Some stories on OutaStory arrive a part at a time. The author publishes
an opening, then adds more later — often on a cliffhanger. We call that a
serial.
Reading a serial
A serial's story page carries a Serial badge and tells you how many
parts are out — it reads "N parts released", never "N of M". How many
parts the author has written but not yet released is private, so nobody
can count ahead.
If the author has named a day for the next part, it appears as
"Next part expected". Treat it as an estimate: it is a date the author
typed in, nothing publishes automatically, and authors move it. When
there's no date, the page simply says more parts are still to come.
Parts that haven't been released yet are not on the page — you can't see
their titles and you can't read ahead.
Everything else works exactly as it does on any other story: one page,
one cover, one reading position, one comment thread.
Getting notified
Tap Notify me on the story page to hear about new parts. That is a
separate choice from favouriting: the heart icon and the Notify me
button don't affect each other, so favouriting a serial doesn't sign you
up for notices and asking for notices doesn't add it to your favourites.
Once you've asked to be notified, you get a message — in-app, push, and
email, all on by default — for every new installment, plus one more when
the author marks the serial complete.
One nuance worth knowing: installment notices have a six-hour
cooldown per reader. If an author releases two parts within a few hours
of each other, you get one notice rather than two, so it's worth opening
the story page rather than counting notifications. And the "next part
expected" date is still only the author's estimate — asking for notices
doesn't turn it into a promise.
Turn any of this off, per channel, from Profile → Notification
preferences (/settings/notifications).
Publishing a serial
- Write your opening parts as ordinary chapters.
- On the Details step of the publish wizard, tick
Publish this as a serial. Optionally name the day you expect the
next part. - Everything you have written goes live together.
- Afterwards, open My stories (
/my-stories) and use
Manage serial on the published story to add the next part. A
chapter added this way stays hidden until you release it. - Press Release (German: Freigeben) when it's ready. That is what
puts it in front of readers, and it can't be undone.
Already published a story the ordinary way? You can still turn it into a
serial later with Make it a serial on /my-stories.
You can change or clear the expected date at any time, and you can end
the serial — End the serial releases every part you have written but
not yet released, so nothing you wrote is left stranded.
Adding a new part is straightforward. Editing the text of a part
readers have already seen is not — it forks a new, unpublished version
of the story and the serial controls disappear while you're in it. That
trap, and how to get back out of it, has its own guide:
Editing a serial, and the fork trap.