Question on length...

[elsol]

Is twenty lit pages too much for readers?

I tried to post a story in its most logical breaks, since posting a story in individual chapters here woudl be a royal pain in the ass, so I broke it down by Books, but each book makes for +20 lit pages.

I'd hate to do something like Book 01 Part 01, but if it's easier on the readers I'll do it.

I got a PC on it, and was wondering what other people's experiences were.

The story is in Novels and Novellas, which is why I thought 20+ pages wouldn't be so bad.

Sincerely,
ElSol

 

[impressive]

Is twenty lit pages too much for readers?

It's too much for me.

Ten Lit pages is too much for me. I can't read on screen that much. Hurts my eyes.

In fact, unless it's an author I know well, I'll back click for 4 Lit pages.

 

[cantdog]

Thanks for making me an exception, imp. Hope it was worth it. I hate to think I'm hurting someone's eyes.

 

[minsue]

It's not too much to me. I prefer longer stories to ones with many chapters that I have to keep clicking back to a member page to read, but I think I'm in the miniority here.

 

[cantdog]

I tried a Noble Experiment along those lines. I wanted to post a long one, my Weasel story, and I put up a couple chapters, or what-you-may-call-them, of unintimidating length. Readership fell off from One to Two, as it always does.

But anyone who kept on for Three, I imagined, was in for the whole banana. So Three is just the Rest of the Story, all in a whack.

Made a certain amount of limited sense, and I don't believe it had been tried before. Three is very highly rated, consequently, even if nobody (hardly) ever reads it.

But I don't notice an overall advantage over other ways of doing it.

I hate to post in Novels, because I feel obligated to sketch out the type of sex that's in it. I don't want, say, disgruntled lesbians resenting that no one told them it's just more straight sex... or people becoming bent by the anal stuff with no warning, or whatever. If you post in pieces, you can let the category do that work for you, without having to begin a work with an apology for it.

edited: Weasel part three runs to seven pages, and the first two pass over into the second page, so I suppose it would be ten or so in one whack, if I'd done that.

 

[oggbashan]

Is twenty lit pages too much for readers?
...
ElSol

It shouldn't be but it is likely to deter most. A normal length blockbuster 250-350k words would be difficult to read from a screen.

It might be a good idea to include a warning about the story's length at the top of the first page.

Og

 

[impressive]

Lit REALLY needs a PDF version link so that stories can be easily saved and magnified.

Of course, here's hoping that the offline reader would return to vote/comment on the story.

 

[Quiet_Cool]

Is twenty lit pages too much for readers?

I tried to post a story in its most logical breaks, since posting a story in individual chapters here woudl be a royal pain in the ass, so I broke it down by Books, but each book makes for +20 lit pages.

I'd hate to do something like Book 01 Part 01, but if it's easier on the readers I'll do it.

I got a PC on it, and was wondering what other people's experiences were.

The story is in Novels and Novellas, which is why I thought 20+ pages wouldn't be so bad.

Sincerely,
ElSol

Honestly, I'd say most people who aren't following the novels/novellas section would simply backclick when they see so many pages. My longest is only four pages, so I'm not the best judge fo this. That story only has 8 votes. Also, in the Antology thread, everyone seems to be reading the shorter stories first. I think we mostly do that when we read the new ones as well, mostly since so many of the stories that are posted on Lit. (not referring to the Anthology project here, merely Lit as a whole) are not so well-written, and less than masterpieces.

I guess what I mean is, a fan of your writing style would seem likely to read regardless of the length, but someone just clicking on to your story because they came across it, probably wouldn't bother with it to see whether they like your style or not.

Q_C

 

[BlackShanglan]

Be sneaky.

Make a 1-to-3 pager taster that introduces the story and really grabs the reader. Make that Book I and hook them without scaring them with a huge page count.

Then offer them 20 more pages of the same for the next book. If the "appetizer" is suitably delicious, they'll be delighted sit down to the feast.

Shanglan

 

[AppleBiter]

WAY too much for me. Then again, anything over 2 Lit pages makes me question if I really want to read it or not. Usually, when I sit down to read a Lit story, I'm looking for the shorter variety. I don't often have hours and hours to sit in front of the computer, so it's different from buying a book, which I can take anywhere with me and pick up conveniently at a later time. Obviously, there are people who enjoy the longer stories, though, so I certainly don't think you shouldn't put it out there. It's just that my personal preferences are for the shorter stories.

Good luck to you!

AppleBiter