The Human Division Episodes: Official Bestsellers
Posted on February 6, 2013 Posted by John Scalzi 26 Comments
No lie, it seems both The B-Team and Walk the Plank hit the USA Today best seller lists in the last couple of weeks. Sweet! I have no idea if a serialized novel has had individual portions of it hit that particular list before, although I imagine (so long as this particular list existed then) that The Green Mile did it. So maybe it’s possible I’m the first person since Stephen King to do it? Maybe? I could find out for sure but then I might learn someone else did it and I don’t want that, so HEY EVERYBODY ME AND STEPHEN KING ARE IN A SPECIAL CLUB AND YOU CAN’T JOIN NYAH NYAH NYAH. We’re gonna sit around and talk baseball and writing and classic rock bands, and throw ice cubes at Joe Hill while he cuts the lawn with a manual mower. It’s gonna be great.
(Also: thank you, folks. Really.)
Awesome. It’s well deserved!
Congratulations John. The parts of The Green Mile were definately bestsellers as well. I can remember being amused seeing them taking up most of the top of the list. I think there were a few other authors, and at least one well known one who tried to ride The Green Mile’s success at the time. I don’t remember exactly who, but one or more of them might have cracked the list as well.
Splendid. And, IMO, parts 3 and 4 are even better. Pre-purchased the whole book already.
I also really appreciate the lack of DRM, both as a matter of principle and because it’s less hassle to read on my platform of choice.
Best club EVER! I love the serial novel thing. Loved it SO MUCH when SK did it with The Green Mile and while a month between releases was utter agony, the anticipation made the payoff that much better. To this day, it’s one of my favorite SK books and I still have the individual books tucked away on one of my SK shelves.
Frankly, I think you’re being too generous with weekly releases. You should have stretched that out a bit more because torturing fans has got to be pretty cool! ;o)
Congratulations Mr. Scalzi, well deserved!
Ah! I would have added to the figures, but I missed the last three releases! I have corrected that grievous error, and am now enjoying “Walk the Plank” as I collect my Weasels from school. Thank you for doing this, it’s a great way to enjoy your stories.
Maybe he’ll invite you to play in the Rock Bottom Remainders, along with Dave Barry, Amy Tan, Ridley Pearson, and a bunch of other writers.
Naahhh, never happen.
Dude, we’re all just mowing Stephen King’s lawn.
Your penny will arrive by e-mail forthwith. And hence.
This is not on topic, but it’s the best I can do, since I don’t twitter, fb, or any of those other social media:
Today, on salondotcom, You and your work for worthy causes profiled:
http://www.salon.com/2013/02/06/sci_fi_writer_makes_50000_for_charity_off_of_his_troll/
:)
Love, C>
HEY EVERYBODY ME AND STEPHEN KING ARE IN A SPECIAL CLUB AND YOU CAN’T JOIN NYAH NYAH NYAH
Whatever you do, don’t put King in charge of accommodations. You’ll find your clubhouse was built on an old Indian cemetery infested by vampires or something.
Woot! Woot!
Loved loved loved the book so far—serialization feeds into the comic book fan in me.
USA Today? Meh. NEW YORK TIMES OR GTFO.
(In all seriousness, congratulations. The serial novel is a cool format, and hopefully this will help it to make a comeback.)
Hell, if serializing worked for Dickens, no reason it can’t work all over again in the 21st century.
The Green Mile was awesome! Dean Koontz and another author tried serials about the same time but not sure the success of either. Congratulations on hitting that list! More to come I’m sure.
Congrats. And i gotta tell ya, The Human Division is the best TV show I’ve watched in a couple years. No joke.
Congratulations! Although unfortunately, The Green Mile wasn’t Stephen King’s only serial novel… if I remember right, there was something called “The Plant” back in the early ’00s. It was actually the first King story I ever read.
Is it weird that I kind f want a tshirt with “Another Victim of the Human Division” on it somehow? Damn, I’ve been suckered in totally by these stories!
Offtopic, but I came accross this picture and immediately thought of you, John:
http://goo.gl/niEcU
Yeah, King published a few episodes of “The Plant” in 2000, experimenting with online publishing without DRM and with a honor-based payment model, but stopped when the income per episode dropped below a certain unspecified limit (or maybe when he ran out of pre-written material :-).
And yeah, looks like “We Only Need the Heads” made it to this week’s bestseller list. King had six Green Mile episodes on the list in 1996, so you’re halfways there already…
I 2nd the 1st comment! If you didn’t write great stories this would never happen. You keep writing and we will keep reading!
I haven’t read any of them yet but, wearing my marketign hat for a moment, kudos for the collective design and illustration of the covers of all the serials. They’re great, with awesome illustration, nice layout and well integrated themes across all the pieces.
Marketing. Sorry! (shakes fist) Damn you, partially frozen fingers!
Cool! And ‘A Voice in the Wilderness’ is jolly good! I am really enjoying both the book & the method of publication. Though – as others have commented elsewhere – I do have the problem of whether to get the single-book edition at the end. I’m tempted to, despite the ‘pay twice’ effect, simply to have all the episodes in one volume.
After all if I could – as I have – buy all the Pratchett Discworld books in paper AND on Kindle, why jib at one book?? Except that both copies of THD would be in e-form, of course…
Hey, Stephen built a $1000000 baseball field/park in his hometown too. My suggestion? Diversify a bit and build a soccer/futbol field in your hometown. And I already have a name for it: Scalzi Campo di Calcio. Of course, people should also be told they can play with shoes on too.
I’m loving the series so far.
I’m glad I pre-ordered all the books from audible before they started coming out.
William Dufris is great as always.