Forum: Author Hangout

This is a horrible problem for me. I just can't stop myself from posting a chapter when it is finished, without waiting for the rest of the story. The thrill of getting notified that a story or chapter has been posted, and watching the downloads start, is just too good for me to resist. At least I haven't left a story incomplete.

I am in the write then post group, so I have no experience with posting as I write.

However, different types of changes will require different amounts of work to change something. Major changes may impact all of the subsequent chapters from the point of the change and also require changes to prior chapters in order to set the stage for the major change.

So the question seems to be: Are you going to post new chapters that may be impacted by the changes you make? If you don't, there is no need for holding completed chapters in order to meet a posting schedule. If you post chapters that you know will be impacted and require a significant change, will your readers need to reread all of the updated chapters.

I completed a story and posted it. Several months later, I was writing a sequel and decided the posted story required changes to support the sequel. The changes to the original story required several weeks to complete and I didn't post those changes until the sequel was completed because I had to keep going back to the original story and make minor changes.

If I were you, I would not post new chapters until I had made all my changes to the posted and unposted chapters. If you don't stop posting, then the magnitude of the change and type of change will determine the number of chapters you need to continue posting without generating new chapters. Of course there is no way to accurately predict that for it is dependent on the time required to make the update and your posting schedule.

There are also the questions of telling your readers about the change and the possible fallout from your reader of having to go back and reread posted chapters.

If I were your reader, I would be upset if I had to expend hours to reread the prior chapters. Of course, that is why I am in the group that completes the story before I post.

I am definitely in the write-while-posting group, but my buffer size is perhaps relative to the length of my story and the way I write.

Also, chapter size matters! It's very different if you're posting ~4,000-word chapters (as I am) or much longer (or much shorter) ones.

All that said, my current posting schedule is 3x/week (new chapters Monday / Wednesday / Friday). My goal is to have at least 10 chapters fully (*) edited and ready to publish at all times. More is nice, but see below.

(*) I always reread chapters just before publishing (e.g. the weekend before posting). There are almost always changes in that last pass. I've found I see errors I've missed otherwise and I also tend to see style issues I've skipped over when it's a last-minute reread. Most likely, this is because another chunk of time has passed and I'm looking at the chapter with relatively new eyes.

My other goal is to have at least 40 chapters written beyond the current publishing number. That allows me to update as necessary (which happens fairly often). Such changes are often adding story elements I missed (I tend to write the major events, then realize I missed subplots A, B, C, and D and need to at least reference them). It can be anything, though. If I've edited too many chapters, that means those changes need to go out to all of my editors 'out of cycle'. I generally try to avoid that when possible, but sometimes it's necessary.

This is for books with between 89 (current low mark) and 159 (current high mark) chapters. So, about 1/2 to 1/4 of the book (minimum) written beyond what is currently being published.

I can still adjust based on reader feedback, but sometimes it's a slow process. That is often good, I think. Fast updates are available if needed, but there's much less temptation to make major changes to accommodate some reader point (however valid it may be).

In the past I would have 2-3 chapters queued up.

For me, it can depend on my writing pace.

Most times, I try to have at least 3-4 chapters in a long story held in reserve. But then there are times when I can have an almost frantic pace and finish 5 or more chapters in a single day.

On those days, I will simply increase my buffer, as a lot of people hate when somebody publishes more than one chapter in a day. And release a new chapter each day until it is back to three or four.