Single story or series?

[IsaacTolkien]

I have a story ready, probably in the First Time category. It is about 30,000 words long.

I could publish it as a single story - there is a slow, gradual buildup, but the two characters lose their virginity together at the very end. But that seems a very long story and will people make it through at one sitting?

Or I could make it a series. The most obvious division would be after each love scene. There are six, starting from kissing and getting further each time. In that case, the chapters might be too short - the preferred length around here seems to be 10-15,000 words.

The compromise might be to divide into three chapters, so two love scenes per chapter. Each chapter will feel like a two-parter, though, although it's the "right" length.

(if anyone's interested in actually reading it, PM me)

 

[SimonDoom]

I have a story ready, probably in the First Time category. It is about 30,000 words long.

I could publish it as a single story - there is a slow, gradual buildup, but the two characters lose their virginity together at the very end. But that seems a very long story and will people make it through at one sitting?

Or I could make it a series. The most obvious division would be after each love scene. There are six, starting from kissing and getting further each time. In that case, the chapters might be too short - the preferred length around here seems to be 10-15,000 words.

The compromise might be to divide into three chapters, so two love scenes per chapter. Each chapter will feel like a two-parter, though, although it's the "right" length.

(if anyone's interested in actually reading it, PM me)

30,000 isn't that long by Lit standards. That's about 8 Lit pages. Unless there's really good reason to break it up, I'd recommend publishing it as a single story.

You could divide it into three separately published chapters, too, but I would do that ONLY if there's enough sexual/teasing activity that you think it will hold the interest of readers who like First Time stories. Only do this if the story naturally breaks this way.

Don't publish it in the form of really short chapters. Stories that are super short don't do as well, generally speaking.

 

[NotWise]

I agree with Mr. Doom. Keep it in one piece. I have three or four stories of about that length in three different categories, and they're all well-received.

 

[Hypoxia]

Ditto the above. Chaptered stories need some ZING to entice readers to await or click on the next bit. Vivid cliffhangers; bold promises; addictive sex and drama. Better to entrap readers in one longer chunk than let them escape.

And stories of 8-11 LIT pages (at ~3750 words per page) seem to receive higher vote scores than do piecemeal episodes. Consider numbers' importance to you.

 

[thecanadianviking88]

If I may make a suggestion? Only go for a multi-chapter piece if you 1, receive a positive reaction to your first story, and 2, feel that you have more to add to the story after its conclusion.

What you've described sounds like an excellent one-shot story. Go with that!

 

[Javahead]

Ditto the above. Chaptered stories need some ZING to entice readers to await or click on the next bit. Vivid cliffhangers; bold promises; addictive sex and drama. Better to entrap readers in one longer chunk than let them escape.

And stories of 8-11 LIT pages (at ~3750 words per page) seem to receive higher vote scores than do piecemeal episodes. Consider numbers' importance to you.

There is a convenience issue for readers - it the story's too long to finish in one sitting, breaking it up into separate chunks makes it easier to pick it up where you left off.

My intended Summer Lovin' entry probably won't make it on time (maybe another 10-15 K words to go, bringing the whole to 95-100K). If I do get it done before the deadline, I'll do a quick skim / self edit and post as one chunk.

But if I don't, I'll take longer, try to break up smaller logical chunks just to make it easier for readers (well, that and look for volunteer editors - I'd really like more eyes on it if there's no time pressure).

I may be wrong, but I think unless you have some way to download the whole thing to an e-reader novel sized stories need to be broken up into single-sitting chunks.

 

[NotWise]

There is a convenience issue for readers - it the story's too long to finish in one sitting, breaking it up into separate chunks makes it easier to pick it up where you left off.

I number chapters within longer stories, but still post them as a single publication. I have reason to believe that readers actually use them as intended--favoriting or bookmarking the story, and then coming back to read where they left off.

 

[Javahead]

I number chapters within longer stories, but still post them as a single publication. I have reason to believe that readers actually use them as intended--favoriting or bookmarking the story, and then coming back to read where they left off.

I think that's partly browser dependent. On Apple tablets and phones, things like long multi Lit page stories get increasingly hard to deal with.

On PCs, it's not as much of an issues.

One of the things I'd love to see on Lit (probably pigs-flying unlikely, though) would be complete story downloads without requiring 3rd party application support. Even better, epub/mobi downloads the way Storiesonline/Finestories supply for paid readers.

