when to post fic: a poll (not really)

[fox]

So, the Torchwood fic is 9/10 really and truly done. I'm going through it with a fine-toothed comb, and after that it's just slapping a title on the sucker. The question, then, is when to post it.

A number of years ago, bethbethbeth told me she'd worked out that the best time to post fic was Monday through Thursday, about 4pm Eastern (1pm Pacific, 9pm in London ... 6am in Sydney, which I admit is a little less wonderful, but why don't we call it "first thing in the morning"). Careful scrutiny showed that this was sheer genius: the east coast would be about to head home (or else they'd see it when they got there), the west coast would still be on their lunch break, Europe wouldn't have gone to bed quite yet, and Australia would soon be up the next morning but possibly not yet on the way to work, and who else is there? other time zones with likely audiences (Central and Mountain, mainly, although of course there are others) are near enough to one of these that you'd stand a good chance of catching them too. bethbethbeth is brilliant. 4pm it is.

But whether to post today, or to wait until next week when everyone is back from Vividcon, that's really the question. (Or to say screw VVC and post tomorrow or, even more foolishly, Thursday or over the weekend, or next Monday, when everyone will still be traveling and decompressing and so on.) I don't have time before this meeting to create a poll -- actually I'm already late -- so, votes and thoughts in the comments, please! :-D

Comments

[ellen-fremedon.livejournal.com]

JUST POST THE DAMN THING ALREADY.

[darthfox.livejournal.com]

I HAVE BEEN BUSY WITH WORK TODAY IT'S NOT LIKE ALL MY TIME HAS BEEN USED UP MOVING SEMICOLONS AROUND THE PLACE.

:-)

So that's one vote for today instead of next week, then?

[dsudis.livejournal.com]

Nowwwwwww! Or, well, in a couple of hours from now. :)

Also, Beth is indeed brilliant. I think when working out when to post epic fic in one go, I concluded the same thing except that I further specified to Thursday afternoon--so people could see it and save it for the weekend, if they were going to be sensible about it, and if they stayed up all night reading at least the next day would be Friday. It worked great except for all the people who yelled at me that they already had other plans for their weekend and NOW what were they supposed to do...

[darthfox.livejournal.com]

Hee. Fortunately, I haven't had an epic fic to post since ... whoo, since about the summer of 2001, with TPM, and even then I was posting weekly, not all in one whack. (Monday afternoons, that was.)

[thalia]

Bear in mind that only 100 people are going to Vividcon... well, plus the concom. Yeah, it might be a good chunk of your flist, but it's hardly all of Torchwood fandom.

IOW, quit overthinking and post it.

[darthfox.livejournal.com]

I didn't realize it was that small. I mean, I knew space was limited, because of how people get about registering for it, but what do I know from cons? (You know this about me.)

Not, also, that I think all of Torchwood fandom is going to (a) notice I've posted or (b) care. :-P