Upload frequency of a series?

[Voboy]

It is hard enough to follow your own plot lines when they go long. Don't expect a reader to do it.

Oh, I don't. I mostly do it for my own amusement.

But again, I consistently get about one reader a month interested in my interrelationships. When you've written as much as I have, in as much time, that's more readers than I'd ever have expected, lol.

To be clear, there is NEVER a need for people to read prior works in order to fully understand the later stuff. I do signpost them sometimes, in notes at the beginnings of my stories. All my stories are totally independent, unless I note otherwise. My pattern is Irvine Welsh, whose books largely take place in a sort of "alternate Edinburgh" populated by familiar names that come and go. I love that, as a reader.

 

[Gamblnluck]

But again, I consistently get about one reader a month interested in my interrelationships. When you've written as much as I have, in as much time, that's more readers than I'd ever have expected, lol.

To be clear, there is NEVER a need for people to read prior works in order to fully understand the later stuff. All my stories are totally independent, unless I note otherwise. My pattern is Irvine Welsh, whose books largely take place in a sort of "alternate Edinburgh" populated by familiar names that come and go. I love that, as a reader.

Got 102 stories or rather submissions. Except for my longer series, my stories are all independent of each other. I do not use the same characters. The majority of my own stories are in LW or nonconsent. I have dabbled in BDSM, fetish and incest. I apparently have not hit the magic button in those other genres as they are my lower scoring works.
And in my series, it is essential to really read from the beginning. I try to explain enough in each series that you do not have to read them to fully understand the 'universe' to enjoy them. I judge that based on comments, where somebody asks a question of 'why did the MC not do this..." And then I get another reader answer. So obviously there is a following there.
I also find the nonconsent following to be different from my LW stories. I get comments from both sets that make that clear. Of course there is overlap.

 

[FreyaGersemi]

I'll preface this with by saying that I write mostly longer novels with very little erotic content, so my readership is likely significantly different than that of many authors here where their preferences are concerned. I cater to what my readers have stated that they prefer, so take my advice for what its worth...

I no longer break my stories up into separate posts unless they are stand-alone parts of a related series. This is different from chapters of a story, which I used to post individually. but ceased doing at the request of my readers.

These multi-part submissions have all been converted to single posts here, but when I was posting them, I would submit them all at the same time, one after another, and let them roll out day after day until the entire story was published here.

Now, did this help or hinder the focus on the story in the long run? Maybe, but the positive reader feedback stating their appreciation for not having to wait for the next chapter or part tells me that it didn't hurt and the ratings reflect that, I think.

Looking at the long term, a year (or less) from now, it won't matter. Your entire story will have been published and the time that originally existed between submissions will be moot.

Thank you. That sounds like some good advice.

 

[FreyaGersemi]

Most anything that doesn't at least barely cross over into a second Lit page tends to perform poorly, and commenters say they feel cheated by such bite-sized releases.

There's nothing stopping you from using in-document chapter headings and titling such as My Title Ch. 01-02 if that satisfies your desire to maintain the integrity of your original chapters while putting a little more meat on each release.

The best retention I've ever had is twice weekly releases where I stated in an author's note with the first chapter that the story was complete, and I would do my best to release chapters twice weekly. That will be my strategy when the one I'm running past my editor now finally goes gold.

Thank you!!!

 

[FreyaGersemi]

https://literotica.com/my/#/series/stories

That's the series function. It can be used to group normal chapter stories like so:

https://www.literotica.com/series/se/12152

It can also be used to connect standalone stories that have a timeline.

https://www.literotica.com/series/se/469735934

I don't have an example on here, but you could also mix them together.

Series: My Series.

My Title A
My Title B Ch. 01
My Title B Ch. 02
My Title B Ch. 03
My Title C
My Title D
My Title E Ch. 01 so on and so forth.

I just submitted a series request. Thank you so much!!!

 

[FreyaGersemi]

I absolutely agree with @RejectReality - use the Series function and use it well. I'm starting to use it more, so my story list makes more sense.

Also, think long term. Chapter length and release interval are relevant only in the first month, when the story rolls out the gate. Once the whole story is out there, the release strategy is irrelevant. You'll still get readers coming through your story file in three month's time, three years, ten years time. You want the chaptering to work as a navigation thing as well as a literary construction thing.

As an example, I've got a 104k novel with 12 chapters, which got released every 24 hours (chapter length approx. 8k - 10k words). That strategy kept something on the category front page for two months (a slow moving category), and after three months, the last chapter had been read a thousand times, which was all I expected. Five years later, that last chapter has been read 3000 times, which means more people have read it long after release, than during release.

All great points. I'm clearly overthinking the release schedule!! :-D Thank you!!