I know this might be odd, but am I releasing content too fast?

[TheVagabond284]

Hey all!

I've been working on my story, S.C.A.T. College, for about half a year before I decided that it was ready to be released for reading. (Link to Chapter 1 so you know the series: https://www.literotica.com/s/s-c-a-t-college-bk-01-ch-01). I should also mention that I am neurodivergent (ASD, ADHD, Asperger's), so this might be my fight or flight response kicking in on something rather silly

The thing is... I've already uploaded 16 chapters, with three chapter blocks (2 to 4 chapters at once, basically 9000 words or so per upload) in pending to be released over the next three days, and I have 43 chapters in Book 1, and I am almost done writing Book 2 which has damned near 60 chapters!!

Looking around the Lit stories areas, I see many authors publishing once a week, sometimes once or twice a month, and I'm already at 16 chapters uploaded and will be released in just 10 days!!! So, in reference to the title, am I setting a dangerous precedent for myself to keep releasing large quantities of content in a rapid fashion? This is a planned five book series that I am really enjoying writing, and I write extremely fast (80+ WPM, 100+ when I'm "in the zone"), but my neuro brain is going "hey, maybe you're pumping too much out too fast, hit the brakes a little, eh?"

I would love to hear what you, my fellow writers of all things smutty and good, what are your opinions?

Also, I love writing this series, have a great set of characters that aren't Mary Sue's and have real problems, obligations, and the like in the fictional universe... but I don't want to burn out. Any tips and tricks in that vein would also be highly appreciated ^_^

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I used to submit a completed Novels/Novellas story in chapters or parts, but I would do it all on the same day so that the posts trickled out one day after the next. My readers still complained about having to wait.

Once the stories were fully published, I would get complaints from readers about them being broken onto parts. I finally conceded to the readers and had all of my multi-part stories reposted as single submissions. The scores have increased and the complaints have ceased.

I only publish completed stories, so my experiences may not work for you.

 

[Phantom300]

I may not be the best advisor, as I have managed to churn out 15 stories in 5 YEARS, but...

Write for yourself, at a pace that works for you. If you want to burn 10 K words a day, do it. Feel overwhelemd and need a break? Take it.

Most of us do this as a hobby, a fun activity we enjoy. Enjoy the accolades, the votes and follows, take comments for what they are worth, and most of all, have fun.

 

[RejectReality]

Novels and Novellas is a slow category with a transient readership. You would probably be better off switching to a twice weekly release schedule. Most of the time, your most recent chapter is going to be on the Hub new story list for at least a day or two. Releasing a second within that timeframe doesn't help you stay visible. Spreading the releases out will keep you consistently visible for a longer period of time.

It's wise to wait to submit chapters in a multi-part story until after the previous one has been approved. Something could go wrong with a submission and ( though rare ) cause a gap in your story because Ch. 4 gets sent back and Ch. 5 gets approved and released. That's another reason to spread things out.

While you may have book 2 almost finished, life happens. If there's a bastard of a cliffhanger at the end of any book, you may be glad that you spaced things out to give you more time to work on the next book.

The reasons to space things out are largely for your benefit, however. Keeping the firehose on full blast probably isn't going to negatively impact you, and some readers will probably delight in it.

 

[AchtungNight]

If you need to take a break, just keep your ideas on your computer or in your head and come back to them when you’re ready. A lot of my recent stories were ideas I had in previous stages of my life I couldn’t publish back then. Or I could have, but I was busy, burned out, etc. Like the poster above said, write at your own pace. No easier way to churn out good work.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Setting aside the fundamental issue that I can't write that fast (that's an insane pace - I hope your editing is good - top-notch), I'd slow it down some, or maybe work up longer chapters, and spread your releases a little.

Keep in mind though, once the whole thing is written, the chapter release frequency is completely irrelevant. Maybe you should think more about the finished product, how is that going to look? Will the chapter structure make sense when it's all out there?

If you're writing that fast, make sure your editing keeps up. Too much haste often ends up with sloppy text, and readers won't care about your release speed, because they'll be gone before chapter two.

 

[TheVagabond284]

Wow... lots of great replies so far.

As to the pacing of my writing, I only started releasing book 1 once I was nearly done book 2, specifically so that if I got writers block, or wanted to go back a few chapters to change a detail to make it work better, I could.

The feedback about the one or two releases per week was very informative, thank you RejectReality.

