Novels & Novellas

[Colleen Thomas]

My first real novel length work is done. I'm going to post it in novells & novells. Does anyone have any opinions on wheter I am better off posriting it as one work or posting it chapter by chapter?

 

[matriarch]

My first real novel length work is done. I'm going to post it in novells & novells. Does anyone have any opinions on wheter I am better off posriting it as one work or posting it chapter by chapter?

How about pm-ing some of the more successful authors in that category, and asking their advice??

I personally would have thought chapters at a time, maybe a day or two between each one.

 

[damppanties]

I personally would have thought chapters at a time, maybe a day or two between each one.

The same if you ask me. Personally, I hate reading long works. One of the first things I'll do is scroll down to see how many pages the work has. Too many and the opening has to be really good to make me continue. On the other hand, if it's one Lit page, I'll try reading it anyway.

The best thing you could do for me as a reader is give the story to me in small bite-sized pieces. So if the story has obvious points where you can cut it into chapters, I'd prefer it that way. Just my opinion.

 

[Weird Harold]

My first real novel length work is done. I'm going to post it in novells & novells. Does anyone have any opinions on wheter I am better off posriting it as one work or posting it chapter by chapter?

Posting in one piece: You get one rating for the whole story, but you get fewer readers and votes.

Posting in chapters: You get ratings for each chapter separately, but your story title stays on the New Stories page longer and attracts more readers.

I'd post a chapter every three days for the extended time your story spends on the New Stories page to get the most readers possible, but there are pros and cons to any way you do it.

 

[wishfulthinking]

As a reader, I prefer 2, possibly 2-3 Lit pages.

For maximum exposure, I would post 1 story every 5-7 days to ensure each chapter has its full week on the next list. That way, if you have 10 chapters, you effectively have 70 days on the new list to gather readers and interest. And you could also write on your members page what you intend doing ie tell them to keep a look out for it.

I can't do it, but I notice a lot of readers will start at chapter 3 or 5 or whatever, and if they like it, go back and start at the beginning.

I also prefer chapters as a writer, because readers pick up things that can either inspire a new twist or cut off something short.

But good luck either way

 

[impressive]

The same if you ask me. Personally, I hate reading long works. One of the first things I'll do is scroll down to see how many pages the work has. Too many and the opening has to be really good to make me continue. On the other hand, if it's one Lit page, I'll try reading it anyway.

The best thing you could do for me as a reader is give the story to me in small bite-sized pieces. So if the story has obvious points where you can cut it into chapters, I'd prefer it that way. Just my opinion.

*nods* What dampy said.

 

[oggbashan]

It depends...

...on its structure.

You ought to have asked this question, at least of yourself, before planning the story.

If it is already written as chapters, and each chapter can stand on its own, then post it as chapters with a 3/4 day break between.

If it is a continuous narrative and the chapter breaks are not cliff-hangers nor self-contained entities, then it should be posted as a whole.

What matters is that the breaks, if it is broken, should be in meaningful places and not contrived places for 'A word from our sponsor'.

Og

 

[Halo_n_horns]

My first real novel length work is done. I'm going to post it in novells & novells. Does anyone have any opinions on wheter I am better off posriting it as one work or posting it chapter by chapter?

The only real critisism that I got on a long story I have here was that I should have posted the first 6 chapters individually instead of all as one read. Since then I've been submitting the chapters individually.

 

[Rumple Foreskin]

What everyone else is saying:

CHAPTER-BY-CHAPTER

plus Og's caveat and one of my own. If the chapters are short, you might consider posting more than just one at a time.

Be sure to let us know when it's posted (or the posting begins) so we can all rush over to read and make fun of both it and you. No need to thank us. What else are friends and colleagues for?

Rumple Foreskin

 

[Guest]

My first real novel length work is done. I'm going to post it in novells & novells. Does anyone have any opinions on wheter I am better off posriting it as one work or posting it chapter by chapter?

