The Truth About Cliffhangers

You’ve probably seen this advice a dozen times or more: “You need to have cliffhangers in your stories to keep people reading.” And if you’re coming from novel-style writing, this goes against a lot of writing and publishing advice, because novel readers can react negatively to cliffhangers.

But why do cliffhangers matter so much? Why do novel readers often hate them? And how can you use that to your advantage in serial fiction?

Readers hate waiting more than they hate cliffhangers.

The biggest reason readers hate cliffhangers in books is because it keeps them in suspense for months…or even years. But it takes authors time to write the next book in a series! (They need to sleep and eat and live outside of writing time!) 

So how does this work to your advantage in a serial? 

Serial episodes are much shorter than a book. They’re faster for authors to write and put out for insatiable readers.

And in a serial, when a cliffhanger hits and makes readers extra hungry for the next episode, readers can click next episode right away! And if they can get early access to that next episode behind a paywall, they have a strong reason to subscribe. 

If they aren’t ready/can’t afford to subscribe, they can still see your publishing schedule and know that they’ll get the next episode next week if they follow you. 

See how cliffhangers become your secret strength?

You can see this same principle at work in these streaming shows:

• Stranger Things (currently on Netflix)

• Renegade Nell (currently on Disney+)

• Prison Break (currently on Hulu)

Do you have a favorite cliffhanger?

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