Opinions on story length

[NewMountain80]

I have been working on a story for a while now, and I'm debating how I should publish it.

I recently published this: https://literotica.com/s/ren-and-rose
It is sort of a prologue, a primer to introduce the characters. I published it first to get a feel for how the characters would be received and, honestly, to give myself a small emotional boost.

I currently have about half of the whole story arc done and ready to publish. It has a mild resolution suitable as an episode break and sits at just over 38k words. I have another 40k or so in "first draft" status, which concludes the story.

Here are my options:

1: Finalize the second half and publish a single 80k-90k word file.
2: Publish the first half now, and the second half when it is done.
3: The first half can be subdivided into three clean chapters at 12k, 12k, and 14k.
__3a: Publish those separately, spaced a week apart.
__3b: Publish them separately, all at the same time.
__3c: Finalize the second half in similarly sized chapters and publish all in accordance with 3a or 3b.

I really believe that I have something special with these characters and a compelling story that people will enjoy. I would appreciate anyone's thoughts on how I should do this to help my story reach people.

 

[TheLobster]

There are some people like @BobbyBrandt who would strongly advocate for one long submission. But I’d find it too intimidating, and there was at least one story where only about 10k words I realized the author had basically wrote a novel with nothing but unchaptered scenes.

So, I’d most likely go with option 3, separate chapters. Publication time isn’t really all that important but a whole week seems long for 10k-ish chapters that can be read in a single sitting. I’d go with one every 3-4 days.

 

[NewMountain80]

There are some people like @BobbyBrandt who would strongly advocate for one long submission. But I’d find it too intimidating, and there was at least one story where only about 10k words I realized the author had basically wrote a novel with nothing but unchaptered scenes.

So, I’d most likely go with option 3, separate chapters. Publication time isn’t really all that important but a whole week seems long for 10k-ish chapters that can be read in a single sitting. I’d go with one every 3-4 days.

I should probably wait then, until I have the second half completed so I can present it all at a constant pace. Even with some extra time to work on it right now, I doubt I'll have the rest ready to publish within the next several weeks.

 

[lovecraft68]

I should probably wait then, until I have the second half completed so I can present it all at a constant pace. Even with some extra time to work on it right now, I doubt I'll have the rest ready to publish within the next several weeks.

The site is experiencing some delays in publishing. With that in mind, only submit one chapter at a time and do not submit the next until that one is live because its possible you could submit a chapter, then the next one but the earlier one gets delayed, the other doesn't and they publish out of order which would be a big problem.

Submit one at a time and be patient if one gets held up a few extra days

 

[ElectricBlue]

I should probably wait then, until I have the second half completed so I can present it all at a constant pace. Even with some extra time to work on it right now, I doubt I'll have the rest ready to publish within the next several weeks.

This.

Finish it first, break it into two or three chapters as you propose. Submit all at the same time, and ask for the gap between chapters. Usually Laurel will default to 24 hours, but I asked her 48 hours between chapters in a novel of mine (thirteen in total) which she granted.

Keep in mind, in six months or six years time the publishing strategy is irrelevant.

 

[Cagivagurl]

As a reader, I do not open chaptered stories.
Having been burnt by authors historically that do not finish stories.. (Including myself)
If I offered advice, it would be...
Finish it and publish as one story...
There is some historical data floating around the A/H that explains there is no detriment to publishing a novel length story.
Many of us prefer that...
If the writing and storytelling is good, it should score highly...

Just my thoughts.

Cagivagurl

 

[Writer61]

1: Finalize the second half and publish a single 80k-90k word file.
2: Publish the first half now, and the second half when it is done.
3: The first half can be subdivided into three clean chapters at 12k, 12k, and 14k.
__3a: Publish those separately, spaced a week apart.
__3b: Publish them separately, all at the same time.
__3c: Finalize the second half in similarly sized chapters and publish all in accordance with 3a or 3b.

1. No, that length would put me off
2. Maybe, although I would still baulk at part 1
3c. Would be my recommendation

Note: the Great Black Hole of Pending takes control of phasing out of your hands, if you want them published weekly, a good thing IMHO as it keeps part of the work "New" for longer, you will need to ask Lauren. Which did not work for me on a recent multi-part upload.

 

[Bamagan]

I have been working on a story for a while now, and I'm debating how I should publish it.

I recently published this: https://literotica.com/s/ren-and-rose
It is sort of a prologue, a primer to introduce the characters. I published it first to get a feel for how the characters would be received and, honestly, to give myself a small emotional boost.

