Hacker Newsnew | past | comments | ask | show | jobs | submitlogin

Hi Matt, do you see any potential for serialization to make a comeback by utilizing a platform like Substack?


I hope so. Serialization was such a huge thing for writers once upon a time. In particular it was a medium that encouraged experimentation and allowed writers to be compensated better for unusual work. It's how a lot of American detective writing got its start -- the fast pace of work like Dashiell Hammett's "Continental Ops" stories was built around the immediacy of periodical publishing. If you're writing that kind of prose as a book, it has a different style. The periodical form helped create that unique, suspenseful, fast format. My hope is that in the internet age -- when people are reading more as a whole but maybe reading fewer books -- that a serial web formal will help create a literature for readers of this era, just like magazines like "Black Mask" helped make a literature for the twenties and thirties.




Guidelines | FAQ | Lists | API | Security | Legal | Apply to YC | Contact

Search: