How much do you write before releasing the first chapter?

[Sergeandgreen]

Question in the title.

 

[LuoirM]

The first chapter

 

[LilRora]

Depends on my plans, but minimum about five chapters, preferably more than ten. At the very least, I want to know if can keep writing consistently. Sometimes there are stories that just don't work out, and I don't want to swamp my profile with stories I dropped after just a few chapters.

 

[KoyukiMegumi]

The entire thing

 

[Sergeandgreen]

Depends on my plans, but minimum about five chapters, preferably more than ten. At the very least, I want to know if can keep writing consistently. Sometimes there are stories that just don't work out, and I don't want to swamp my profile with stories I dropped after just a few chapters.

The second part is exactly what worries me. I mean, starting stories and not finishing them feels bad. And the one i want to start would definitely be a long-term project.

The entire thing

Do you release them as complete books then? Or do you still keep the webnovel format?

 

[MatchaChocolate69]

I generally write at least 10,000 words, which can be between 5 and 10 chapters, depending on how I divide them. If I get bored before reaching that goal, I stop writing and put what I've written in the "ideas to recycle" folder. Nothing goes to waste!

 

[RemHydragrove]

I wrote about 250-300k words before my first chapter but that's probabaly not the normal....

 

[Deleted member 84247]

Sometimes 1 chapter. Sometimes 5 chapters. I struggle with holding onto them since I want to share it.

 

[Deleted member 166076]

I make myself compile a bunch of storyplanning and research first to ensure I'm serious about it, but I otherwise post the first chapter as soon as it's done. I then create a backlog to use for Patreon right away so everything is set up properly from day one.

 

[KoyukiMegumi]

Do you release them as complete books then? Or do you still keep the webnovel format?

I keep them in web novel format. I mostly write for myself (I have so many unreleased stories with 80k words or more), but once I have the first draft of a finished novel with a set ending, I release it chapter by chapter. Once I finish updating the novel format, I'll probably put them up in a digital draft to prevent others from stealing. It already happened with one of my stories. I found it on Amazon without my consent, thanks to an anonymous tip from a stranger.

 

[RecursiveDescent]

It's nice to have multiple chapters ready but you want to make sure you publish it all slowly because maximizing the time you're on the recently updated list is how you get most of your readers.

 

[RiaCorvidiva]

I had the first volume written on Lysette before I posted a chapter. 70 chapters in all.

 

[RainyLiquid]

10 chapters or 50,000 words. What ever comes first.

 

[Iamnotabot]

Just go with the flow, if i felt like releasing first chap without a backlog then i'll do it. If i felt like i should stock up then i'll do that.

 

[Masked_writer]

Around the first 10 chap or so. Gives me more time to work on the next chap as i drip feed my readers

 

[Cossimeri]

Funnily enough I'm in the final stages of preparing a novel I plan to launch this upcoming week.

I've written 5 chapters (6 chapters if you include the prologue), currently sitting at just over 15,000 words, and I'm hoping to have first drafts of chapter 6 & 7 finished before Prologue & chapter 1 go live on thursday.

In a perfect world I would've liked to have drafts up to chapter 10 but real life has been a bit annoying and I don't want to delay my novel too much. Since I only plan to release 5 chapters a month I figure my current backlog is sufficient. (as long as I write 2 chapters a week I should never run out of backlog)

 

[Tyranomaster]

You want at least 14, if not 21. To get a decent flow of readers early, you want to have chapters coming out daily for a minimum of two weeks, at the same time each day. Then you can slow down to whatever your intended release schedule is.

 

[Sergeandgreen]

You want at least 14, if not 21. To get a decent flow of readers early, you want to have chapters coming out daily for a minimum of two weeks, at the same time each day. Then you can slow down to whatever your intended release schedule is.

Okay, the daily release for two weeks rule sounds interesting. I think i will use it as a guideline. So 14 chapters + a small buffer. Meaning I'm just one chapter short. Or i cut the 5k chapters into pieces.

 

[RepresentingCaution]

. . . write? . . .

 

[Plantorsomething]

Question in the title.

Maybe five releases’ worth. The first few within the first few days/hours, or right away, and then the next couple will be whatever upload schedule you want. It also depends if you’re writing short or long releases, short can build up and churn out a lot more