Recommended amount of chapters prepared prior to publicizing a novel beforehand?

[deweyan]

So currently I only have like two chapters complete, nothing much going on in the story, it's a freaking Harem RomCom for God's sake, mostly funny hijinks and shenanigans for the few early chapters.

My plan is to bait in people with the characters and the writings (setting is a rather meh, it is just the Magical Land of Nihon, nothing actually special at all) and make them somewhat invested into the story, and I'd like to know how many chapters you guys have in the back of your sleeves before you release them one by one? Or are y'all pantsing it away, fixing it later on, head empty and no thoughts?

And lastly, how much chapter is recommended to be delivered within a day or week or month, thanks.

 

[DeOwl]

Head so empty you open it and a moth flies out

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Bare minimum 10 - five to post in the first few days, and five more in reserve to post once or twice a week (and keep at least three, ideally at least five, in reserve). But that's just me (and I fell behind on two and one at RR as other projects too precedence)

 

[beast_regards]

Here, on the other site?

Here, it doesn't matter that much. You would need regular updates, but otherwise, it's up to you. The daily updates would help, but aren't strictly necessary as there isn't any strict algorithm incentive to do so, other than simply appearing on the list frequently enough for the random person browsing to notice.

 

[Hans.Trondheim]

So currently I only have like two chapters complete, nothing much going on in the story, it's a freaking Harem RomCom for God's sake, mostly funny hijinks and shenanigans for the few early chapters.

My plan is to bait in people with the characters and the writings (setting is a rather meh, it is just the Magical Land of Nihon, nothing actually special at all) and make them somewhat invested into the story,

You are basically setting yourself up for some 1* typhoon by baiting readers in a time when audiences are so entitled.

Don't do this, lest you really plan to piss off your readers. As a fellow harem writer, our genre attracts the most pretentious, whiny, and nitpicky readers around, so be careful with how you plan things up.

and I'd like to know how many chapters you guys have in the back of your sleeves before you release them one by one?

Since we stocked a considerable amount of chapters before uploading stuff, many of us did upload five chapters first, before settling for one per day, or per week.

My personal experience? Five chapters first, then one or two or next release dates. I did away with releeasing every other day coz my chapters are long (4k average).

Or are y'all pantsing it away, fixing it later on, head empty and no thoughts?

And lastly, how much chapter is recommended to be delivered within a day or week or month, thanks.

Depends on your writing style. Lotsa web novel readers want content, yet at the same time, is intimidated by sheer volumes of chapters they have to read to catch up to latest releases.

But, here's a pattern. For chapters with 2k or less, you can release every other day. For 'beefy' chapters like mine (around 4k words and up), you should release once or twice per week (preferably weekends).

 

[Clo]

I had 80 chapters backlogged when I started posting State of the Art a month ago.

 

[AmbreaTaddy]

I post two chapters a day, and always have two to three days of backlog. If one day (god forbid) I can't write my 4k words, then I'll switch to 1 chapter a day and spread my backlog. But for now it didn't happen even once, so my backlog keeps growing and I still post two chapters a day (do not do it, sacrificing your personal life because you're addicted to writing is not good)

 

[Deleted member 172779]

First: write, write, write! As until the perfect place of the current plot. (80)

Second: Edit, edit, edit! Phase, before posting to SH. (40/80)

Third: use a scheduler on SH chapter editor (yes it's a thing).

 

[John_Owl]

it's your call. Most people won't look twice at a series with fewer than 10.

But I want to be clear on this: The cover is vital as that draws people to the page. The synopsis is vital because that makes people want to read chapter 1. chapters 1-3 are absolutely essential because that hooks people. if your very first chapter is "meh" most people will drop it. Think of it like fishing. Cover, synopsis, etc are casting, baiting, etc. The first three chapters are where you actually sink the hook. the sooner, the better.

All of this said, there are many people who are semi-successful that don't follow any of these.

 

[deweyan]

it's your call. Most people won't look twice at a series with fewer than 10.

But I want to be clear on this: The cover is vital as that draws people to the page. The synopsis is vital because that makes people want to read chapter 1. chapters 1-3 are absolutely essential because that hooks people. if your very first chapter is "meh" most people will drop it. Think of it like fishing. Cover, synopsis, etc are casting, baiting, etc. The first three chapters are where you actually sink the hook. the sooner, the better.

All of this said, there are many people who are semi-successful that don't follow any of these.

I'll keep those in mind, and, well, I unfortunately do not know any good ways to make my own, I can't draw for the life of me and I don't think my photoshop's any better, so is there any good site/apps for generating AI cover art?

 

[John_Owl]

I'll keep those in mind, and, well, I unfortunately do not know any good ways to make my own, I can't draw for the life of me and I don't think my photoshop's any better, so is there any good site/apps for generating AI cover art?

For AI, I use Pixai. they use a free credit system (better models and options are more credits, save for a few days, and you can afford them. Cheaper models give you more per day but may have iffy results).

I also recently started using Honey Select 2. technically, it's a hentai "game" (more of a harem simulator, but whatever). But the real draw is the character creator. You can make some half-decent characters in it. I'll include a couple of pics.

The girl in blue is from Honey Select. She's a character from my story. The witch is AI from Pixai. Just a couple samples. Also note that in Pixai, you can use different models for different results. some may work better than the one I used with this.

 

[deweyan]

For AI, I use Pixai. they use a free credit system (better models and options are more credits, save for a few days, and you can afford them. Cheaper models give you more per day but may have iffy results).

