Series and Serials: Do you know the difference?

What’s the difference between a serial and a series? We’re going to go over the real differences, what a serial is, and how you can get started writing one in today’s video.
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#series #serial #writingtips

[@HeartBreathings]

I know many of you were waiting for this, and I hope you enjoyed the information here. Be sure to like and subscribe. There's also a link in the description to buy Sacrifice Me if you want to check out how I wrote a serial. If you want to hear another video about my experience and success writing a serial, as well as what I'd do differently publishing a serial today, let me know!

[@jonnyjonneth]

Hearing any sage advice from you Sarra is always useful. I've looked and there isn't much on serial writing (well not since the early indie days, when it seemed popular) so any wisdom you can give would great. Pricing a serial seems to be the biggest recurring issue when I looked at it a while back. Yet I've just realised if you price at $0.99 if you have six episodes and someone read all the way through you make more or less the same amount as a novel at $2.99. Hmm... I may need to look into this again.

[@HeartBreathings]

@@jonnyjonneth Yes, this is definitely a good point. I have so much to say about this, because I made some mistakes with my second season where I learned A LOT. Pricing is also genre-dependent for sure. If there's enough interest, I'd definitely love to discuss it more!

[@jonnyjonneth]

​@@HeartBreathings I'll look forward to it if it does come, but no pressure. It may not be something you feel the need to revisit until you start work on the next serial.

[@willow8783]

I just wanted to thank you for this video. I've been struggling with a book I've been working on for years that just never felt "right" no matter how I edited or revised it. Honestly, I was about to shelve it and come back to it once I had grown into whatever writing skill I was lacking to make it right... and then I saw this video. It wasn't just a light bulb going off in my head, it was high voltage flood lights! I didn't have a dual timeline novel on the page, but a pair of serial novellas that just need a bit of tweaking to make them each stand alone while still being tied together. So, thank you for making this eye-opening video!!

[@revilinblack889]

You saved me and my story! 💕 I rewrote it because I felt there is something wrong with it. There was nothing wrong. Now after knowing this, it works as a serial. If the series works as an umbrella, I can imagine a serial as a train. Each part is an episode but in general it is a train. 🚂

[@nikkihyson1431]

Would love more videos on serials, pricing, timeline, cover design, etc. Thanks so much!

[@kelleycanwrite2189]

Please yes talk more about serials!!! This is something I have been searching for forever! I’ve been trying to figure out how to write/structure a series that is more like a tv show and less like a movie trilogy. Also I think that mangas are another good example of serials because chapters are usually published weekly and are often turned into anime series where one or a few chapters is a single episode.

[@annejia5382]

thiiiiiiiiiiis! 💛

[@Marionc0188]

YES please, I want all the information on writing a serial!! Thank you :)

[@AuthorBrittanyWang]

Wooo! Thanks so much for doing this video Sarra!! Since emailing with you a bit last year on the topic, it was so helpful that I did a few videos about my learning process of plotting a writing my fantasy serial last year and I’m finally publishing a serial this year (Eeek!) so I’d love to see any videos you want to do on this topic, for sure! 🙌 Thanks so much for always being such a great resourcer and encourager! ❤️

[@sofiar611]

i loved this explanation!! i'm super curious about writing serials and would love more videos about them! :)

[@anaerobinson]

❤️ I would love to see more videos on serials and series. The Sookie Stackhouse books where made into a tv show, it would be cool to analyze the differences. Great job Sarra! By the way I love your Publish and Thrive courses.

[@HeartBreathings]

I haven't seen True Blood, but I think it would definitely be interesting to take a look at how that was all broken down!

[@anaerobinson]

@@HeartBreathings it’s great, but fair warning it’s rated R, I forgot just how rated R I had to shut it off when my 13 year old walked into the living room. Since I know you have little one, just wanted to add. Lol

[@anaerobinson]

I’ve been conducting research for my son and my up-coming serial.

[@eeveequeen25]

I'm starting to consider serialised self-publishing, and this video was the most informative I've found on the topic. Thanks for sharing your experiences and advice!

[@SaraLea]

I would love to see more about planning and writing / publishing serials...

[@briellerose6145]

Me too! After watching this I'm pretty convinced it suits my writing style more at the moment and I'd love a more in-depth video on ways to work out the structure and different arcs 😍

[@rsherck]

I love that subtle shade on the end of LOST. 😂 I’m still mad.

[@HeartBreathings]

I mean, realllly!

