Series versus A Single Long Story - advice needed

[WendyTrilby]

I know this has been asked before, but I would like fresh thoughts on this question based on current readership trends my fellow authors and commentators are noticing.

If I asked you to go with me to see a movie that was 12 hours long, chances are you would say no. Not interested in anything that long. But, if I say let's binge a 12-part show with lots of twists and turns, chances are you would be up for it. So, that brings me to my question: Do I publish a long story (I'm guessing around 16 LE pages) or break it into six cliffhanging chapters?

Like everyone else, I want to attract readers and am always worried that page length can be off-putting. My longer stories are part of my PORTMANTEAU SERIES, but those are stand-alone adventures told in a non-traditional style. I have yet to drop a long linear narrative for fear of not grabbing the readership. Yes, I know how to keep readers once they start my stories (new information, delivered at a quick, steady pace is the recipe), but I feel I'm still scaring away people unwilling to go longer than 5 pages.

To that end, I ask anyone who has created a traditional episodic series, with each post being a chapter, not an independent new adventure. How has that worked out for you compared to posting one long story?

I am 75% of the way through something fun, erotic, and with good twists, and the time is now for me to consider how it will presented. Any advice is appreciated.

- Wendy Trilby

 

[CalebZhass]

I did choose to go with a series, here is why:
- I can better categorize them, I can actually split them up an focus on different themes in the different chapters
- it's a lot less intimidating for readers (based on my personal preference) to have a 2-4 page story, than having 10+ pages
- I can get each piece out faster, allowing me to get feedback and improve myself based on the experience
- it's a lot easier to edit a shorter story, that it is a long one and god those who helped me edit in the past know that my stories tend to be quite some work.

The problem I did run into: was that some chapters were devoid of any "action" in terms of erotica. I think that can work as well, if its categorized correctly, however being a new author here, I have little experience with that.

So I simply made the choice to organize my story in such a way, that every chapter has some meaningful erotica in it. If the exposition gets too long, I just start in medias res and move back after a titillating intro to the exposition segment, before reaching the good parts at the end. But then, that's me. I think that Lit is about erotica and as such I'd find it weird to post non-erotic stories here, even if they are part of an otherwise very steamy series.

Also, I'm making very slow progress on the series right now, so chapters definitely work better for me. Since you have most of it written already, it might not be that trivial for you, but even then, with 75% done, you could probably get the first 2 or 3 out the door already and that might be worth it.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Do you have a word count for this? (Lit pages are usually around 3,700 words.) I am considering of story of about 11,000 to 12,000 words, but I could break it three parts of about 4,000 words each, so I have a similar issue to what you have. The longest stand-alone story I have is just over 11,000 words.

Your full story is about 59,000 words. Opinions vary, and people have posted stories that long. My preference would be to not post something that big in one shot. It depends too if there seems to be natural chapter breaks. Usually novels do have chapters even if it's all in one book. Readers tend to read a couple of chapters at each sitting. If you do post the full work, you could have chapters where they seem appropriate.

 

[SouthernCrossfire]

Hi, Wendy, conventional wisdom is to submit as one long story OR have it complete and advertise in each chapter that new episodes are being released every so often (5 to 7 days is good so it keeps your name in front of readers over several weeks rather than one and done) so readers don't feel they're being led down a dark alley with no light at the end. Viewership will drop with each subsequent chapter, but you may get more views total with the chapter version and possibly higher scores as mostly fans of the story will read later chapters.

That said, I've gone both ways (up to five chapters). My two longest stories (about 44K and 37K words) both scored quite well but the number of viewers of both is less than I'd prefer. The total number of viewers is higher for chapter versions, but much lower for later chapters (except for the final one).

In your case, the chapter version might give you an advantage of keeping your name in front of readers for longer and possibly attracting more followers, though that is questionable since the same people might be willing to follow on reading the complete tale.

Whatever you decide, good luck!

Edit: I meant to add, I wouldn't consider breaking up any story that's less than 20,000 words and wouldn't submit in less than 6,000 to maybe 9,000 piece chapters. That's based on my experience and past advice here.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Series versus A Single Long Story - advice needed​

I am not sure that there is a definitive answer. Some people will vehemently argue for a single work of substance. Others will say that a series garners more eyeballs.

I’ve done both (though not yet 16 Lit pages, more like 10). What I have found is that a series is an excellent marketing strategy. You will probably see more readers overall. It will tail off as you lose some people and don't get replacements (people seldom start reading half way through a series). You will get more casual readers that way.

