How often do people update?

So it's been roughly 5-6 years since I've written stories. I used to go on fanfiction but later deleted my account; for those of you who know the site, how often do people usually post chapters to a story? Weekly? Monthly?

Comments

[Krickis]

Generally, people update when the chapter is completely finished with editing, whenever that may be. This is the best practice for most people, it's what I recommend for hobbyists* (and I don't mean that a snobbish insult or anything, some of the most amazingly talented writers on this site write purely for pleasure as their main interests lie elsewhere).

Even people who approach writing with a more professional mindset often only update periodically. The most important thing is that a chapter is done before it's posted. Updating on a schedule is cool, but I'd always recommend quality over quantity. Some people write and rewrite a chapter, working on every detail. If that's you then it's silly to give yourself an update schedule.

Still, others go for a more gut feeling approach, relying on what feels right and only using minimal editing to make sure they're happy with it. This is me, as much as I wish I was the type who could spend ages on the details. As such, and because I have no life outside of magic horses, I update once a week. But when I started out I didn't have an update schedule, and I'd recommend the same for you. I settled on once a week after I had about a dozen chapters down and knew that on average I was updating once a week already, so I just made it official. Until you know what your writing speed is, taking all the other aspects of your life into consideration, there's no real reason to commit to anything.

As a final note, if you do wind up with an update schedule, update buffers are your friend. This also helps with editors (yes, you may be finished with the chapter three days before your update day, but if your editor(s) are busy all three of those days, then you're still kinda screwed).

*Given that very few people manage to make any money by writing ponies (and the most successful author Patreon I've seen was something like $200 a month), the difference to me between a hobbyist and a professional (using the term loosely) is that a hobbyist writes when they feel like it, a professional writes consistently whether they want to or not because they want to get the story/chapter moving.