release timing

[7ydy]

are there specific times or days of the week you think are better to release? i have monday/tuesdays off so that's when i do my edits, but like, is it better to release on weekends?

 

[Ruti]

are there specific times or days of the week you think are better to release? i have monday/tuesdays off so that's when i do my edits, but like, is it better to release on weekends?

Depends on what kind of novel you are writing. Different novels have different preferred times

it also depends on what kind of reader base you want, or currently have

 

[CarburetorThompson]

If you want to try hard, you can look for the most popular novels in the genre and tags that match your story, and then post on days when none of them update.

Personally I just do it on the weekend because otherwise I forget or procrastinate

 

[soupsabaw]

I go by how frequently I post. Right now, I do it twice a week on Mondays and Thursdays. I was thinking about doing it three times a week and move it to Mondays, Wednesdays, Fridays to space it out

 

[StoneInky]

If you want to try hard, you can look for the most popular novels in the genre and tags that match your story, and then post on days when none of them update.

Personally I just do it on the weekend because otherwise I forget or procrastinate

You can schedule the posts in advance! I'm doing that for my story. :)
Save your story as a draft instead of publishing, then you'll see a date above the 'Publish' button. You can change the date and time. Then the 'Publish' button turns into 'Schedule', click it, and voila!

No need to worry about a forgetful memory.

 

[Macha]

Post when AI slops and translations are not updating.

 

[Goat]

I have no proof, but I believe publishing chapters at different hour may help attracting (new) readers from all over the world. For example, this Saturday you post at European night, next Saturday you post at Southeast Asia's night, then USA's, then South Asia's, and so on.

 

[Arilia]

Depends on what kind of novel you are writing. Different novels have different preferred times

it also depends on what kind of reader base you want, or currently have

I'm writing a story with romance, smut, and tragedy, set on Earth. Mostly realistic sexy stuff, no magic or game systems. How can I figure out when good timing for that audience might be?

Currently I'm publishing at 5pm PST Tues/Thurs, and 7am PST Sat/Sun. I have no idea if that's working well. People seem to be enjoying it, but I'm a perfectionist and always looking for ways to do better.

 

[Ruti]

and 7am PST Sat/Sun.

7 am might be a lil early for smut. I don't think many people wanna be horny before work...

 

[Arilia]

7 am might be a lil early for smut. I don't think many people wanna be horny before work...

That's true, some people might work on weekends. Still, I figure that's a good time to post for the European audience too, since 7am Pacific is afternoon in Europe?

 

[OokamiOkuri]

That's true, some people might work on weekends. Still, I figure that's a good time to post for the European audience too, since 7am Pacific is 5-6pm in Europe?

5-6pm in Iceland. Tony want to read your story too.

 

[Arilia]

Oh yeah, I did my timezone math wrong. Maybe 9am PST on Saturday would be better for the European crowd? I dunno.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

You could always schedule it to release a new chapter every 23 hours and see which hour(s) get the best responses...

 

[Arilia]

You could always schedule it to release a new chapter every 23 hours and see which hour(s) get the best responses...

That's a great and obvious idea, thank you. Sometimes I'm so blind.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

That's a great and obvious idea, thank you. Sometimes I'm so blind.

Of course, that would require 7x23 = 161 chapters complete for a broad sampling and at least 30x that many chapters for a valid study but hey, it's for Science, right?

 

[Arilia]

Of course, that would require 7x23 = 161 chapters complete for a broad sampling and at least 30x that many chapters for a valid study but hey, it's for Science, right?

Lol yeah but at the very least I can shift my new chapters a bit. I'm thinking one every 42 hours, instead of every 48 hours.