With a long, single story some will be deterred from starting. You won’t get casual readers. But… the very length tends to select for people who are more willing to give your story a go and selects against randoms who will give you a 1 bomb after reading six paragraphs. That sort may well not even start reading.

TL-DNR: a series will tend to maximize views, a long single work will tend to maximize rating. Take your choice.

 

[SimonDoom]

1. I suggest you do a search for threads that 8Letters started regarding views and story lengths. He actually gathered real data that is helpful on this issue. Most of the advice you will get is based on subjective opinions, i.e., "I like long stories" or "I like short stories."

2. The data show, surprisingly, that people like long stories more than you would think they do. While some people may be turned off by stories that are too long (I am, for example), the data show that many are not.

3. If you have a 16 Lit page story, I recommend breaking it into no more than 2 or 3 chapters, or publishing it as a single story. Stories tend on average to score lower the lower they are under 6 pages.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I did choose to go with a series, here is why:
- I can better categorize them, I can actually split them up an focus on different themes in the different chapters
- it's a lot less intimidating for readers (based on my personal preference) to have a 2-4 page story, than having 10+ pages
- I can get each piece out faster, allowing me to get feedback and improve myself based on the experience
- it's a lot easier to edit a shorter story, that it is a long one and god those who helped me edit in the past know that my stories tend to be quite some work.

The problem I did run into: was that some chapters were devoid of any "action" in terms of erotica. I think that can work as well, if its categorized correctly, however being a new author here, I have little experience with that.

So I simply made the choice to organize my story in such a way, that every chapter has some meaningful erotica in it. If the exposition gets too long, I just start in medias res and move back after a titillating intro to the exposition segment, before reaching the good parts at the end. But then, that's me. I think that Lit is about erotica and as such I'd find it weird to post non-erotic stories here, even if they are part of an otherwise very steamy series.

Also, I'm making very slow progress on the series right now, so chapters definitely work better for me. Since you have most of it written already, it might not be that trivial for you, but even then, with 75% done, you could probably get the first 2 or 3 out the door already and that might be worth it.

Personally, I don't worry if a chapter has "erotica" action in it or not. If it doesn't, so be it. I have a series on another site where I am just writing the plot as it seems to fit. Sometimes sexual matters are just discussed, not depicted. There is no one way to do things.

 

[mrs_mackenzie]

I know this has been asked before, but I would like fresh thoughts on this question based on current readership trends my fellow authors and commentators are noticing.

If I asked you to go with me to see a movie that was 12 hours long, chances are you would say no. Not interested in anything that long. But, if I say let's binge a 12-part show with lots of twists and turns, chances are you would be up for it. So, that brings me to my question: Do I publish a long story (I'm guessing around 16 LE pages) or break it into six cliffhanging chapters?

Like everyone else, I want to attract readers and am always worried that page length can be off-putting. My longer stories are part of my PORTMANTEAU SERIES, but those are stand-alone adventures told in a non-traditional style. I have yet to drop a long linear narrative for fear of not grabbing the readership. Yes, I know how to keep readers once they start my stories (new information, delivered at a quick, steady pace is the recipe), but I feel I'm still scaring away people unwilling to go longer than 5 pages.

To that end, I ask anyone who has created a traditional episodic series, with each post being a chapter, not an independent new adventure. How has that worked out for you compared to posting one long story?

I am 75% of the way through something fun, erotic, and with good twists, and the time is now for me to consider how it will presented. Any advice is appreciated.

- Wendy Trilby

My only advice is to make sure the first chapter has enough sex to make it 'worthwhile' on its own. Otherwise you'll get negative feedback from readers and a lower rating.

 

[8letters]

What category are you talking about? Almost everything in Literotica is category-specific.

 

[samhasstories]

I think it depends a lot on how your story is written. I've posted mainly episodic series, but that's because they're episodic. Some parts are far longer than others - the longest just shy of 18,000 words - because each entry calls for its own length based on what's happening. I think of them as short stories in their own right, each a sequel to the previous, rather than as chapters in one long work. Or at least that's how I write them - they could easily be read as the latter.

I probably wouldn't chop up one cohesive work just to make it shorter. But if there are clear delineations in there, where maybe one act ends and another begins, then separate postings might help make that clearer.

 

[AchtungNight]

Either way works. I have paused reading longer stories and kept the window open, then come back later if they held my interest. Good luck.

 

[Lifestyle66]

I wrote my "Lifestyle" chapters as a series (15 chapters). It is easier to write and post chapters, rather than one long story. But you'll have problems with losing viewers after the first chapter. The readers don't necessarily look for the subsequent chapters, and there's no way to place a hot link in Chapter 1 to point to chapter 2, since it has not yet published.

