Combining Chapters Into 1 Submission

[Jay142]

Lately, I've been posting multiple chapters into one submission and I've come to like it. It didn't seem to make sense to me to break a story into two or more submissions and space them out, especially with the drop-off in viewers from one chapter to the next. It seems to make sense to give readers the option to continue reading a story they like rather than wait for the next chapter to be published. It's like binge-watching a TV program rather than having to wait for the next episode to come out.

I was wondering what other authors think, what they prefer, and why.

 

[AllenWoody]

If it’s part of a longer work then I usually post chapters/installments of a relatively fixed size and spread them out. However, if it will be a standalone work then I’ll strongly consider collapsing it into a single submission.

 

[Lifestyle66]

I started writing by posting chapters. And just like you, I realized the different numbers in views between chapters show a changing audience. I also realized that in my own choices to read other stories, I often avoid a story title "____ Ch. 04" merely because I don't want to bother jumping into the middle or end of that series, and I'm not going to expend the effort of going back to read old stuff.

So, I now write longer stories. Instead of a 4-5k word chapter or even 8-10k words, I'm writing more 15-20k stories.

I'm finding this to be growth as a writer, because writing the longer story requires more back & forth editing earlier parts of it to maintain consistency. But I also think I'm writing a better story, because I CAN change an earlier part before publishing when I think of a new nuance later to make the whole story flow better.

 

[TheLobster]

Well, I don't know about combining, but I certainly had to beat some chapters into submission before they were ready to be posted.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

Lately, I've been posting multiple chapters into one submission and I've come to like it. It didn't seem to make sense to me to break a story into two or more submissions and space them out, especially with the drop-off in viewers from one chapter to the next. It seems to make sense to give readers the option to continue reading a story they like rather than wait for the next chapter to be published. It's like binge-watching a TV program rather than having to wait for the next episode to come out.

I was wondering what other authors think, what they prefer, and why.

I have a few serial stories. My issue as a writer is that I get distracted. One of my series sits with a single chapter, the other two, haven't had an update in over a year(I'll get back to them, I promise...). It's not my preferred mode of writing. As has been proposed in multiple other threads, it probably best to have the entire thing written before you submit, and it's my preference and belief, that if you're going to do that, just release it as a single story.

As a reader, I'd rather get engrossed in the story and read to the finish than have to wait for a next chapter, that in my case(as a writer), doesn't seem to ever get there... (I'm claiming to be taking inspiration from GRRM, as we all wait not so patiently for "Winds of Winter.')

 

[StillStunned]

As a reader, I'd rather get engrossed in the story and read to the finish than have to wait for a next chapter, that in my case(as a writer), doesn't seem to ever get there... (I'm claiming to be taking inspiration from GRRM, as we all wait not so patiently for "Winds of Winter.')

The words of House Martin must be "Winds of Winter is coming".

 

[Writer61]

On reflection, I tend towards the 'one submission' camp because of a) better reader retention, and b) the chance to fix continuity errors.

I have one story, Summer by the Sea (12.5k words, 2 parts), that should have been a single submission and a series, The Fall of Laura (22.3k words, 5 parts), that could have been. The sequels to both will likely be single posts.

The downside is that it delays gratification through good scores and nice comments.

 

[happyyy_]

I'm writing more 15-20k stories.

I think 20-35k words is the sweet spot for posting as a single story. For me personally as a reader, anything more than that and I will be too intimidated to start the story... it just gets really hard to track where you are at in the story if you can't read it in one sitting. (I am sure there are lots of folks in SF+F who would probably disagree with me lol)

As has been proposed in multiple other threads, it probably best to have the entire thing written before you submit, and it's my preference and belief, that if you're going to do that, just release it as a single story.

I think there are valid reasons for posting as a lump 1 story or still breaking it up into chapters. I am totally with you on the difficulties of sticking it out when doing a serial- it can become exhausting for sure. I am mostly speaking as a reader, because I obviously don't have much writing experience here lol, but I really love the prospect of engagement you get with readers when a story is serial.

As a writer you are more likely to hear readers opinions on specific aspects of each chapter, and you get the opportunity to chat with readers over a longer span. Whenever I have finished reading a lump sum story, I feel like I miss out on getting to comment on the little stuff I loved over the course of the story.

As a reader I find its very fun waiting anxiously for the next chapter, and getting to read comments every week, getting to geek out over the story with other readers is very appealing. Its just not the same when you finish the entire story all at once. I think once you get into the upper ranges of chapters, (5-10ish) people are more likely to start your story (at least I am lol.)

I don't really care about how many reads I have spread out over every chapter. As long as reader engagement otherwise stays high then I think its worth it. There is lots of debate over what "high" engagement is, but I am happy with where my story is now. To each his own though

 

[Writer61]

As a reader I find its very fun waiting anxiously for the next chapter, and getting to read comments every week, getting to geek out over the story with other readers. Its just not the same when you finish the entire story all at once.

There is a difference between finishing and publishing a story.

If you are going to post chapters regularly you need to be able to complete them as fast/faster. I don't expect to finish a chapter a week so publishing that often is not feasible.