The basic feel I'm getting is that it's good to probably slow it down to one submission every other day instead of every day. That also gives me time to do a few quality read through passes to catch those tiny little spelling mistakes... Chapter 5 missed a single "a" in a sentence, but thankfully the sentence still made sense.... and punks and punk's are both valid spellings, but one is a group of punks while the other is a possessive of a single punk

Well, this is my first series on Lit, so I'm still "getting my feet wet" as the saying goes

EDIT: ElectricBlue, I've been writing on the computer since I was about 10 years old, 32 years ago WRiting is my mental release, my way of meditating, and like one of my favorite F1 drivers, Ayrton Senna, once said when he pulled off an unbelievably perfect qualifying lap, "I was driving beyond my consciousness." I kind of piggyback that and when I am in the groove, my fingers just move on their own, and because I am so familiar with the keyboard, I don't even need to consciously think about where my fingers go... that's when my hands start going "blur-mode" as one of my friends coined it

 

[djrip]

Wow... lots of great replies so far.

As to the pacing of my writing, I only started releasing book 1 once I was nearly done book 2, specifically so that if I got writers block, or wanted to go back a few chapters to change a detail to make it work better, I could.

The feedback about the one or two releases per week was very informative, thank you RejectReality.

The basic feel I'm getting is that it's good to probably slow it down to one submission every other day instead of every day. That also gives me time to do a few quality read through passes to catch those tiny little spelling mistakes... Chapter 5 missed a single "a" in a sentence, but thankfully the sentence still made sense.... and punks and punk's are both valid spellings, but one is a group of punks while the other is a possessive of a single punk

Well, this is my first series on Lit, so I'm still "getting my feet wet" as the saying goes

EDIT: ElectricBlue, I've been writing on the computer since I was about 10 years old, 32 years ago WRiting is my mental release, my way of meditating, and like one of my favorite F1 drivers, Ayrton Senna, once said when he pulled off an unbelievably perfect qualifying lap, "I was driving beyond my consciousness." I kind of piggyback that and when I am in the groove, my fingers just move on their own, and because I am so familiar with the keyboard, I don't even need to consciously think about where my fingers go... that's when my hands start going "blur-mode" as one of my friends coined it

Personally my bottleneck is thinking of words to type, not typing them! I'm jealous

 

[oneagainst]

I've just finished dropping a large interconnected story arc, just over 1M words in the end, and have been religious about only dropping max 2 ch per week. At the rate of writing, it meant that the chapters of the last story, Only Censenting Adults, had been waiting patiently in the publishing queue for a year.

My reasoning was that publishing more frequently just floods the category, overexposing you to the readers and pissing every other author off as you dominate the New Stories section. It's sometimes better to offer one thing regularly that the readers can look out for than an endless banquet because what's the point of a cliff hanger or dramatic tension without having to wait a little?

Also, it meant that I was able to learn from the responses I got, for where things didn't quite work or where they went very well, and weave that into the later stores. It allowed me to build a much richer landscape than if I had just released everything at once and then had it suddenly cast in stone.

Even now, I have a strict publishing schedule that runs out to Oct 2024. Things might be rewritten as I pick up more skills and ideas. It's a marathon not a sprint. There's room for pacing.

 

[Paul_Chance]

First, I'll give you the traditional marketing advice for releasing a serialized story online.

-If you are releasing "potato chip" chapters, short chapters focusing on one particular scene, then release them twice weekly. Select two days (such as Monday and Thursday) and consistently release them on that schedule.

-If you are releasing larger, complex, chapters, release them once a week, on the same day.

-Include a little blurb at the end of each chapter for the anticipated/scheduled release of the next chapter.

Both approaches allow you to build your readership and attract your true fans. Keep in mind that your readers are moving to their own schedules in life, so having a consistent release pattern allows them to fit it into their schedule.

Other authors here will talk about the drop off from the first chapter - this is common. When you're doing a serialized piece, you're doing it to feed a certain fan base.

Now - just some observations having read several of your SCAT stories. You're writing too fast. You would benefit from building in a judicious editorial process. Specifically, what leapt out at me were multiple, sometimes massive, run on sentences and a high degree of malformed paragraphs. Turn the dial down a notch or two. The process of editing before submission should be taking you at least as many hours of editing as you spend writing.

 

[TheVagabond284]

Taking a look at OneAgainst and Paul_Chance's replies....

I have the first major "antagonist event." chapters 13 and 14, set to come up on Christmas day. I've just deleted the entries (was still in pending status) for chapters 15 and 16, and 17 to 19.

The event isn't the primary antagonist of Book 1, but Chapter 13 does deal with some real serious shit (both figuratively and literally), with chapter 14 being a partial resolution... not really a cliffhanger per se, as more of a Chapter 13 is the climax and Chapter 14 is the denouement (I can use big author words woot!).

Paul:
As to the malformed paragraphs and run on sentences, there is a specific reason for those. Notice that Sam's thoughts and both internal and spoken dialogue is usually well paced, with complete sentences, correct punctuation, "normal" writing, with each sentence it's own complete thought? Then Anna's thoughts are "divergent" in that she thinks stupidly fast and forgets the punctuation and paragraph structure of "normal" writing?

