History Main / DividedForPublication

You've written [[{{Doorstopper}} a long book]]. Lots of characters, many PlotThreads, and deep, complex CharacterDevelopment. Your publisher likes it, but unfortunately, you're not a very well-known writer, and readers aren't likely to pick up such a vast novel. Furthermore, limitations in the current printing and binding market make publication as a single volume uneconomical, especially if this is a debut novel; [[http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2010/03/cmap-5-why-books-are-the-lengt.html if it goes over 424 pages in length,]] it must be outsourced to a bindery that uses a more expensive technique, disproportionately increasing printing expenses.

* The UsefulNotes/{{Atari 2600}} port of ''VideoGame/Miner2049er'' was released in two parts due to system limitations, but even both put together had only 6 out of the original 10 levels.

* When the UsefulNotes/PCEngine port of ''VideoGame/RType'' was first developed, the ROM capacity of [=HuCards=] at the time were limited to 2-Megabits, which was not sufficient enough to contain the whole game. Thus, the Japanese version was split into two separately sold [=HuCards=]. ''R-Type I'' contains the first four stages, while ''R-Type II'' (not to be confused with the arcade sequel of the same name) contains the final four stages. While the two [=HuCards=] function as they were individual games, completing ''R-Type I'' gives you a password that can be used in ''R-Type II'' that carries over your score, lives and power-ups from the first game. Likewise, completing ''R-Type II'' gives you a password that allows you to start the second loop at ''R-Type I''. These size constraints were no longer an issue by the time the U.S. version was made, allowing the whole game to fit into a single 4-Megabit [=HuCard=].
* ''VideoGame/ShantaeAndTheSevenSirens'': The game was released in two installments. Part 1 released for Platform/AppleArcade and Platform/MacOS in Fall 2019, with Part 2 released in March 2020; the full version of the game released for UsefulNotes/PlayStation4, Platform/XboxOne, Platform/NintendoSwitch, and PC in May 2020. The game also received a free update in November 2021 that rebalanced the difficulty and added new game modes.

* The first two installments of Creator/{{Falcom}}'s ''VideoGame/{{Ys}}'' series, ''VideoGame/YsIAncientYsVanishedOmen'' and ''VideoGame/YsIIAncientYsVanishedTheFinalChapter'', were originally written as two parts of the same story, which is why most remakes, starting with the UsefulNotes/{{TurboGrafx CD}} version remake both games as one.

* ''VideoGame/ShantaeAndTheSevenSirens'': The game was released in two installments. Part 1 released for UsefulNotes/AppleArcade and UsefulNotes/MacOS in Fall 2019, with Part 2 released in March 2020; the full version of the game released for UsefulNotes/PlayStation4, UsefulNotes/XboxOne, UsefulNotes/NintendoSwitch, and PC in May 2020. The game also received a free update in November 2021 that rebalanced the difficulty and added new game modes.
* The ''VideoGame/{{Shenmue}}'' series was supposed to be released in serialized installments that would have spanned 16 chapters across at least four games for the UsefulNotes/{{Dreamcast}}. But since the first two games failed to recoup their expensive development budget (even after ''Shenmue II'' was ported to the Xbox), concrete plans for a third game in the series didn't materialize until 2015 before it was eventually released in 2019... with director and producer Creator/YuSuzuki hinting that he still sticking to that four titles plan.

* ''Episodes I'' & ''II'' of ''VideoGame/{{Xenosaga}}'' were originally intended to be one game. About half the original trailer for ''Episode I'' is comprised of scenes that don't occur until ''Episode II''. Monolith later published a version for the UsefulNotes/NintendoDS which had the plot of both games forged into a single cohesive narrative aptly titled ''Episode I&II''. They never stated [[SchrodingersGun which version was canon]] vis-a-vis the rest of the series, though.

* ''Literature/OneQEightyFour'' is split into three volumes for the American soft-cover edition, and two volumes in the British edition.

* The sequel to ''Film/BackToTheFuture'' developed into such a complex story that it was divided into two films, released six months apart. The [[Film/BackToTheFuturePartII second film]] even ended with a trailer for the [[Film/BackToTheFuturePartIII third]], a practice rarely seen since the demise of the cliffhanger serials of the early 20th century.

* Unfortunately averted with ''Film/{{Cleopatra}}'' (1963). The director wanted to make a six-hour film that would be split into two volumes. 20th Century Fox wanted nothing to do with this and released it as a single four-hour production. The other two hours remain missing.

* The movie ''Che'' about the life of Guerilla leader Ernesto 'Che' Guevara had to be divided into two parts.

* The ''Franchise/{{Halloween}}'' franchise was originally supposed to be a series of otherwise unconnected stories with the only linking theme being that they take place on or near Halloween; it just so happened that the first story (about Michael Myers) took the first two films to tell. When ''Film/HalloweenIIISeasonOfTheWitch'' came out and it wasn't about Michael, fans were pissed and the producers reverted to just telling stories about the slasher.
* ''Film/TheAmazingSpiderMan2'' was so long that a number of scenes were cut and set to be used in ''The Amazing Spider-Man 3'', until Sony shelved the plans for ''3''.
* The sequel to ''Film/BackToTheFuture'' developed into such a complex story that it was divided into two films, released six months apart. The [[Film/BackToTheFuturePartII second film]] even ended with a trailer for the [[Film/BackToTheFuturePartIII third]], a practice rarely seen since the demise of the cliffhanger serials of the early 20th century.
* ''Film/{{Justice League|2017}}'' and ''Film/AvengersInfinityWar'' were both originally marketed as two-part movies, but ''both'' backed away from this later, likely due to public burnout on the MovieMultipack trend. ''Justice League'' wound up a fairly stand-alone movie, while ''Infinity War'' still ended on a cliffhanger to set up ''Film/AvengersEndgame''. Some years later, the colossal runtime (4 hours) of ''Film/ZackSnydersJusticeLeague'' gave credence to the speculation that enough material for two motion pictures was filmed.
* ''Film/{{Novecento}}'' was originally released as a two part movie in Italy, totalling at 5 hours and 17 minutes, but when released in the USA as ''1900'', it was trimmed down to 2 and a half hours, with [[AvoidTheDreadedGRating the more graphic scenes cut to get an R rating]]. In TheNineties, the original Italian cut was released in the USA, with an NC-17 rating.

