What’s the wisest way to publish a sequel?

[Olga_Haus]

The finish line’s in sight for my book… another twelve chapters should get me to the end of Act 3.

So naturally I’m thinking about the sequel.
After this story’s done then a bunch of its characters will go on an entirely different adventure.

What’s the better move do you think?

Continuing its instalments as part of the same webnovel, even though it’s a very different style of book?
Or tagging my completed novel as ‘completed’ (that would feel so emotionally satisfying!) and starting the sequel as a new work.

What’s the general thinking about this sort of thing? What sort of factors should I consider when deciding? How did those of you who’ve been in the same situation decide?

 

[Agentt]

Or tagging my completed novel as ‘completed’ (that would feel so emotionally satisfying!) and starting the sequel as a new work

This of course. Use the new series mechanism of the site to the full extent! And then work towards rewriting the first one. Link the first one to the sequal as well

 

[Anon2024]

If you're posting it as a web novel - and I'm only answering this as a web novel-- I think it's easier to keep your readers if you just label it as "book 2" or "volume 2" or something in the chapters so the current readers know the story is continuing in another adventure.

Yes you can use the website features for a "series" but the reality is quite a few of your readers might miss it and miss the continuing story.

 

[Olga_Haus]

This of course. Use the new series mechanism of the site to the full extent! And then work towards rewriting the first one. Link the first one to the sequal as well

Ah! I don’t think I knew about new series feature.

I hoped this was the right answer, as it’s certainly the most emotionally fulfilling one!

If you're posting it as a web novel - and I'm only answering this as a web novel-- I think it's easier to keep your readers if you just label it as "book 2" or "volume 2" or something in the chapters so the current readers know the story is continuing in another adventure.

Yes you can use the website features for a "series" but the reality is quite a few of your readers might miss it and miss the continuing story.

Yes, that reality’s my worry.

Though I’ve so few readers to be honest that maybe the issue barely arises!

 

[Anon2024]

Yes, that reality’s my worry.

Though I’ve so few readers to be honest that maybe the issue barely arises!

In that case start a new one because if you're on SH you'll be on the front page for a period of time. That and you can write in the description that it's the second story for the characters but a different story. New readers who might like the characters will go and look at the previous work.

 

[Olga_Haus]

In that case start a new one because if you're on SH you'll be on the front page for a period of time. That and you can write in the description that it's the second story for the characters but a different story. New readers who might like the characters will go and look at the previous work.

Yes!

There’s a gamble to make here between what I might lose in retention and what I might gain from that time on the front page.

Sounds like this is the way to go.

 

[Snusmumriken]

The finish line’s in sight for my book… another twelve chapters should get me to the end of Act 3.

So naturally I’m thinking about the sequel.
After this story’s done then a bunch of its characters will go on an entirely different adventure.

What’s the better move do you think?

Continuing its instalments as part of the same webnovel, even though it’s a very different style of book?
Or tagging my completed novel as ‘completed’ (that would feel so emotionally satisfying!) and starting the sequel as a new work.

What’s the general thinking about this sort of thing? What sort of factors should I consider when deciding? How did those of you who’ve been in the same situation decide?

I did exactly that. I wrapped up my 1st book, labelled it complete, and started a new one. In my case, my 1st book had a very cyclic feel to it and I simply wouldn't allow myself to continue with the same book.

I've certainly lost the reader # and a few readers as well, especially in the beginning. That was obvious by the pageviews. However, many did follow through with it. There is also an additional "hassle" for the new readers that they notice your second book only to realize they have to go read the 1st too.

So, if you are looking for pure views, overall it has a negative effect on your story and will not only set you back on views but also slow down new readers. I can't predict the % you will lose - that would be too specific but I managed to recover well enough.

In the end -- you have to decide what you care about more: your stylistic choices or the drop in popularity.

 

[Olga_Haus]

I did exactly that. I wrapped up my 1st book, labelled it complete, and started a new one. In my case, my 1st book had a very cyclic feel to it and I simply wouldn't allow myself to continue with the same book.

I've certainly lost the reader # and a few readers as well, especially in the beginning. That was obvious by the pageviews. However, many did follow through with it. There is also an additional "hassle" for the new readers that they notice your second book only to realize they have to go read the 1st too.

So, if you are looking for pure views, overall it has a negative effect on your story and will not only set you back on views but also slow down new readers. I can't predict the % you will lose - that would be too specific but I managed to recover well enough.

In the end -- you have to decide what you care about more: your stylistic choices or the drop in popularity.

Interesting!

I think I’ll probably end up favouring stylistic choices every time - I’m very resigned to my work being an inappropriate fit for the Scribblehub userbase and am mostly writing it here as it’s a brilliant site for making drafting fun!

But…it is nice to have readers isn’t it? Haha

Out of interest, if you had your time again knowing the impact, which way would you have jumped?

 

[Anon2024]

Interesting!

I think I’ll probably end up favouring stylistic choices every time - I’m very resigned to my work being an inappropriate fit for the Scribblehub userbase and am mostly writing it here as it’s a brilliant site for making drafting fun!

But…it is nice to have readers isn’t it? Haha

Out of interest, if you had your time again knowing the impact, which way would you have jumped?

Most stories won't fit on here well. I think even with traditional publishers there was a time where they were only looking for stories in specific genres. I think most readers these days read for the genre more so than the writing quality, hence if you want to do well on ScribbleHub, Royal Road, Tapas or any writing site you have to find out what kind of readers visit the site often.

Even if your writing is great it may not get attention if it doesn't fit the right genre, and your writing can be terrible, but as long as the content fulfills what the reader wants to read about it'll get lots of readers. I say this because I was reading a lot of trash Chinese novels about adopted son-in-laws that follow all the same tropes but I just couldn't get enough of it.

 

[Snusmumriken]

Interesting!

I think I’ll probably end up favouring stylistic choices every time - I’m very resigned to my work being an inappropriate fit for the Scribblehub userbase and am mostly writing it here as it’s a brilliant site for making drafting fun!

But…it is nice to have readers isn’t it? Haha

Out of interest, if you had your time again knowing the impact, which way would you have jumped?

Honestly, I would have tried another way to see the difference in results, not because I am dissatisfied with the current one. I already have decent reader retention. My page views did take a hit but recovered rather well in my opinion. Since it is unwise to compare them to each other - especially in the beginning when I had a single-digit chapter count.

Especially when the first book had almost 50 chapters (more clicks from new readers) and did trend quite frequently so I was also getting a lot of curiosity clicks. But now that I've generated a sufficient amount of chapters to yield enough unique clicks I am back to trending once again.

But I also wasn't really seeking fame and the ability to re-shuffle my tags to fit this particular section of the story felt more appropriate to me.