I currently have about half of the whole story arc done and ready to publish. It has a mild resolution suitable as an episode break and sits at just over 38k words. I have another 40k or so in "first draft" status, which concludes the story.

Here are my options:

1: Finalize the second half and publish a single 80k-90k word file.
2: Publish the first half now, and the second half when it is done.
3: The first half can be subdivided into three clean chapters at 12k, 12k, and 14k.
__3a: Publish those separately, spaced a week apart.
__3b: Publish them separately, all at the same time.
__3c: Finalize the second half in similarly sized chapters and publish all in accordance with 3a or 3b.

I really believe that I have something special with these characters and a compelling story that people will enjoy. I would appreciate anyone's thoughts on how I should do this to help my story reach people.

If you're planning to put it in the Novels category, option 1 is arguably best, but there are more than a few chaptered stories there, so 2 and 3 are not off the table. Some of the other categories also seem to welcome novel-length works (Romance and SF/F, for example), so #1 might be fine there as well. Most other categories I would say options 2 and 3 are better.

If you submit them all at once you have a little more influence over how spaced out they're allowed to be; the site will usually accommodate you if you ask them to be published every Wednesday (for example) once they're approved. They also usually don't publish multiple chapters of a story from the same author on the same day, although there have been occasional exceptions, so if you send them off as per 3b you can expect they'll probably be released on subsequent days.

Regarding 3c, I recommend finishing the whole thing first, since it's your first major submission and you implied you wanted the emotional boost of some feedback first. However good your story might be, there's a pretty significant chance someone will have something nasty to say about it. If you're not used to taking anonymous abuse online that might hurt your motivation to finish the story. You're a better judge of what you can tolerate or power through, of course, so I'm offering the assessment purely as a reader who has seen many promising stories fade or falter in the face of faint or foolish feedback.

 

[Katie_Mae]

My advice is do whatever you prefer. Over time your readers may let you know if they if they have a preference.

However, my thoughts and observations are below.

As a reader, I don't have time to read a full novel in one sitting. While I will still read a really good novel posted as a single story, I have on occasion lost my place in them, which is annoying. It's much easier for me to read in smaller bites. 10-15k or so is good for me, as I can read one or a few chapters. Then I can just add whatever chapter I'm up to next on my "to be read" list.

With chaptered stories, an author can mark them as "complete" once done. Any reader can very easily know in advance (prior to reading the story) if it's complete, so if a reader only wants to read completed stories, then they can do so, even if the story is chaptered.

From an author's point of view, you can gauge at what point readers drop out of the story, if you're interested in that. And, each time you drop a chapter, it will show up in the new story listing. This is good for busy categories as it can bring you fresh views and new followers. (if a category is very slow, could be annoying though?)

If you do chapters, the best strategy for both you and your readers, is to write it first and then publish it with a reliable drop schedule.

If you care about scores, then I have observed the below:

When you post as a chaptered story, typically the early chapters will have a lower rating than the later chapters. This is because as you post chapters, only the people who love the story are still reading and they are usually voting 5s or 4s. (But, the number of votes are lower, making you more suspectable to one-bombs.)

When you post the story as a single entry, generally the people who finish it were the ones who were more likely to like it (voting high). Some people who do drop out mid-story vote, but others won't, because you have to go to the effort to go to the last page to vote. This means scores for stories posted as a single entry are generally higher. Because all the votes are just on one entry, vote numbers are higher and 1 bombs matter less.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I should probably wait then, until I have the second half completed so I can present it all at a constant pace. Even with some extra time to work on it right now, I doubt I'll have the rest ready to publish within the next several weeks.

Whether you submit in pieces or as a complete story, my advice is to always finish the entire tale before publishing any part of it.

We see posts here frequently from writers who are struggling with continuity and other issues within their story because they have already published something that now they can't easily change.

Be patient and don't give up control of what you are writing in the quest for instant gratification.

 

[Voboy]

For many years, I've been publishing at 20k-30k words almost exclusively. I've seen many stories > 35k words do very, very well here. So my advice has always been "don't worry about length; a long story usually does just fine."

But this is a New Lit in many ways, and I'm no longer so sure of that.

Based on feedback for my recent posted stories, I do plan to pay more attention to story length in the present/future. Specifically, I plan to go a little shorter, when I can.

In your case, OP, based on how things are currently going with Lit submissions, I'd do 3b. Formerly, I'd have recommended Option 1.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

Whether you submit in pieces or as a complete story, my advice is to always finish the entire tale before publishing any part of it.

