Most of Charles Dickens works, the original stories of Sherlock Holmes, and a multitude of classic novels from Victorian England began life as serial novels.
They were released one segment at a time through newspapers or magazines, and some serial novels, such as The Pickwick Papers, were such an influential part of Victorian pop culture even illiterate workers knew about the story intimately.
The serial format kept people wanting more, drawing attention similar to the tv series episodes of today.
Some modern novels have embraced the serialization spirit, such as Harry Potter, as six books were planned and announced from the very beginning.
However, the true spiritual successor are the web novels, aka the web serial. Web serials are a common type of web fiction, which are literature written on the internet, usually available for free.
Web novels are closely related to fan fiction, one can even argue they are of the same stock. Of course, the web novel tell a more original, if not better, story.
One of the first web serials, The Spot, ran from 1995 to 1997. It was a moderate success, with around 80,000 to 160,000 visits per day. The series was part sitcom part interactive novel, as viewers were able to go behind the scenes, reading each characters’ journals and emails, as well as interacting with the crew to influence the story.
However, questionable business choices and rising competitors put The Spot down as a forgotten part of internet history.
The Spot’s influence today is minimal, but it solidified the idea of web-based episodic storytelling.
Wikipedia claims that web fiction grew during 2008, and a 2014 New York Times article proclaimed that “Not since the heyday of Dickens, Dumas and Henry James has serialized fiction been this big.” The article itself mainly focused on Wattpad, a popular platform for web serials that I have yet to use.
Looking through http://webfictionguide.com/, one can see a healthy and thriving, yet niche community.
Exact numbers are difficult to get, though some serials on Wattpad, like the romance story After, have racked up to 1.5 billion views and been turned into a best-selling book series. Okay, so maybe not so niche.
Web serials are easy for anyone to post, through blogs, wordpress, or their own websites. But don’t let that put you off, plenty of serials are written on par with physical books. Some, like Worm, have a large enough fanbase to get high quality audiobooks and massive online forums.
The serial novel format hasn’t died, it just went digital.
Tech, Writing, and Culture 