknown author, it would be worth it to pay 99c for a whole book I can read in a week, that I know is done, instead of reading 13,000 words on a Saturday morning (less than an hour for most people) and having to remember the book for a week before I read the next installment.
  • I think the instant gratification demands of the modern world, along with the problematic cost structure and trust issues, will leave you with a very tiny audience.
  • There is a difference between a book and a television show; TV is a visual experience, with recognizable characters, and typically an easily remembered plot line in progress. A book is a literary experience that all happens in the reader's head and imagination. It isn't as easy to remember as turning on a TV show; the show writers and actors make sure you remember the characters and setting and what happened "previously". Unlike Dickens's time, in the modern world, I think there are too many other things competing for our memory for this approach to gain any traction.
#4: Attribution notice removed by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-19T22:13:56Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/48493
License name: CC BY-SA 4.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
#3: Attribution notice added by user avatar System‭ · 2019-12-08T13:07:27Z (almost 5 years ago)
Source: https://writers.stackexchange.com/a/48493
License name: CC BY-SA 4.0
License URL: https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/
#2: Initial revision by (deleted user) · 2019-12-08T13:07:27Z (almost 5 years ago)
### Is publishing my story like this likely to be successful?

I doubt it, I doubt enough Kindle readers would be interested.

If by "published" on Kindle you mean sold on Kindle, I think you have a marketing issue. Sold at what price? Who is going to buy the first installment, knowing it is not a complete story? Thirteen episodes, at 99c, is $12.87, almost twice the price of a published book by a well known author. You are competing with 99c novels, and $2.99 novels by known authors, not to mention the free Kindle offers.

You **might** get some takers if it was all free, but can they trust you to make the final installment free? Can they trust you to even **finish** the 13 episodes you promised?

And even then, if I'm willing to try an unknown author, it would be worth it to pay 99c for a whole book I can read in a week, that I know is done, instead of reading 13,000 words on a Saturday morning (less than an hour for most people) and having to remember the book for a week before I read the next installment.

I think the instant gratification demands of the modern world, along with the problematic cost structure and trust issues, will leave you with a very tiny audience.

There is a difference between a book and a television show; TV is a visual experience, with recognizable characters, and typically an easily remembered plot line in progress. A book is a literary experience that all happens in the reader's head and imagination. It isn't as easy to remember as turning on a TV show; the show writers and actors make sure you remember the characters and setting and what happened "previously". Unlike Dickens's time, in the modern world, I think there are too many other things competing for our memory for this approach to gain any traction.

#1: Imported from external source by user avatar System‭ · 2019-10-09T23:40:30Z (about 5 years ago)
Original score: 4