This is usually the one thing that those who ask do NOT want to hear but it is the truth.

Make your story as good as it can be from top to bottom before you submit any of it, whether it is in one big file or in chapters. If you want to look back over time and be the most happy with your work rather than wishing that maybe you had cleaned things up, this is the way to go. Also, you can promise your readers a complete story with an ending. many readers do not like investing their time into a story that ends up fizzling halfway through. Keep your readers happy.

The only reason that you would post any of it before the whole thing is finished is because you just can't wait for scores and feedback. If you care about your work, it will be more satisfying in the long run to get it all done as good as it can be before you start submitting chapters in stone.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

Over time your readers may let you know if they if they have a preference

Reader feedback is what motivated me to convert my multi-part submissions into the single story format, so you're spot on with this advice.

With chaptered stories, an author can mark them as "complete" once done. Any reader can very easily know in advance (prior to reading the story) if it's complete, so if a reader only wants to read completed stories, then they can do so, even if the story is chaptered.

Unfortunately, this is far too seldom the case, especially with stories that existed before the Series Manager feature was launched. In addition, making the investment as a reader by starting an incomplete story is risky. You have no guarantee that the writer will ever finish it. I refuse to start on any story that I can tell is not complete and published in its entirety.

From an author's point of view, you can gauge at what point readers drop out of the story, if you're interested in that.

Not very reliably. You can see where views might drop off, but there are several factors that can influence that, including the day of the week that the submission gets published.

When you post as a chaptered story, typically the early chapters will have a lower rating than the later chapters. This is because as you post chapters, only the people who love the story are still reading and they are usually voting 5s or 4s.

This has not been my experience, as a reader or a writer. Think of it like a food critic reviewing a restaurant. He may mention each course of the meal, but his rating will be on the complete dining experience. Reader feedback tells me that this was the case when I published in parts. They would wait until the last part to rate the entire story. I find myself doing the same when I read multi-part stories. One story - One vote.

This means scores for stories posted as a single entry are generally higher.

When converted from pieces to single stories, each of mine increased its score by at least 0.10.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

As for actual word count, it doesn't really matter so long as you are not overpadding with anything unnecessary or repetitive. Some people will say that they hate 90k word files and will nope out. Others will say that they won't touch chaptered stories. The truth is that most people don't really care and more importantly you will never please everyone. Most readers who click on your story will read the first page and decide if they're into it and will continue or not and if they are into it, it won't matter if it's chaptered or one file. So long as your story holds their interest, they will continue.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

Pink is right, some percentage won't like whatever you do.
If you decide to go chaptered I'd recommend not titling it any kind of "part one", but have an author's note at the start saying "it's a finished work, here's the release schedule".

That will hopefully mitigate the the concerns of people who nope out of a series due to the fear it will never be complete.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

As for actual word count, it doesn't really matter so long as you are not overpadding with anything unnecessary or repetitive. Some people will say that they hate 90k word files and will nope out. Others will say that they won't touch chaptered stories. The truth is that most people don't really care and more importantly you will never please everyone. Most readers who click on your story will read the first page and decide if they're into it and will continue or not and if they are into it, it won't matter if it's chaptered or one file. So long as your story holds their interest, they will continue.

I have twelve stories here over 50K words. All have red H's with the combined average rating being 4.81.

It may just be the readers who follow me, but shorter stories for me have seldom done as well as longer ones. I still have mostly red H's, but the feedback is less and not as positive as with the longer tales.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Opinions on story length​

I think that opinions are all we have. People have different experiences and assume they apply more widely. There are so many factors that can drive how a story does, that length is hard to disentangle, as is the impact of publishing en masse or split into chapters.

The invariant advice is however to finish the work before you start publishing.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

There are so many factors that can drive how a story does,

I believe that the category is foremost among those factors.

Romance, Mature, and of course, Novels/Novellas are all categories where readers will generally be more tolerant to, and appreciative of longer tales versus piecemeal submissions.

 

[TheLobster]

It may just be the readers who follow me, but shorter stories for me have seldom done as well as longer ones. I still have mostly red H's, but the feedback is less and not as positive as with the longer tales.

Survivorship bias at its finest.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

As you see there is a wide variety of opinions. Myself, I would not even begin to read it. Anything over 3 total pages per chapter is a non-starter. More than 3 or 4 chapters and I stop there.