* ''Literature/TheLordOfTheRings'' was famously split into three volumes for publication, and in fact to this day is commonly (and erroneously) referred to as a trilogy. It is technically a single novel. This is further confused by the fact that each of the three "parts" -- ''The Fellowship of the Ring'', ''The Two Towers'', and ''The Return of the King'' -- is divided into two of what Tolkien called "books", making six "books" in total. This is using the meaning of "book" as a division of an epic.
* Creator/StephenKing:
** ''Literature/TheGreenMile'' was originally released in 1996 in 6 parts, one being released per month.
** The paperback reprint of ''Literature/UnderTheDome'' is split into two books, each over ''600'' pages on their own.
* The ''Literature/{{Illuminatus}}'' trilogy was originally pitched as one book but split into three to have some hope of actually being read.
* ''Literature/TheDeedOfPaksenarrion'' also had to be split into three volumes.

* The first novel in ''Literature/TheMerchantPrincesSeries'' was split into two books. What had originally been planned to be the second book ended up being split into ''four''. Even after being partly re-written to publish the series in an omnibus edition, it still finished as three books rather than the original two.
* ''Literature/TheSuccessionDuology'' was split into two volumes, ''The Risen Empire'' and ''Killing of Worlds''. Confusingly, the book was published as a single volume in the UK, under the title ''The Risen Empire'' (704 pages in paperback).
* The UK edition of ''Literature/AStormOfSwords'' was split into two volumes, ''Steel and Snow'' and ''Blood and Gold'' (661 and 637 pages in paperback, including appendices). The French edition split it into ''four'' volumes -- and, in fact, the French translations of all the ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' books were split into at least two volumes, and again in the UK with the ''Literature/ADanceWithDragons'' paperback, split into ''Dreams and Dust'' and ''After the Feast''. This happened in the American series as well, as ''Literature/AFeastForCrows'' came into being accidentally, originally intended to be ''A Dance with Dragons''. However, ''Dance'' was too large in whatever form it was in at the time, so Creator/GeorgeRRMartin split it into two books based on character POV groupings as opposed to chronology. Fans have since crafted reading lists that allow readers to follow the books' plots in chronological order just like the rest of the series.
* ''Literature/TheWheelOfTime'':
** The first two books were split in half as part of a 'young adult special edition'. This doesn't seem to have done well, none of the other books were split. The German translation of the series has passed 31 books, corresponding to the first 11 books and prequel in the English version.
** The final three books -- ''The Gathering Storm'', ''Towers of Midnight'' and ''A Memory of Light'' -- were originally intended to be one book ("Even if they have to invent a new method of bookbinding and sell it complete with its own library cart"), but upon taking over the writing of the series after Creator/RobertJordan's death, Creator/BrandonSanderson immediately decided to split it into thirds. Given the each of those three books are nearly a thousand pages, that was probably a good idea.
** The Swedish print versions of the books where all split up in half when published to not make them as big {{Doorstopper}}s, effectively doubling the number of books in the collection.
* Creator/BrandonSanderson's own ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'' series is subject to this, with ''Literature/TheWayOfKings2010'' and ''Literature/WordsOfRadiance'' both being divided into two parts for the UK edition. This seems to have been dropped beginning with ''Literature/{{Oathbringer}}'', which is ironically the longest instalment so far.
* ''Literature/TheNightsDawnTrilogy'' was split into six books for the American release.
* Creator/CliveBarker's ''Literature/{{Imajica}}'' was split into two volumes. Something similar happened with his ''Books of Blood''.
* ''Literature/TheTaleOfGenji'', due to its sheer length, is frequently divided into two volumes.

* Creator/CJCherryh:
** The middle three of the five ''Literature/ChanurNovels'' were one novel split into three to satisfy publishing constraints; they form one story arc, with no mini-resolution at the end of each. Although they've been published together in an omnibus since, but have never been printed as Cherryh really intended, as one novel.
** ''Literature/{{Cyteen}}'' was published in mass-market paperback form as three novels, although it was released in hardback and "trade paperback" form as a single work.
* Creator/MarcelProust's ''Literature/InSearchOfLostTime'' was originally published in seven volumes, due to its length. Modern versions are usually in 2, 6 or 7-volume sets.
* Creator/LoisMcMasterBujold originally submitted the first two books of ''Literature/TheSharingKnife'' as a single book.
* {{Inverted|Trope}} with ''Literature/JonathanStrangeAndMrNorrell'', which was intended to be in the style of the Victorian three-volume novel but ended up as [[{{Doorstopper}} one giant-ass book]]. (It did, however, end up published as three volumes in Poland.)

