Hi,
New here and diving in at the deep-end. I realise that this is an old format of publishing and there's probably a reason it went out of style but I'm curious to know, is there any reason it couldn't work in modern day and age? People are increasingly reading bite sized bits on ereaders and such so if there was a novel published in a serial three volume format would it be worth suggesting as an idea to an agent?
There are still plenty of books being written that are part of a series of volumes. Some are the result of the author deciding to follow on with a concept that was originally conceived as a one-volume novel. Others were conceived as series right from the very beginning, even before finger was set to keyboard.
There is a special word for the 3-volume opus: "trilogy". (Who ever heard of a bilogy, a quadrilogy, a hexalogy? They exist, but those WORDS never became popular.) I suppose that this is because 3 volumes seemed "right" to so many readers and authors. Just as 3-act plays outnumber 2-act ones and 4-act ones.
A beginning, a middle, and an end. It's logical, really.
As to your question: I don't believe in concerning myself - when it comes to my own creations - with "what other writers are doing" or "what's a fad just now". I believe in writing what my muse forces me to write. If that's a 3-volume opus for you, then go for it. Don't worry whether it's fashionable.
A word of advice about agents: Don't approach any until the 1st volume is finished. And that means reading it through with a critical ear, asking others for feedback, rewriting... and probably rewriting and rewriting. My gut feeling is start writing volume 2 before you've written the final draught of volume 1, i.e. don't consider volume 1 finished until you've written enough of volume 2 to be sure that you won't later wish that you'd steered volume 1 in a different direction.
Once you've got volume 1 as good as you can get it, send it to several agents (do your research to discover WHICH agents to submit to), mentioning that volume 2 is already being worked on, and that you have firm ideas for volume 3.