[@jonnyjonneth]

Yup. Still feel unfulfilled by it. The LOST ending prevented me from getting invested in TV show's again for such a long time. I think authors can use LOST as a good example of what NOT to do. Remember what questions you've opened and make sure you answer/close them properly. So you may need to have planned the ending and have an idea about how to get there.

[@HeartBreathings]

@@jonnyjonneth I agree! With that show, it was very much like they just rode the twists and it took on a life of its own - with no one who really knew what the heck was really going on... But I did love it so much while it was going!

[@jonnyjonneth]

@@HeartBreathings Yes, it was such a fun experience at the time and I still don't think any TV show has intrigued me as much and kept me hooked for the next episode. I think the first couple of seasons will be worth re-watching for anyone planning a serial for ways of increasing the tension and raising the stakes.

[@rosebud447]

I would be very much interested in publishing side of it as I would like to do them as well.

[@DrBlockBooksForKids]

Great video. I write serials, and a couple of things you mentioned triggered some ideas that should make them better. I really appreciate it. Thanks!

[@bobbiecarlton-hess9322]

Loved this! I have a side project which was going to be a series of novellas. Now I know what to do with them. Thanks!

[@LaPtaVerdad]

Me listening with terrible earphones: the difference between ciri and my cereals are that cereals are...

[@ashleyforshaw8449]

loved this! :D and would definitely love to know more about serials and the publishing process for them!

[@mrandisg]

From what you described in this video, I think my co-author and I have made the right decision to convert our novel series into a serial. Our storyline seems much better suited to episodes than it does to full-length novels. I'd love to learn more, and I'm sure she would, too! Thank you so much for sharing this! 😊

[@CJ-gc1xw]

Thanks Sara great video. Would love to learn more about publishing serials and strategies.

[@essauthor]

Thank you, this description was so helpful, and you made so many points about series verses serials that just make sense.

[@Bibliophile1686]

I was so excited to see the email for this in my inbox!!! Thank you so much for doing this video, Sarra! I've been intrigued with this idea since your Writing a Series series and after taking your Publish and Thrive course, I'm debating starting out my self-publishing career by writing serials to help me get content out faster. I would love more videos on structuring, marketing, and publishing a serial. I'm excited to go read Sacrifice Me to see what a serial looks like in action!

[@richards512]

Very helpful. Thanks.

[@unicornnightporiumllc3231]

Definitely want more vids.

[@marthalowery1608]

I would love to see an episode on compare and contrast.

[@thesmugroup]

This was excellent and cleared up a lot of confusion for me! Thank you! And your examples really solidified the information in my mind. I’d love any and all future videos you want to make on this topic-everything from writing and structure to marketing and publishing. I’m looking forward to going through P&T again this round. I’m also going to pick up your serial to see how you did it.

[@beverlyjdesigns1410]

A wonderful explanation. Thanks for always sharing♥

[@candicejenee-soulcadence5040]

I would love to see a video of how you outline a serial.

[@reneebarrette4514]

I think this is a great explanation and makes total sense!

[@trixiewalker6159]

Thanks for explaining this!

[@FlagPam]

Fantastic video, Sarra!

[@rosannebowman2592]

the idea of movie versus tv show kind of is how I think of series as opposed to a serial.

[@KJM_Writes]

Serialised stories used to be very popular in the 19th Century and many of the classics we know as full novels were originally released as serials. Some examples include The Count of Monte Cristo, Middlemarch, and A Tale of Two Cities. The comparison of serials and novels to TV series and movies is a really good example. It's interesting, however, to think back to pre-millennial TV, when it was more common for shows to be made up of stand alone episodes with little or no overall story arc across the series or each season. (It was all down to traditions around syndication and the way that TV shows used to get made and then sold on and often shown in no specific order.) To my mind, these were more like collections of short stories. An obvious (and long running) example is The Simpsons, which you can watch completely out of order and still have them make sense. Anyway, all this is probably a bit irrelevant, but I enjoyed this video and think it's very helpful to anyone struggling with the differences. 😊

[@skittlestype2gr925]

By what I understand-a serial has a series of episodic structures that keep going

[@daisyswan7104]

Thank you so much for this video, it came precisely at the right time when I struggled with my story world and idea because it was too much for one novel, but the "quests" that lead to the end are too short for a series of full length novels. Great that there is another option, so I will plot it out as a serial! Yay! I would be interested in another video about marketing and publishing a serial, if you have the time to make one! Thank you!

[@SaraLea]

Yes! I immediately think of movies versus tv episodes.

