Many chapters at once or one at a time?

[Agentt]

While as a reader, I always avoided authors who post many chapters at the same time, since it really gives a sense of overwhelm and "I don't have time to read this", someone pointed out that doing this is actually a good way to gain readers. While most of them would be silent readers, it still helps the book gain popularity and audience. So, which one do you prefer?

 

[AktenDreams]

go with what you think is best. I went for a mass upload but as I only had around 20 chapters it was easy. If you have longer then try going for 2-5 chapters a day.

Just a Dream ( First Draft; Complete)

Volume 1: Mir escaped the Void and returned to Reality. There he has the chance to follow his Dreams in whichever form they appear, but first, he has to settle things at home. Volume 2: Done with settling things at home, Mir journeys around the World to explore and enjoy it, all...

www.scribblehub.com

 

[Yairy]

While as a reader, I always avoided authors who post many chapters at the same time, since it really gives a sense of overwhelm and "I don't have time to read this", someone pointed out that doing this is actually a good way to gain readers. While most of them would be silent readers, it still helps the book gain popularity and audience. So, which one do you prefer?

I used to drop 1 chapter a week and my story had little to no attention with nearly 100k words. After the start of my 3rd volume, I split my chapters and pushed out around 3 parts a day for 3 days throughout the week. Yeah, for the normal reader of my story it may seem like there's a lot more to read now but because I did that I caught the attention of readers from other parts of the world. Now I have a good bit of followers who I enjoy chatting with about the story.

That was just my experience.

 

[KiraMinoru]

I dropped 152 chapters for a story on the first day I posted the novel here because I couldn’t be bothered to schedule the chapter releases one by one.

 

[Napelynn]

While as a reader, I always avoided authors who post many chapters at the same time, since it really gives a sense of overwhelm and "I don't have time to read this", someone pointed out that doing this is actually a good way to gain readers. While most of them would be silent readers, it still helps the book gain popularity and audience. So, which one do you prefer?

I personally prefer having one chapter at a time because I also get overwhelmed by receiving multiple chapters at once. However, you should do whatever you find more comfortable. I recommend that you stick with one chapter at a time though. You can't split up your chapters because the magical girl story you write has 1,000 words on average per chapter meaning that if you split it up into 2 chapters you would get 500 words which is kind of short. You wouldn’t be able to get far enough into the plot of the chapter to reach an area where it would be okay to split the chapter and not ruin the flow of it.

Spoiler: This is five hundred words. Average word length is apparently 4.7 characters, so I used 'hello' which has 5 characters.

Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello

Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello

Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello

Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello

Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello Hello hello hello hello hello

There’s the option of writing shorter chapters, but you’d have to lessen each chapters content to fit the new chapter length.

If you choose not to do that, you would instead have to write more, which probably isn't something you would want to do as you've said on multiple occasions that you're lazy. You could lengthen the time between releases, but that would probably lower your reader count, so I don't know if it's worth it.

If we're talking about the choose your own adventure story though, I don't care if you split those chapters as the entire series is practically a joke and I wouldn't really mind if I had to click the next chapter button a few times to get my daily dose of insane nonsense.

 

[Daitengu]

I don't baulk at a large chapter count, so I'd read it IF I actually happened to see it posted.

Which is the crux of the situation isn't it?

If you want readers to find it, and have bulk, I recommend scheduling a chapter an hour every hour over a weekend THEN dumping the rest of the chapters.

Though some readers appreciate a specific release amount per week which is around 3 to 5 times a week. Seen alot of readers drop authors and translators for erratic release times. Having buffer chapters would help when an author gets stick or busy irl.

 

[Kenjona]

As a reader: It depends, there are some stories I actually wait for more then one chapter to post before I read them, as the plot only really moves over two or more chapters and they are not as "active" within the chapter. Others I devour as soon as they come out, because they are more engagingly "active" per chapter regardless whether the plot moves over more than one chapter or not. This is not cut and dried, for if I run out of things to read and become bored I will read the ones I am "saving" for more then one chapter.

 

[LordJoyde]

The answer lies in the middle.
When you start out, push out a bunch of chaps to kick the story off. Like my newest story prologue was 10 chapters of around 37k words in total, which I posted all at once so my story wouldn't be thrown off by people who see one chapter and forget it.
Now that it has a decent following, I'll write chap per chap instead. That, I think, is the best way for me personally.

 

[Legi0n]

As a reader? I want all chapters I can have.
As an author? Constant and frequent release is key to popularity.

 

[Deleted member 45782]

While as a reader, I always avoided authors who post many chapters at the same time, since it really gives a sense of overwhelm and "I don't have time to read this", someone pointed out that doing this is actually a good way to gain readers. While most of them would be silent readers, it still helps the book gain popularity and audience. So, which one do you prefer?

Personally I heard others recommend to not post all at once so you can do it chapter by chapter to get on more trending scale.

However, if you don't particular care about hitting the top trending list and just wanna put the story out there, then...why not?

Sometimes the biggest achievement you could give yourself as a writer, is that you accomplished finishing writing a story rather then just getting popular for that story (that is up to how others view your story). And even if you don't get many views, it feels good that you have pushed yourself to get your work done and out there. :)

Its an internal feeling of accomplishment.

Maybe thats why there are some stories who never got finished on SH (but there's many other reasons why they probably stopped, including real life stuff, so I could be wrong). Be more motivated to finish a story, and not just gain traction.

---

Reading preference - it would be nice to have lot chapters already out there. When its chapter by chapter and if its not updated as quickly (say every two weeks vs. every three days) its easier to forget and move on from the story and it takes awhile to go back into it. Plus great for binging when you're on a procrastination.

Writing preference - I write on my own time and mood. If there's a story I just wanna push out all the existing chapters I have done, I will do it. If I want take time to craft + dealing with other stuff + mood to write, then I will write a chapter by chapter for an ongoing story.

Reading and writing different. Easier to consume something (read) ina short amount of time than to create something (write).

 

[NotaNuffian]

As a reader, I hate waiting for a chapter a day... my fault though, too used to having the next chapter button with me.

As a writer, I am lame. I keep telling myself to only release after the arc of 30 chapters are done, I am only halfway there, halfway there, halfway there.

 

[Galen]

When I first started my novel I released a chapter a day for nearly a month simply because I was excited to start writing. Looking back with hindsight I believe I should have stuck to a chapter a week. Simply to avoid burn out. I am still working on the same story now, I normally release one chapter a week with 9k-15k words per chapter. I've almost hit a 1 million words total for the novel.

So, it depends on the Author and words per chapter. If you the Author in question writes 1,500 words or lower I can imagine them releasing 3-5 chapters a week depending on their life schedule. But if the Author writes 5k or more words one could argue for 1-2 chapters a week. But, a counter argument would ask if the Author is doing their own editing, or if they have another individual doing it for them.

But if you listen to any piece of advice that I give? Consistency! Pick a schedule and stick to it. Your readers will rely on it.

 

[PhillisCreziles]

Personally, I prefer to post one chapter per week (at a minimum) because I have to edit my chapters and be decisive on a lot of things. Such as, what my chapters will and will not focus on or talk about, and how readers will interpret to my wording, execution and such.

If I get the chance to post 2 chapters (which occurs sometimes), I would never post both of them in one day. Instead, I post one chapter on one day and wait until the next day to post the second.

 

[Legi0n]

All in all how many chapters you 'should' put out depends on how long they are...

 

[Agentt]

All in all how many chapters you 'should' put out depends on how long they are...

1k

 

[Legi0n]

1k

Then, imho, you should release a minimum of three chapters/week to satiate readers.