I was hoping that it was a way to show the different thought processes, but I guess it comes off looking like I'm a bad writer... I was kinda hoping for more of a "Rainman" effect of showing what neurodivergence is like sometimes, but after the events of Chapter 15 and the resolution of the antagonist event, the writing is done in "normal" fashion for both girls. Not a spoiler, but it was intended to be a very subtle hinting as to how seriously Anna is affected by her neurodivergence. Kind of a "Flowers for Algernon" type of dialogue, and inside my own head it made sense, but I guess I didn't make it clear enough Ah well, it's only ever done up to chapter 15, which is where I gradually fade it out over the events of the chapter

 

[Bramblethorn]

Re. publishing schedule: there have been several discussions where authors have reported having stories rejected for use of AI. One of the authors affected had been posting stories at a high rate, and some participants in the discussion took this as evidence of AI use.

I have no idea whether the site does use posting frequency as an indicator of AI use (I'd hope not, given that you're not the first writer to come to this site with a backlog of stories ready to post) but slowing the posting frequency a bit might help avoid misunderstandings at least with other authors.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Hey all!

I've been working on my story, S.C.A.T. College, for about half a year before I decided that it was ready to be released for reading. (Link to Chapter 1 so you know the series: https://www.literotica.com/s/s-c-a-t-college-bk-01-ch-01). I should also mention that I am neurodivergent (ASD, ADHD, Asperger's), so this might be my fight or flight response kicking in on something rather silly

The thing is... I've already uploaded 16 chapters, with three chapter blocks (2 to 4 chapters at once, basically 9000 words or so per upload) in pending to be released over the next three days, and I have 43 chapters in Book 1, and I am almost done writing Book 2 which has damned near 60 chapters!!

Looking around the Lit stories areas, I see many authors publishing once a week, sometimes once or twice a month, and I'm already at 16 chapters uploaded and will be released in just 10 days!!! So, in reference to the title, am I setting a dangerous precedent for myself to keep releasing large quantities of content in a rapid fashion? This is a planned five book series that I am really enjoying writing, and I write extremely fast (80+ WPM, 100+ when I'm "in the zone"), but my neuro brain is going "hey, maybe you're pumping too much out too fast, hit the brakes a little, eh?"

I would love to hear what you, my fellow writers of all things smutty and good, what are your opinions?

Also, I love writing this series, have a great set of characters that aren't Mary Sue's and have real problems, obligations, and the like in the fictional universe... but I don't want to burn out. Any tips and tricks in that vein would also be highly appreciated ^_^

I know I being nosy, but do you think your neurodivergence is the reason you are writing so much and so fast? That is an amazing output which I could never match. (I have my own issues but they are different from that.)

It's hard to say what an ideal release rate is since I've never come close to your situation. The opinions I've seen on these forums suggest that one or two chapters per week is a reasonable goal to aim for.

 

[TheVagabond284]

Wow... I didn't know that being prolific in writing could be mistaken for AI use.

 

[TheVagabond284]

I know I being nosy, but do you think your neurodivergence is the reason you are writing so much and so fast? That is an amazing output which I could never match. (I have my own issues but they are different from that.)

It's hard to say what an ideal release rate is since I've never come close to your situation. The opinions I've seen on these forums suggest that one or two chapters per week is a reasonable goal to aim for.

My neurodivergence is definitely one of the reasons I write so fast. There's a chapter coming up on the 24th that has Anna explain exactly what it's like being inside an ADHD brain. While hers is action oriented, mine is focus oriented... basically, I hyperfocus on writing and then the words just start to flow. I do sometimes go time blind and sprint through four chapters in one sitting, then wonder why the sun has gone down already

 

[ElectricBlue]

Wow... I didn't know that being prolific in writing could be mistaken for AI use.

https://forum.literotica.com/threads/ai-rejection.1597700/

https://forum.literotica.com/thread...-with-an-accusation-of-using-chatgpt.1593293/

https://forum.literotica.com/threads/ai-allegations-thread.1599778/

 

[TheVagabond284]

https://forum.literotica.com/threads/ai-rejection.1597700/

https://forum.literotica.com/thread...-with-an-accusation-of-using-chatgpt.1593293/

https://forum.literotica.com/threads/ai-allegations-thread.1599778/

Well, shit. Okay, definitely slowing down my release pace! :O

 

[SouthernCrossfire]

