Labeling sequels

[grenefire]

Hi all,

I’ve recently started giving sequels names instead of numbering them. For instance, my latest series is called “My Summer with Aunt Janet” and the sequel is call “My Summer with Aunt Janet: Mom Cums.”

Do you think readers prefer one way over the other? Have you notice how it effects readership of sequels?

I do notice that my stories are automatically labeled as a series by the site and I haven’t figured out how to do it manually.

Thanks!!!

 

[alohadave]

I do notice that my stories are automatically labeled as a series by the site and I haven’t figured out how to do it manually.

If you add Ch # to the end of the title, the site will group them automatically.

In your Control Panel, if you click on Series (Beta), you can setup series manually, and arrange the stories however you like.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Depends if it's a story where you have to have read the first one to have a clue what is going on, or not. If yes, make it a chapter.

If no, mention at the top it's a standalone story but in a series so readers might want to look at the others too. Or not, if they address different kinks.

I have a series called "I Say Ass, You Say Arse" (transatlantic sex...), with subsequent chapters called ISAYSA: Again, Brighton, Contrasts and Different - that was as many characters as would fit at the time, and many better novelists than me have used similar naming systems. Not sure what E will be...

 

[ElectricBlue]

Do you think readers prefer one way over the other? Have you notice how it effects readership of sequels?

There's no way of knowing - readers won't tell you. In my head, named story sequences imply stand-alone parts, whereas numbered chapters imply an on-going story. That's the way I've done it, anyway.

Just make sure you don't mess up your sequencing - it's an numeric-alpha sort mechanism, if you let the site do a series automatically.

 

[SimonDoom]

It's difficult to tell if it matters. One suggestion: make sure that each successive chapter follows the previous one alphabetically, so on your submission page they will appear in the correct order and readers will know the order in which to read them. The advantage of numbering them is that this is clear.

 

[silkstockingslover]

From experience:
Numbering them leads to much lower reads, it often higher scores.
Adding a sub title leads to higher reads, lower scores and the odd reader annoyed at you for tricking them.

This isn’t an exact science by any means, but tends to be true from my experience.

Also, chapters show up as extra chapters, while sub titles don’t meaning readers won’t know at the end of a story that there is a sequel.

 

[gunhilltrain]

If you add Ch # to the end of the title, the site will group them automatically.

In your Control Panel, if you click on Series (Beta), you can setup series manually, and arrange the stories however you like.

I didn't know you could later add numbers to stand-alone sequels - can you? Mostly the sequels were not planned originally, and the stories may or may not have something similar about the titles. If I tell the readers at the top of a story what the previous ones are, they usually will accept that.

I've also stuck a later story into the middle of a series, also not planned. It won't be numbered but if I also tell the readers where it goes, they are happy enough.

 

[IsabellaEmily]

I have been horribly inconsistent at titling, sometimes because I write a sequel to a story that I had zero intent of writing a follow up to when I published it, so it ends up with its own title.

I just include a forward saying something like "This is a follow up to The Nurse and The Nanny and will make much more sense if you read that one first."

 

[alohadave]

I didn't know you could later add numbers to stand-alone sequels - can you? Mostly the sequels were not planned originally, and the stories may or may not have something similar about the titles. If I tell the readers at the top of a story what the previous ones are, they usually will accept that.

I've also stuck a later story into the middle of a series, also not planned. It won't be numbered but if I also tell the readers where it goes, they are happy enough.

You'd need to resubmit each story as an edit. You can't change the title yourself.

The nice thing about the new series system is that you can place them manually, so titles aren't critically important like they used to be.

 

[gunhilltrain]

You'd need to resubmit each story as an edit. You can't change the title yourself.

The nice thing about the new series system is that you can place them manually, so titles aren't critically important like they used to be.

Thank you. So far I doubt I would go to the trouble of resubmitting them. If the readers already get it, then there is no point (maybe weeks later) of changing things when most of them have already moved on.-

 

[BobbyBrandt]

Hi all,

I’ve recently started giving sequels names instead of numbering them. For instance, my latest series is called “My Summer with Aunt Janet” and the sequel is call “My Summer with Aunt Janet: Mom Cums.”

Do you think readers prefer one way over the other? Have you notice how it effects readership of sequels?

I do notice that my stories are automatically labeled as a series by the site and I haven’t figured out how to do it manually.

Thanks!!!

The distinction is between chaptered stories and series stories. You should endeavor to make it clear to readers what they are going to be getting into.

Here is an example of a series of independent stories that follow a common theme:

Here is an example of a chapter story submitted in multiple parts:

and, here is one more series of related stand-alone stories:

 

[MelissaBaby]

I've made the suggestion before that we should be able to add subtitle boxes, but, well...we all know how that goes.

In my longer series, I've given each chapter it'a own title, but they are only visible to the reader once they have opened the story. Although it does not help draw eyes to the story, it is useful in differentiating the individual chapters.

 

[Djmac1031]

Funny this comes up now.

I just submitted a sequel for a story I originally wrote over a year ago.

The original is titled The White Room.

Instead of going with "Part 2," this time I decided to just call the sequel The White Room Revisited.

I do state clearly in the forward that it's a sequel and even link it back to the first, to hopefully avoid reader confusion.

I think the only potential advantage of NOT using numbers is story browsers tend to skip numbered chapters in a series when looking for something to read because they're not starting a series in the middle.

By naming it instead of numbering it, it MIGHT draw a few extra clicks. But, once the reader realizes there's previous chapters, it's still very much a toss up whether they bother to read it or not.