The Renaissance of Serial Publishing: An Interview with Jonathan Rogers, Andy Patton, and Mick Donahue

There was a time when most novels weren’t published as novels. Readers waited for the next installment of Dickens, Dostoevsky, or Arthur Conan Doyle the way many people now wait for the next episode of a favorite television series. Stories arrived chapter by chapter, and writers often discovered what readers loved while the story was still unfolding.

That old model nearly disappeared during the twentieth century, but the internet has given us new publishing media that have brought serial publishing back.

Today, thousands of writers are once again publishing stories one chapter at a time, building communities around works in progress and inviting readers into the creative process. In this episode of the Habit Podcast, Mick Donahue and Andy Patton talk with Jonathan Rogers about why serial publishing is having a renaissance, and how it will shape the future of publishing.

Listen on Apple Podcasts.

Mick and his wife, Rachel, are the co-founders of Flicker.Press, a new serialization platform. Andy, besides being the Rabbit Room’s Director of Content, is the author of The Ill-Starred Knight, a serialized novel published on Royal Road under the pen name Ix. He is also the author of The Darkling Psalter, a serialized psalm-rendition project.