There are ways to accomplish this with 3rd party apps. And I can see why Literotica doesn't want to add this functionality late in the game. But I think large-single-story chunks work far better with devices designed to enable that.

 

[ElectricBlue]

One of the things I'd love to see on Lit (probably pigs-flying unlikely, though) would be complete story downloads without requiring 3rd party application support. Even better, epub/mobi downloads the way Storiesonline/Finestories supply for paid readers.

There are ways to accomplish this with 3rd party apps. And I can see why Literotica doesn't want to add this functionality late in the game. But I think large-single-story chunks work far better with devices designed to enable that.

E-pub and Mobi require authorial formatting as they are proper publishing tools - I'm not sure Lit has the right to do that without an author's permission - not that I can ever see them doing it; it's a completely different publishing model.

 

[Javahead]

E-pub and Mobi require authorial formatting as they are proper publishing tools - I'm not sure Lit has the right to do that without an author's permission - not that I can ever see them doing it; it's a completely different publishing model.

As I said - pigs-flying unlikely.

Though Storiesonline/Finestories seems to do a decent job with auto formatting on their stories, the real holdup is what you said - the legal rights are murky, and I can see why they don't want to take an unneeded risk.

Though there were be a lot less urge to download if they'd do something they *do* have within their power - do a better job with presentation in a browser. And I really wish they had an Apple app to match their Android mobile app, though that's mostly (I think) an Apple store access issue.

 

[ThisNameIsntTakenYet]

One of the things I'd love to see on Lit (probably pigs-flying unlikely, though) would be complete story downloads without requiring 3rd party application support. Even better, epub/mobi downloads the way Storiesonline/Finestories supply for paid readers.

There are ways to accomplish this with 3rd party apps. And I can see why Literotica doesn't want to add this functionality late in the game. But I think large-single-story chunks work far better with devices designed to enable that.

Stories already get stolen from here and sold on Amazon very often, I doubt they'd want to make it even easier for people to do that. No you at least need to manually copy all pages of a story if you want to do that, just having a single button to press would make it way easier for people who intend to sell the story as if it was their own.

And I really wish they had an Apple app to match their Android mobile app, though that's mostly (I think) an Apple store access issue.

Well, there's also the fact that Android apps are written in Java (which I'd assume to be your favorite language ) and iOS apps were written in Objective-C and possibly Swift now. Not sure, not an expert on either of those platforms. Either way, these are vastly different languages which means the code isn't transferable and they'd need to build another app from the ground up to publish to Apple devices.

 

[Javahead]

Stories already get stolen from here and sold on Amazon very often, I doubt they'd want to make it even easier for people to do that. No you at least need to manually copy all pages of a story if you want to do that, just having a single button to press would make it way easier for people who intend to sell the story as if it was their own.
.

And that's a major problem. I've no idea how the other story sites that provide epub/mobi download (for paid members, anyway) handle this issue, but I've noticed frequent posts from writers there complaining about story theft and needed to work through Amazon to pull them down.

I suppose I should limit my wish list to a nicer reading interface with customized fonts, margins, and color choices.

Well, there's also the fact that Android apps are written in Java (which I'd assume to be your favorite language ) and iOS apps were written in Objective-C and possibly Swift now. Not sure, not an expert on either of those platforms. Either way, these are vastly different languages which means the code isn't transferable and they'd need to build another app from the ground up to publish to Apple devices.

Oddly, Java isn't my favorite language - I've used a lot of languages, but as a low-level systems programmer I cut my teeth on C (a copy of the original edition K & R white book is sitting within arm's reach) and still use it for most of my development.

My understanding (perhaps erroneous) is that Apple's curation of their App store was the main issue - they often block "adult" apps.

 

[ThisNameIsntTakenYet]

I suppose I should limit my wish list to a nicer reading interface with customized fonts, margins, and color choices.

I have a custom style sheet for the story page, which centers the reading pane and makes some readability changes like adding margins, justifying the text, changing font and size, etc. Small stuff but it's made a huge difference in my reading experience. I'm using an extension called User CSS for Chrome for it, but I'm sure there's similar ones for other browsers. That and apparently Manu is working on a new story page, so that might help a bit too in the readability department.