Too many chapters?

[carsonshepherd]

I just got my first revision back on a novel I finished up at 32 chapters, just over 100k words. Has anyone had any experience posting a work of this length on Lit? I'm curious what kind of readership I would get, and if it would be better off in Gay Male catergory or Novels and Novellas.
I'm not definitely posting it, I plan to shop it to some e-publishers, but I'm thinking of having a run at Lit first to see what kind of reaction I get from readers.

 

[drksideofthemoon]

I just got my first revision back on a novel I finished up at 32 chapters, just over 100k words. Has anyone had any experience posting a work of this length on Lit? I'm curious what kind of readership I would get, and if it would be better off in Gay Male catergory or Novels and Novellas.
I'm not definitely posting it, I plan to shop it to some e-publishers, but I'm thinking of having a run at Lit first to see what kind of reaction I get from readers.

Well, my Montana Summer series has 11 chapters posted, and about 180K words and seems to do well enough....

 

[carsonshepherd]

Well, my Montana Summer series has 11 chapters posted, and about 180K words and seems to do well enough....

what category?

 

[3113]

Novels category!

what category?

Novel. That way you warn folk that if they start on this it's going to be a long haul. If you put it just in Gay Male, they may think it's going to be a couple of chapters--and that they're going to get the erotica up front. Not that it's going to be 32 chapters (yikes) and the sex will come when the sex will come--forgive the pun

Those that read the Novels category will stick with you and be prepared, even eager for a good long story. No need to give them sex in every chapter, either.

 

[carsonshepherd]

Novel. That way you warn folk that if they start on this it's going to be a long haul. If you put it just in Gay Male, they may think it's going to be a couple of chapters--and that they're going to get the erotica up front. Not that it's going to be 32 chapters (yikes) and the sex will come when the sex will come--forgive the pun

Those that read the Novels category will stick with you and be prepared, even eager for a good long story. No need to give them sex in every chapter, either.

the story does have a lot of sex in it, and the chapters are pretty short. I was thinking about combining them in sections - like, posting chapters 1-5 in one submission, then 6-10, etc. That would only make it 7 parts or so...

 

[3113]

the story does have a lot of sex in it, and the chapters are pretty short. I was thinking about combining them in sections - like, posting chapters 1-5 in one submission, then 6-10, etc. That would only make it 7 parts or so...

How many pages for each part? This can work so long as each part isn't longer than say, about 3-4 Lit pages long (around 50 normal, double-spaced pages).

If they run 6-7 Lit pages long, then the parts will be too long.

If you can pull off sections that run no more than 3-4 Lit pages, then go for the Gay section. 7 parts is not too long at all, it's even modest--as evidenced by stories like "Big Rig" and it's sequel which went on for far longer.

 

[Selena_Kitt]

what category?

incest

 

[BilyumQ]

I also had a large story to post. It amounted to more than 135k words. I found it best to break it down into chapters and post as a novel/novella

Hope this helps and good luck

BilyumQ

 

[Selena_Kitt]

I just got my first revision back on a novel I finished up at 32 chapters, just over 100k words. Has anyone had any experience posting a work of this length on Lit? I'm curious what kind of readership I would get, and if it would be better off in Gay Male catergory or Novels and Novellas.
I'm not definitely posting it, I plan to shop it to some e-publishers, but I'm thinking of having a run at Lit first to see what kind of reaction I get from readers.

Gay Male will get more readers... but I've been surprised, considering that I was told Novels/Novellas was practically dead, that my little novel has been doing well... it's about 150K in 12 chapters... so I wouldn't try to dissuade you from novels/novellas...

but if you want more exposure, then I'd say Gay Male... esp if there's sex in every chapter...

 

[S-Des]

How many pages for each part? This can work so long as each part isn't longer than say, about 3-4 Lit pages long (around 50 normal, double-spaced pages).

If they run 6-7 Lit pages long, then the parts will be too long.

If you can pull off sections that run no more than 3-4 Lit pages, then go for the Gay section. 7 parts is not too long at all, it's even modest--as evidenced by stories like "Big Rig" and it's sequel which went on for far longer.

Please, what she said! There has been such an odd trend in Lit lately for people to either release really long single chapters (sometimes 20 Lit pages for a story), or really short stories with a ton of chapters. There are a ton of stories on the site, please think of the poor reader who's scrolling through screens, trying to find a new story to read. I don't think your story is particularly long (I'm a really fast reader), but 32 chapters is more than a page on the search function.