As for story length, 17K words is not unreasonable. My "Amorous Goods: The Anklet Pair" is over 17K words, and it has over 17K views, rated at 4.6 with 128 votes in SciFi. The follow-on story only has 3.3k views rated at 4.3.

In my 15-chapter series, the number of views went down and up and down between the various chapters. So, there's no consistency, even when the reader knows there's going to be another chapter. It's the title and description of each that drew the views or not.

My latest strategy for continuations of my "chapters" is to write stand-alone stories, recapping enough of the background material from other stories to make it stand alone, and provide hot link pointers to those prior chapters at the end in an Author's Postscript, in case the reader wants more depth.

And for a comparison of story length, "What Were You Thinking" ("Husband discovers his wife’s deception.") is my most viewed story at over 11K words with over 93K views in Loving Wives. In LW, that's what they're looking for: cheating and consequences. So, the title and description grab the reader. And they don't know how long the story is until they open it. And once they start readings, it's up to YOU the author to keep them engaged.

 

[WendyTrilby]

What category are you talking about? Almost everything in Literotica is category-specific.

I typically gravitate towards the Erotic Couplings category in my writing, exploring various characters and encounters. However, I do provide a disclaimer at the beginning of my stories, alerting readers to content that might be better suited for a different category. Nonetheless, Erotic Couplings remains my primary focus.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Keep in mind that the initial roll out is one thing (and both approaches - chapter versus stand-alone - have pros and cons), but after six months that's irrelevant, because the whole story is published (presumably).

Having published long pieces (30k words plus) both ways, I tend to favour chapters of 8k - 12k words (3 - 4 Lit pages), to maximise reader convenience over the long haul - which I measure in years, not months.

My Arthurian novel, for example (104k words over seventeen chapters) has garnered three times more readers over five years than it did in the first five months. Plus, I know how many read it to the end, which you can never know in a stand-alone story. For that reason alone, I favour chapters.

 

[8letters]

@WendyTrilby, EC is one of the categories where the average rating and the average number of comments does increase with page length. A few years ago, it had the 5th highest percentage of stand-alone stories, and I don't see any reason why that would change.

When I looked a few years ago, the first chapter of a series got a third fewer views than a stand-alone story, and the viewership of chapters dropped off from there.

Here's how the longer EC stories have done recently at 28 days after publication:


Do what you want. Hopefully, this will help you to make an informed decision.

 

[Cagivagurl]

I know this has been asked before, but I would like fresh thoughts on this question based on current readership trends my fellow authors and commentators are noticing.

If I asked you to go with me to see a movie that was 12 hours long, chances are you would say no. Not interested in anything that long. But, if I say let's binge a 12-part show with lots of twists and turns, chances are you would be up for it. So, that brings me to my question: Do I publish a long story (I'm guessing around 16 LE pages) or break it into six cliffhanging chapters?

Like everyone else, I want to attract readers and am always worried that page length can be off-putting. My longer stories are part of my PORTMANTEAU SERIES, but those are stand-alone adventures told in a non-traditional style. I have yet to drop a long linear narrative for fear of not grabbing the readership. Yes, I know how to keep readers once they start my stories (new information, delivered at a quick, steady pace is the recipe), but I feel I'm still scaring away people unwilling to go longer than 5 pages.

To that end, I ask anyone who has created a traditional episodic series, with each post being a chapter, not an independent new adventure. How has that worked out for you compared to posting one long story?

I am 75% of the way through something fun, erotic, and with good twists, and the time is now for me to consider how it will presented. Any advice is appreciated.

- Wendy Trilby

As a writer I have tried both.
This is my opinion only. No supporting data. What I can say, from my experience is...
Series, or separate chapter stories:
They are good for scores. bad for views. I will try to explain how I think this works.
In a series, I have a couple that ran for 17 separate chapters. Initially the views were good but dropped off throughout the story. The readers who liked it, stuck with it. The ones who didn't like it. They didn't open up the following chapters. The ones who did follow it, voted, and the scores were great. The other things like favourites also fell off as the story progressed.
The scores on chapter stories usually get higher because the only ones reading and voting are the ones who liked the story...

Longer stories:
I have a couple of very long ones, something like 15 Lit pages.
They got much higher views, almost 3 times as many as my chapter stories...
Some comments stated they loved the longer stories, a few said, (Why didn't you break it up? to long)
The long stories, didn't get as many votes, and the scores weren't as good.
For all of that. They fall into different categories. That also affects things like views, votes, scores.

