''The Plant'' is an unfinished

serial novel In literature, a serial is a printing or publishing format by which a single larger work, often a work of narrative fiction, is published in smaller, sequential instalments. The instalments are also known as ''numbers'', ''parts'' or ''fascicle ...

by American writer

Stephen King Stephen Edwin King (born September 21, 1947) is an American author of horror, supernatural fiction, suspense, crime, science-fiction, and fantasy novels. Described as the "King of Horror", a play on his surname and a reference to his high s ...

, published in 1982–1985 privately and in 2000 as a commercial

e-book An ebook (short for electronic book), also known as an e-book or eBook, is a book publication made available in digital form, consisting of text, images, or both, readable on the flat-panel display of computers or other electronic devices. Alt ...

. The story, told in epistolary format consisting entirely of letters, memos and correspondence, is about an editor in a paperback publishing house who gets a manuscript from what appears to be a

crackpot Crackpot may refer to: * Crackpot, North Yorkshire, a village in the United Kingdom and home of Crackpot Cave * Crackpot Hall, a landmark ruin near Keld, North Yorkshire * a DC comics character, see Blasters (comics) * Crackpot (band), an Austral ...

. The manuscript is about magic, but it also contains photographs that seem very real. The editor writes the author a rejection slip, but because of the photographs, he also informs the police where the author lives. This enrages the author, who sends a mysterious plant to the editor's office.

History

King wrote a few parts of a story by the same name and sent them out as

chapbook A chapbook is a small publication of up to about 40 pages, sometimes bound with a saddle stitch. In early modern Europe a chapbook was a type of printed street literature. Produced cheaply, chapbooks were commonly small, paper-covered bookle ...

s to his friends, instead of

Christmas card A Christmas card is a greeting card sent as part of the traditional celebration of Christmas in order to convey between people a range of sentiments related to Christmastide and the holiday season. Christmas cards are usually exchanged during t ...

s, in 1982, 1983, and 1985. Philtrum Press produced just three installments before the story was shelved, and the original editions have been hotly sought-after collector's items. In 2000, King published the

novella A novella is a narrative prose fiction whose length is shorter than most novels, but longer than most short stories. The English word ''novella'' derives from the Italian ''novella'' meaning a short story related to true (or apparently so) facts ...

Riding the Bullet ''Riding the Bullet'' is a Horror fiction, horror novella by American writer Stephen King. It marked King's debut on the Internet. Simon & Schuster, with technology by SoftLock, first published ''Riding the Bullet'' in 2000 as the world's first m ...

'' over the

Internet The Internet (or internet) is the global system of interconnected computer networks that uses the Internet protocol suite (TCP/IP) to communicate between networks and devices. It is a '' network of networks'' that consists of private, pub ...

, making it the world's first

mass market The term "mass market" refers to a market for goods produced on a large scale for a significant number of end consumers. The mass market differs from the niche market in that the former focuses on consumers with a wide variety of backgrounds with ...

. However, there were technical problems with downloading, and

hackers A hacker is a person skilled in information technology who uses their technical knowledge to achieve a goal or overcome an obstacle, within a computerized system by non-standard means. Though the term ''hacker'' has become associated in popu ...

eventually cracked the

encryption In cryptography, encryption is the process of encoding information. This process converts the original representation of the information, known as plaintext, into an alternative form known as ciphertext. Ideally, only authorized parties can decip ...

. Later that year, King released ''The Plant'' directly via his website, unencrypted and in installments. People could pay a $1 fee for each installment using the

honor system An honor system or honesty system is a philosophical way of running a variety of endeavors based on trust, honor, and honesty. Something that operates under the rule of the "honor system" is usually something that does not have strictly enfo ...

. King said, however, that he would drop the project if the percentage of paying readers fell below 75 percent. He viewed the release as an experiment in alternate forms of distribution, writing on his website at the time, "My friends, we have the chance to become Big Publishing's worst nightmare." The book received more than the desired 75 percent for its first installment, but it fell to 70 percent after installment two. With the third installment, the numbers surged back to 75 percent. However, while the first installment was downloaded and paid for 120,000 times, the fifth was only downloaded 40,000 times, and many people did not pay, so King suspended the project. All told, after six installments, King revealed that he had made nearly half a million dollars from the release of ''The Plant'', in what has been called his e-book experiment. The last installment was published on December 18, 2000. The book has yet to be completed. The original installments are now available free of charge on King's official website.

Publication history

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Plant, The 2000 American novels Novels by Stephen King Epistolary novels Unfinished novels Novels first published in serial form Novels first published online Philtrum Press books