My new one is about 70,000-80,000 words (not completely finished) and I'm planning on releasing it in 4 chapters in LW (I know, that category again). I try to keep my chapters between 3-6 pages in Lit (sorry Scouries). To me, that's long enough to make an interesting read with room for character developement and plot twists, without making someone be tied to their computer for hours trying to finish one part. I know it's just my opinion and everyone should do what they want, but with the length of stories I write (not intentionally, it's just how they come out), I could have 45 submissions in 4 stories if I released such short parts. To me, that's too confusing for everyone.

 

[drksideofthemoon]

what category?

It's in the Incest/Taboo category...the funny thing is that the story is no longer about sex, and has very little sex in it anymore and still it does well...

 

[Guest]

I just got my first revision back on a novel I finished up at 32 chapters, just over 100k words. Has anyone had any experience posting a work of this length on Lit? I'm curious what kind of readership I would get, and if it would be better off in Gay Male catergory or Novels and Novellas.
I'm not definitely posting it, I plan to shop it to some e-publishers, but I'm thinking of having a run at Lit first to see what kind of reaction I get from readers.

I have 22 chapters on a story posted in Non-Human and plan on another 8. The way that my story is set up (in 7 deadly sins), I've split it into parts, 4 or 5 chapters 15k at a time and get good readership that way for my story with comments sent via email. Then I have another novel that is has a mix of genre, mostly erotic horror I'm working on, posting single chapters at a time and have put under Novels and Novellas and received very few comments.

I would sit there and read your story under any category you'd post it because I enjoy your writing and I suspect you have enough of a fan base waiting for you to post another story for them that they would read it too. For people who haven't read you, they may not be receptive reading it under Novel and Novellas and spank you for not putting it in Gay Male category, but isn't a public comment good, bad or asinine feedback?

You have to decide what you want out of posting the story on Lit and that will tell you what category you should post.

 

[drksideofthemoon]

How many pages for each part? This can work so long as each part isn't longer than say, about 3-4 Lit pages long (around 50 normal, double-spaced pages).

If they run 6-7 Lit pages long, then the parts will be too long.

If you can pull off sections that run no more than 3-4 Lit pages, then go for the Gay section. 7 parts is not too long at all, it's even modest--as evidenced by stories like "Big Rig" and it's sequel which went on for far longer.

I think my past 5 chapters have been 6 or more Lit pages and the fans of the story seem to like that length. (About 20K words)

 

[carsonshepherd]

I have 22 chapters on a story posted in Non-Human and plan on another 8. The way that my story is set up (in 7 deadly sins), I've split it into parts, 4 or 5 chapters 15k at a time and get good readership that way for my story with comments sent via email. Then I have another novel that is has a mix of genre, mostly erotic horror I'm working on, posting single chapters at a time and have put under Novels and Novellas and received very few comments.

I would sit there and read your story under any category you'd post it because I enjoy your writing and I suspect you have enough of a fan base waiting for you to post another story for them that they would read it too. For people who haven't read you, they may not be receptive reading it under Novel and Novellas and spank you for not putting it in Gay Male category, but isn't a public comment good, bad or asinine feedback?

You have to decide what you want out of posting the story on Lit and that will tell you what category you should post.

I want to please my readers (LOL, if I have any left after not submitting a story in over a year) but I also want to gain new ones...

 

[3113]

I think my past 5 chapters have been 6 or more Lit pages and the fans of the story seem to like that length. (About 20K words)

Fans are fans and you can abuse them shamelessly because they will read just about anything you write and put up with lengthy chapters and interminablely long novels. But I don't think fans should be abused and, speaking for myself, if I get down to the bottom of that first page and see: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8...I stop reading the story. There are tons of stories on lit, and I'd rather not invest myself in one that's going to be several chapters of 8 Lit pages or more.

I'll wait for it to come out in paperback if I want to read something like that.

It takes very little effort to keep chapters down to 3-5 Lit pages, an easy read for someone with a cup of coffee, going through those new stories before they leave for work. That ups your readership and keeps them coming back for more chapters, IMHO.