My thoughts were similar to Oneagainst's advice so I'll only add that one of most writers' primary goals is to gain new readers. If you flood the new story and category pages with a large number of new chapters all at once, your name will be in front of readers for a week or two and then you'll have delay as your write your next batch of submittals. If you space them out at one or possibly two submittals per week, you'll have your work in front of readers for weeks or potentially months. That steady stream will likely give you the opportunity to expose your work to many more readers (and possibly followers) over time versus the flood and drought method.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

 

[gunhilltrain]

My thoughts were similar to Oneagainst's advice so I'll only add that one of most writers' primary goals is to gain new readers. If you flood the new story and category pages with a large number of new chapters all at once, your name will be in front of readers for a week or two and then you'll have delay as your write your next batch of submittals. If you space them out at one or possibly two submittals per week, you'll have your work in front of readers for weeks or potentially months. That steady stream will likely give you the opportunity to expose your work to many more readers (and possibly followers) over time versus the flood and drought method.

Good luck with whatever you decide.

Probably that is true, but my experience with readers and followers is that they tend to be a bit "flighty" - low attention spans in other words. I'm never quite sure what the followers are doing or even who they all are. Usually they are following dozens or hundreds of other writers when I check their profiles. It seems rare if I even recognize the name of a person who makes a comment.

I don't even have that many followers after more than five years here, but I accept that as reality. Right now there are 166, although a few join and others drop out after a while. Even so, I only got five and ten votes on the two most recent stories. I think the story just before that had 70 votes, which is a bit more encouraging. Oh well, it's a big, sprawling site. Thus chasing new readers is a secondary goal at best.

 

[SouthernCrossfire]

...Thus chasing new readers is a secondary goal at best.

gunhilltrain, that's certainly true to a point; I wouldn't recognize the names of most of my followers either. However, I've interacted with a few of them and often recognize the names of the more frequent commenters so I'm always glad to try to expand my potential readership (without straying into a few categories that don't interest me).

For example, for my most recent tale, I tried a particular category for the first time and it netted me my largest number of new followers for a new story, my highest number of comments on a story, the most votes on any of my stories to date, and a good score, and that's led to a number of reads, favorites, and comments on older works in other categories. While that may be the exception, the possibility does exist.

 

[oneagainst]

My thoughts were similar to Oneagainst's advice so I'll only add that one of most writers' primary goals is to gain new readers. [Snip] If you space them out at one or possibly two submittals per week, you'll have your work in front of readers for weeks or potentially months. That steady stream will likely give you the opportunity to expose your work to many more readers (and possibly followers) over time versus the flood and drought method.

I didn't want to bring that up, but this is absolutely true. You will not build up any kind of following dropping everything at once. I've managed to pick up 1200+ by posting in all the other categories (ie not Incest or Loving Wives follower powehouse categories) over 2y just through regular releases.

Though, the story is the thing. The follow list is secondary.

 

[gunhilltrain]

gunhilltrain, that's certainly true to a point; I wouldn't recognize the names of most of my followers either. However, I've interacted with a few of them and often recognize the names of the more frequent commenters so I'm always glad to try to expand my potential readership (without straying into a few categories that don't interest me).

For example, for my most recent tale, I tried a particular category for the first time and it netted me my largest number of new followers for a new story, my highest number of comments on a story, the most votes on any of my stories to date, and a good score, and that's led to a number of reads, favorites, and comments on older works in other categories. While that may be the exception, the possibility does exist.

I guess that I've gotten enough positive feedback over the years that it has kept me going. If most everything had been around 2.7 I might have eventually given up on this venture!

I'm not against going for new readers but I've found it hard to do. At some point I broke the 100 mark for followers but I don't remember when that was. I'm guessing that it had to be over a year ago. On the three sites I'm on (probably one too many?), I've found that comments can be scarce on all of them. Well, I should have two new stories here in January so I'll see how they do.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I didn't want to bring that up, but this is absolutely true. You will not build up any kind of following dropping everything at once. I've managed to pick up 1200+ by posting in all the other categories (ie not Incest or Loving Wives follower powehouse categories) over 2y just through regular releases.

Though, the story is the thing. The follow list is secondary.

1,200 in a little over two years is impressive. Yes, incest is a very popular category but I don't have any of those on Lit. I do have two on Loving Wives and they did get lots of attention for sure. I just don't have any new such plots in the works right now.

But true, the OP (who is definitely prolific) should slow down and pace his submissions a bit more carefully. I guessed that one new story per week (a common opinion on here) may be about right to keep readers interested without overwhelming them. He's in the enviable position of having plenty ready to go while also writing a lot more at the same time.

 

[BobbyLaker]

... but am I releasing content too fast?

Is that a euphemism?

 

[Djmac1031]

My only real concern on that is will your readers be able to keep up?

But really there's no way to gage readers participation habits regardless of how fast or slow you publish a series.