Web Serial Fiction discussion

I know that this is a great source for us authors who are writing serial fiction, but I can't help but notice that some of the members have grouped their collections into volumes, and some have even taken these volumes and published them as an ebook.

So, my question is really two fold, I suppose, the first is when do you know that a volume is finished? Is it an over arching story plot, or just a certain amount of words/stories.

The other is, what is a good length to collect the stories into an ebook? Sometimes my short stories, that are broken into five parts have story arches that stretch between themselves, but for the most part they are self contained and can be read in any order, even if they are meant to be read in order.

So, that being said, if someday I do decide to collect stories and publish them in an ebook, what should be my threshold? Should I look at word count, or # of stories? Any thoughts and comments would be much appreciated. I'd love to know what your own word counts have been.

I don't think there's a set standard. Some serials have natural breaking points like those that are designed most like a soap opera or "school based fiction."

For myself, I just knew that "when x event happened," I'd more or less be over. I did have some outlined plot points to guide me until that point, but admittedly I digressed. I thought when I started two years ago that I'd be done in a year and in 16 chapters (probably more like 100k). I Kind of blew past that a while ago Dx.

Can't comment much on the length of the ebook as I have yet to get there.

BTW - in case you're not aware, you might be able to get more responses to your questions at webfictionguide.com forums. I noticed that Goodreads is kind of quiet!

Thanks for the info, I'll be sure to head over there tomorrow and check it out.

In the end, not really looking for a standard, just more suggestions. In the end, the ebook will be more of a collection of short stories, right now the short stories are taking an average of 5 posts. The stories do bleed into each other, but are more or less self contained. All star the same character, just kinda self contained adventures. So its all about figuring out how long I should make the thing.

As an ebook purchaser, I'm not so thrown off by overall length so much as the pricing is fair. I certainly would try anything for free to .99. Then beyond that I might risk more for a reviewed work. But because I don't really enjoy paying "like paper" prices for digital works, I tend to stay away from anything that i perceive as too high. Ebooks to me are fairly disposable or at least they will be until we have a good POD system available in bookstores.

I'm still hoping for the espresso book machine to catch on! It's such a great idea and yet, still only the university book stores seem to be jumping on the bandwagon.
If they were in your favorite coffee shop and corner book store,
I think you're onto something. It would help ebooks and print and give readers more options. Options rock.