My experience... I prefer longer stories. My favourite writers all write long epic stories. I don't look for sex filled stories, I look for romance, and personal stories. Not biographical, but full of wonderful characters and twisting plots. I prefer serious writing to porn...
My opinion probably is influenced by my preferences.

Cagivagurl

 

[ronde]

I know this has been asked before, but I would like fresh thoughts on this question based on current readership trends my fellow authors and commentators are noticing.

If I asked you to go with me to see a movie that was 12 hours long, chances are you would say no. Not interested in anything that long. But, if I say let's binge a 12-part show with lots of twists and turns, chances are you would be up for it. So, that brings me to my question: Do I publish a long story (I'm guessing around 16 LE pages) or break it into six cliffhanging chapters?

Like everyone else, I want to attract readers and am always worried that page length can be off-putting. My longer stories are part of my PORTMANTEAU SERIES, but those are stand-alone adventures told in a non-traditional style. I have yet to drop a long linear narrative for fear of not grabbing the readership. Yes, I know how to keep readers once they start my stories (new information, delivered at a quick, steady pace is the recipe), but I feel I'm still scaring away people unwilling to go longer than 5 pages.

To that end, I ask anyone who has created a traditional episodic series, with each post being a chapter, not an independent new adventure. How has that worked out for you compared to posting one long story?

I am 75% of the way through something fun, erotic, and with good twists, and the time is now for me to consider how it will presented. Any advice is appreciated.

- Wendy Trilby

The difference between a 12 hour movie and 12 hours of a TV show is the same difference that seems to confuse a lot of writers here.

A 12 hour movie will have a beginning, a main plot that runs from the beginning to the end, and an ending, and the main characters won't change. Each hour of a TV show will have most of the same main characters but each show will have a different main plot that runs for that show only. It's the same for written pieces. A "novel" will have a main plot with main characters that don't change. What you called an "episode" is like a short story should be - a shorter version of a novel. A series of episodes is akin to any series since moving pictures were invented. Think "Gunsmoke" if you're old enough or NCIS.

Both novels and short stories have their fans, but I'd post anything much less than 30,000 words as a single story. I have a few that are between 20,000 and 30,000 words and they've done fine as far as the rating and comments. I also have posted several short stories with the same main characters but with different plots as stand alone stories and those also seem to do well.

I think the reduction in views for a long story posted in chapters is due mostly to two things. You can't effectively write it one chapter at a time unless you have a pretty detailed outline of where the plot is going. If you don't, you'll end up writing chapter 3 and realizing that the way you set up the characters, they would not do what you're asking them to do. As soon as you try to write around that with some sudden realization that your character has changed, it's not going to make sense to a reader. If your male character is introverted in Chapter 1, he's not going to become a party guy in Chapter 3 unless you do a lot of explaining.

The other reason is the time between postings, which is also a function of how much of the story you've already written. A new chapter once a week will probably keep readers reading. Much more than that, and they will have forgotten the last chapter and reading this one will probably have them going back to the previous chapter to catch up on who the characters are and what they're doing. Writing one chapter, posting it, and then starting on the next is a sure way to stretch out the time between posting because life has a way of intruding into your writing, or you'll decide to head of on a tangent that won't fit and you'll have to start over.

 

[FreyaGersemi]

I'm fairly new to Literotica and when I first started publishing, someone advised me that they felt that around 7K+ words was a good length. Personally, I feel that this works. I shoot for no less than 6K and try to cut things off after 10K. Part of this is that with an added scene or two, 10K could be two 6-7K stories. Don't discount the reader's amazement when they see you have 87 stories published!! You must be good, right?

Of course, once you establish a readership, all of this agonizing over word length may very well be a moot point. You have readers who enjoy reading your stories.

I also feel that a story has a flow and for me, it seems that the 7-8-9K word count works for me and my storytelling style.

WendyTrilby, I hope this helps you!!

 

[FreyaGersemi]

Not to hijack this thread, but I just finished up a series (not all published, yet). It's 80K words or so.

What are your thoughts on stringing them all together and publishing it as a separate work? With a foreword explaining, of course.

Not only may this appeal to the long readers, but then I could use my intended chaptering and chapter titles (I combined chapters a lot because most of my chapters were less than 3-4K). But, my understanding is that Literotica readers may frown on "reusing" stories like this.

Maybe I could add some "bonus" scenes scattered throughout?

Thoughts?

 

[8letters]

Not to hijack this thread, but I just finished up a series (not all published, yet). It's 80K words or so.

What are your thoughts on stringing them all together and publishing it as a separate work? With a foreword explaining, of course.

Not only may this appeal to the long readers, but then I could use my intended chaptering and chapter titles (I combined chapters a lot because most of my chapters were less than 3-4K). But, my understanding is that Literotica readers may frown on "reusing" stories like this.

