Weres Wanna Know: Do You Read Serials?

Is it just me or is serialized content becoming a popular thing again? It might just be me and the corner of the book community I see and interact with. Or is it a result of the success that a lot of authors are having doing serials as part of their Patreon pages?

Recently, M.L. Rhodes, one of the authors I've gotten into decided to release her next book in a serial format on her blog. And I'm not sure how I feel about it. I'm not new to serialized media. I've been an active reader of fanfiction and manga since I was a teen. Nothing teaches you patience as much as waiting for the next chapter of your fave fanfic does. Plus, I read all of Ilona Andrew's Innkeeper as it was published to their blog. So what is different about this time?

I have to give it to Rhodes. She posts two chapters a week and she has been consistently on time from the start. And while I've more or less kept up with each update and I'm loving the story, I'm just not feeling it. I think the main reason why is because I hate having to wait to see what happens next and I don't remember feeling it quite this bad with most of the fanfic and manga I've read before.

But she's not the only author who has starting to release content via serials. Both Ann Aguirre and Susan Dennard have started writing serials. Ann's is available to her newsletter subscribers and Susan's is on Wattpad. Other authors like Becky Chambers and Max Gladstone are starting to write serials commercially for different serial websites. Plus, there is a ton of authors who are offering serialized content as part of their Patreon perks.

Thanks to this new trend, I've recently found myself with five different apps to read serialized works and I'm kind of conflicted about it. Why am I conflicted about it though? For the most part, I enjoy reading shorter works so I'm not sure if it's wait between new installments or if it's something else bothering me all together.

I don't think it's necessarily the wait because I really enjoy the webcomic/manga serializations I'm reading on Tapas and Webtoon. I've found that waiting for that kind of new content doesn't kill me as much as waiting for the next chapter in a story that will be made into a book at a later date. Part of that, I think, is because that's the way I've always consumed that sort of content. Thanks, Shonen Jump. But the stories. The stories drive me crazy waiting for the next installment.

I recently got a Serial Box account specifically so I can read The Vela because it is partially being written by Becky Chambers. I paid for the whole "season" instead of paying to read each chapter. The story is great so far and I'd highly recommend it but it's slowly killing me that I won't know how it ends for another eight weeks at least. That's a long time.

If I knew I could wait, I'd probably just buy the final books of each of these stories so I can read them all in one go. But I'm not sure the actual wait is the problem. I think it's more of a curiosity killed the cat problem and maybe it's as simple as the fact that I might not be that kind of reader anymore. Very rarely does it take me more than two or three sittings to read a book. As Gretl told me the other day, if it takes me more than two it's because I've had five days on no reading.

At this point, I don't think waiting for these stories to be finished will help. I'm already too invested and too eager to see where they will go. I could probably blame Netflix for this lack of patience due to them spoiling us by giving us whole seasons at once but I've had this problem long before Netflix was a thing. I always just want to know what happens next. Maybe this is just a me a thing. 

How about you? Do you read serials? Do you like them? Hate them? 
Have any serial recommendations for me to read?

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