 

[carsonshepherd]

Fans are fans and you can abuse them shamelessly because they will read just about anything you write and put up with lengthy chapters and interminablely long novels. But I don't think fans should be abused and, speaking for myself, if I get down to the bottom of that first page and see: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8...I stop reading the story. There are tons of stories on lit, and I'd rather not invest myself in one that's going to be several chapters of 8 Lit pages or more.

I'll wait for it to come out in paperback if I want to read something like that.

It takes very little effort to keep chapters down to 3-5 Lit pages, an easy read for someone with a cup of coffee, going through those new stories before they leave for work. That ups your readership and keeps them coming back for more chapters, IMHO.

I agree and most of my Lit stories are of that length. This is a novel I wrote without intending it for Lit (my first.) Just thought I might try it out - if I don't get a lot of reads or votes, it wouldn't break my heart, and I stopped caring about scores a long time ago.

 

[frozen_north]

I just got my first revision back on a novel I finished up at 32 chapters, just over 100k words. Has anyone had any experience posting a work of this length on Lit? I'm curious what kind of readership I would get, and if it would be better off in Gay Male catergory or Novels and Novellas.
I'm not definitely posting it, I plan to shop it to some e-publishers, but I'm thinking of having a run at Lit first to see what kind of reaction I get from readers.

Don't let small minds and short attention spans get you down. If the story is truely quality then the size of the story won't matter to the discerning reader, nor should the fact that there isn't sex in every other paragraph.

 

[carsonshepherd]

Don't let small minds and short attention spans get you down. If the story is truely quality then the size of the story won't matter to the discerning reader, nor should the fact that there isn't sex in every other paragraph.

True true. Although I don't know about quality, it's certainly got quantity

 

[carsonshepherd]

All right, I'm convinced. I'm gonna post it 5 chapters at a time in the Gay Male category and see what happens.

 

[drksideofthemoon]

Fans are fans and you can abuse them shamelessly because they will read just about anything you write and put up with lengthy chapters and interminablely long novels. But I don't think fans should be abused and, speaking for myself, if I get down to the bottom of that first page and see: 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8...I stop reading the story. There are tons of stories on lit, and I'd rather not invest myself in one that's going to be several chapters of 8 Lit pages or more.

I'll wait for it to come out in paperback if I want to read something like that.

It takes very little effort to keep chapters down to 3-5 Lit pages, an easy read for someone with a cup of coffee, going through those new stories before they leave for work. That ups your readership and keeps them coming back for more chapters, IMHO.

Well, I don't think I'm abusing my fans. I haven't ever received a comment regarding the chapters being too long, on the contrary, any comments about the length have been positive. It would seem that at least the people that comment want to escape for an hour or so...

The 11 chapters have totalled well over a million hits, and in excess of 6500 votes...so I think I'm doing something right...

Here's the numbers

Montana Summer Ch. 01 Ryan gets his first blowjob from his country cousin...
4.82 1106 180886 Incest/Taboo (English) 06/18/05 approved
Public Comments: 41 Moderate Public Comments
Voting Status
Yes No Public Comment Board: Yes No

Montana Summer Ch. 02 Ryan has threesome with his cousin and her best friend.
4.83 924 165716 Incest/Taboo (English) 06/23/05 approved
Public Comments: 24 Moderate Public Comments
Voting Status
Yes No Public Comment Board: Yes No

Montana Summer Ch. 03 Ryan deflowers his cousin and her friend.
4.85 780 139663 Incest/Taboo (English) 07/03/05 approved
Public Comments: 25 Moderate Public Comments
Voting Status
Yes No Public Comment Board: Yes No

Montana Summer Ch. 04 Ryan enjoys his cousin again in mountains of Montana.
4.85 662 101397 Incest/Taboo (English) 07/29/05 approved
Public Comments: 33 Moderate Public Comments
Voting Status
Yes No Public Comment Board: Yes No

Montana Summer Ch. 05 Ryan continues to enjoy his cousin and her best friend.
4.80 408 62520 Incest/Taboo (English) 10/20/05 approved
Public Comments: 33 Moderate Public Comments
Voting Status
Yes No Public Comment Board: Yes No

Montana Summer Ch. 06 Becky masturbates her brother to orgasm.
4.86 492 105917 Incest/Taboo (English) 11/04/05 approved
Public Comments: 45 Moderate Public Comments
Voting Status
Yes No Public Comment Board: Yes No