* ''Literature/TheKingkillerChronicle'': Creator/PatrickRothfuss wrote the whole story over 14 years and then submitted it -- ''then'' his publisher told him to make it a trilogy, so he had to rewrite it yet again.
* ''Literature/RomanceOfTheThreeKingdoms'' is often divided for publication, as is ''Literature/JourneyToTheWest'' and other classical Chinese novels.
* ''Literature/AshASecretHistory'' was split into four parts for US publication.
* Three-volume novels? ''Literature/JaneEyre'' comes to mind, though it's now typically published as an omnibus.
* The second and third books of ''Literature/OldKingdom'' are basically one story, but after Creator/GarthNix finished writing ''Lirael'', he apparently realized that this was getting [[{{Doorstopper}} way, way too long]] for a single young-adult-aimed fantasy novel and split it in half.
* ''Literature/TheRiftwarCycle'':
** The first book, ''Magician'', is usually published in two parts, called ''Magician: Apprentice'' and ''Magician: Master''. This may vary by region; in Australia, it is more common to find it published as a single volume and only imported versions split into two parts.
** The Czech translation continues with the splits into the sequels as well, publishing the ''Empire'' trilogy in five books (splitting the second and third volume into two books each), splitting ''The King's Buccaneer'' into ''Crydee'' and ''Novindus'' volumes, and dividing ''The Serpentwar Saga'' into a total of 8 volumes, two for each book.
* Back in the day, this happened with some non-fiction books as well. There are dual volume versions of ''Literature/TheRiseAndFallOfTheThirdReich'' and of John Toland's ''The Rising Sun'', and to this day, some publishers still release ''Literature/TheGulagArchipelago'' in three volumes.
* ''Literature/HandOfThrawn'': The German translation of ''Vision of the Future'' was split into two volumes.

* The second volume of the ''Literature/WarsOfLightAndShadow'' series, ''Ships of Merior'', was such a {{Doorstopper}} that it couldn't be published in paperback form as one book, so the paperback version is split into two volumes, entitled ''Ships of Merior'' and ''Warhost of Vastmark''.
* Creator/IsaacAsimov hated this more than other authors, because he counted his published books, and now had to decide whether this counts as one item or more on his list of published books, with good arguments for either choice.
** ''Literature/TheBicentennialManAndOtherStories'': When ''Magazine/{{Urania}}'' republished this collection in their series, it had to be split into issue #736 and #738.
** ''Literature/IsaacAsimovTheCompleteStories'': The UK printing by Creator/HarperCollins chose to split ''Volume 1'' into their own volumes 1 and 2, without publishing additional volumes for ''Volume 2'' of this collection. The Harper Collins volume 1 ends with "Literature/TheLastQuestion" and volume 2 starts with "Literature/TheUglyLittleBoy".
** ''Literature/TheEarlyAsimov'':
*** The original Creator/{{Panther}} edition, from 1973, has ''Volume 1'' containing "Literature/TheCallistanMenace" through "Literature/TheSecretSense", ''Volume 2'' containing "Literature/HomoSol" through "Literature/TimePussy", and ''Volume 3'' containing "Literature/AuthorAuthor1964" through "Literature/MotherEarth".
*** The Italian translation, published in the ''Magazine/{{Urania}}'' magazine, called it ''Asimov Story'', and published it in four parts, including about seven works each time (and often an unrelated story).
*** Creator/FawcettCrest publishes this story in two parts; ''Book One'' contains "Literature/TheCallistanMenace" through "Literature/{{History}}", while ''Book Two'' contains "Literature/ChristmasOnGanymede" through "Literature/MotherEarth".
* Some editions of ''Literature/NorwegianWood'' split the novel in two very small volumes, one red and one green (sometimes inside a gold-colored case, as per [[http://www4.alibris-static.com/isbn/9781860468001.gif here]]). As the novel is not particularly long (and in at least one case the split causes a mid-chapter break), this was presumably done for strictly aesthetic reasons.
* ''Literature/OneQEightyFour'' is split into three volumes for the American soft-cover edition, and two volumes in the British edition.
* Creator/AlanMoore's almost 1300-page novel ''Jerusalem'' was split into three volumes for the American softcover edition.
* ''Literature/AgainDangerousVisions'' was published in two volumes in UK hardcover, but confusingly split into ''three'' volumes in paperback.
* The first story in the ''Literature/{{Spellsinger}}'' series was split into ''Spellsinger'' and ''The Hour of the Gate''.
* Creator/SergeyLukyanenko:
** ''Literature/SeekersOfTheSky'' was split into ''Cold Shores'' and ''Morning Nears'', with the second novel picking up immediately after the first (after a day-long TimeSkip).
** While this may also seem to be the case with his ''Literature/RoughDraft'' and ''Final Draft'' novels, as ''Final Draft'' picks up a few hours after the ending of ''Rough Draft'', it took Lukyanenko two years to write the sequel.
* This has happened twice to novels by Creator/RobinHobb, much to many readers' confusion.
** The first two books of what is now known as the ''[[Literature/RealmOfTheElderlings Rain Wilds Chronicles]]'' were written as a single book that was split into two. Hobb then set out to write a sequel which was also split, resulting in books three and four of the series.
** The French version of the ''Literature/{{Farseer}}'' trilogy had its second book split in two, and the third one split in three.

* The ''Literature/RiftersTrilogy'' novel ''βehemoth'' was split by Tor Publishing into two books: ''βehemoth: β-Max'' and ''βehemoth: Seppuku''. This did not go over well with Creator/PeterWatts.
* Creator/NealStephenson considered his ''Literature/TheBaroqueCycle'' to be either one '''very''' long book or series in eight volumes. The series was eventually published as a trilogy of three books, with each book contained two or three of the volumes in the series. Stephenson also took advantage of this set up in the second volume by presenting two volumes in one jumble, alternating between chapters of the first volume and second volume so that the two books come together to tell a single coherent story. The three volumes of the first book were published as separate mas-market paperbacks in the US.
* ''Literature/SongOfTheLioness'' was originally intended as one book for the adult market, but Creator/TamoraPierce had to cut and rewrite it into four parts to market it as a young adult title.
* Creator/CordwainerSmith's ''Norstrilia'' was originally split into two volumes, ''The Planet Buyer'' and ''The Underpeople''. It took the better part of another decade for the complete novel to be published. To make the novel fit better into a two-volume format, Smith added some new material to the end of one book and the beginning of the next. The additional scenes are not necessary to the plot but may be of interest to Smith completists.
* ''Artamene'', a 1600s novel published in ''ten'' volumes, [[{{Doorstopper}} spanning a total of 2.1 million words]].
* Books three and four of the ''Literature/{{Rihannsu}}'' series were originally meant to be one volume, but ExecutiveMeddling forced ''Literature/{{Swordhunt}}'' to be split in two, creating ''Literature/HonorBlade'', with the chapter numbers starting at six. The ''Rihannsu: The Bloodwing Voyages'' {{omnibus}} merges them back together.

