For The Human Division, the latest novel in John Scalzi's Old Man's War series, Tor is teasing the hardcover with staggered digital "episodes." The book is coming out in print (and, simultaneously, in e-book) in May 2013 but, before then, in a first, Tor is releasing the story through a series of e-books, the first of which, called "The B-Team," will be on sale January 15.
The episodes, as Tor is calling each installment, will be released on a weekly basis over the next three months. The first three episodes, all coming out in January, are each priced at 99 cents. Tor said the teaser approach is "an experiment." But the language the house is using, linking a print book to a TV show, is intentional, as senior editor Patrick Nielsen Hayden explained. "Like the episodes of a good high-end cable drama, each [e-serial] has enough internal integrity to work as an enjoyable chunk of story on its own, but each will advance a ‘season’-long storyline as well."
When The Human Division is released in its entirety, in May, it will, Tor noted, have some "exclusive additional material."
