K. Piet Talks About Storm Moon Press and GLBT And Alternative Lifestyle Serialized Fiction

When my writing and business partner, S.L. Armstrong, first brought up the idea of serialized fiction for Storm Moon Press, I'll admit I gave her the look that quite clearly said I thought she was a crazy woman. After all, the various serial fiction models we'd seen in practice both in our genre and elsewhere in the literary community all had major flaws that left readers paying way more than they should have to for each installment of the stories. We've spent nearly a year tossing about ideas, but it's culminated in a fantastic new approach to serial fiction that will premiere from Storm Moon Press in January of 2013!

Today, I'd love to share the serial fiction that S.L. and I are currently working on for that premiere. This way, those who are curious about the format can get an example that we're pursuing ourselves! Our concept for our serial fiction release, Immortal Symphony, is based around the characters created by Oscar Wilde for The Picture of Dorian Gray, but with an urban fantasy twist. Here is the blurb, for a quick look at what we have planned.

You think you know the story of Dorian Gray, but youfre wrong. The real story didnft end the way Oscar Wilde penned; in fact, it hasnft ended at all. The ageless beauty of Dorian Gray walks now in our world of cellphones and lattes and internet porn. His latest conquest is Gabriel Lawrence, a paranormal investigator with a secret or two of his own. But the trouble with a life as long as Dorianfs is that the skeletons are threatening to overrun the closet... and not all of them want to stay dead.

A general blurb, yes, but that's so we don't give away all the surprises we have in store for you as the readers! Part of the appeal of this kind of fiction from Storm Moon Press is that we've taken an almost television approach. Each story will be comprised of seasons, and each season is made of either 6 or 12 episodes, depending on the vision the author has for the storyline. In the case of Immortal Symphony, S.L. and I have planned five seasons so far, each with six episodes that will range between 15,000 and 20,000 words each. It basically means that each installment of the serial fiction will be like buying a short story in a series. Each of the episodes will be like an episode of great television, where the plot is fully explored in that episode, but there are larger character and plot arcs that will span the entire season or even across the seasons.

Also, there are three pricing options, which I've explained in another blog post, so you can either pay per episode, get a season pass (with bonus extras!), or buy the completed e-book at the end of the season (think of it as a boxset ^_-). This keeps things fair for the readers, who might want to try things out before committing to a whole season. It also allows for those who don't want serials at all and would rather wait for the story to be released as a whole!

The really great thing is that we're looking for all sorts of fiction to be released in this new format from the press. While my work with S.L. tends to skew more toward gay and male bisexual fiction, the serial fiction model is open for all of Storm Moon Press' imprints. That means that we'll accept pitches for serial stories that are for Wild Moon (heterosexual erotica/erotic romance), Thunder Moon (non-erotic QUILTBAG genre fiction), or Budding Moon (QUILTBAG young adult fiction). The sky really is the limit, and if you can see your story in this kind of format, please feel free to visit Storm Moon Press' serial fiction page, where you can find all the details about this format and how to submit if you're interested!

I hope you like this little tease into the world of Storm Moon Press' upcoming serial fiction! If anyone has questions about the serial model we're introducing or my serial fiction endeavors with S.L. Armstrong, I'm happy to answer them in the comments. :D

K. Piet is the Marketing Director for Storm Moon Press and also the author of Catalyst and the upcoming illustrated novel, Making Ends Meet, both co-authored with S.L. Armstrong. She can be found on her blog, Twitter, or the SMP Goodreads group.