Do I release a multipart story all at once or a little at a time?

[KristinKailey]

I've written a fairly long abduction and mental conditioning story and I'm about to have someone proof read it but in the meantime I'm trying to figure out how to roll it out. I asked a couple months ago if people prefer a super long story in one big giant glob or if they like it to be broken out into bite sized parts. Most readers said they wanted bite sized parts cut up in places that make sense obviously and I've done that. So now I have 16 lovely pieces.

I get that normally with a multipart story it gets released over time because its being written as it goes. Kind of like how a TV series may only film one season at a time. The danger (not unlike TV) is that for a variety of reasons the story won't be finished which leaves the reader without closure and that can be annoying. That's part of why I wanted to finish it at once, to ensure that everyone understood that it was a done deal.

Okay, so how to roll it out. I've had some people say that despite the fact that the whole thing is done, I should still dole it out a little at a time. Release a new part say once or twice a week. The other camp says just throw it all out at once. There were good arguments for both. Ranging from readers knowing it was a full story and being able to binge or enjoy it at their pace to the other side of giving readers a breather between parts so they could enjoy it more fully and they could build to the end (which has a lot of twists and turns and skipping to the last part is a lot like turning to the last page of a mystery novel to see who did it). So whats your advice? Do I throw the whole thing out like Netflix or do I share a little at a time like a weekly show?

 

[ElectricBlue]

How long is the completed story?

Every time this question arises, there's some consensus that a good chapter length is three Lit pages or so (about 10k words), if you have a long chaptered story.

Novella length stories 30k - 60k can run well as a single story (10 - 15 Lit page stories are common).

There's no right or wrong strategy, and you won't please everybody, so it comes down to - what's the purpose of each chapter?

 

[SimonDoom]

It is impossible to give sound advice to you without more information.

1. How long is the total story, in words?

2. How long are your proposed 16 chapters, in words?

3. What's the subject matter? What's the Literotica category? Is it the same for all chapters?


One of the biggest mistakes Literotica authors make is publishing long stories in very short chapters of under 5000 words. This is a mistake. It's a demonstrable fact that stories don't do as well, on average, at Literotica if they are too short. You won't have as high a score, and you won't have as many readers. If you have a long story, make sure your separately published chapters are at least 10,000 words. Your story will do better if there is a unifying erotic theme throughout the story and if each chapter plays to that theme, satisfying the readership for that category.

In terms of rolling out your chapters, my recommendation is every time one chapter is published, submit the next chapter. That way they'll be about 3-5 days apart. That gives the previous chapter maximum exposure on the category hub page before the new one starts. You will maximize total continuous exposure to the story this way. Readers will have to wait just long enough that they will remember your previous chapter and want to read the new one but no so long that they'll be annoyed.

 

[KristinKailey]

Story Roll Out Timing

We're looking at around 7-10k words per part so most of it should be hitting at the recommended length.
The story is a bdsm story so it will all be in that category. The question wasn't really about part lengths and I apologize for not making that more clear, I'm perfectly comfortable with how I've divided the thing.
The question was more about roll out schedule.

So far it looks like we have one very interesting idea of submitting the next part as the previous gets published. I'm curious what other perspectives there might be. Thanks!

 

[gunhilltrain]

Well, I've never had a chapter of 10,000 words. I'm done long before that. And of the series I have on this site and other sites, I usually have maybe ten or eleven chapters. Again, I've said what I want to say and I'm done.

Occasionally, much later, I'll add a stand-alone story that's sort of an in-fill chapter, some incident in the middle that I thought about later. Or I might later think of a sequel chapter. In one case thirteen years had passed since the previous one, so I made it a stand-alone story with a note at the top saying what it was a sequel to.

Since my series are usually fairly short, I have no problem with a 5,000-word chapter. Then there are stand-alone stories that start sprouting sequels. Then it's too late to make it into a series. I just have notes mentioning what the previous installments were. The readers seem happy enough with that.

There is no one way to do it.

 

[KeithD]

My rationale for releasing in delayed submissions once I've decided to release it in parts is that the posting of works can get messed up. I submit the next part after the part before it has successfully been posted, which normally gives me a two- or three-day span between each posting. I estimate three days and on the first segment posted, I include in a note up front that the work is finished, how many segments it will be posted in, and approximately when posting of it will be completed. With this method, I never have trouble with something going wrong while it posts and I've both assured the reader that they will have an ending and I let them know about how long it will spin out and how soon it will be finished.

