How often to post new chapters?

[MollyTanager]

Happy new year's eve, everyone!

Title says it all. I've got a four-part story here; it's all set and ready to post, and the first chapter went live this morning. I'm quite new at this, and it's super fun to not just write and post stories, but see how all of you more experienced people do it. My plan was to post a new chapter, like, weekly? How do you schedule serials?

Bonus question: serials aside, how often do you try to post new stuff in general?

Bonus bonus: how do we feel about episodes that don't really have any sex in them? My intros tend to be, you know, I think they're steamy, but they're sorta foreplay.

 

[SimonDoom]

I think the ideal, if you can manage it, would be to publish chapters about a week apart. 7 days is the number of days that a story will remain on the category-based new story hub list. This way you give each chapter an opportunity to get maximum exposure on the new list before publishing the next chapter. You don't keep readers waiting too long. If you wait too long you may get more drop off from frustrated readers.

If it takes your stories a few days on average to post after you submit them, then wait a few days after publication of chapter 1 to submit chapter 2.

 

[WCSGarland]

Bonus bonus: how do we feel about episodes that don't really have any sex in them? My intros tend to be, you know, I think they're steamy, but they're sorta foreplay.

I've seen a few authors that write like that. I think that is fine. There's nothing wrong with titillating the reader into wanting to read more.

 

[karina_jayde]

I have had the best experience with reader retention by posting chapters about a week or two apart. Not everyone who reads my first chapter will keep up, but I usually retain a decent chunk of readership with a faster, consistent schedule.

As for 'no sex' entries: that can happen a lot here, and I've had a few myself. Usually as long as the story still builds towards sex/romance and titilates/intrigues the reader, most people will be fine with it.

 

[MollyTanager]

Thank you for all the responses so far! Sounds like a week is just about right.

 

[SamBomb]

I post when a part is finished, so like 2 to 4 months.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

You can submit the lot and ask Laurel to post them x days apart - this avoids the problem of one chapter getting stuck and then the next rejected because the previous isn't yet live, etc.

If you've got the whole thing done, I'd do that.

Or be like me and have it mostly done, then fanny around editing each chapter before finally submitting it (used to be fine, but there seems to be many more stories submitted in the last year, causing delays). Or write four chapters, then have a huge lull and fail to write the write the last one for five months. I don't recommend that one!

 

[AwkwardlySet]

Thank you for all the responses so far! Sounds like a week is just about right.

While I believe that Simon's advice was well-intentioned and quite sound on paper, I think you need to consider other factors as well.

1. The length of your chapters matters. I see that the chapter size of one of your series was a bit over 5k words, while this new one is about 2.5k words. They aren't a long read so there's the potential problem of your readers forgetting what transpired in the previous chapter over a seven days period. It would make sense to make the interval shorter, such as two to three days while everything is still fresh to maximize the impact. It's also enough time for anyone who reads relatively often but not daily to keep up with your chapters.

2. While your stories do keep the "NEW" mark for a week, they quickly fall down the New Story list, or even the Category list because of the sheer number of stories that get published each day. So even if your story has the NEW mark, that can be quite pointless in these circumstances. It's one more reason to consider a shorter interval between chapters, assuming you can keep up with your writing.

 

[MollyTanager]

You can submit the lot and ask Laurel to post them x days apart - this avoids the problem of one chapter getting stuck and then the next rejected because the previous isn't yet live, etc.

If you've got the whole thing done, I'd do that.

Or be like me and have it mostly done, then fanny around editing each chapter before finally submitting it (used to be fine, but there seems to be many more stories submitted in the last year, causing delays). Or write four chapters, then have a huge lull and fail to write the write the last one for five months. I don't recommend that one!

Oh my gosh, you can do that? That does seem like a good plan.

Is it just one person running this?

 

[MrPixel]

I've done it two ways. First is to have the entire story finished, and then upload all chapters, in sequence, in one big session. In the note to administrator I would lead with "Part 1 of 13" or something like that. Laurel would then publish one per day. This was two years ago, and I have one in the hopper about to get the same treatment.

Second is a continuing story, and posted more or less as they are written. However, if the creativity bug is really busy and the stories in this series stack up as they have right now, I will space subsequent chapters a week apart, only having one on the "new" list at a time. I don't know if this is a successful "strategy" other than knowing the stories are being read and I have a cadre of followers who look forward to each.

In both cases I target chapters to be 8-10K words.

Is it just one person running this?

Yes.

 

[MollyTanager]

Yes.

oh my gosh you play oboe! I love oboe! I think it's one of the sexiest sounds.

I'm trying to get better at formatting my stories to make life easier for her. I'm doing <em> tags and not uploading word docs anymore!

