Chapters or single story?

[OneEyedSteve]

Do you prefer stories to be broken into different chapters or as a single continual story? I've submitted both, I'm just curious what readers prefer. Do you like to have the full story available at one time, or do you enjoy the anticipation of waiting for the next chapter to be released?

 

[BobbyBrandt]

do you enjoy the anticipation of waiting for the next chapter to be released?

This only matters initially. Once the entire story is published all anticipation goes away.

My readers have stated emphatically that they prefer single submissions over individual chapters, but other authors have their own metrics and feedback. I can say that when I converted four previously published chapter stories to single submissions, the rating for each increased by at least .10.

I believe that a lot of authors submit chapter by chapter because that is how they write. There are hundreds of unfinished stories on this site due to this. If you're patient and finish the complete story before submitting any part of it, readers will be more inclined to accept it regardless of how you publish it.

 

[SinclairGroupLLP]

It depends on the length and the story that's being told. I've read one-offs that are 30k words and that's fine. Some stories can be easily wrapped up and don't need multiple chapters. I tend to not mind chaptered stories - I think the bulk of stories on the site tend to be chaptered, at least in my area, but I have seen a few one-off stories that could have probably been punchier if they'd been in chapters, and I've seen some chaptered stories that should probably have been put together.

My gut says if you're doing a chaptered story and the chapters are all fewer than 5k words, you probably shouldn't be breaking things up into chunks that small.

 

[Rob_Royale]

For me it's length based. If your chapters are all 10-20k words, by all means, create a series. Super short chapters, 1.5 to 3k words, you'd be doing yourself a favor by making it one story.

 

[Cagivagurl]

As a reader....
I don't read chaptered stories... I've been let don by authors that never finish...
Plus, I prefer longer stories... I like to immerse myself into it and enjoy it in it's entirety... I don't care how long it is. If the story holds my attention, I'm there for the journey...
Chapters aren't for me...
As a writer, I've tried both... These days, I prefer to release stories as one entity... Readers seem to prefer that... At least that's the feedback I get...

Cagivagurl

 

[KachinaDoll]

I prefer single stories even if long. Life's too short to wait for installments.

 

[Davidbeer1]

So far I have only 15 works, but it seems to me that in a series, the reader numbers fall off drastically after about four chapters. I've seen other numbers- two or three- mentioned in other threads. One can't really expect a reader who hasn't read the first chapter to go for the second, so the numbers are doomed to decline. Then I tried writing a trilogy (which later became a tetralogy, with the fourth volume still unfinished) and to my surprise, the numbers for the second volume exceeded the first. The number for the third volume is still climbing rapidly.

Obviously, the disadvantage is that every volume has to be readable on its own, so if the background is important, it has to be included in each volume, or in a preface.

So far, I haven't written enough to come to a firm conclusion, but it does seem to be worth a try.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

So far I have only 15 works, but it seems to me that in a series, the reader numbers fall off drastically after about four chapters. I've seen other numbers- two or three- mentioned in other threads. One can't really expect a reader who hasn't read the first chapter to go for the second, so the numbers are doomed to decline. Then I tried writing a trilogy (which later became a tetralogy, with the fourth volume still unfinished) and to my surprise, the numbers for the second volume exceeded the first. The number for the third volume is still climbing rapidly.

Obviously, the disadvantage is that every volume has to be readable on its own, so if the background is important, it has to be included in each volume, or in a preface.

So far, I haven't written enough to come to a firm conclusion, but it does seem to be worth a try.

A series is different than a chapter story being published in multiple parts.

When I published chapter stories as individual chapters, I did see the drop-off that you mentioned from early chapters to the later ones. I never see that with my series stories. They are all different stories, following a similar plot but with different characters, or stories with the same characters in different settings and circumstances. Each is standalone. That is not what a "chapter" is.

 

[Voyeurkenneth]

A series is different than a chapter story being published in multiple parts.

When I published chapter stories as individual chapters, I did see the drop-off that you mentioned from early chapters to the later ones. I never see that with my series stories. They are all different stories, following a similar plot but with different characters, or stories with the same characters in different settings and circumstances. Each is standalone. That is not what a "chapter" is.

With your series stories, do you publish them straight into the series? Or add them later?

Small part of me wonders if a reader gets deterred by the series icon when browsing new stories, but I doubt it.