* ''Literature/SylvieAndBruno'' was written as a single novel, but due to its length, Creator/LewisCarroll's publisher suggested it be released as two volumes. Thus, it was separated into ''Sylvie and Bruno'' and ''Sylvie and Bruno Concluded'', published four years apart.
* ''Literature/TheExpanse'': ''Leviathan Wakes'' has been published in Poland as two books.
* In the ''Literature/DoctorWhoNovelisations'', the very long TV story "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E4TheDaleksMasterPlan The Daleks' Master Plan]]" was split into two books. "The Trial of a Time Lord" was split into four books, but it had been originally produced as four separate TV stories and comes across more as a season with an unusually strong StoryArc than as a single story.
* {{Averted|Trope}} with ''Literature/TheFatalDream''. It was recommended to Ian Hastings by a publisher that his 806-page debut novel should be separated into at least two volumes. The author ignored it on the grounds that he intended the whole story to be the first part of a four-book series.

* The ''Literature/MapsInAMirror'' [[{{Anthology}} collection]] was originally published as a single volume, but it has also been published as four books (''The Changed Man'', ''Flux'', ''Monkey Sonatas'', and ''Cruel Miracles'') and as two separate volumes (''Volume 1'', containing parts 1 and 2, and ''Volume Two'', containing parts 3 and 4). Only the full, undivided editions contain "Lost Songs: The Hidden Stories".
* ''Literature/CalLeandros'': ''Nightlife'' has been published in Japan as two books.
* The Spanish release of the {{Doorstopper}} ''Literature/{{Cryptonomicon}}'' was split into three volumes titled after the three encryption algorithms covered in the series: ''El Código Enigma'', ''El Código Pontifex'' and ''El Código Aretusa''.
* At least one French translation of ''Literature/{{Dune}}'' splits the novel into two volumes. The story is divided into three parts, the separation happening in the middle of the second part.
* Volumes 1 through 6 of ''Literature/TheEndingChronicle'' are all split into Part A and Part B (with Volume 3 having an additional Part C as well), with original publication dates only a month apart for each part (with Volume 3 having a two-month gap between Part A and Part B then back to only a month for Part C). Volume 7, which was ''not'' divided, is a {{Doorstopper}} coming in at over a thousand pages. A similar thing happens with the same author's sequel series ''Literature/HorizonInTheMiddleOfNowhere'', with each volume being divided into two (Volumes 1, 2, 5, 8 and 9) or three (Volumes 3, 4, 6, 7, 10 and 11) parts, though starting with Volume 4 (the first part of which was released the same day as the third part of Volume 3), they shifted to a schedule of two months between parts.
* The 2018-on reissue of ''Literature/TheUnicornChronicles'' divides book #3 (''Dark Whispers'') into two books, ''Enter the Whisperer'' and ''Secret of the Delvers'', with appropriate edits (and some entirely new chapters). Similarly, the original book #4 (''The Last Hunt'') is being divided and expanded into three books (''The Invasion of Luster'', ''The Wounded Tree'' and ''The Gathered Glory''), thus bringing the entire series to a more uniform length.
* ''Literature/Aeon14'': The conclusion to the ''Orion War'' series, ''Return to Sol'', kept growing in length as author M.D. Cooper was working on it, so she polled the members of the series' Facebook group on whether to divide it into two parts. They said yes, so ''Return to Sol'' was released as ''Part I: Attack at Dawn'' and ''Part II: Star Rise''.

* ''[[VideoGame/Sonic3AndKnuckles Sonic 3 & Knuckles]]''. It had to be split into two cartridges: Sonic 3, and Sonic & Knuckles. However, thanks to the "lock-on" technology, which allowed users to insert their ''Sonic 3'' cartridges onto ''Sonic & Knuckles'', this became [[Administrivia/TropesAreTools kind of a good thing]], as otherwise Knuckles probably wouldn't have become playable, much less in ''VideoGame/SonicTheHedgehog2''.

* When the UsefulNotes/PCEngine port of ''VideoGame/RType'' was first developed, the ROM capacity of [=HuCards=] at the time were limited to 2-Megabits, which was not sufficient enough to contain the whole game. Thus, the Japanese version was split into two separately sold [=HuCards=]. ''R-Type I'' contains the first four stages, while ''R-Type II'' (not to be confused with the arcade sequel of the same name) contains the final four stages. While the two [=HuCards=] function as they were individual games, completing ''R-Type I'' gives you a password that can be used in ''R-Type II'' that carries over your score, lives and power-ups from the first game. Likewise, completing ''R-Type II'' gives you a password that allows you to start the second loop at ''R-Type I''. These size constraints were no longer an issue by the time the U.S. version was made, allowing the whole game to fit into a single 4-Megabit [=HuCard=].

* ''[[VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain Metal Gear Solid V: Ground Zeroes]]'' was originally intended to be a prologue portion of ''[[VideoGame/MetalGearSolidVThePhantomPain Metal Gear Solid V: The Phantom Pain]]'', but was repurposed as a stand-alone game with several additional missions set in the same location as an appetizer due to the prolonged development of the main game. As an incentive to get people to buy both games, completing ''Ground Zeroes'' unlocks additional content for ''Phantom Pain''. Eventually both games were released as a bundle titled ''Metal Gear Solid V: The Definite Edition''.

