Most people agree that reading books is good for you:books can enrich your life, kickstart your self-improvement, and help you learn more about the world. But find the time to read 10 Surprisingly Simple Hacks to Read More Every Day 10 Surprisingly Simple Hacks to Read More Every Day There's too much to read, and too little time. It's just an obvious antidote to all the excuses:you have to make time to read. The gold-plated question is how. Read More So why not use this simple method to help you read more books?
Various apps and services make it easy to read more books without feeling like you're spending extra time and effort. By breaking a book into smaller sections that you can read once a day, you'll be able to read books like never before, without taking more time out of your already busy schedule.
In the 19th and early 20th centuries, serious publishing was all the rage. Books like The Pickwick Papers (CA / UK) , The Count of Monte Cristo (CA / UK) , The Woman in White (CA / UK) , and Uncle Tom's Cabin (CA/UK) they were published in magazines, one chapter at a time, sometimes for very long periods. It was a popular medium, as periodicals were cheaper than books, and increased literacy meant more people enjoyed the work some phenomenal authors were creating.
Nowadays, the reasons for reading series have changed a bit. Everyone's time has become more valuable. How much is your free time worth? This quiz tells you how much your free time is worth? This quiz tells you that you think you know how much your free time is worth, but you may be fooling yourself. Here is how you really value it! Read More We spend untold hours on our computers and mobile devices. Our attention span could be even shorter. All of these things make serial apps a great option to help you read more books.
Although delivered differently, today's serials are very similar to the originals of 100 years ago; In short, you get little snippets of a regularly delivered story. Some apps offer segments that you can read in 15 minutes, others offer you chapters that vary in length. Many of these apps are free, but some will cost you money. Some deliver daily, some weekly, some on an irregular schedule. But they all help you read more books. Do you want to read more this year? Here are 10 ways to do it. Want to read more this year? Here are 10 ways to do it. Spending more time reading isn't always easy. But think of the benefits:escaping and de-stressing, learning new things, connecting with people, thinking in new ways, and gaining new insights. Read More
Let's look at a handful of serial reading applications.
If You Want To Read More Classic Books 35 Classic Novels You Can Read For Free On Your Kindle 35 Classic Novels You Can Read For Free On Your Kindle There's a treasure trove of free, copyright-free books available on Amazon.com to download to your Kindle right now. Here are our recommendations for classic novels you should read... Read More By handing out book sections that can be read in 20 minutes or less, you can easily get through the day's reading on the bus or during lunch. Subscribe to as many books as you like and get a new slice of each day. The app also allows you to change fonts, colors and sizes, so the reading experience is good.
The classic books available in Serial Reader run the gamut of canon (The Moonstone , Pride and Prejudice , Frankenstein , and Heart of Darkness ) to the less typical (Call of Cthulhu by H.P. Lovecraft, The Crystal Crypt by Philip K. Dick, and The Captain of the North Star by Arthur Conan Doyle). And new books are being added all the time. Pick a few and get started!
Serial Reader is free, but you can upgrade to the premium version for $2.99 to support the app and get a few more features like iCloud syncing, summaries and notes, and the ability to read ahead.
If you're looking for something a little bigger than a 15-minute chapter each day, Serial Box has you covered with weekly installments that average around 40 minutes to read. You can also listen to them, which is nice if you're a fan of listening to audiobooks while working out, driving, or cooking. Each "episode" is $1.59, or you can get a season pass for $20.
Serial Box follows the TV model, with collaborative writing, multiple seasons, weekly installments, and somewhere in the neighborhood of 12 or 15 episodes per season. If you really liked one season, you can sign up for the next one to keep getting more of the authors and stories you loved.
As of this writing, there are five serials available. Some have very high-profile endorsements, so you can feel good about taking your chances on an episode for less than $2! (And you can read the season premieres for free to try them out.)
Serial Reader and Serial Box are great, but what if you're interested in a specific genre that they don't specialize in? Romance, for example? If you like “The hottest new romances and the hottest boyfriends,” you should download Crave. Pick up a book for $10 and you'll receive a new installment every day for 30 days.
Crave also offers other features such as the ability to send messages to the author, polls, quizzes, videos, photos, audio, and more. The app is described as “part book, part movie, part instant messenger,” and promises a unique reading experience.
If you pay (or earn) Crave credits, you can also read ahead in your book when you can't wait to find out what happens next.
Combining serialized books with crowdfunding (like Unbound, which we cover Funding and Publishing Books with the Unbound Crowdfunding Fund and Publishing Books with Unbound Crowdfunding) Are you a writer or artist wondering how you could afford to publish a book? You already have a bit of a following, you could potentially fundraise using sites... Learn More A while ago, JukePop created a pretty unique way to help authors get their books out into the world and readers get easily digestible book sections on a regularly. You can register to read an author's serial entries and, if you wish, invest in her work..
When you invest, you help the author publish her work; It is not cheap to have a cover designed, edit a book, participate in marketing, etc. But authors also agree to share a specific portion of their income with their supporters. If you're curious about this side of JukePop, check out the Investing FAQ.
Even if you're not, sign up to start receiving new works in your favorite genre on a regular basis!
These are just four ways to get access to serial stories and start reading more books without putting much effort. Read More However, there must be more great apps for serialized books and we want to hear all about them.
Do you read serial books or other works? Where do you get them? Do you think you will try any of these services? Please share your thoughts in the comments below!