I always check the size of the story before I invest my time reading it. If it is ten chapters long and only 20k I won't bother. I approach serials the same way. I usually wait for a few chapters to be posted and then I will start to read. There are quite a lot of stories that start but enver progress past 2 parts and that is simply frustrating for me. I want to see that an author is willing to invest their time and stick with a story and they haev at least some idea of what they are doing.

I actually much prefer serials, as long as I can get that commitment from the writer that he won't stop all of a sudden after 2 or 3 chapters.

Jason