Getting Serious

In case you haven’t been following along I have been writing a serial for the last four-ish months. What started as a deadline to force me to keep writing has turned into a story that I enjoy writing. And I have learned a lot about having a serial from this experience.

The most important thing I learned is that you will not have an audience overnight. This is because no one cares about your serial when it is one or two parts. People want to read more of the story now, not when you post the next part in a week.

At first I was posting entire chapters at once. I figured if I was reading a serial I would want to read a whole chapter in a sitting. But nobody has time for that. People did not come back to read the next chapter and readership fell off.

But I kept plugging. I adjusted my posting length and frequency. Instead of once a week, I did twice. Instead of a whole chapter, I divided the chapters up into bite size chunks. Still my readership didn’t change.

I decided to try out a different platform. I had been posting on Medium for the Origin story and recently started reposting Origin from the beginning on Wattpad.

Since Wattpad is dedicated to serial fiction I have seen more gains. Not a bunch but I have a more consistent readership. Since I have the whole story completed I have been posting a part every three days, which I think may help.

I am thinking about killing my Medium serials, having two platforms is a real pain in the ass, and sticking with Wattpad. I can stick to writing more blog-type posts on Medium, since that seems to be what it is good for, and put my fiction on Wattpad.

If you are interested in reading my Serial here is a link. Hope you enjoy.