[@AuthorBrittanyWang]

Hi Sarra! Coming back to watch this again and had a quick question! :) You mention a blog post where you share more of your experience publishing your serial and that it would be linked in the description, but the linked blog post is more of summary of Sacrifice Me. Do you happen to still have the link to the blog post you mentioned that you could share? I'd love to read it! :D

[@crystalmorrison4463]

Babylon 5 was a fantastic serial show. Large overarching plot-line with episodes that were individually interesting and satisfying. 👍😊

[@kempfreehold9450]

❤ it was gorgeous. My husband said that he read that the entire arch was completely planned out before they started filming. I loved that show

[@marahsoore6452]

Thank you for bringing this up! I'm very interested to know about your publishing experience with Serials since it sounds fun and could be good to gain readership momentum.

[@jennfischetto]

This has me rethinking my series idea. More please! I'm definitely interested in how to publish a serial. :) I have a ton of questions. haha

[@cribbolkuh4970]

MORE!

[@karenvigmostad4013]

Yes, I found this (how do you think a series can be read in any order?) “Put simply: a series is a collection of books that all belong to the same “franchise” but can be read in any order (because they’re each a different, self-contained story - even if they connect with one another), whereas a serial is an ongoing narrative which the audience has to read in the correct order so as to follow the plot (so a different kind of series).”

[@ChautonaHavig]

100% agree with serial being more episodic. It can be a "short" one like perhaps a TV show that only had one season. Or, it can be an NCIS that has a ton of story arcs that get brought up and concluded. I do differ from you on action/tightly written with serials. I think one of the other things that separate serials from series is that a novel needs to have very little "extraneous" info. Every element of the story has to prove that it moves the story forward. However, in a serial, you can explore those side elements that readers will love BUT... you can't put in a novel because they aren't ESSENTIAL to the main story arc of a novel. So, as long as you give some action in each of those tangents and they have a resolution as well, you can get away with that kind of thing. However, I write serials that are closer to a Dickens relational story instead of a fast-paced adventure that you'd find more in your writing. Picture Little House on the Prairie versus NCIS! LOL. And it's almost my most popular series. My serials are big deals for my readers, but they're not action-packed stories, but they are TENSION rich ones.

[@ComeDownToEarth]

ALLLLLLL THE SERIAL STRATEGY PLEEEEEAAASE!!!!!

[@KittyBGaming]

Serial? Nah, cereal 🥣 😊

[@ERD77]

Hay i from indonesia Good video

[@nikkiguerlain]

💗💗💗

[@cecilywolfe4571]

I was one of those who asked - my daughters are both dying to write serials. How did you publish them - like, how often and what platforms? What price did you charge? Thank you!

[@anakay1184]

A killer series is a real good tv show. A serial killer is a murderer. Suscribe for more tips and life hacks.

[@cadengrace5466]

I disagree. A series is a single book broken up into 2 or more books. It is one story with an obvious main plot. A serial is a series of stand-alone novels in the same universe, usually with the same characters. Each book in a serial has a self-contained plot that plays into a universe story-line. As for breaking up a single book into a series, I refer you to Lord of the Rings. An example of a serial is Dresden Files.

[@HeartBreathings]

I think the definition of how these words are used in regards to modern-day publishing is changing. I would call the Dresden Files an "Episodic Series" or a series of stand-alones. I have never heard this type of self-contained, episodic novel series called serials in practical conversation. An overarching story broken into multiple volumes of fully fleshed-out novels, each with their own story question and answer that need to be read in order is a Dynamic series in my mind. Now, Lord of the Rings is a bit of an outlier, because Tolkien originally intended for that to be a single novel. Most authors today writing long-form series that must be read in order don't consider it a single book. They consider it a single, overarching story told across multiple novels. Most modern-day authors writing fiction they call "serials" are writing more what I described here. But disagreement is fine and welcomed. I just think if you're going to publish and market yourself in today's modern publishing, it's important to understand the terms are they are used by the majority of readers in today's fiction.

[@cadengrace5466]

@@HeartBreathings It is a first for me to disagree with you and oddly it is over what a word means - the tool of the writer. Irony, I suppose. I will add that while I have watched - omg numbers of hours from various booktubers - I find myself cut from the same cloth as you and it is my hope that I can put to best use all that you have relayed to me. Jenna Moreci is the only other booktuber I pay any attention to these days. I don't think much like Jenna when it comes to books - age difference mostly - but she sure has a way of saying things!

[@nikkiguerlain]

💗💗💗