I also recently started using Honey Select 2. technically, it's a hentai "game" (more of a harem simulator, but whatever). But the real draw is the character creator. You can make some half-decent characters in it. I'll include a couple of pics.

The girl in blue is from Honey Select. She's a character from my story. The witch is AI from Pixai. Just a couple samples. Also note that in Pixai, you can use different models for different results. some may work better than the one I used with this.

Looks okay, but I like the cover arts you have over at your signatures, particularly the 'Dragon Bound' one. If you don't mind telling me, what model did you use for that, and is there any helpful 'prompts' to make diagonal shots like the one in your 'Dragon Bound' cover art?

I plan to generate some anime girls surrounding one guy, ala that one meme that used to be thrown around so much. If that's undoable, is there any that are great for generating characters with transparent background so I can photoshop them later on?

P.S. I'm a free-user so I'm not sure about affording anything for the current being, and I'd rather safe them up for commissioning an artist later down the line.

 

[John_Owl]

Looks okay, but I like the cover arts you have over at your signatures, particularly the 'Dragon Bound' one. If you don't mind telling me, what model did you use for that, and is there any helpful 'prompts' to make diagonal shots like the one in your 'Dragon Bound' cover art?

I plan to generate some anime girls surrounding one guy, ala that one meme that used to be thrown around so much. If that's undoable, is there any that are great for generating characters with transparent background so I can photoshop them later on?

P.S. I'm a free-user so I'm not sure about affording anything for the current being, and I'd rather safe them up for commissioning an artist later down the line.

The models I used back then were Midsummer and Daydream, so Dragonbound was one of those. I used a different one for Lay the Dragon (don't remember, as it was a while ago). Any of the models can be used for book covers, as long as they're allowed for commercial use (in the model information section, it'll have it listed. Check is good, X is not).

As for transparent backgrounds, no so much. But photoshop is good at removing monochrome backgrounds, and the AI they use is good at generating that.

As for prompts, for the background, I'd say "Monochrome background, [color] background" Would be good. For the angled shot, use "dutch angle".

And I would recommend not wasting credits on trying to generate images with multiple subjects. it struggles with 1 character sometimes. adding another it really struggles. If you've got more than just 2, they either turn into an unrecognizable blob or they all end up being the same person repeated. Or some mix of the two.

Finally, If you decide to go with HS2, I am getting better at it, and I do create free book covers on occasion. I'm a bit swamped at the moment, but if you need one, let me know. Happy to provide.

 

[deweyan]

Thank you very much for all the replies, it has been very insightful. I may take you up on your offer in the near future, but I'd rather do them myself, a sense of accomplishment is on the line, if you get what I mean.

Lastly, which're the best resolution for cover arts in this site? I know it says 250x350, but can it possibly be more than that? 'Cause I know there's quite a lot of stretched out AI images when browsing around here, but also cover arts with stellar quality and great editing with the titles on the cover art.

And what's HS2? All I get is pictures of bullet trains... them cool trains, tho.

 

[AmbreaTaddy]

Lastly, which're the best resolution for cover arts in this site? I know it says 250x350, but can it possibly be more than that? 'Cause I know there's quite a lot of stretched out AI images when browsing around here, but also cover arts with stellar quality and great editing with the titles on the cover art.

Make a big cover, like standard size for print. Then you make 2 versions : one you reduce to 250x350 for the novel's page, and the original one that you will have just in case

 

[MarekSusicky]

I post two chapters a day, and always have two to three days of backlog. If one day (god forbid) I can't write my 4k words, then I'll switch to 1 chapter a day and spread my backlog. But for now it didn't happen even once, so my backlog keeps growing and I still post two chapters a day (do not do it, sacrificing your personal life because you're addicted to writing is not good)

Wait, you plan to release like 350 pages every month?

 

[AmbreaTaddy]

Wait, you plan to release like 350 pages every month?

It's my usual writing speed. If I only release one chapter a day or worse, one chapter a week, I feel like I won't be emotionnally connected to the readers because I will be way too far ahead in the story. And I wouldn't be able to stop myself from spoiling people because I would be too frustrated with the fact that I already finished the story but they are only reading the first part.

I just write too much, and somehow it happened

 

[soupsabaw]

Depends how serious and dedicated to the story I think. Like, if you're writing a gag book for comedy not quality, then sure. Raw dog it. Hammer out a chapter whenever you feel silliest. But if you're working on something you want to be good, I always think people should completely finish it. That way, you can sit down, read it in one swoop, and can get a good reading on storyline, foreshadowing, pace, quality, and catch any loopholes and dead ends. That's just how I personally am though...

 

[CharlesEBrown]

It's my usual writing speed. If I only release one chapter a day or worse, one chapter a week, I feel like I won't be emotionnally connected to the readers because I will be way too far ahead in the story. And I wouldn't be able to stop myself from spoiling people because I would be too frustrated with the fact that I already finished the story but they are only reading the first part.

Heh. I thought I was in danger of that in one story... caught up right to what I had written around Christmas due to other things taking up time and now am almost posting it in (far too slow) real time....
Another story... well, I have 60 chapters of the first book, and the first chapter of the second sitting around (#30 went up Thursday)... the first book as just about halfway finished writing (and 1/4 posted), by the way (and I do have the second chapter of book two planned but that's as far as I've gone with it).

 

[Valmond]

Before I began posting way back, I had around 200 parts of about 48 chapters. Now this is in the range of 250 parts for those.

Then on the back end, I prepared another few hundred.