Large stories, better to release them in parts or as a whole?

[NickAxel]

So my next story appears to be approaching twenty five thousand words, is it better to release it in parts, or as a whole?

 

[Bamagan]

It's largely a wash, unless you have a specific agenda or plan.
More chapters means more visibility on the new story list, which can help new readers find you. Engagement can be lower, since some people are reluctant to read things in installments which might never be completed (as far as they know). Certain voters may also be reluctant to rate partial works (perhaps they have to make sure it ends satisfactorily, from their perspective).
A single publication can be easier to miss, but many authors here report it leads to better engagement, i.e., there are fewer comments asking when the next part comes out, or encouraging the author to write the next part. Truly long works may cause people to back out, if they're looking for a quick read, but at about 25k words that may not be a big issue for you.
In a month or a year's time, it basically won't matter, since it'll be found through tags or suggestions. Don't stress over it.

 

[Trionyx]

Whatever you do, make sure you have completed the entire story before releasing any chapters. Too many times a chapter is released, then another and eventually the author quits in mid story. Very, very frustrating for the reader.

 

[RejectReality]

Whatever you do, make sure you have completed the entire story before releasing any chapters. Too many times a chapter is released, then another and eventually the author quits in mid story. Very, very frustrating for the reader.

And make a point of saying it's complete and how many chapters there are in an author's note at the beginning of chapter 1. Likewise, say how often you're going to try to release them ( I recommend twice a week, BTW ) assuming the Lit queue isn't being a butthead and throwing things off for you.

Like has already been said, it's a matter of whether you're aiming more for new readers. Chapters is the better solution for that. Otherwise, a long story gets about the same engagement and the same sort of scoring regardless of the presentation. Those who are willing to read long stories will. Any bias toward long single-shots is because they KNOW it's finished when you present it all at once. Let them know that from the get-go on a chapter story, and it should be even steven.

You might get a little more in the read department from chapters from the simple fact that people wait until they finish something to vote. Those votes can matter in the early life of the story. If people put it down to finish tomorrow, it may already be off the Hub list the next day, and the votes coming in then won't raise the profile of the story as much as they would on day-1.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

Whatever you do, make sure you have completed the entire story before releasing any chapters. Too many times a chapter is released, then another and eventually the author quits in mid story. Very, very frustrating for the reader.

Absolutely this. I hate it as a reader and sadly, am guilty as a writer.

I hope to finish my offending story one day, but probably won’t do any more series work.

 

[PennameWombat]

So my next story appears to be approaching twenty five thousand words, is it better to release it in parts, or as a whole?

I have plenty of single stories in the 20,000 to 40,000 range and longer, up to around 70,000 words for a couple.

My key factor is whether or not the story has beats that allow me to break each one up so that it 'works' as separate stories in serial instalments. Each needs a beginning, middle, and end, with a larger theme carrying across the instalments. The longer ones I have don't fit that, they're single stories,

I also have stories that take place in one of a few different common universes. Certain ones focus on different characters, but any of the in-universe characters might appear.

The trade-off is that different categories have different tolerances for long stories. They seem to do well in SF&F and Novels & Novellas. NonHuman and Erotic Horror seem tolerant as well.

With chapters, you'll usually see a drop off in readers for each subsequent chapter, but scores usually go up as only the 'fans' keep reading. That's why the category Top Lists have so many "Endless Chapters Story, ch. 34" type listings (a point often complained about in this forum.)

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I will echo the advice to not post any parts of a story until it is complete. Not only is it the most respectful to the readers, it also allows you to maintain control until the end. An idea that come to you in later chapters would benefit the story but including it would require changes to already published chapters - very frustrating.

I will share my own experience with you...

There are four of my stories on Literotica that I originally submitted as chapters, or parts containing multiple chapters. The individual chapters all did fine, achieving a red H and attracting readers. The overwhelming feedback from readers, however, was that they would have preferred it if I had submitted a single, longer story rather than the pieces. I eventually asked Laurel to replace the parts of each story with the single longer file, which she agreed to do. The average score for each story has increased by at least 0.01 and there has been zero negative feedback about them being too long.

Whether you submit in pieces or as a whole, in a few months things will stabilize. Your story will be off the new story list and readers will stumble across your tale as it sits among the thousands of others here. Good luck.

 

[ElectricBlue]

So my next story appears to be approaching twenty five thousand words, is it better to release it in parts, or as a whole?

That's not a super long story by Lit standards, and would run fine as a stand-alone. If it was chaptered, then around 10k words seems to be a sweet spot, so you wouldn't have many chapters.

Keep in mind, in six months time when the whole story has been published, the release strategy is irrelevant, because the whole thing has been published. Think long term, not just the first week or two.