Throughout its 17-year history, Amazon has helped change the way that books are sold, the format in which they’re read and how they are published . Now it could change how they’re written.

In addition to the Kindle Fire HD and the Kindle Paperwhite, Amazon introduced a subscription book format at a press conference in Los Angeles Thursday. These books, called “Kindle Serials,” will be released in segments instead of in their entirety. Updates, or “episodes,” automatically appear at the back of the book as they’re created or released without extra charge.

Charles Dickens popularized a similar format more than 100 years ago when he famously published many of his works as segments in weekly publications. Bezos invoked the author’s works when announcing the new product, and some of them, including Oliver Twist, will be re-released as Kindle Serials.

Dickens, however, didn’t have the Internet. Or data about how readers responded to each of his chapters.

“[Kindle Series] Authors will be able to follow along with reader reaction and adapt the next installments based on the first ones,” Bezos said.

Amazon will provide discussion boards for each Kindle Serials book. Unlike most book discussion boards, they may influence the outcome of the books. Unlike in Dickens’ era, anyone reading can participate.

“Serialized fiction is perfect for contemporary book culture, where writers interact with their readers directly and books can be delivered with an immediacy that the old pulp writers never could have imagined,” said Neal Pollack, author of a Kindle Serial called Downward-Facing Death (yes, it’s a yoga murder mystery).