 

[THBGato]

I have two 80,000 words stories (Eve&Lucy and Forty). The first I published as 5 chapters, the second as one submission.

They basically have the same score at the moment and Chpt 5 of E&L and Forty both went to number 1 in Lesbian Sex. Chapter 1 of Eve & Lucy is my most viewed story, yet Forty has had more views than the middle chapters. Forty has had fewer votes, but then it was published a year after Eve & Lucy so... basically it's six of one and half a dozen of the other on most metrics based on this small data set.

Where chapter stories beat single submissions hands down is number of comments: Forty has 39; Eve & Lucy 130 across the series. Same amount of work from me, triple the response from readers. This is a pattern I've seen replicated all over the site. So if comments are what motivate you...

Good luck!

 

[Britva415]

I have been working on a story for a while now, and I'm debating how I should publish it.

I recently published this: https://literotica.com/s/ren-and-rose
It is sort of a prologue, a primer to introduce the characters. I published it first to get a feel for how the characters would be received and, honestly, to give myself a small emotional boost.

I currently have about half of the whole story arc done and ready to publish. It has a mild resolution suitable as an episode break and sits at just over 38k words. I have another 40k or so in "first draft" status, which concludes the story.

Here are my options:

1: Finalize the second half and publish a single 80k-90k word file.
2: Publish the first half now, and the second half when it is done.
3: The first half can be subdivided into three clean chapters at 12k, 12k, and 14k.
__3a: Publish those separately, spaced a week apart.
__3b: Publish them separately, all at the same time.
__3c: Finalize the second half in similarly sized chapters and publish all in accordance with 3a or 3b.

I really believe that I have something special with these characters and a compelling story that people will enjoy. I would appreciate anyone's thoughts on how I should do this to help my story reach people.

Can you articulate what your goals and your anti-goals are? Like, what are you looking for to happen and what are you looking to avoid happening?

There are different answers, depending.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

I have been working on a story for a while now, and I'm debating how I should publish it.

I recently published this: https://literotica.com/s/ren-and-rose
It is sort of a prologue, a primer to introduce the characters. I published it first to get a feel for how the characters would be received and, honestly, to give myself a small emotional boost.

I currently have about half of the whole story arc done and ready to publish. It has a mild resolution suitable as an episode break and sits at just over 38k words. I have another 40k or so in "first draft" status, which concludes the story.

Here are my options:

1: Finalize the second half and publish a single 80k-90k word file.
2: Publish the first half now, and the second half when it is done.
3: The first half can be subdivided into three clean chapters at 12k, 12k, and 14k.
__3a: Publish those separately, spaced a week apart.
__3b: Publish them separately, all at the same time.
__3c: Finalize the second half in similarly sized chapters and publish all in accordance with 3a or 3b.

I really believe that I have something special with these characters and a compelling story that people will enjoy. I would appreciate anyone's thoughts on how I should do this to help my story reach people.

Publishing is up to you. I personally don't have an issue with longer stories, and in most cases, prefer them. As for writing, and based on my experience, I'd suggest writing the entire thing before you start publishing. I have a sad history of being ADHD when I write and, well, I have episode three of my First Contact story about half written and am blocked. Part two was published five years ago, so whatever you do, don't be me.

 

[NewMountain80]

Can you articulate what your goals and your anti-goals are? Like, what are you looking for to happen and what are you looking to avoid happening?

There are different answers, depending.

Can you articulate what your goals and your anti-goals are? Like, what are you looking for to happen and what are you looking to avoid happening?

There are different answers, depending.

I feel like I have something special with this story, feel a real emotional bond with the characters. Honestly, this act of creation, knowing that I made something that I can sit back and be privately proud of, would be enough for me.

I think that there are many people who browse this site that would enjoy it as well. I just want to be sure that I present it in a way that they can.

I don't see the star ratings, or favorites, or view counts as achievements to be gained. They're just a marker for how much people like my stories. The personal fulfillment I get from the writing really would be enough for me.

 

[Britva415]

I feel like I have something special with this story, feel a real emotional bond with the characters. Honestly, this act of creation, knowing that I made something that I can sit back and be privately proud of, would be enough for me.

I think that there are many people who browse this site that would enjoy it as well. I just want to be sure that I present it in a way that they can.

I don't see the star ratings, or favorites, or view counts as achievements to be gained. They're just a marker for how much people like my stories. The personal fulfillment I get from the writing really would be enough for me.

Then, I'd wait and publish it all at once when it's done.