The Plant

Published: 2000

The Plant (2000) represents one of King's most experimental publishing ventures—a serialized novel self-published directly on his website using an honor system where readers were asked to pay $1 per installment. The story follows Carlos Detweiller, who submits a manuscript to Zenith House, a small publishing company. When editor John Kenton rejects the submission, Detweiller begins sending threatening letters containing leaves from a mysterious plant. As the plant grows in the publishing house, editors discover it provides prosperity in exchange for human sacrifice. The narrative unfolds through letters, memos, and journal entries, chronicling the plant's increasingly sinister influence. The experiment began promisingly, with King releasing six installments between July and December 2000, but reader payments declined with each release, leading King to suspend the project indefinitely. While the novel remains unfinished, King has indicated he may eventually complete it. Critics viewed the project with interest primarily as a publishing experiment rather than for its literary merit, though the epistolary format and darkly comic tone received positive comments. The story connects to King's earlier work Carrie through the character of Detweiller, who had been mentioned in that novel as having submitted photographs of telekinetic phenomena. King described The Plant as an experiment in disintermediation—removing publishers, retailers, and other middlemen from the author-reader relationship—though he ultimately concluded the model was ahead of its time, predating viable online payment systems and e-readers. For readers, the incomplete novel exists as a curiosity in King's bibliography, demonstrating his willingness to experiment with both publishing models and narrative formats. The story's focus on the publishing industry itself reflects King's ongoing interest in meta-fictional elements and the relationship between authors, publishers, and readers that appears throughout his work.

Themes

• Publishing industry
• Faustian bargains
• Greed
• Sacrifice
• Parasitic relationships

Adaptations

Collector Notes

An unfinished novel serialized online as a publishing experiment. King released six installments in 2000 before suspending the project due to declining reader payments. Connected to Carrie through the character of Carlos Detweiller.