Every novel that I've posted has gone off better when sent in segments, depending upon the length of the chapters. And they like it if there is a segment a night, or morning for them to read... good luck.

 

[velvetpie]

Chapter by chapter definitely. It's too difficult to read otherwise and you might lose the reader in the process.

 

[R. Richard]

My first real novel length work is done. I'm going to post it in novells & novells. Does anyone have any opinions on wheter I am better off posriting it as one work or posting it chapter by chapter?

If you intend to do the 2006 Survivor Contest, chapters is the only way to go. By the way, if you post all of the chapters at once, Laurel only enables one chapter per day.

One nice thing about posting in chapters is that you can get feedback on a chapter basis. You may be able to rewrite a chapter a bit, based on the feedback. Once you have things cleaned up, you can try for paid publication.

 

[mismused]

delete

 

[Colleen Thomas]

...on its structure.

You ought to have asked this question, at least of yourself, before planning the story.

If it is already written as chapters, and each chapter can stand on its own, then post it as chapters with a 3/4 day break between.

If it is a continuous narrative and the chapter breaks are not cliff-hangers nor self-contained entities, then it should be posted as a whole.

What matters is that the breaks, if it is broken, should be in meaningful places and not contrived places for 'A word from our sponsor'.

Og

You've read the draft Oggs and I think it's a me story. It's not written with any idea of chapter breaks. it flows more or less like one of my shorter works.

I could break it, but even if I tried hard i cdoubt it would run to 10 chapters. It's only 197 word pages, about 76.5K words.

Shang edited it for me, so I'll ask the horsey if there are logical break points or if I would just have to butcher it.

Thanks to all for your comments. Obviously, I made a mistake not deciding his before I wrote it.

 

[SophiaY]

mmmm....Why not submit it for print publication first? There's hardly any market for short stories out there, but novels do.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

mmmm....Why not submit it for print publication first? There's hardly any market for short stories out there, but novels do.

Thank you for the vote of confidence, but no one is going to print publish this one.

*HUGS*

 

[oggbashan]

You've read the draft Oggs and I think it's a me story. It's not written with any idea of chapter breaks. it flows more or less like one of my shorter works...

That's why you can't really break it up. Not now. It's too late. The integrity of the story is more important than its presentation on Literotica.

Og

 

[impressive]

Thank you for the vote of confidence, but no one is going to print publish this one.

*HUGS*

I will, if'n you wanna go POD.

 

[carsonshepherd]

Thank you for the vote of confidence, but no one is going to print publish this one.

*HUGS*

Don't be so sure.

Also, let me know when it's up. I want to read it.

 

[Aurora Black]

This is a really great thread, very informative. I want to read it too, Colly.

 

[SophiaY]

There should be a group project to kick Colleen out of the literary closet. Time for her to seriously brave the paper world.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

Well, it's submitted. For those of you ho thought you wanted to read it, it's 22 lit pages long.

 

[matriarch]

There should be a group project to kick Colleen out of the literary closet. Time for her to seriously brave the paper world.

Hear hear!!!
We've been trying for years.
Time to put it into action.
We need a game plan and a hit squad.

Of course, if she went voluntarily, we wouldn't have to do anything except cheer her on when the first book became the huge success we know it will be.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

Hear hear!!!
We've been trying for years.
Time to put it into action.
We need a game plan and a hit squad.

Of course, if she went voluntarily, we wouldn't have to do anything except cheer her on when the first book became the huge success we know it will be.

You and Sophia are agitators!

And I love you both the more for your faith in me. I just don't hsare it.

*HUGS*

 

[matriarch]

You and Sophia are agitators!

And I love you both the more for your faith in me. I just don't hsare it.

*HUGS*

Me?
Lil' ol' me?
Harmless Auntie, an agitator?

Shame on you, beautiful.

You don't have to share our faith, just trust us. Then get it submitted.
Pronto.