What’s your output rate?

[MajorRewrite]

My latest story (Twins Getting Ready) published this morning. In the 8 years I’ve been posting stories here, I’ve published just 8 stories.

Most of my stories have gone online at one-year intervals, although there was a 4 year gap at one point with no production. I made up for that by publishing 3 stories in a 1 month timeframe last year. I don’t know what got into me.

My once-a-year output rate must be one of the slowest for any author.

How often do you publish? And what was your longest break between publishing stories?

 

[jaykaythree]

Been here since late May 2021.

Seven stories,. one poem. Of those, all but two stories went online last year between June and October. Of the two for this year, one went live in January; the other, last week.

 

[NotWise]

I posted 53 stories in seven years and took twelve of those down. My average is close to eight per year, but a lot of that production was in the first couple years. I slowed down when I started writing longer stories, and partly because I wanted to improve the quality.

I haven't posted a story since March. This is probably my longest drought.

 

[oggbashan]

About 500 stories and poems in twenty years.

Edited for: 17 in 2022 so far.

 

[Candy_Kane54]

As a writer:
2020 - 20 submissions
2021 - 8 submissions
2022 - 4 submissions

As an editor:
2021 - 10 stories edited and submitted
2022 - 14 stories edited and submitted

 

[shakna]

When I'm healthy? About 25,000 words a month.

When I'm under? About 8,000 words a month.

The result is about 115 submissions in a bit less than two years.

Dunno how "good" they really are, but I guess you could call me prolific.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

I only started writing in July, but so far, depending on my time, I write about one 10k+ story chapter per week. On a day I decide to write something, I do between 1k-3k words, depending on time, inspiration, whether I have the plot outlined or not and so on.

 

[TheRedChamber]

I started writing again after a long absense in January. I've published 16 stories since then with a combined total of 137k words. That's apparently longer than a Tale of Two Cities, so not too shabby. (though writing an actual interconnected novel is much harder than pumping out simpler short stories).

I produced 8 of those stories in the space of about one month when I had a lot of free time. Since then I've published one story a month (of very variable lengths). I've also have another 56k words in a bunch of other stories that are under construction including 26k in a novel length story that I'm not publishing till its all finished.

 

[SimonDoom]

I've published 52 stories in 5 years and 10 months. A little more than 8 per year. My output rate varies wildly. I have gone for about six months writing nothing, and I've written and published 9 stories in 2 months. When I get the inspiration and drive I can write very quickly, but that's the exception rather than the rule. An average story for me is about 10,000 to 15,000 words.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I have a tendency to write mostly in the Novel/Novella category, averaging between 50,000 and 150,000 words.

My first story was published in 2014. In 2015, I published two stories (21 submissions). I waited four years (2019) before publishing my next story, focused on closing out a lot of work stuff in preparation for retirement. I published 8 stories (37 submissions) in 2020, which I believe is the year when the most stories hit Literotica due to the pandemic. I published three in 2021, and so far, in 2022, I have published 8.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Nowhere near as prolific as I want. And I take way too long between posting.

How often do you publish? And what was your longest break between publishing stories?

 

[theWollstonecraftWoman]

I've published three stories in two months. So, not so good!

 

[Imstillfun]

After an initial burst of stories 7 years ago I have now slowed down to about 2 a year. I have 87 stories.

 

[HeyAll]

Over 300 stories in a 10 year period.

My ideal story length is 5.5 to 6.5 thousand words. My style is the short story, directly to the point, avoid any excess writing. I don't have any interest in writing long stories.

These days I write less stories, but with more focus on newer ideas. It's harder to find premises that are exciting after having written so many stories. Some days I write a lot, most days I end up writing a little, which happens when i don't have enough good ideas to continue. But i'm motivated to write everyday.

 

[KeithD]

I've averaged half a million words per year for nearly seventeen years. I try to post something to Literotica at least weekly.

 

[MajorRewrite]

The high volume that some of y’all create is truly remarkable. Kudos.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I've managed in the order of 8k - 10k per month, which translates to 120 separate stories/chapters over eight years. My longest time away was when I wrote my Arthur myth novel, which took me off line for just under a year, during which time I only published two much shorter side projects.

 

[Voboy]

Interesting. I've never really thought about this question.

I've pumped out 83 stories here in 81 months.

But, of course, that's not the whole story. In that time I've been blocked for probably about a year, or a bit less, from time to time. It's taken me many weeks to finish a few stories, and another I got done, from concept to submission, in about 22 hours. Some of those stories are almost 30k words, others are 750. The overwhelming majority are 15k-25k. I'm not counting my poems, nor am I counting what I've produced commercially in that time: about 15 ebooks, most over 35k words.

I don't feel like I'm particularly fast, though I suppose the numbers suggest I might be. But only compared to some, lol.

 

[PennameWombat]

My overall average is just under one story per month, since joining four years ago. I've had bursts where it was higher and periods where it's lower, with 2022 being on the lower pace.

I have single stories that range from 750 words up to around 70,000, and a multi-chapter work at about 150,000 and counting. My median length is, at a guess and not measured, around 20,000 words. I prefer doing longer stories which is part of the reason for the measured count.

 

[soflabbwlvr]

2009 - 2013 - 34
2014 - 2021 - 5
2022 - 3 so far, 3 more close to publication

The biggest factor influencing my output is my work schedule. In 2009 and 2010 especially my business closed and I was working from home. It was easy to set aside time to write. From 2014 to 2021 I could scarcely find a minute for writing. This year I have cut down on distractions and found some time to write despite working long hours.

 

[AWhoopsieDaisy]

In general I'm pretty sporadic. I'll start new projects before completing enough chapters of a previous work to consider it finished. However unlike most people who jump onto new WIPS without finishing their old ones, starting a new WIP for me, does not mean abandoning the old one. The only ones that get truly abandoned are the ones I didn't have a plan for.

When I go into a story knowing what themes I want to explore and have an idea of how I want to tie up lose ends, I'll put it on the backburner and give it time to ferment while I work on a newer project. In my mind getting 'stuck' on a chapter is a good sign it's time to give that story time to breathe and chase after whatever new story has caught my creative eye.

It's better to put something to the side and work on something new than it is to try and force a 'stuck' story. It will come free when it's ready.

But yeah. Across everywhere I publish on average around 5k words a month. Very little to show for it on literotica though. Haha.

 

[purplishy]

10 releases (7 works, 2 with multiple chapters) totaling 123k words in just over 2 years.

Lately I've found myself with multiple works in development and half-formed ideas for even more. I need to be better at picking one and sticking with it! It's hard to keep up with most of you

 

[Smuttyandfun]

When I first started on here in May of 2018, I was submitting a story every week. Gradually, my stories have gotten longer, so now I'm writing about one or two every month. And since I'm still enjoying it, I think I'll try and keep writing. Providing of course that people still want to read what I write.

 

[alohadave]

My once-a-year output rate must be one of the slowest for any author.

I recently did editing for an author that had 2 years between chapters 1 and 2, and 4 years between chapter 2 and the draft I edited.

They had one other older story.

 

[oggbashan]

I recently did editing for an author that had 2 years between chapters 1 and 2, and 4 years between chapter 2 and the draft I edited.

They had one other older story.

That's nothing. For my three-part story Christmas Fairy, I had a few weeks between parts 1 and 2, and 13 years before part 3 and last.

I had written myself into a corner at the end of Part 2 and it took me 13 years to get out of that...