INFORMATION
Serial Stories: Quick Guide To Engaging Titles
Entice your readers to read every chapter of your story by using similar formatted titles throughout
On Serial Stories, I host stories of five chapters and longer. The idea for my publication started when I wanted the different parts of one of my longer stories — it once was a self-published book — to appear consistently on the same day every week.
A fourth story — Kate Educates Jacob by Kate Granger — has just started on the publication, but I also hosted Nightingales by May More and Wallflower to Wildflower by Posy Churchgate - Writes & Edits Fiction. The last part of Posy’s wallflower story will appear on 1 December. My story, Thirteen Years, is drawing to an end, and on 8 January 2023 the last (68th) part will publish.
I have heard from many people that serialized stories don’t seem to do as well as short fiction, but believe you can entice your readers to read on using your titles and subtitles.
How Medium display stories
When readers scroll through Medium on their phones, or browse on their computers, all they see is the title to the story.
When your title appears on the lists as shown above, it should be clear to the reader whether they have read your story. This means your title should stand out. Just as you shouldn’t use the same image for each chapter, it is important not to have the same title, as a reader might scroll on, thinking they have already read that.
Different ways to construct your titles
For the examples I want to share with you, I will use the ‘title’ you see in the header image: Be Amazing.
To visualize what I have said above, you can go with:
Title: Be Amazing Subtitle: Chapter One — A nice day out
Title: Be Amazing Subtitle: Chapter Two — They meet again
Now keep in mind, no matter whether it’s chapter one, two, three or any other, all the readers will see is: Be Amazing.
So, let me give you four other options.
OPTION 1 Change your title by adding a number. Where this is an acceptable option, it is limiting, as the reader might not remember which part they had read last. It is, however, the author’s prerogative to choose this.
So it becomes:
Title: Be Amazing #1 Subtitle: Chapter One — A nice day out
Title: Be Amazing #2 Subtitle: Chapter Two — They meet again
OPTION 2 Use both your main title and that of the chapter as the title of your story. Then, in the subtitle, mention the chapter number, and add a short striking line from your story or a short ‘description’ after that.
Title: Be Amazing: A nice day out Subtitle: Chapter One — The hat shielded her eyes from the sun, allowing her to watch him unnoticed.
Title: Be Amazing: They meet again Subtitle: Chapter Two — Through an unexpected turn of events, he ended up handling her case
OPTION 3 You can use a combination of options 1 and 2, by adding the chapter number to the title and removing it from the subtitle.
Title: Be Amazing #1: A nice day out Subtitle: The hat shielded her eyes from the sun, allowing her to watch him unnoticed.
Title: Be Amazing #2: They meet again Subtitle: Through an unexpected turn of events, he ended up handling her case
OPTION 4 Switch the subtitle and title around, and add a short striking line from your story or a short ‘description’ in the subtitle.
Title: A nice day out Subtitle: Be Amazing — Chapter One: The hat shielded her eyes from the sun, allowing her to watch him unnoticed.
Title: They meet again Subtitle: Be Amazing — Chapter Two: Through an unexpected turn of events, he ended up handling her case
Of course you can use combinations of the above, but the main message is: make your story stand out, and get your readers to come back for the next part.
On Serial Stories, each story has one unique tag, allowing writers to share one link with their readers, which will lead to all chapters of the story. That link is added at the end of every chapter.
Want to write for Serial Stories, please check the submission guidelines.
Marie A. Rebelle is the owner of Serial Stories, editor of Tantalizing Tales and Teaser Tales, writer of fact and fiction, sometimes transgressive, sometimes erotic, and always about life. Likes to share, and treats everyone with the respect they deserve. Top writer in Short Stories, Fiction & LGBTQ. Twitter: @rebelsnotes
