Releasing Stories in a Series

Hey Authors. I just had a question, regarding releasing stories that are part of, or you intend to become part of a series. If you have a few of them pre written, or at least in mind, do you release them one after the other until the series reaches its conclusion, or would you release some, and then release any standalone stuff that you might have, and return to the series later.....or if you had multiple series pre written or planned, would you start releasing 1 and then start releasing another, or never have multiple series on the go at once?

Thoughts?

My preference is to write the entire story and release chapters or episodes in serial. Otherwise it's too easy to lose track between pubs and get distracted by other stories. When I have done serial stories, I find having a count of the total planned chapters is also helpful (e.g. "Chapter 8 of 12"). That way readers know to expect further chapters and that you, the author, won't just lose interest and leave the series incomplete, which is often the fate of stories that are being published as they're written.

My attempts at series have been kind of all over the map, but usually have been kind of spontaneous. I would start with something standalone but get interested in a character or situation and run further with it.

My only true series on my present profile (I don't count Paris Bares All since it's really a long story broken in two for length) is Angel Of Love. It started as a one-off standalone but the idea of carrying the relationship (a church praise band drummer with the new pastor's daughter) further was irresistable and it ended up as a trilogy. But given that genesis, it was not written all at once and there was actually a break between two parts while I wrote a comp entry.

On my now defunct profile, I had an ongoing series about a former sex worker and her new boyfriend but it was kind of spread over time as I came up with new stories about them. There was even a prequel from her days as an escort.

Then there was the one about a wedding gone awry. It was originally supposed to just be a two-parter, one from the groom's POV, one from the bride's. But I got caught up in the characters and went further with it, ending up at 6 or 7 parts, though some of those were two-parters themselves. So, again, not planned from the start but kind of grew on me.

Oddly, I loved my characters so much in those days that the couple from the first series cameo'd in the second as guests at the failed wedding. I think the male character was actually a groomsman or something like that.

Interesting thoughts so far....I have one story published that is intended to, and is listed as being part of a series, as they are pretty much already written. So just not sure whether to just publish them before anything else or dip in and out (no pun intended!)

Hi, TheSheriff1985, when you say 'series', how long is the series we are talking about? Three, four, five parts? Or do you plan something much longer?

Do have a look at my stories, here is the link: Wxt55uk's Stories. You will see that I have written quite a few series that range from 2 to 102 parts.

If you are looking to write a shorter series, then I would suggest planning it and then writing it in its entirety. Post a part, and do read feedback when you get it, before you publish the next part. Do be prepared to adjust the storyline if, from your feedback, you think of something new (better) - tweak the story.

With longer series (books), my first 6 were all (to a degree) planned out, and I was always several chapters ahead when a published one. One tip is to publish in the genres the chapter fits, rather than putting them all under novels. You will get more readers, as from experience I have found LushStories members seem to be put off when they see the novel tag.

My latest series, "Cash in Hand", morphed into a long series. It was never planned. I just thought of a story and hung it around the characters I had created. This is far more difficult to do. "Cash in Hand 2" will be more thought out, and I will be writing a couple of chapters ahead of what is posted.

Here is a link to the first chapter: Cash In Hand 1 - "A Job Opening?" - Part 1 Of 2

Oh my stories are not especially long, so they will be more like chapters of an ultimately short story, maybe 5 or 6 parts, so I think I'm leaning more towards publishing the series then move on to something else, rather than jumping about

Quote by Just_A_Guy_You_Know

My preference is to write the entire story and release chapters or episodes in serial.

This. And the only reason I released a series is because the story exceeded the 10k word limit on the site. I was fortunate that I had clear breaks where the each chapter could technically be read as a stand alone story. Granted, I found that I lost readers with each chapter, which is not uncommon.