Montana Summer Ch. 07 Becky gives her brother oral; family secret revealed.
4.87 547 120240 Incest/Taboo (English) 11/28/05 approved
Public Comments: 88 Moderate Public Comments
Voting Status
Yes No Public Comment Board: Yes No

Montana Summer Ch. 08 Ryan learns secrets; Stan has sex with his sister.
4.84 309 97232 Incest/Taboo (English) 01/18/06 approved
Public Comments: 85 Moderate Public Comments
Voting Status
Yes No Public Comment Board: Yes No

Montana Summer Ch. 09 Ryan & Jessi have fun on a cattle drive.
4.87 461 106261 Incest/Taboo (English) 02/27/06 approved
Public Comments: 88 Moderate Public Comments
Voting Status
Yes No Public Comment Board: Yes No

Montana Summer Ch. 10 Amazing secret revealed; Ryan is in the hospital.
4.79 391 32083 Incest/Taboo (English) 03/30/06 approved
Public Comments: 74 Moderate Public Comments
Voting Status
Yes No Public Comment Board: Yes No

Montana Summer Ch. 11 Jessi gives her half brother handjob. Ryan comes home.
4.88 671 39887 Incest/Taboo (English) 05/20/06 approved
Public Comments: 71 Moderate Public Comments
Voting Status
Yes No Public Comment Board: Yes

 

[Selena_Kitt]

Well, I don't think I'm abusing my fans. I haven't ever received a comment regarding the chapters being too long, on the contrary, any comments about the length have been positive. It would seem that at least the people that comment want to escape for an hour or so...

yours is quite an anomaly, Bri... you have to admit...

 

[frozen_north]

I have one story of 11 chapters. While I can't say that it's gotten that many hits, the audience has been raveningly loyal and screaming for a sequal.

 

[3113]

Well, I don't think I'm abusing my fans. I haven't ever received a comment regarding the chapters being too long, on the contrary, any comments about the length have been positive. It would seem that at least the people that comment want to escape for an hour or so...

Um...excuse me, but I checked out your novel. Your first 5 chapters only ran 3 Lit pages each!

That's cheating. You can't sit here and recomment to Carlson that he make his chapter 6 or more lit pages--when YOU started with 3 Lit pages and only got into longer and longer chapters as the book went along. Once you've hooked the readers you've hooked them. But I've seen books here that have first chapters that run upwards of 8 Lit pages.

I'm doubtful that they've had the success you've had--although, again, to be fair, you seem to be a porpular author and if you got fans with your other stories they'll surely have followed you and be more than willing to read your longer stories. So maybe there have been those who succeeded with 8 lit pages or more for the first chapter of a novel.

This advice was for Carson, who has never posted anything so long before. Who, I'm sure, has his fans--and when he put ups this novel, who knows? Fans may read it in droves and scream for another story, and he may be able to go on for as long as he likes--as many chapters running upwards of 10 or 20 lit pages if he wants.

But for a first time novel, I think I'm giving him sound advise--and in no way contrary to what YOU, yourself did in your opening chapters. I think, on a first go with a novel here on Lit, it would be kinder to readers, and better to keep the Lit pages under 6. That way, Readers can ease into the story and get hooked--and Carlson doesn't have to shirk on developing characters or story.

I know the hits, and number, etc. don't matter (or so Carson has said), but I think that getting a wide variety of readers is a good thing. And IMHO, keeping chapters under 6 Lit pages widens the variety of readers--those who've got an hour to burn, and those who have only htat cup of coffee to give. It also avoids readers skimming the text, as many readers do--and as I've certainly found myself doing on the occassions that I do go for a story with 8 or more lit pages.

That's the way I see it. Your milage may vary.

 

[drksideofthemoon]

yours is quite an anomaly, Bri... you have to admit...

Yup, it certainly is...and I'm first one in line scratching my head...

 

[frozen_north]

I think, on a first go with a novel here on Lit, it would be kinder to readers, and better to keep the Lit pages under 6. That way, Readers can ease into the story and get hooked--and Carlson doesn't have to shirk on developing characters or story.

Still haven't gotten published here, so I not trying to be arguementitive; but exactly how long is 1 LIT page? In average kb. It seems (from a writers standpoint) that a chapter ends where it is appropriate for it to end and that has nothing to do with number of pages. I've seen (in the same story no less) chapters that range from a single paragraph to over 50 pages.