Publishing a Kindle Serial

I didn't know other authors were serial publishing until I started doing it myself. ESCAPE FROM NEW ORLEANS is my first published episode. So far, my readers are really enjoying it, but I am getting questions that I would like to address in this post. 

The answers are all related to serial publishing, therefore, in my responses I will share what I know. 

MOST ASKED QUESTION

Escape was a great read, but it was too short. Is this a book? Part of a novel? What is it?

It's not a book, it's an episode. Each episode in the series THE AMERICAN FATHERS will contain between ten and fifty pages. 

COMMON REACTION

If each episode has between ten and fifty pages, aren't they really just short stories?

Not really. Each episode is related to all of the other episodes. The story arc progresses in a way similar to what we're used to seeing in television series. 

Even though programs like Kindle Serials, +John Scalzi's The Human Division,   and +The Underwriting are relatively new serial publishing platforms, serial publishing is actually an old way to publish stories. This was explained pretty well by Dan Harris in his post Long Arc, Short Arc: Episodic Storytelling. 

Episodes in THE AMERICA FATHERS serial are written from the point of view of different characters. SWEPT AWAY, and DINNER INVITATION are written from the point of Dr. Sheila McKinley, a low-key college professor who meets the charismatic Jasira Said (pronounced sigh-eed), an up and coming journalist and political columnist.

The events that occur in one episode have an impact on the events in other episodes in the series. The episode numbers represent the chronology of the serial. So Sheila meets Jasira in SWEPT AWAY - EPISODE 1, who then introduces Sheila to Irene Daco in DINNER INVITATION - EPISODE 2. While in New Orleans Irene runs into Devin Wayne, her ex-body guard, who was fired by her father, Victor Daco, because of the attraction she shared with Devin. ESCAPE FROM NEW ORLEANS begins the day after that attraction is consummated. Devin is running for his life, from a hitman with a flawless track record.

ANOTHER QUESTION

Why are you doing this? Why not just write a novel with chapters?

In addition to serial publishing I am writing a novel. That's how Irene Daco, Victor Daco, Sheila, Eve Harrington, and the other characters came to be.

I had received a lot of very helpful feedback from the last of the three writing groups to critique Escape before its publication when one of the writers asked "OK, that was great, but it's not part of DIRTY BOMB and certainly not part of THE ANALYST, so what is it? A short story?"
"It's an episode," another writer said. In truth, she just blurted it out. 

I had been on the fence about what to call Escape. I had already decided to focus on the four stories I was submitting to The Ubergroup, Oak Park Collective, and Novel Critique (Near West) as part of a series, but hearing the word episode totally crystalized the concept for me. Everyone said reading Escape was like watching a movie, and the episode concept totally clarified what I was planning to do. As soon as I got home that night I searched for everything I could find on episodic storytelling. 

Perhaps this is an idea whose time has come. Readers are reluctant to become invested in characters if they don't feel the characters will be featured in enough stories. I understand that concern. And I can assure you, you will see plenty of Irene and Devin, Sheila and Jasira, Todd and Eve. I am committed to publishing one episode every month for the remainder of this year. That will constitute the first season of THE AMERICAN FATHERS.