Here are some of the frequently asked questions we’ve gotten in our mailbag for Yesterday’s Gone, answered by me, David Wright. If you have a question not on here, please email us at collectiveinkwellmedia (at) gmail (dot) com and we’ll update this page as questions come in, with newest questions at the bottom.
Don’t worry, there are NO SPOILERS in this FAQ. If we add spoiler questions at a later date, we’ll put large warnings so nobody’s story is ruined.
Where did the idea for Yesterday’s Gone come from?
We’ve wanted to create a series since we first met. When eBooks started to REALLY take off in 2010-2011, we realized that the time has never been better to start a series. And not just a series, but serialized books. We thought about serializing the sequel to our vampire thriller Available Darkness, but the storyline is so complex and the first book took so long, I was in no rush to return to its world. So I suggested to Sean, why not just start fresh — like REALLY fresh with a big concept, and go from there. We went from idea to the first “episode” in less than a month (I think).
Why serialized books?
I fell in love with the idea of serialization as a child when I used to watch this show called Cliffhangers (bonus points if you’re one of the other 20 people who watched it) that had three different stories (one a vampire story, another was an Indiana Jones-type story, and the other a mystery) that left you hanging each week. The show was all kinds of awesome, but was cancelled almost immediately.
From there, I dived right into comic books. The Star Wars comics of the late 70′s and early 80′s always ended with my three favorite words in fiction, “to be continued…” Stephen King released The Green Mile as 100 page serialized books in the mid 90′s and I LOVED the books. I waited at the bookstore each time a new book was released, eager to get my hands on it. And I thought to myself, some day, I’m going to do this.
Why are your books called episodes?
We’re treating Yesterday’s Gone like a TV show. Sean and I are huge fans of serialized TV — The Wire, The Sopranos, x-Files, Deadwood, Dexter, Game of Thrones, The Walking Dead, Mad Men, and Carnivale all hold special places in our hearts and have helped to shape us as writers with their attention to detail, great characters, and building suspense.
Each 100 page eBook is an “episode” and there are six episodes per season ( also like TV ). We chose 100 pages simply because King’s Green Mile seemed to be the perfect size for a serialized book. Sometimes the books run over, sometimes they might fall a bit shy of 100 pages. Essentially, the story takes as long as the story takes, so it could be 120 pages or 95. But it will always (we hope) kick ass.
How did you choose a price for your eBooks?
We wanted the books to be cheap so a lot of people would take a chance on them and get involved in the series. The downside to doing .99 eBooks, however, is that Amazon only gives the author a 35% cut of the sales when you sell your book for anything less than $2.99. Meaning we get .34 or .35 cents for each .99 eBook we sell.
Some people have suggested we sell our episodes at $2.99, which would give us the 70 percent payout.
However, when you add up six chapters at $3 a pop, readers are paying $18 for a 600 plus page book, which seems like way too much to charge for an eBook. Print, maybe, because of the associated costs, but $18 for a fiction eBook? No way would we be comfortable doing that, assuming people were willing to pay that much.
So, if you’re wondering how we’ll make enough money to make this story worthwhile, here’s the plan. In November, we’re raising the prices of the single episodes to $1.99 (except for Season One: Episode One, which we’ll always keep .99).
However, we only do this after people have had a chance to get all the episodes for .99. Plus, you can always buy the full season at $4.99.
Will you be releasing the season in print?
At some point, probably. But right now, we’re focused on eBooks. That is where a majority of the market is right now, so why not cater to readers where they are buying the most books?
What happened to the people who were left behind?
You’ll have to keep reading to find out.
Are there any other survivors that we haven’t met yet?
Yes.
When will we meet them?
Season two kicks off with an introduction of one particular survivor who will impact the story in a big way.
Why is this website called SerializedFiction rather than Yesterday’s Gone?
We are planning a few different serialized stories. I can’t say much at the moment, except one will be in the Young Adult paranormal genre and is a story I (David) have been holding onto since I was in high school.
When will Yesterday’s Gone be available for iBooks or for the Nook?
We’re working on Apple and Barnes and Noble editions of the full season now. Given that most of the audience for eBooks is at Amazon, we published there first rather than hold back until all the editions were ready.
