Series: Submit all at once or over time?

[jayellfields]

I have a few stories that contain multiple chapters and because of their length I feel they would best be formatted as a series. The stories are complete but I wonder...Do you prefer to submit a series all at once or do you like to submit one chapter at a time and wait a couple of days in between chapters?

jayellfields

 

[starscape]

I think you will get the most readership if you submit all of the chapters on the same day. The site typically posts one chapter per day even if you submit them all at once. In my experience, and from what I've read/been told by others, readers are more likely to stick with your story if they don't have to wait for the next installment. Posting daily can also help you pick up new readers. Some folks won't read chaptered stories if they think the author will leave them hanging and not finish it. A chapter a day could motivate those readers to give your story a click because they can be fairly confident it will be complete.

A couple of days in between chapters probably wouldn't hurt that much, but it does seem that the longer the intervals, the greater the drop-off.

 

[Scotsman69]

It's true that there can be a dropoff in readership between the first and subsequent chapters, but not always. Sometimes mine have gone the other way.

What is true for some reason, is that chapter stories are much more likely to get red Hs than one-offs. A kind statistician once posted a piece of research on Lit to prove that this is so, and it certainly is in the case of my stories.

I try to keep my chapters to between 4-5000 words, ie 2-3 Lit pages.

 

[jayellfields]

Thanks for your thoughts gentlemen. Having the chapters posted one day at a time would be perfect. If you care to look, the title of the story will be "The Office Visit". I'll post a link when its accepted.

Thanks
Jayellfieds

 

[cherrybl0ss0m]

I was in the same boat as yourself jayell, I had a completed series a long time ago which I have already posted one chapter (with it being a .doc, I have to wait) I prefer giving readers time between chapters, you never know your readers until you actually post, was going to post a chapter once every 2 or 3 days.