A little bit of an experiment

[Gamblnluck]

I think you should also bear in mind that the AH crowd are only a tiny portion of Lit's active writers, and probably skew towards spending more time on the hobby and on writing as a serious craft than the average writer.

I have done far less writing while spending time on the AH forum.

I have also gone back and re-read most of my shorter stories. I do that as an exercise to see what I think of them now. At the time I posted them, I liked them of course. Now I see all kinds of faults and things I'd change in the plot.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

I have done far less writing while spending time on the AH forum.

I have also gone back and re-read most of my shorter stories. I do that as an exercise to see what I think of them now. At the time I posted them, I liked them of course. Now I see all kinds of faults and things I'd change in the plot.

All signs you’re growing as a writer.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I don't think so. I think many readers would skip to the end and give it a low score. Then they leave a comment that said 'I tried but couldn't stomach the thing after 3 pages'.

I doubt it. Only about 1% of readers vote at all; most aren't likely to make the extra effort to get to the voting on a story they didn't finish.

I think fewer reads and high scores are particularly true of long multi chapter novella size stories. It takes an effort to get involved and you get a loyal reader base

That seems like just another way of describing the same thing: only the ones who liked the story will stick with it to the end.

 

[Gamblnluck]

I doubt it. Only about 1% of readers vote at all; most aren't likely to make the extra effort to get to the voting on a story they didn't finish.

My first story (and one of the highest scored) had a 4% scoring. I actually see a decent response.. Might be the category.

 

[Gamblnluck]

only the ones who liked the story will stick with it to the end.

Not just liked the story. But who got engaged for one reason or the other. It is especially important with long stories, and by that I mean multi-chapters of a pretty decent length. Five chapters of 1k words hardly equates. Many new readers will see 5 chapters and might not even look at the story length. Unless they think it worth it, they might not even look.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I think fewer reads and high scores are particularly true of long multi chapter novella size stories. It takes an effort to get involved and you get a loyal reader base

You mean like this one:

 

[EmilyMiller]

You mean like this one:

View attachment 2295581

That is fucking crazy!

Em

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I'm going to assume that for the sake of this discussion, a "story" is a complete story and not a chapter or part. Readers would view a short chapter or part totally different than a short "story".

My stories here range from a single page quickie to an 81 page novel. The stories that are focused on erotic content average 4.36 pages.

When I submitted my longer stories in chapters or parts, I always attempted to hit a page range between 3 and 7 pages, depending on the natural spot for a break.

I have seen no difference in views per day, votes, or comments but since converting these all to longer single submission stories, the score for each has increased by a few hundredths of a point. Not one of them dropped.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

That is fucking crazy!

Em

Tell me about it!

It has been like this for almost a year, riding the coat tails of the other stories in the same universe. Obviously, the title, description, and tags aren't attracting readers to it.

 

[Gamblnluck]

ou mean like this one:

Yeah few reads with a great percentage of your loyal readers voting and giving you high scores. I find stories of that length hard to get started. If you'd broken down the story into bite size lengths, even big bites, you'd have multiplied your readership.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

Yeah few reads with a great percentage of your loyal readers voting and giving you high scores. I find stories of that length hard to get started. If you'd broken down the story into bite size lengths, even big bites, you'd have multiplied your readership.

Not likely.

My readers have consistently requested single submissions over individual chapters. When I converted those stories that were posted as chapters into single longer stories, the views per day, comments, and favorites remained consistent but the scores actually increased slightly for all of them.

The low readership of this particular story can be attributed to the title, the description, and the tags. It was not intended to be a crowd-pleaser but as a "fill in the blanks" piece for readers of other stories in the same universe. It has increased the readership of those stories.

 

[Sinstories]

Couple trends I've noticed, not a scientific or peer reviewed study mind you , just some things I've noticed based on my stories. There are likely many factors involved but these trends seem to hold up....

1. Incest stories attract a lot more readers.
2. Lesbian stories attract more readers
3. Literary porn (stories that are more about the sex acts than the story) get higher scores
4. Second chapter of a multi part story gets half the number of views as the first, levels off then drops again after 4 or 5 chapters

So, want to maximize your readers and get high ratings...

A single story about lesbian incest that is mostly a description of the sex without much context.