IMPORTANT QUESTION · 3:44pm Dec 11th, 2020
Hey guys! Got a question for you:
At this point, I'm prepped and ready to write Book 2 of Synthesis/The Distant Princess. However, I've got a decision to make.
Should I keep it all as one big story, and release each book on one fic? Or should I split it up into books and release them as different stories? There's both pros and cons to this approach, from what I can tell.
Releasing it all as one big story:
--Allows readership to grow over time.
--Large wordcount will draw in readers.
--It will be a more cohesive unit.
--Allows me to insert little "intermission" chapters easier for the sake of fun.
--I don't have to resubmit to EQD every time
--Don't have to purchase new covers.
Releasing it as multiple stories:
--has multiple chances to draw people's attention.
--may seem more manageable for readers.
--New chances to hit the featured box every release
--Stories marked complete draw in readers.
Possible hybrid solution: Treat this first book as separate, but the rest as one big story.
What do you guys think? I want feeedback, especially from people who have been publishing stories for a while. That includes me, I guess, but the system is hard to examine. Really hard to examine.
I guess this also serves as the announcement that there will be more Synthesis/The Distant Princess after this first "book" wraps up.
-GM, master of fish food.
Uh, my personal opinion is of collecting it into one story.
One story seems better, it makes it easier to have the stories in one place so you don’t have to do both at once,
Lump sounds better than split here. If this will be anything like SotS, the later books won't exactly stand on their own.
You should go with whatever will make it the best story it can possibly be. Which framework and release style would best serve the type of story you want to tell? Some stories benefit from being chopped up into sequels. Others may not.
More detailed discussion in your Discord server
I think it would be better to make each book a separate story. People would be intimidated by one big story.
Normally, I'd be of the mind of multiple books for this kind of scope, but doing too many might be intimidating to some people. One big story as an anthological collection may be best.
Splitting up makes much more sense.
Haven't been reading Distant Princess (Still working on that whole "watching the source material" thing), but thought I'd throw my two cents in anyway. In my experience, I've always preferred lumping it all into one fic, because something that always frustrates me, as someone who typically only reads complete fics, is getting to the end of a story, being given an obvious sequel hook that intends to lead into a series of sequels, therefore meaning the story wasn't really complete after all. You say that "Stories marked complete draw in readers", but from what I typically see, most of the time when stories are released in multiple parts as separate stories, there's a noticeable drop-off the further you get in.
Ultimately it's your decision, but I feel like the pros for splitting it up are weaker than having it as a single story. It doesn't seem like it'll end up SotS length, so I don't think you'll scare off people with a massive word count, you've never had problems hitting the featured box before as far as I can tell, and I honestly don't think having a completed "first installment" will draw in readers as much as having a consistent presence with a single story.
It depends on how long it's going to be. I tend to look at really long stories and get intimidated. I feel like if you break them up then they seem a lot more manageable to new readers.
Still, if it's all one continuous story then it's better to keep it together. I'd say only break it up if the ending of one part wraps up a plot line and creates a good break. Having an overarching story is good for a series, but finishing just one part should still feel satisfying even if you never go on the read the next one.
I think you should go with your hybrid solution.
As a reader, when I come across a fic that looks interesting, but is marked as a sequel to X, which is a sequel to Y, which is a sequel to Z, which is a sequel to ...
I wind up tracing the chain of books back to the start, and then, the more books I see, the less likely I am to get started.
It's not a case of "more words = less likely"; it's "more books = less likely".
I am treating SotS as a 12 book series, and I'm on book 6 or 7 now. Fine. Not sure I'd do that if it was listed as 12 different entries in fimfic. And, if there's only one set of comments, then if I give a comment on earlier chapters, there's a chance that someone will see the new comment at the end of the *single* list of comments, and reply.
So: A single, long story, clearly marked as multiple books, is much, much better for this reader. And yes, that means that when I transfer to kindles, I break it up into pieces -- and again, having those breaks clearly marked makes that so much easier.
As a similar comment, Harry Potter and the Methods of Rationality has user created "sub books" -- each with its own cover, looking at the different arcs of the story, and there's no question that it got popular over time as a single location, "go here for the complete everything".