When you have the whole story, you still have the option to stagger the release.

 

[happyyy_]

If you are going to post chapters regularly you need to be able to complete them as fast/faster. I don't expect to finish a chapter a week so publishing that often is not feasible.

That is a good point, it definitely doesn't work for everyone.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

That is a good point, it definitely doesn't work for everyone.

Ahem, I resemble that remark...

 

[Jay142]

When I write a longer story, I break it up into chapters in one submission in case readers can't read the entire story in one sitting. There are natural breaks where I'll start a new chapter so they can easily find where they left off when they come back to it.

I'm working on one now that is over 20k words which is more than 40 Google Doc pages. It will be four chapters.

 

[rebel_code]

One major incentive for breaking a story up is that on Lit, the volume of new works is so high that a submission has only a few fleeting days on the 'new' lists before sinking from view. Authors may hope that publishing a chapter at a time will keep at least part of a story visible longer to generate views and buzz. That's the hope, anyway. Doubtful if that actually works in practice.

 

[SimonDoom]

If your story is around 20,000 words or fewer, there's no good reason to break it up into separately published chapters. Publish it as one submission. The data are pretty clear about this; longer stories tend to do better overall than shorter stories, even though there are many readers (including some who will tell you so in this forum) who prefer short stories.

 

[darkride]

Was just going to post a similar question...

I'm currently working on Ch15 of a story, which will be the final part of what's become around 65k - 70k, and was thinking of re-posting the story as 1 complete work.

In retrospect, I know that I needed to post each chapter individually because I needed the "Yes, we love it, write more" that many readers thankfully provided to let me know that I wasn't just, well, writing crap.

But now it's almost at the end, I was thinking it would be good to have an "omnibus" edition... Of course, I'll also no doubt then also perform a re-write to some degree... cos I can't leave my words alone. :}

 

[BobbyBrandt]

First, decide whether you are writing a multi-chapter, stand-alone story or a series of related stand-alone stories.

A stand-alone story should be completely finished before submitting any portion of it. This allows for better management of the story, characters, and continuity.

I write both series and chapter stories. I used to break my completed chapter stories up into parts when submitting, usually by chapter but sometimes in parts consisting of multiple chapters. (Bear in mind that my chapter stories are novel length, averaging just under 100K words each and my longest story on Lit is 81 pages.) The overwhelming feedback that I received from readers was that they preferred my chapter stories to be posted as single submissions instead of broken up.

I resubmitted all of my multi-submission stories as single submissions and had the previous chapters/parts removed. In every case, the scores for the overall story increased compared to the average for the individual chapters/parts.

A well written and captivating story, with or without sex, can be quite successful here regardless of how long it is.

 

[Pureotica]

If Lit was better formatted for reading long form content, I wouldn't care one way or the other. As it is, I prefer content broken into chunks I can read in one sitting. If I'm faced with a 50k wall of text, I'm probably going to pass unless the writing is stellar.

I don't seem to be the majority opinion, though. I also don't consider my personal preferences to be the one true way.

I'm working on a long form project for novels category. I may do two versions. A chaptered version and a single document version. That way both camps can have their preference. I'm not releasing any of it until its complete either way. I've learned the hard way that my stories change in process, and I always regret publishing things too soon.

 

[Katie_Mae]

I'm working on a long form project for novels category. I may do two versions. A chaptered version and a single document version. That way both camps can have their preference.

I agree with everything you've said and could have written your post myself, but fyi lit won't allow you to release two versions of the same story.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Was just going to post a similar question...

I'm currently working on Ch15 of a story, which will be the final part of what's become around 65k - 70k, and was thinking of re-posting the story as 1 complete work.

Why bother? Once the story is posted, all of the chapters are joined together anyway, and it's not going to make a jot of difference how people are going to read it. 50% will bail out within the first five hundred words, another 25% won't get past the second Lit page, the rest might go on and finish it, if you're lucky.

People worry far too much about the first splash a story makes on Lit. After six months, it's irrelevant; and if after six years the View count is still steadily increasing, you know you wrote a good story that's still being read.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

Why bother? Once the story is posted, all of the chapters are joined together anyway, and it's not going to make a jot of difference how people are going to read it.

I can only speak for myself as a reader, but regardless of how long chapters of a story have been posted here, unless I can see clear and definitive evidence that the entire story is published, I won't begin to read any of it.

That is one of the greatest features of the series management tool, in that it allows a writer to mark a chapter story or series as "complete". I wish more would utilize it, even for submissions that came out before the tool was launched. Go back and mark your works complete if they are.

 

[StillStunned]

I can only speak for myself as a reader, but regardless of how long chapters of a story have been posted here, unless I can see clear and definitive evidence that the entire story is published, I won't begin to read any of it.

That is one of the greatest features of the series management tool, in that it allows a writer to mark a chapter story or series as "complete". I wish more would utilize it, even for submissions that came out before the tool was launched. Go back and mark your works complete if they are.

It also helps to know that you can still add chapters or instalments even after you've marked your series as "complete".