* The ''VideoGame/{{Shenmue}}'' series was supposed to be released in serialized installments that would have spanned 16 chapters across at least four games for the UsefulNotes/{{Dreamcast}}. But since the first two games failed to recoup their expensive development budget (even after ''Shenmue II'' was ported to the Xbox), concrete plans for a third game in the series didn't materialize until 2015, with a release set for 2019... with the director hinting that he still sticking to that four-game plan.

In the case of video games, episodic installments rarely take off, but they fare best when they are actually this: a complete or mostly-complete game broken up into pieces to sell separately. The problem is that most episodic games finish only one episode and hope for it to fund the rest of the series, but even if the first episode sells well, the huge delay in starting the next episode means that interest usually sags and the second episode is the last. More commonly, customers are wary of investing into a series that might never complete and fail to buy the first episode until more episodes are released, which then guarantees that those episodes will never happen.

In the case of video games, pisodic installments rarely take off, but they fare best when they are actually this: a complete or mostly-complete game broken up into pieces to sell separately. The problem is that most episodic games finish only one episode and hope for it to fund the rest of the series, but even if the first episode sells well, the huge delay in starting the next episode means that interest usually sags and the second episode is the last. More commonly, customers are wary of investing into a series that might never complete and fail to buy the first episode until more episodes are released, which then guarantees that those episodes will never happen.

* ''Film/{{Superman}}'' and ''Film/SupermanII'' were written and filmed as one production (though the intention was always to release it in two parts from the outset). Unfortunately, this time, the original director was fired after a significant portion of the second half was completed, so the two movies vary wildly in tone.

* Volumes 1 through 6 of ''LightNovel/TheEndingChronicle'' are all split into Part A and Part B (with Volume 3 having an additional Part C as well), with original publication dates only a month apart for each part (with Volume 3 having a two-month gap between Part A and Part B then back to only a month for Part C). Volume 7, which was ''not'' divided, is a {{Doorstopper}} coming in at over a thousand pages. A similar thing happens with the same author's sequel series ''LightNovel/HorizonInTheMiddleOfNowhere'', with each volume being divided into two (Volumes 1, 2, 5, 8 and 9) or three (Volumes 3, 4, 6, 7, 10 and 11) parts, though starting with Volume 4 (the first part of which was released the same day as the third part of Volume 3), they shifted to a schedule of two months between parts.

*** The Czech translation is only slightly better with seven volumes, with the second book split into two and the third into four volumes.

* ''Literature/TheRiftwarCycle'': The first book, ''Magician'', is usually published in two parts, called ''Magician: Apprentice'' and ''Magician: Master''. This may vary by region; in Australia, it is more common to find it published as a single volume and only imported versions split into two parts.

* Episodic games rarely take off, but they fare best when they are actually this: a complete or mostly-complete game broken up into pieces to sell separately. The problem is that most episodic games finish only one episode and hope for it to fund the rest of the series, but even if the first episode sells well, the huge delay in starting the next episode means that interest usually sags and the second episode is the last. More commonly, customers are wary of investing into a series that might never complete and fail to buy the first episode until more episodes are released, which then guarantees that those episodes will never happen.

*** The original Creator/{{Panther}} edition, from 1973, has ''Volume 1'' containing "Literature/TheCallistanMenace" through "Literature/TheSecretSense", ''Volume 2'' containing "Literature/HomoSol" through "Literature/TimePussy", and ''Volume 3'' containing "Literature/AuthorAuthor" through "Literature/MotherEarth".

* This happens to any Turkish television series when it reaches the U.S. ''Series/ResurrectionErtugrul'' is a prominent example of this, splitting dozens of 2-hour episodes into 40-45 minute segments that are more bearable for Westerners.

* Creator/BrandonSanderson's own ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'' series is subject to this, with ''The Way of Kings'' and ''Words of Radiance'' both being divided into two parts for the UK edition. This seems to have been dropped beginning with ''Oathbringer'', which is ironically the longest instalment so far.

* Back in the day, this happened with some non-fiction books as well. There are dual volume versions of John Toland's ''The Rising Sun'' and William Shirer's ''Rise and Fall of the Third Reich'', and to this day, some publishers still release ''Literature/TheGulagArchipelago'' in three volumes.

* The second volume of the ''Literature/WarsOfLightAndShadow'' series, ''Ships of Merior'' was such a {{Doorstopper}} that it couldn't be published in paperback form as one book, so the paperback version is split into two volumes, entitled ''Ships of Merior'' and ''Warhost of Vastmark''.

** ''Literature/SeekersOfTheSky'' was split into ''Cold Shores'' and ''Morning Nears'' with the second novel picking up immediately after the first (after a day-long TimeSkip).

* The ''Literature/RiftersTrilogy'' novel ''ßehemoth'' was split by Tor Publishing into two books: ''ßehemoth: ß-Max'' and ''ßehemoth: Seppuku''. This did not go over well with Creator/PeterWatts.

* Creator/CordwainerSmith's ''Norstrilia'' was originally split into two volumes, ''The Planet Buyer'' and ''The Underpeople''. It took the better part of another decade for the complete novel to be published. To make the novel fit better into a 2-volume format Smith added some new material to the end of one book and the beginning of the next. The additional scenes are not necessary to the plot but may be of interest to Smith completists.
* ''Artamene'', a 1600s novel published in ''ten'' volumes, spanning a total of 2.1 million words.

* When translated into German, the ''Literature/PossibleTomorrows'' {{Anthology}} was also incorporated into an existing series, and then split into two different publications. Since each book had three stories, a translation of "Literature/TheMissionaries'' (by Creator/EverettBCole) was added to the second book.