 

[MollyTanager]

While I believe that Simon's advice was well-intentioned and quite sound on paper, I think you need to consider other factors as well.

1. The length of your chapters matters. I see that the chapter size of one of your series was a bit over 5k words, while this new one is about 2.5k words. They aren't a long read so there's the potential problem of your readers forgetting what transpired in the previous chapter over a seven days period. It would make sense to make the interval shorter, such as two to three days while everything is still fresh to maximize the impact. It's also enough time for anyone who reads relatively often but not daily to keep up with your chapters.

2. While your stories do keep the "NEW" mark for a week, they quickly fall down the New Story list, or even the Category list because of the sheer number of stories that get published each day. So even if your story has the NEW mark, that can be quite pointless in these circumstances. It's one more reason to consider a shorter interval between chapters, assuming you can keep up with your writing.

Thank you for these tips! Yes, I'm trying to get more regular in my chapter length but I think that'll get better with more experience.

 

[MrPixel]

oh my gosh you play oboe! I love oboe! I think it's one of the sexiest sounds.

Thanks! It can be. On bad days and with a bad reed... and there are many... I can make it sound like a bagpipe. Total opposite of sexy!

My fave is the English horn. It's so expressive. When I'm on my game with the right piece of music, I can cry in the disbelief that I am responsible for these wonderful noises.

 

[SinclairGroupLLP]

I'm also a newer writer, and I blew up all the conventions and decided I was going to try to post a new chapter a day. I actually managed to maintain this pace for a solid week or so before Thanksgiving, and now I'm down to two or so a week, depending on the length.

I know, at least for me, once I've gotten the story down, gotten it edited, I want to get it out so folks can read it. I hate waiting, and I don't want to make folks wait.

Now, of course, I've got that expectation set, so I'm starting to get feedback of "when's the next one?" when it goes more than three days without a new chapter, but that's a problem I'm happy to have.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

Happy new year's eve, everyone!

Title says it all. I've got a four-part story here; it's all set and ready to post, and the first chapter went live this morning. I'm quite new at this, and it's super fun to not just write and post stories, but see how all of you more experienced people do it. My plan was to post a new chapter, like, weekly? How do you schedule serials?

Bonus question: serials aside, how often do you try to post new stuff in general?

Bonus bonus: how do we feel about episodes that don't really have any sex in them? My intros tend to be, you know, I think they're steamy, but they're sorta foreplay.

Chapters of a story are not the same as episodes of a series, so you may want to decide what you have and treat them accordingly.

I no longer post individual chapters of a story due to reader feedback requesting it. When I did do it, I submitted them one right after another and let them trickle out as the admin released each one, typically one each day. You need to realize that in the long run, the frequency of how parts of a story get submitted means nothing. All the pieces will eventually be there for the readers to partake in as they see fit. I am like a lot of readers here who won't begin reading a story that is obviously unfinished or simply only partially published.

For my series, each is its own stand-alone episode with common themes that build the association between them. They can be read in any order and are were usually written months or years apart. There is no urgency or expectation for me to add more to any of my series stories, but the path is there if I choose it.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Oh my gosh, you can do that? That does seem like a good plan.

Is it just one person running this?

Yes, just put in the Notes section that this is the xth of y chapters you are submitting today, please could they go live on ...., thank you.

And yes, the whole of Lit seems to be run by Laurel (increasingly elusive as AI and publicity try to swamp the place with new crap/spam), and someone called Manu who does some tech stuff but not fixing the bits many authors would like. Which explains a lot. Keep your own backups!

 

[Bramblethorn]

Happy new year's eve, everyone!

Title says it all. I've got a four-part story here; it's all set and ready to post, and the first chapter went live this morning. I'm quite new at this, and it's super fun to not just write and post stories, but see how all of you more experienced people do it. My plan was to post a new chapter, like, weekly? How do you schedule serials?

Weekly is pretty common and seems to work well. I've posted serials with about a month between chapters, in one case an unintended 12-month hiatus, and that still seemed to work okay, but that may depend on the kind of story and readership.

Bonus question: serials aside, how often do you try to post new stuff in general?

No regular schedule. As I have time and enthusiasm to write. Last couple of years have been A Lot for me and I haven't had anything new to post here; the next story will happen when it happens, but I'm not dependent on it to buy groceries so I don't need to rush it.

Bonus bonus: how do we feel about episodes that don't really have any sex in them? My intros tend to be, you know, I think they're steamy, but they're sorta foreplay.

Depends again on the kind of story, but often they're fine. I have a couple of no-sex chapters in my two series and readers were fine with it, though I think I did put a note at the beginning of each to let people know "no sex this chapter".