Writing

I Serialized My Novel On Medium Before Publishing It

The results of my experiment

Serializing my novel on Medium before publishing it was an experiment. Since I planned to self-publish my novel, I didn’t see any downside to serializing it first on Medium. And I discovered several upsides.

The Strategy

Some writers post parts of their novels (or WIPs) on Medium sporadically, with weeks or even months going by between posts. Others publish once a week. Some on set days of the week.

Personally, if I go more than a couple of days without reading a story, I forget what is happening. So I decided to publish a new (three to seven-minute read) part daily. I figured three to five minutes was a good length for casual or impulse reading. I also thought it would be a good length for readers to try out part of the story to see if they like it.

Fortunately, I wrote my novel in short “scenes.” When posting on Medium, I often combined two scenes together when one was too short. This is where the seven-minute parts came from.

Benefits of Serialization

Here are some of the benefits I discovered by serializing my novel.

When I self-published my novel, after a few days, most of the initial joy was over. By serializing my novel on Medium, I got a couple of months of enjoyment as I published a new portion every day. And I continue to gain readers now that it is fully posted.

I got helpful feedback. One writer sent me a private message pointing out an error I made about Egyptian camels. They told me they made the same mistake in one of their novels. I was grateful for their helpful and welcome advice. I was able to fix my error before any books were sold. Others told me what they liked about the story. This was helpful also. It let me know what I was doing right.

I had regular readers who read each part daily, which was encouraging. And I picked up regular readers as the serialization went on. I knew people were reading my story. A sold novel may never get read. Unless the reader posts a review or tells you, you never really know.

Final proofreading. No matter how many times I proofread, I always seem to find something I could have worded better. Publishing daily allowed me another chance to proofread each part and make minor tweaks in language that improved the story.

Tips For Serialization

Here are some things I think are helpful when serializing a novel on Medium.

Link each story part in a chain. Once I published a new part, I went to the previous part and added a link to the latest part. I always placed this at the end of the story. This makes it easy for new readers to find the next part and to read through the novel.

Create A Table Of Contents “story.” I started off adding links to previous parts at the end of each new part. But this grew longer and longer and was a lot of copy and pasting. So instead, I created a Table of Contents or “Story Parts” story and added links to all the previous parts there. Then I simply had to add a link to the Table Of Contents story at the end of each part. Easy. And I only had to add a link to the latest part on the Table Of Contents story each day. It only took a few seconds.

Although I wasn’t consistent with this, I often posted a “Today in Baron Britpop Blastfurnace” teaser on Twitter with a link to that day’s part. I am not sure how effective those were, as I have a tiny following on Twitter, but I think a few readers checked out a part via those posts.

What Happened When I Finally Did Publish?

I’ll tell you what happened — a pandemic and social upheaval. I actually published the novel on Amazon in early June, but it didn’t seem like a good time to be crowing about my little book when the world was in upheaval. Two weeks later, I figured there might never be a good time, so I went ahead and announced my novel on June 20th.

Will serialization have an effect on book sales? Time will tell. If I sell one or two less copies on Amazon and get several more readers on Medium, I am happy with that tradeoff.

Best Seller?

Do I wish I had written a novel as popular as Lord Of the Rings, or Harry Potter, or Game Of Thrones? Of course, but I am realistic. My odds are about the same as winning the Powerball Lottery. My novel is set in the 18th century and features characters with goofy names. It is a story that is hard to categorize. Featuring adventure, romance, history, humor, action, and more.

I don’t have a massive following. My writing is virtually unknown outside of a small group who read my writing regularly on Medium. They are an intelligent group, with excellent tastes, but their numbers are not in the same range as Stephen King fans. Or even the same range as Stephen King’s band fans. It’s not likely any traditional publisher would touch my novel, and any novel I self-publish is not going to sell big numbers.

It doesn’t matter. My main goal is for people to read my novel and enjoy it. No matter how many. And some already have.

Here are some comments from readers on Medium:

“I am thoroughly hooked. I need my daily fix. I’m gonna be sad when it’s over.”

“I just discovered Andelbert! Delightful! Now I’m going to read all the priors. Sweet! Thank you! What fun!”

“If you’re looking for a great read-aloud story, treat your kids to this funny, fantastical tale by @MarkStarlin . (A new chapter every day!)”

“Always a wonderful journey to another time and place — the essence of a good tale :)”

“Oh no, the end of this installment of Baron Britprop Blastfurnace’s tales of adventures… will there be more?”

“Reading your novel every morning was a delightful respite from the daily madness. Thank you Mark Starlin!”

The novel has also gotten written reviews on Goodreads, with five star ratings.

Money

Although money was not my primary goal, I earned more by serializing my novel. A week after my book announcement, 6 copies of my book have been purchased, I think. I know two Kindle ebooks and one paperback have sold. But paperback sales aren’t reported until they ship, so I am going by what people have told me. Admittedly, this is a small number. But it is better than I expected. In addition, 57 pages have been read so far on Kindle Unlimited. So I have made roughly $12 in royalties from Amazon. And I earned $38 so far, in the Medium Partner Program, by serializing the novel on Medium.

Update July 11, 2020: My novel has sold 12 copies and 541 pages read on Kindle unlimited, for a royalty of $32.42. I also offered a free Kindle version on my birthday, and 26 free copies were downloaded that day. So a total of 40 copies of my book are being read, as of today.

Update September 11, 2020: My novel has sold 20 copies. Plus I gave away 26 free copies of the Kindle version on my birthday.

Update June 30, 2021: After a year, my novel has sold 52 copies. Even I can do the math. That is an average of one copy per week. Plus I gave away 26 free copies of the Kindle version on my birthday last year. I might do another give away on my birthday this year also. Maybe I’ll hit 100 total copies in circulation.

Obviously, I am not retiring on book royalties, but I never expected to. My novel is not very mainstream or commercial. The money is secondary to me.

A good review is worth more to me than a couple of dollars. Knowing someone enjoyed my novel is, as they say, priceless

Thoughts On Serialization

If I never sell more than a handful of copies of my novel on Amazon, I know at least an equal number of people have read my novel on Medium. I consider that a win. Each serialized part had at least five reads, so far. Some parts had over fifty reads, and it is still getting new reads.

Many would consider these numbers nothing, but I appreciate every read my stories get.

I consider the serialization experiment a success. If I write another novel, I will likely serialize it first also.

On Amazon:

On Medium: