Serial Novels: An Interview with Gaius J. Augustus

In the past decade, several serial platforms for writers have arisen, including Wattpad, Amazon Vella, Radish, and Fictionate. This article will interview one author who has garnered considerable success on Vella.

You can read more about how Vella works and catch up on my last interview here.

Since I also publish regularly on Amazon Vella, I’ve included my thoughts and reactions to Gaius J. Augustus on these topics.

Welcome, Gaius! Please tell us a bit about your approach to serials.

My first serial story, Tales of a Vernian Youth, began publishing in March 2022. I like to break boundaries, and that comes across in my work as well. I write across genres, but my main stories are speculative fiction with an irreverent (and often humorous) tone. Genre is definitely hard to pin down, and sometimes it feels like I’m closing my eyes and pinning a tail on a board of genres, but my stories often have found family, something that sits at the boundary of magic & science, and characters that are a bit odd.

Yes, serial platforms currently seem a more forgiving place for newer authors who cross genres than traditional publishing.

Tell us more about your most popular work and how you decided to publish it as a serial.

My main story, Tales of a Vernian Youth, is about a graduate student magician and his robot research project who become trapped in a web of alternate realities. It is a humorous and harrowing story with lots of emotion casually interrupted with ridiculous asides.

The story was originally envisioned as a serious drama, but as I was working on a rewrite of the series, I fell into a long bout of depression. That seeped into my writing, and let me tell you, that did not help. I decided I needed to inject some levity into my life, and my only outlet to do that at the time was in my writing.

So I started my rewrite over. It was my first time writing humor, and it’s been received very well. So I guess I’m okay at it. I find it challenging but also therapeutic, and so I’m rethinking my future releases to add a dose of humor into them as well.

What made you initially decide to begin a career in serials?

Over the years, I’ve written stories as books, screenplays, and comics, but I always stopped short of publishing. In order to gain some confidence in publishing, I decided to write an episodic story that could be read in any order (somewhat…). Think old-school episodic television shows that had an adventure of the week.

While trying to find somewhere to publish it, I came across Kindle Vella, where I could publish it without disguising it as a novel, though in shorter episodes than I originally intended.

Writing serials has taken me back to when I wrote for more visual media, and I love the unique challenges that come with it: working within word limits, fast-paced stories, and tantalizing episode structures (including the infamous cliffhanger ending).

I definitely see these aspects in your story. It’s reminiscent of a television series in that readers can revisit locales and re-encounter villains across the seasons.

What other serial platforms are you familiar with, and why did you choose Vella? 

Kindle Vella was the first serial platform that I came across that had a payment model and a great author community. I do publish on a couple other platforms (Laterpress and Fictionate). However, even though you can publish serials there, they still feel heavily focused on novels. There are other serial platforms out there, but most are heavily focused on romance. Since romance is typically only a subplot in my stories, I haven’t felt that it’s a good fit. 

Yes, I examined Radish but quickly realized my lack of familiarity with the romance genre would be a detriment. 

How would you rate the ease of the serial publishing process in general, especially for new authors?

I hear a lot of authors say that publishing serial stories helps them keep accountable and keeps them writing. I definitely appreciate being able to think of writing as one episode at a time instead of one novel at a time. It makes goals much more attainable. I find that I’m less stressed about publishing than I was when I was trying to get an entire book perfect before anyone ever read it.

I still have to worry about cover art, blurbs, editing, and marketing, but the story doesn’t need to be completely done before I start publishing, which I’ve found both empowering and much more accessible. Case in point, I now have several serial stories available online to read!

What advice would you give authors who are considering publishing serials?

My biggest advice for authors considering publishing serials is not to think of it as just chopping up a novel. Serials are faster paced, each episode should feel fulfilling, and most episodes should end leaving the reader wanting more (with sometimes but, please, not always, a cliffhanger).

Something I don’t see often but that has been extremely helpful for me as a reader is to start each episode by orienting the reader to where they are in the story. Because the hope is that readers follow my work and read as episodes are released and because there’s an expectation that readers are simultaneously reading many stories, I find it useful to weave a bit of a recap into the beginning of each episode. Let’s be honest. If it’s been a few days since I read the last episode, I sure as heck am not going to remember exactly what was happening… and it’s a pain to have to go back and read it again on some of these platforms.

Well, that’s a wrap, folks! You can read Gaius J. Augustus’ most popular serial, Tales of a Vernian Youth, here! If you would like to learn more about Gaius J. Augustus’ work, please visit gaiusjaugustus.com

For some tips on writing serials or for help deciding if writing serials is the right choice for you, stay tuned for future blog posts, and don’t hesitate to ask me anything about this topic in the comments area.

Featured art designed by Gaius J. Augustus and used with permission.

Kendra Griffin