Egg

A few weeks ago, Salon.com publicly released, in serial form, Dave Eggers new book-in-composition The Unforbidden Is Compulsory, Or, Optimism. I'm not as big a fan of Eggers as I once was, but I appreciate the fact that an online magazine is finding a new appropriateness of serialization for distributing new fiction. It's a great and inexpensive approach to releasing new material and perhaps it will fuel online subscriptions at Salon and elsewhere.

Serialization, as I learned with the late Professor Roger Henkel in college, was a new way for publications in the 19th century to realize earned income gradually while at the same time introducing new writers' work -- or new work by writers. It contains a built-in PR machine and the feedback gained while a writer is serially publishing is often critical to the eventual narrative and economic success of the book. Is it worth subscribing to Salon? I think yes.

Posted by Andrew at February 16, 2004 10:00 PM