* At least one French translation of ''Literature/{{Dune}}'' splits the novel into two volumes. The story is divided into three parts, the separation happens in the middle of the second part.
* Volumes 1 through 6 of ''LightNovel/TheEndingChronicle'' are all split into Part A and Part B (with Volume 3 having an additional Part C as well) with original publication dates only a month apart for each part (with Volume 3 having a 2 month gap between Part A and Part B then back to only a month for Part C). Volume 7 which was ''not'' divided was a {{Doorstopper}}, coming in at over a thousand pages. A similar thing happens with the same author's sequel series ''LightNovel/HorizonInTheMiddleOfNowhere'', with each Volume being divided into two (Volumes 1, 2, 5, 8 & 9) or three (Volumes 3, 4, 6, 7, 10 & 11) parts, though starting with Volume 4 (the first part of which was released the same day as the third part of Volume 3) they shifted to a schedule of two months between parts.

* Inverted in a non-Omnibus way with the ''ComicBook/TopTen'' {{Prequel}} story ''The '49ers'', which went straight to graphic novel publication despite very obvious cliffhanger endings for a six-issue comic miniseries. It's widely rumoured that this was because DC Comics feared that the serial comics audience of the time would react badly to the story's main romance subplot being a gay male one.

[[folder:Fanfiction]]
* The 620,000-plus-word ''WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic''/''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' crossover ''FanFic/FalloutEquestria'' got broken into five volumes for its first printing. A second printing recombined these into two volumes.

* Creator/StephenKing's ''Literature/TheGreenMile'' was originally released in 1996 in 6 parts, one being released per month.
* Similarly, the ''Literature/{{Illuminatus}}'' trilogy was originally pitched as one book, but split into three to have some hope of actually being read.
* Elizabeth Moon's ''Literature/TheDeedOfPaksenarrion'' also had to be split into three volumes.
* Creator/DavidWeber's first ''Literature/HellsGate'' novel was split into two books, and it seems likely the same will have to happen to his next ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' novel, ''A Rising Thunder''.
* Charlie Stross's first ''Literature/TheMerchantPrincesSeries'' novel was split into two books.
** What had originally been planned to be the second book ended up being split into ''four''. Even after being partly re-written to publish the series in an omnibus edition, it still finished as three books rather than the original two.
* ''Literature/TheSuccessionDuology'' by Creator/ScottWesterfeld was split into two volumes, ''The Risen Empire'' and ''Killing of Worlds''. Confusingly, the book was published as a single volume in the UK, under the title ''The Risen Empire'' (704 pages in paperback).
* The UK edition of ''Literature/AStormOfSwords'' was split into two volumes, ''Steel and Snow'' and ''Blood and Gold'' (661 and 637 pages in paperback, including appendices). The French edition split it into ''four'' volumes - and, in fact, the French translations of all the ''Literature/ASongOfIceAndFire'' books were split into at least two volumes. And again in the UK with the A Dance With Dragons paperback, split into ''Dreams and Dust'' and ''After the Feast''. This happened in the American series as well, as ''A Feast for Crows'' came into being accidentally, originally intended to be ''A Dance with Dragons''. However, ''Dance'' was too large in whatever form it was in at the time, so George R.R. Martin split it into two books based on character [=POV=] groupings as opposed to chronology. Fans have since crafted reading lists that allow readers to follow the books' plots in chronological order just like the rest of the series.

** The final three books - ''The Gathering Storm'', ''Towers Of Midnight'' and ''A Memory Of Light'' were originally intended to be one book ("Even if they have to invent a new method of bookbinding and sell it complete with its own library cart") but upon taking over the writing of the series after Jordan's death Creator/BrandonSanderson immediately decided to split it into thirds. Given the each of those three books are nearly a thousand pages, that was probably a good idea.
* Brandon Sanderson's own ''Literature/TheStormlightArchive'' series is subject to this, with ''The Way of Kings'' and ''Words of Radiance'' both being divided into two parts for the UK edition. This seems to have been dropped beginning with ''Oathbringer'', which is ironically the longest instalment so far.

* Creator/CliveBarker's ''Literature/{{Imajica}}'' was split into two volumes.

** ''Literature/{{Otherland}}'' has at the beginning of the first book an admission that it wouldn't be a series if it weren't for the fact that the author needs to keep writing new books at a constant pace so he'll keep receiving royalties.

** In the ''[[Literature/ChanurNovels Chanur]]'' series, where the middle three of the five novels were one novel split into three to satisfy publishing constraints; they form one story arc, with no mini-resolution at the end of each. Although they've been published together in an omnibus since, but have never been printed as Cherryh really intended, as one novel.
** Also, ''Literature/{{Cyteen}}'' was published in mass-market paperback form as three novels, although it was released in hardback and "trade paperback" form as a single work.

* {{Inverted}} with ''Literature/JonathanStrangeAndMrNorrell'', which was intended to be in the style of the Victorian three-volume novel, but ended up as one giant-ass book. (It did, however, end up published as three volumes in Poland.)
* In a weird case, ''Literature/TheBelgariad'' was originally intended to be a trilogy, with the three volumes named ''Garion'', ''Ce'Nedra'', and ''Torak'' after three key characters in the story. The author was asked to split the story into five parts instead of three, resulting in the series as we know it. This is noticeable starting in the second book:

* The Dutch translation of the later "stand alone" books of Literature/TheBelgariad (''Belgarath the Sorceror'' and ''Polgara the Sorceress'') and of Literature/TheRedemptionOfAlthalus were all published as two books.
** Same for the French translation of the former.
* Creator/CliveBarker's ''Books of Blood''.
* ''Literature/TheKingkillerChronicle'': Rothfuss wrote the whole story over 14 years, submitted it, then publisher says make it a trilogy, so he has to rewrite it yet again.

* ''Literature/AshASecretHistory'' by Creator/MaryGentle was split into four parts for US publication.