 

[KristinKailey]

You raise an excellent point Keith. I just had a story that got sent back because of 1 tiny little issue that was easily fixed. Now it's been sitting in pending for another 3 days so far waiting for approval. Suppose I go submit 16 parts at once and for whatever reason some parts are approved while others get sent back over who knows what issue. Then I've got random parts sitting out there that aren't in any discernable order. So far that has to be one of the best arguments against rolling out everything at the same time. Thank you so much for that perspective, I hadn't even considered that.

 

[gunhilltrain]

My rationale for releasing in delayed submissions once I've decided to release it in parts is that the posting of works can get messed up. I submit the next part after the part before it has successfully been posted, which normally gives me a two- or three-day span between each posting. I estimate three days and on the first segment posted, I include in a note up front that the work is finished, how many segments it will be posted in, and approximately when posting of it will be completed. With this method, I never have trouble with something going wrong while it posts and I've both assured the reader that they will have an ending and I let them know about how long it will spin out and how soon it will be finished.

Actually, a week between submissions is perfectly reasonable. It takes a little while for readers to notice and catch up with what you're doing.

I think when Tom Wolfe had Bonfire of the Vanities installments in Rolling Stone, he had twenty-seven of them two weeks apart.

 

[TadOverdon]

My chapters have gotten longer with every book but most are still under 4000 words.

 

[NotWise]

I broke "Quarter to Midnight" into two parts to keep the length of each part down to what a lot of people might read in one sitting, and I asked Laurel to release them on the same date. I think she'd normally space them.

That might have confused people who were inclined to vote or comment. Should they vote/comment on each part, of save their vote and comments to the end?

Without the confusion, I might have gotten more feedback. I won't release multiple parts at the same time again. I'll release them one-at-a-time spaced so that the readers aren't confused, which is usually a couple days. For a low-traffic category, I might space them longer.

 

[KeithD]

Actually, a week between submissions is perfectly reasonable. It takes a little while for readers to notice and catch up with what you're doing.

Sure if you don't have a lot of other works you want to clear through as well. The times I've released some other complete work while one of my series was running, I got "what's happening to the series?" confused queries. I post chapters separately of works because of the length of the total work--I do it for no other reason. I was initiated into fiction writing with the dictate that a short story was to be no longer than could conveniently be read in one sitting. That became even more important when the files were electronic, not physical books in hand. Convenient sittings have only become shorter since the advent of the technological age. So, unless it's being entered in a contest here, a 20,000-word work of mine is going to be split, and while it's running I'm not submitting anything else. I want it available as quickly as possible and let the reader decide how much of their lives they want to devote to getting to the end of it. I don't write "As the World Turns" forever spinning out soap operas.

Some of my readers apparently do notice when I've gone off from posting standalones to clear a series, especially if the series isn't in my bread and butter category in a given account name. My latest story in this account name, a GM category, has a "welcome back; I missed you" comment on it, when I, in fact, have posted at least one story a week to Literotica in this account name for years. It was just that the story posted before this one went to the Trans category and the one before that went to the Group category. It had been three weeks since I posted on to the GM category, but I'd posted a story every week. The reader has become accustomed to have a GM story from me appear every Tuesday or Wednesday morning.

 

[Gabriel1664]

Kristin

Kristin

Some thoughts.... I think it is most appealing to the reader online to have all the story parts available either together or close in time. So one can go to the next immediately if that would suit one's desires. That is better than having to return to find the next part on an unknown day.

ALSO I'd be honored to proofread those stories, at whatever level you desire. Let me know. Or send links/stories any format.

Gabriel

 

[RejectReality]

Personally, I had the best retention and engagement by releasing twice a week. Approvals were more or less universally 2 days at that point, allowing me to wait for each part to be approved before submitting the next, and still get out two a week.

I also stated at the beginning of the first that it was complete, and would be released on that twice a week schedule, which likely helped with engagement.

Ch. 01 has 36k views, 525 votes.

The vote totals reached a low point of 380 on Ch. 08

The final chapter 10 is at 16k views, 552 votes.