Maybe I could add some "bonus" scenes scattered throughout?

Thoughts?

I originally published "A Week at the Lake with My Sister" as a five-chapter series. I decided to rewrite the last two chapters. Three and a half years after publishing the series, I took down the first three chapters and published the new version as one big story (62K words). The new version had a 4.81 rating and lots of positive comments. No one complained about me republishing it.

My advice would be to wait on publishing it as a separate work. Let the original series drift away from most people's memories, so they'll be excited about reading the new version. I'd also recommend adding "bonus" scenes or doing big rewrites so that you aren't just republishing what you've published before.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

All of my "series" stories are posted individually and average 4 Lit pages in length. These are stand-alone stories with a common theme or characters but they are not the same stories.

All of my chapter stories are single submissions between 20 and 81 Lit pages. They weren't always that way, however.

I originally posted four of my chapter stories by chapters, or parts containing multiple chapters. They all did okay with views and scores (red H's), but the most common feedback I received from readers were that they would prefer them to be single submissions.

Last summer I asked Laurel to replace the chapters and parts with the single long submission for each of the stories. Since then, the scores for all are trending 0.01 to 0.07 points higher for each. My 81 page story is sitting at 4.86 and averages around 60 views per day.

The category that a story is in can greatly influence how tolerant the readers are to its length. Longer stories, even with little or no sex can do well in Novels/Novellas, Romance, and a few other categories. In categories where explicit sexual content is expected, and readers are motivated solely by the degree of arousal obtained by reading, keeping stories shorter seems to be the key to their hearts.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

My only advice is to make sure the first chapter has enough sex to make it 'worthwhile' on its own. Otherwise you'll get negative feedback from readers and a lower rating.

So not true, and disturbingly misleading to new writers here.

 

[SimonDoom]

So not true, and disturbingly misleading to new writers here.

I don't think it's misleading. I'd say it's a bit oversimplistic, because tastes vary so much at Literotica that you can "get away with" all kinds of different things and make things work.

But it's definitely, definitely true that if you begin an "incest" series, in that category, and your published chapter 1 is all exposition with no incestuous activity, there's a high probability that your story won't score as well or get as many views, and that sets your story up poorly for success. You will lose readers right off the bat. When I write a multi-chapter story, I make sure that each chapter contains some of whatever readers are looking for in the category in which the story is published.

This doesn't apply so much to categories like romance, sci-fi, and novels, where readers are more flexible about content expectations. Readers in some categories have very strong ideas of what they are looking for and may downvote you if you don't provide it.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Not to hijack this thread, but I just finished up a series (not all published, yet). It's 80K words or so.

What are your thoughts on stringing them all together and publishing it as a separate work? With a foreword explaining, of course.

Not only may this appeal to the long readers, but then I could use my intended chaptering and chapter titles (I combined chapters a lot because most of my chapters were less than 3-4K). But, my understanding is that Literotica readers may frown on "reusing" stories like this.

Maybe I could add some "bonus" scenes scattered throughout?

Thoughts?

The site doesn't allow duplicated stories.

But I don't think it matters - once it's all published and it's twelve months down the track, the whole story is there for readers. I reckon people over-think the first two or three weeks of a story's life. Think long term.

 

[Sinstories]

I know this has been asked before, but I would like fresh thoughts on this question based on current readership trends my fellow authors and commentators are noticing.

If I asked you to go with me to see a movie that was 12 hours long, chances are you would say no. Not interested in anything that long. But, if I say let's binge a 12-part show with lots of twists and turns, chances are you would be up for it. So, that brings me to my question: Do I publish a long story (I'm guessing around 16 LE pages) or break it into six cliffhanging chapters?

Like everyone else, I want to attract readers and am always worried that page length can be off-putting. My longer stories are part of my PORTMANTEAU SERIES, but those are stand-alone adventures told in a non-traditional style. I have yet to drop a long linear narrative for fear of not grabbing the readership. Yes, I know how to keep readers once they start my stories (new information, delivered at a quick, steady pace is the recipe), but I feel I'm still scaring away people unwilling to go longer than 5 pages.

To that end, I ask anyone who has created a traditional episodic series, with each post being a chapter, not an independent new adventure. How has that worked out for you compared to posting one long story?

I am 75% of the way through something fun, erotic, and with good twists, and the time is now for me to consider how it will presented. Any advice is appreciated.

- Wendy Trilby

From what I've seen, if it's too long it needs to be broken up. But, think parts, not chapters. Three parts is the max, beyond that people lose interest.