My serialising dilemma

[Drugsmugglingcartoonist]

I'm now into the closing pages of my story 'Smuggling Vacation' which runs to 74 pages altogether and wraps in about 7 weeks time. The dilemma I face is what to do when i reach the end? I've a print version to start selling in about two weeks time.

So should i:

a) Serialise to the end. Keep the final thing up for two weeks and then bring it down?

b) Serialise to the end and keep the final thing up until a new story is ready to go up?

c)Have an intermission of 1/2 weeks where I plug the printed thing for people to buy and then continue the serialisation?

c)Stop serialising it now on the basis of treating it more like a business and as a prompt for people to buy the paper version?

A good pal of mine though me crazy for serialising the entire thing in the first place (he's business minded).

Another pal though it will make no difference as comic readers if they like it that much will buy it anyhow ( he's more comic minded.

My own instinct was that I should serialise to the end and keep the final thing up for a couple of weeks so then the readers have a choice whether to buy a printed copy or not.

I'm in a bit of a dilemma on this. Either way I could do with some opinions to digest on this

[Ataraxia]

You could do it like a newspaper strip, and only have the 30 most recent pages online at any given time. I agree with your friend who thinks there's nothing wrong with keeping the entire thing online, but having little practical experience with this I couldn't really say.

[Bustertheclown]

I like Option B. I think it's already too late to quit serializing the thing so far into it, especially as a tactic to sell books. That'll just alienate your online readership, like so:

"Hey, I know that I'm near the end of this thing, and you've been coming back week after week, and you're looking forward to the conclusion, but screw you. You don't get the ending for free. If you want closure so badly, then buy my book!"

I don't think you're crazy for having serialized it in the first place, since comics that make money are given away for free everyday. The trick is in the approach, here. I've always felt that the internet's ability to reach audiences far and wide was better for promotion than for sales. It's easier to get people to buy a physical product. Certainly, the webcomics model of letting people read the work, gratis, and then printing the stuff up on collections for sale, helps support my feelings. That stated, finish the run online, let readers read the whole thing, and sell the book as a collected work. Those who just came to your site to read probably won't be buying, anyway. Those who would like to own should not feel coerced into doing so.

Just remember, once you have the physical product, approach THAT as a business. Establish distro, create buzz, etc. In that regard, your website might actually help to boost sales, as long as you treat the printed material, and the online material as completely different entities, which serve completely different purposes.

I hope that makes sense. I should be sleeping right now.