How many chapters before you read?

You're scrolling down the aisles of scribblehub or RR and see an interesting title. You do what any sapien would and add it to the "plan to read" list. But how long does it marinate before you pick it up?

For me, I usually wait for 30+ chapters so I can binge. Depending on how I liked it from those first 30 will decide if I let it marinate for 100 more.

I rarely read on scribble or RR, mostly CN web novels. I usually wait until they reached 500+ or if its completed.

Depends on how many different drugs are in the suitcase. On a good day it just depends on if your story will live rent free in my head. But binging is good too, I refer you back to the suitcase for that.

I wait at least 15-30 chapters depending on the size of the chapters or wait until completed. Too many stories don't finish, and part of that is that they don't get readers or interaction but that shouldn't be the main reason a person stops. I will read a random one shot or a first chapter from time to time but it has to have a good hook.

My record for the most chapters I've read in SH is 90 chapters marathon. I read @Zinless his fiction before I became an author for my series.

Now, I rarely read other fiction. When I do read other fiction, it's mostly for a feedback request, with a maximum of 5 chapters. But I just read an average of 1-2 chapters before writing feedback. I just read it once, without rereading.

GreenStudio said:

You're scrolling down the aisles of scribblehub or RR and see an interesting title. You do what any sapien would and add it to the "plan to read" list. But how long does it marinate before you pick it up?

For me, I usually wait for 30+ chapters so I can binge. Depending on how I liked it from those first 30 will decide if I let it marinate for 100 more.

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I've continuously read 150-200 chapters in a single day of shadow slave, but when I started Reverend insanity i waited till chapter 10-15 before being completely hooked.

If the genres interest me, but the setting don't particularly hook me - 200 chapters.
If the setting is good too, then around 50.

Callarel_04 said:

If the setting is good too, then around 50.

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"Gotta save it for later" mentality

If it catches my eye, I look for something I might be able to keep up with the writer on - if it's got more than 30 chapters, I'll usually pass on it.

10+, I have been disappointed to many times from a highly potential story start of only 1-7 pages and the story goes on hiatus or gets deleted. at least with 10pages+ I can get into the story and feel it has a better chance of lasting.

Only one chapter, then I'll read the rest as it comes out. I want to be able to say I was reading it before it was cool.

This was fascinating to read through. As a writer with somewhat over 200 chapters I *could* post in about 30 different stories from 3-part short stories to 9-part novelettes to 40-part novels, would you prefer them to all be dumped at one time so you can binge them? Or should I post on a cadence?

Huh, this makes me realize that i actually only read 2 online novels. Nihonkaku Shoukan and Summoning America
Other than that, i never read online novel other than skim reading it for market research.

Around 20.000 words is usually what I wait for.
That's what, 8-12 chapters?
To me that is usually when the exposition is mostly done and all important characters are introduced to the reader.

GreenStudio said:

You're scrolling down the aisles of scribblehub or RR and see an interesting title. You do what any sapien would and add it to the "plan to read" list. But how long does it marinate before you pick it up?

For me, I usually wait for 30+ chapters so I can binge. Depending on how I liked it from those first 30 will decide if I let it marinate for 100 more.

Click to expand...

When I have time (when I'm not writing), I'll mostly read finished, and published, novels or light novels. However I haven't had much of that lately.
Most of my "free" time is dedicated to my own writing, and occasionally (when I need a break) reading the stuff I'm working on reviews and critiques for.
I tend to prefer to read finished works that are at the very least up to the par for formal publishing (be it self-publishing or professionally produced and published) because nothing beats the feel of a real book in your hands.

Vermillion_Avex said:

Around 20.000 words is usually what I wait for.
That's what, 8-12 chapters?
To me that is usually when the exposition is mostly done and all important characters are introduced to the reader.

Click to expand...

To address your question, 20,000 words will roughly land you in a wide variety of different chapter counts.
For example, most light novels average around 2500 / chapter which does come out to 8 chapters, so your typical Light Novel will hit the 20k mark at, or around, the 8th - 9th chapter. This, however is simply one literary approach.

Another for example, is what most published novels aim for and usually end up around. ~20+ Chapters @ ~5,000-6,000 words per chapter; for an average total length landing around ~100,000 - ~120,000 words per novel. Some can go even higher than that. This narrative structure puts the 20k mark squarely within the first four chapters. (Shameless Plug: It's also the narrative structure that I'm aiming for with my own releases here on Scribblehub as well, and I can personally attest that Duskfall Chapter 2 on its own landed at 10k total, and Aestelle Nocte Chapter 4, which is as of yet unreleased, will probably end up in the same range. These chapters are released in smaller parts though, to make reading easier on the platform).

On the other end of the extreme, I've also seen some stories up here on Scribblehub that barely land in the 1k - 1.5k / chapter range as well, and that would bring your target's chapter count up to around 14-20 chapters, give or take. This, however, tends to be more of a trend with amateur-level web-novels than any form of published media. (Not that there is anything wrong with this narrative structure, I'm simply remarking on my own observations).

Hope this helps with the clarity. (And yes, having the word-count goal is actually more reasonable in my opinion than a chapter count because it ensures at least a consistent narrative depth before you take the time to invest in a story.)