Posting a full novel that was previously done in serial parts

[SinclairGroupLLP]

So, my first two series are complete, and I'm working on the third.

I've seen many people on here say they won't read chaptered or serial stories until they're complete, or even if they are complete because they don't want to get burned by a writer who never finishes what they've started. I've also heard folks aren't intimidated by length if the story is complete.

This has led me to wonder if it's worth pulling together all of the various chapters and posting one big novel of the each of the full series, so that those who don't want to read a serial version have the entire thing to read in one place.

Now, granted, my series are long as fuck - the first one is over 200k words and the second over 300k so I don't even know if they site could handle it, but I was toying with that idea, including going back and fixing all the typos and the handful of continuity errors I know exist.

Do you guys think it's worth doing this, or would it be a waste of time?

 

[Bamagan]

My inclination would be to leave it as is, although a chance (or an excuse?) to fix errors and omissions is something to consider. But since the series feature basically means readers can navigate from one chapter to the next, I don't think you'd be making things any easier on them to compile the chapters into a single 'document' with 50-odd Lit pages or whatever it works out to. It's probably easier to pick back up where you left off with the chapters serialized, although things like convenience in this context depend on the reader's personal habits with bookmarks and the like, so that might be a null point.

 

[RejectReality]

If you're working on a sequel to something, that's one of the few times when cleaning up the existing story can actually have an impact. Many new people will go back to the beginning, so cleaning things up can help keep them on the hook. You don't want editing that doesn't meet your current standards to turn them off before they catch up to the new stuff.

As to combining them all into one novel... It's debatable whether serialized or super long one-shot is a better option for the initial posting. Once it's already up, I don't see any good reason to change the format it's currently in. You're going to lose all the stats associated with the individual chapters by removing them and replacing them with a one-submission novel. You're always going to have the people who complain about "cheating" by posting old work as new. Some may even report it as plagiarization if they've read the story before but your pen name doesn't click with them, so all they see is a "new" story they know they've read before.

If someone is going back to start Book 1 while you're posting Book 3, it's undoubtedly easier to leave off on Ch. 5 of Book 1 than it is to remember you left off on page 16 of 42. They're playing catch-up, and they're not likely to do it in one sitting.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Now, granted, my series are long as fuck - the first one is over 200k words and the second over 300k so I don't even know if they site could handle it, but I was toying with that idea, including going back and fixing all the typos and the handful of continuity errors I know exist.

Not an issue. I've seen an 85 Lit page single submission, about 320k words. There's no upper limit, to my knowledge.

Do you guys think it's worth doing this, or would it be a waste of time?

Why bother? Your story is already published, and if it's all out there, the reading experience is just the same. Fine tuning typos and so on might be worth the effort if you want to publish as a book or Epub, but it's a lot of effort for not much result.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

So, my first two series are complete, and I'm working on the third.

I've seen many people on here say they won't read chaptered or serial stories until they're complete, or even if they are complete because they don't want to get burned by a writer who never finishes what they've started. I've also heard folks aren't intimidated by length if the story is complete.

This has led me to wonder if it's worth pulling together all of the various chapters and posting one big novel of the each of the full series, so that those who don't want to read a serial version have the entire thing to read in one place.

Now, granted, my series are long as fuck - the first one is over 200k words and the second over 300k so I don't even know if they site could handle it, but I was toying with that idea, including going back and fixing all the typos and the handful of continuity errors I know exist.

Do you guys think it's worth doing this, or would it be a waste of time?

I did exactly this with four of my chapter stories a couple of years ago, including one at over 175K words. The scores for each increased at least .10

The downside is that you lose all previous stats, so if those are important to you, capture them before converting. Your stories will also be excluded from consideration for any contests because they have been republished.