 

[JGittes]

This is a conundrum. I published my first story as a series because I didn't know what I was doing and thought that was how it was done. It did well, but the fall-off in views that others have noted happened to this story. A few years ago, I did some detailed data gathering and found that many readers don't click on chaptered submissions. I've since edited it and placed it under one story.

The flip side is that many readers don't read long stories, and my stories are long. Except for a 750-word challenge and a 9k story I tried to salvage from a much longer work I had abandoned, I write long stories, 18k to 42k words. Most authors report 1 vote per 100 clicks (views), whereas my stories receive 1 vote per 200 or 300 clicks, varying by story length.

 

[ElectricBlue]

The flip side is that many readers don't read long stories, and my stories are long. Except for a 750-word challenge and a 9k story I tried to salvage from a much longer work I had abandoned, I write long stories, 18k to 42k words. Most authors report 1 vote per 100 clicks (views), whereas my stories receive 1 vote per 200 or 300 clicks, varying by story length.

I'm not sure there's much of a correlation between vote count and story length. I've got stories and chapters of all lengths (including novel and novella length like yours), and my ratio is pretty constant at one vote per hundred views, regardless of length.

 

[LexxRuthless]

I've had several readers tell me that they will not bother to read anything on Literotica if it is divided into chapters, unless they have already read a standalone story by that author and they really liked it. So, if all your stories are submitted as chapters, you're probably going to be ignored by a substantial number of readers. As a rough estimate, it could be as high as 80% of the people reading stories in that category that day.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

With your series stories, do you publish them straight into the series? Or add them later?

Small part of me wonders if a reader gets deterred by the series icon when browsing new stories, but I doubt it.

I started my series stories here before the series manager tools was available. The system created the series based upon the story titles as more were added.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I've had several readers tell me that they will not bother to read anything on Literotica if it is divided into chapters, unless they have already read a standalone story by that author and they really liked it. So, if all your stories are submitted as chapters, you're probably going to be ignored by a substantial number of readers. As a rough estimate, it could be as high as 80% of the people reading stories in that category that day.

I know that I won't even start a story unless I know that it is complete. With chapter stories, there had better be some indication with the last submission that it is the last or I ignore all the chapters.

 

[Davidbeer1]

I'm not sure there's much of a correlation between vote count and story length. I've got stories and chapters of all lengths (including novel and novella length like yours), and my ratio is pretty constant at one vote per hundred views, regardless of length.

I'm closer to 1 per 200. I've seen it said, in other threads, that it varies a great deal between categories, as if each categories has a stable readership with established habits. That is odd, since the placing of the stories can seem very arbitrary.

 

[SamBomb]

I release in parts. Sometimes 1-8 chapters per part.

I don't know, if I waited to write the entire story, it would be pushing like 50,000 words and I would hardly release anything.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

I'm not sure there's much of a correlation between vote count and story length. I've got stories and chapters of all lengths (including novel and novella length like yours), and my ratio is pretty constant at one vote per hundred views, regardless of length.

It would make sense that there would be some correlation. People tend to vote only after getting to the end (unless they are bombing) and longer pieces will have less people getting to the end. I also get roughly 1 vote per 100 views but my two long submissions get around 1 per 125 and 1 per 150 (and I get bombed a lot). The one at 1 per 150 is about 2/3rds the length of the other but it has much controversial themes so I know that it has more nope-outs (and bombs).

 

[Areala-chan]

I don't do chapters. I want anyone who clicks on one of my stories to know it's a complete work, and thus read, vote, and comment on it with that in mind.

 

[yowser]

I've had several readers tell me that they will not bother to read anything on Literotica if it is divided into chapters, unless they have already read a standalone story by that author and they really liked it. So, if all your stories are submitted as chapters, you're probably going to be ignored by a substantial number of readers. As a rough estimate, it could be as high as 80% of the people reading stories in that category that day.

It's so hard to generalise about readers here, but this sounds right.

I am not a normal reader (way too fussy) but I fit your observation, with one alteration. No chaptered stories UNLESS i already know I like the author, one way or another.

So skimming today's new offerings I see that 2/3 of the first page's worth (75 per) are chaptered and so I won't even bother with a look.

Besides the known-author bit, the only other exception for me is a title/description that is too irresistible not to test out. New writers, this combo is your strongest weapon for attracting readers.