Investment fund Nova Growth Capital is investing in an online book platform that releases novels chapter by chapter.
Nova is investing £195,000 in Resurgence Novels, billed as an "episodical, online book platform that releases new chapters on a regular cadence."
Serialised novels were common in the 19th century, with authors including Elizabeth Gaskell, George Eliot and Charles Dickens publishing works in instalments. In the late 20th century authors including Stephen King and Tom Wolfe experimented with the format, while it is now finding a new life online as authors can share stories directly with readers online.
Resurgence - which has an all-female founding team - will release new chapters each week. The company will offer editing services and aims to ensure authors are "rewarded fairly for their contributions".
Heather Mae Linton, author and co-founder of Resurgence Novels, successfully pitched her concept to Nova’s investment panel in January.
She said “We’re delighted to have received investment from Nova and are keen to get started building our platform and promoting the fantastic authors we have waiting in the wings.
"I’ve worked in this sector for many years and one of the biggest problems is quality of content and fairness of pay for authors. Our platform promises to solve these issues by editing content before publication and paying authors fairly for their work."
Nova was launched in 2009 and aims to grow scalable startups in areas including health, education and finance technology.
Nova’s chief growth officer Olivia Greenberg said: "Resurgence Novels is a really interesting concept that is operating in a large and growing sector.
"There are fundamental problems that exist in the space in terms of quality and pay rates for authors. We believe Resurgence Novels can resolve these problems and create a platform that users will be proud to be a part of.
"The investment committee was so impressed with the experience and passion from the all female founding team, we’re delighted to have invested in the startup."
