How do you feel about the length of a story that could be posted as one long read that would approach the 10,000 word limit as compared to breaking it up into 3 or 4 shorter chapters? Do you think readers have a preference? Would you be more likely to read the one long one or go chapter by chapter with the 3 or 4?
Depends on the story. If the flow allows breaking it up and it makes sense broken up, the break it up. That would work if it was kind of episodic and each scene naturally stood on its own.
Sometimes, though, a long story is just best left as a long story unless you're starting to broach that 10000 words limit. That would be a case where there is a fair bit of "flow" and development as the story moves from scene to scene. Breaking it up in that case might leave the shorter pieces feeling kind of incomplete or choppy.
I don't think there is an rule or guideline or even a consensus. Every reader is different. Some won't get into a long story at all, and others won't want to bother with something short (and I think most readers in this category are those - who seem to be in the decided majority - that prefer well-developed stories with a plot that makes sense and characters that are deep and real).
I think the biggest factor in whether or not someone is going to read a story is category. If the story is in a category that is of interest then someone will read it, and if it's not then they are much less likely to get into it regardless of length or how it's presented.
I must admit that I prefer longer rather than shorter. Too short and I'm left wanting more.
I too prefer stories that are developed over quickies. If it is broken up into chapters, I will read the chapters when I only have 15-30 minutes (approximately). If I have all day or an hour or more I'll read a good long story. I do the latter a lot more. One thing to consider is that some members have to print off stories, so that may affect their decisions and perhaps the writer's on length. That said, story length is not my ONLY criterion for deciding what to read.
