After each week's chapter was published on each of the three AOL online services (Commodore 64, IBM PC compatible, and Apple II/Mac), users wrote to author Reed suggesting how they could be part of the story.
Each week Reed chose one of a handful of users on each of the three services and wrote them into the narrative, depicting how they interacted with the story through chat rooms, emails etc.
Reed began the story with a series of sample chapters, then pitched the project to AOL founder Steve Case and producer Kathi McHugh.
Case bought the project immediately, and within three months The Serial was the highest-rated text segment of AOL (excluding chat rooms and message boards).
The concept was brought back on line in 1995 when The Spot by Scott Zakarin debuted as an ad-supported site, adding photos and video to the original QuantumLink Serial model.