* The second and third of Creator/GarthNix's Literature/OldKingdom books are basically one story, but apparently after finishing ''Lirael'' he realized that this was getting [[{{Doorstopper}} way, way too long]] for a single young-adult-aimed fantasy novel and split it in half.
* The first book of Literature/TheRiftwarCycle by Raymond E. Feist, ''Magician'', is usually published in two parts, called ''Magician: Apprentice'' and ''Magician: Master''.
** This may vary by region. In Australia it is more common to find it published as a single volume and only imported versions split into two parts.
* Back in the day, this happened with some non-fiction books as well. There are dual volume versions of John Toland's ''The Rising Sun'' and William Shirer's ''Rise and Fall of the Third Reich'', and to this day, some publishers still release Solzenitsyn's ''Literature/TheGulagArchipelago'' in three volumes.
* The German translation of ''[[Literature/HandOfThrawn Vision of the Future]]'' was split into two volumes.
* Another translation split. The Japanese versions of the ''Literature/HonorHarrington'' books are split in two starting with the third or fourth book. Possibly more with [[{{Doorstopper}} the later volumes]]
* Literature/TheBible's Old Testament books of 1 Samuel, 2 Samuel, 1 Kings, and 2 Kings were originally one book. So were 1 Chronicles, 2 Chronicles, and Ezra (the dividing line between the end of 2 Chronicles and the beginning of Ezra is in the ''middle of a sentence''). These were split in the Septuagint, with the Vulgate following the same convention, because the scrolls used by those "publishers" couldn't fit the text of the whole book. Making this ExecutiveMeddling that's OlderThanFeudalism.
* The second volume of the ''Literature/WarsOfLightAndShadow'' series, ''Ships of Merior'' was such a {{Doorstopper}} that it couldn't be published in paperback form as one book. So the paperback version is split into two volumes, entitled ''Ships of Merior'' and ''Warhost of Vastmark''.
* Creator/IsaacAsimov: Dr Asimov hated this more than other authors, because he counted his published books, and now had to decide whether this counts as one item or more on his list of published books, with good arguments for either choice.
** ''Literature/TheBicentennialManAndOtherStories'': When ''{{Magazine/Urania}}'' republished this collection in their series, it had to be split into issue #736 and #738.

*** The original {{Creator/Panther}} edition, from 1973, has ''Volume 1'' containing "Literature/TheCallistanMenace" through "Literature/TheSecretSense", ''Volume 2'' containing "Literature/HomoSol" through "Literature/TimePussy", and ''Volume 3'' containing "Literature/AuthorAuthor" through "Literature/MotherEarth".
*** The Italian translation, published in the ''{{Magazine/Urania}}'' magazine, called it ''Asimov Story'', and published it in four parts, including about seven works each time (and often an unrelated story).

* Creator/HarukiMurakami's ''Literature/NorwegianWood'': Some editions split the novel in two very small volumes, one red and one green (sometimes inside a [[BoxSet gold-coloured case]], as per [[http://www4.alibris-static.com/isbn/9781860468001.gif here]]). As the novel is not particularly long (and in at least one case the split causes a mid-chapter break), this was presumably done for strictly aesthetic reasons.
* ''Literature/OneQEightyFour'': This story is split into 3 volumes for the American soft-cover edition, and two volumes in the British edition.
* Creator/AlanMoore's almost 1300-page novel ''Jerusalem'' was split into 3 volumes for the American softcover edition.
* Creator/HarlanEllison's anthology ''Literature/AgainDangerousVisions'' was published in two volumes in UK hardcover, but confusingly split into ''three'' volumes in paperback.
* The first story in Alan Dean Foster's ''Literature/{{Spellsinger}}'' series was split into ''Spellsinger'' and ''The Hour of the Gate''.
* Creator/SergeyLukyanenko's ''Literature/SeekersOfTheSky'' was split into ''Cold Shores'' and ''Morning Nears'' with the second novel picking up immediately after the first (after a day-long TimeSkip).
** While this may also seem to be the case with his ''Rough Draft'' and ''Final Draft'' novels, as ''Final Draft'' picks up a few hours after the ending of ''Rough Draft'', it took Lukyanenko 2 years to write the sequel.

** The first two books of what is now known as the ''[[Literature/RealmOfTheElderlings Rain Wilds Chronicles]]'' were written as a single book that was split into two.
** Hobb then set out to write a sequel which was also split, resulting in books three and four of the series.
** The French version of Hobb's ''Literature/{{Farseer}}'' trilogy had its second book split in two, and the third one split in three.
* Gene Wolfe's ''Literature/BookOfTheNewSun'' was written as a single novel and published as a series of four. Most later editions of it divide it into two books.
* Supposedly the "Graystripe's Adventure" manga trilogy of the ''Literature/WarriorCats'' series was originally meant to be a single volume as long as a normal manga. They decide that it should be released on the same day as the first book in a new series, but the illustrator wasn't done with it, so they decided to split it into three shorter volumes. Every manga afterward has followed suit.

* Creator/PeterWatts's ''Literature/RiftersTrilogy'' novel ''ßehemoth'' was split by Tor Publishing into two books: ''ßehemoth: ß-Max'' and ''ßehemoth: Seppuku''. This did not go over well with Watts.
* Creator/NealStephenson considered his ''Literature/TheBaroqueCycle'' to be either one '''very''' long book or series in eight volumes. The series was eventually published as a trilogy of three books, with each book contained two or three of the volumes in the series. Stephenson also took advantage of this set up in the second volume by presenting two volumes in one jumble, alternating between chapters of the first volume and second volume so that the two books come together to tell a single coherent story.
** The three volumes of the first book were published as separate mas-market paperbacks in the US.
* Creator/TamoraPierce's first book, ''Literature/SongOfTheLioness'', was originally intended as one book for the adult market. She had to cut and rewrite it into four parts to market it as a young adult title.
* Creator/CordwainerSmith's ''Norstrilia'' was originally split into two volumes, ''The Planet Buyer'' and ''The Underpeople''. It took the better part of another decade for the complete novel to be published. To make the novel fit better into a 2-volume format Smith added some new material to the end of one book and the beginning of the next. The additional scenes are not necessary to the plot, but may be of interest to Smith completists.

* The paperback reprint of Creator/StephenKing's book ''Literature/UnderTheDome'' is split into two books, each over ''600'' pages on their own.
* ''Literature/LesMiserables'' by Creator/VictorHugo is over 1900 pages in the original French, and to this day is usually published as two separate volumes. English translations usually come in around 1500 pages (more with appendices); some of these are published as two volumes as well.
* Creator/LewisCarroll's ''Literature/SylvieAndBruno'' was written as a single novel, but due to its length, his publisher suggested it be released as two volumes. Thus it was separated into ''Sylvie and Bruno'' and ''Sylvie and Bruno Concluded'' published four years apart.
* ''Literature/LeviathanWakes'' has been published in Poland as two books.
* In the Literature/DoctorWhoNovelisations, the very long TV story "[[Recap/DoctorWhoS3E4TheDaleksMasterPlan The Daleks' Master Plan]]" was split into two books. "The Trial of a Time Lord" was split into four books, but it had been originally produced as four separate TV stories and comes across more as a season with an unusually strong StoryArc than as a single story.
* Averted with ''Literature/TheFatalDream''. It was recommended to Ian Hastings by a publisher that his 806-page debut novel should be separated into at least two volumes. The author ignored it on the grounds that he intended the whole story to be the first part of a four-book series.
* ''Literature/PossibleTomorrows'': When translated into German, this {{Anthology}} was also incorporated into an existing series, and then split into two different publications. Since each book had three stories, a translation of "Literature/TheMissionaries'' (by Creator/EverettBCole) was added to the second book.
* Creator/OrsonScottCard's ''Literature/MapsInAMirror'': This [[{{Anthology}} collection]] was originally published as a single volume, but it has also been published as four books (''The Changed Man'', ''Flux'', ''Monkey Sonatas'', and ''Cruel Miracles'') and as two separate volumes (''Volume 1'', containing parts 1 and 2, and ''Volume Two'', containing parts 3 and 4). Only the full, undivided editions contain "Lost Songs: The Hidden Stories".

* The Spanish release of {{Doorstopper}} ''Literature/{{Cryptonomicon}}'' was split into three volumes titled after the three encryption algorithms covered in the series: ''El Código Enigma'', ''El Código Pontifex'' and ''El Código Aretusa''.

* Happens in Minoru Kawakami's ''LightNovel/TheEndingChronicle''. Volumes 1 through 6 are all split into Part A and Part B (with Volume 3 having an additional Part C as well) with original publication dates only a month apart for each part (with Volume 3 having a 2 month gap between Part A and Part B then back to only a month for Part C). Volume 7 which was ''not'' divided was a {{Doorstopper}}, coming in at over a thousand pages.
** A similar thing happens with the same author's sequel series ''LightNovel/HorizonInTheMiddleOfNowhere'', with each Volume being divided into two (Volumes 1, 2, 5, 8 & 9) or three (Volumes 3, 4, 6, 7, 10 & 11) parts, though starting with Volume 4 (the first part of which was released the same day as the third part of Volume 3) they shifted to a schedule of two months between parts.
* ''Literature/TheUnicornChronicles'': The 2018-on reissue of the series divides book #3 (''Dark Whispers'') into two books, ''Enter the Whisperer'' and ''Secret of the Delvers'', with appropriate edits (and some entirely new chapters). Similarly, the original book #4 (''The Last Hunt'') is being divided and expanded into three books (''The Invasion of Luster'', ''The Wounded Tree'' and ''The Gathered Glory''), thus bringing the entire series to a more uniform length.

* ''Literature/{{Succession}}'' by Creator/ScottWesterfeld was split into two volumes, ''The Risen Empire'' and ''Killing of Worlds''. Confusingly, the book was published as a single volume in the UK, under the title ''The Risen Empire'' (704 pages in paperback).

You've written [[{{Doorstopper}} a long book]]. [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters Lots of characters]], many PlotThreads, and deep, complex CharacterDevelopment. Your publisher likes it, but unfortunately, you're not a very well-known writer, and readers aren't likely to pick up such a vast novel. Furthermore, limitations in the current printing and binding market make publication as a single volume uneconomical, especially if this is a debut novel; [[http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2010/03/cmap-5-why-books-are-the-lengt.html if it goes over 424 pages in length,]] it must be outsourced to a bindery that uses a more expensive technique, disproportionately increasing printing expenses.

A forerunner is the Victorian three-volume novel, a longer story is told and sold in three parts. In the 19th century, the business model was to use the first volume to get people interested in the second and third parts, and thus extract more money per story.

This happens with translated works, pithy phrases in the original language often require more words. In particular, English books translated into Romance languages get much wordier.

* The 620,000-plus-word [[WesternAnimation/MyLittlePonyFriendshipIsMagic MLP:FiM]]/''VideoGame/{{Fallout}}'' crossover ''FanFic/FalloutEquestria'' got broken into five volumes for its first printing. A second printing recombined these into two volumes.

You've written [[{{Doorstopper}} a long book]]. [[LoadsAndLoadsOfCharacters Lots of characters]], many PlotThreads, and deep, complex CharacterDevelopment. Your publisher likes it, but unfortunately, you're not a very well-known writer, and readers aren't likely to pick up such a vast novel. Furthermore, limitations in the current printing and binding market make publication as a single volume uneconomical, especially if this is a debut novel; [[http://www.antipope.org/charlie/blog-static/2010/03/cmap-5-why-books-are-the-lengt.html if it goes over 424 pages in length]], it must be outsourced to a bindery that uses a more expensive technique, disproportionately increasing printing expenses.