Is Literotica still the place to get maximum views on your erotica?

[FrancesScott]

Ah, but it could be.

Thank you for the vote of confidence. But the pattern with which views on a story with 40k plus views decays is unlikely to be the same as one which is struggling to get to 1k.

In general, I think a lot of this thread is: here is my experience as an [certainly relative to me] established author. I’m not sure all of you recall starting out that clearly.

 

[filthytrancendence]

It’s funny. The pool is actually based on a real life one that I know well. You will forgive me if I don’t divulge the state or city.

Totally.

I like obscure words as much as the next pretentious writer, and I'm happy to have learned that one. I just wouldn't use it in a title, I guess. Easier to get away with in the body of a story where you can give more context clues.

 

[FrancesScott]

Totally.

I like obscure words as much as the next pretentious writer, and I'm happy to have learned that one. I just wouldn't use it in a title, I guess. Easier to get away with in the body of a story where you can give more context clues.

I agree - my love of aliteration got the better of me. It happens.

 

[FrancesScott]

I agree - my love of aliteration got the better of me. It happens.

I thought Pregant Pause was kinda nonsensical, but it might have been a better option.

 

[filthytrancendence]

I thought Pregant Pause was kinda nonsensical, but it might have been a better option.

I love that, personally. Kinda feels like a writer in-joke, but at least it's clear pregnancy is involved. I'd click it

 

[Bramblethorn]

It’s Latin, not Anglo-Saxon.

Comes from the same origins as "gravity" - literally "heavy with child".

 

[NotWise]

Totally.

I like obscure words as much as the next pretentious writer, and I'm happy to have learned that one. I just wouldn't use it in a title, I guess. Easier to get away with in the body of a story where you can give more context clues.

It never occurred to me that people wouldn't know "gravid." I've known of it's technical use since I was a kid, because I'm a long-time aquarium keeper and the term is used in fish breeding. I've known it's non-technical use for about as long.

 

[FrancesScott]

I love that, personally. Kinda feels like a writer in-joke, but at least it's clear pregnancy is involved. I'd click it

We live and learn. Or live at least. I put all my energy into writing, I don’t think much about promotion, or hooks. Maybe I should.

 

[filthytrancendence]

It never occurred to me that people wouldn't know "gravid." I've known of it's technical use since I was a kid, because I'm a long-time aquarium keeper and the term is used in fish breeding. I've known it's non-technical use for about as long.

Guess you could call that a mutual blind spot.

 

[SimonDoom]

Thank you for that. It looks like a lot of work. It was really 2025 vs prior years that I was interested in. Sorry if that sounds demanding / churlish. My only experience is now. And now seems less than what I had been led to believe by the person who suggested I try here. But I’m only one data point I realize, and I’m making little or no effort to write to an audience (as has been pointed out, probably the opposite).

I'd suggest that you give it a little time to see what your own experience is.

The general pattern is that stories get a lot of views during the first week, when they are on the new story page, and then after that views drop off a lot and level off long term. There may be some slow continuous decline in daily views. But my experience, having tracked data for 8 years for my own stories, is that things stabilize before long.

There are some things that can boost one's views in the short to intermediate term: getting on a top list, or winning a contest, or having a very high score, for example.

As I said above, I have one story, 8 years old, getting 800 views per day, and I have others getting 2-3 views per day. The mean for all 64 of my stories is around 60 views per day. Incest stories (accounting for almost half my total) increase the average a lot. These are long-term numbers, not influenced by recently published stories, since I haven't published since 2024.

But these numbers mean absolutely nothing to someone with different writing goals writing in different categories. That's why I recommend giving yourself time and being patient.

 

[yowser]

I thought Pregant Pause was kinda nonsensical, but it might have been a better option.

Visual Pun Category: I had a friend who wore a clever costume to a Halloween party one year. She was hugely, undeniably pregnant (eight months?) and wore a tight animal-paw-print fabric top that accentuated her condition. Then waited to see how many people at the party got the 'pregnant pause' joke.

 

[NotWise]

Thank you for the vote of confidence. But the pattern with which views on a story with 40k plus views decays is unlikely to be the same as one which is struggling to get to 1k.

In general, I think a lot of this thread is: here is my experience as an [certainly relative to me] established author. I’m not sure all of you recall starting out that clearly.

The patterns are about the same. The 1K story won't have much data so the curve is rough. The pattern is the same, but the ordinate is different.

It's been nearly ten years since I started out, but I remember it pretty well. At the time I thought that anyone who would do the things that people do in Lit stories would have to be insane, so my first two female protagonists could have had psychiatric diagnoses. Apparently I've never gotten over that impression, because my WIP features a female protagonist with a psychiatric diagnosis.

Unlike you, I did dabble in I/T. My second story was a brother/sister in law story (not taboo enough for I/T, but it flew anyway), and it was very short, but Laurel published it at the top of the New list and the I/T hub. The morning it posted I ran around the house trying to get ready for work and refreshed the screen every time I could. The views went up by thousands every time I hit the button. The effect was breathtaking. The score was not.

 

[FrancesScott]

My second story was a brother/sister in law story (not taboo enough for I/T, but it flew anyway), and it was very short, but Laurel published it at the top of the New list and the I/T hub. The morning it posted I ran around the house trying to get ready for work and refreshed the screen every time I could. The views went up by thousands every time I hit the button. The effect was breathtaking. The score was not.

As I may have said, your world is not my world. Though I have had Laurel reply to a message, which I understand is a big deal round here. She thanked me for contributing which was sweet.

 

[Djmac1031]

Ive proven to myself several times over that in the end, it really just depends on which audience you target.

The vast majority of LE readers come here to, well, cum. To find a story to get off to, then go.

Write a story for that crowd, you can easily draw thousands of views very quickly.

Then there's the much smaller audience that is actually looking for a good story. Maybe they wanna get off too, but they actually enjoy a real story, not just a porn script.

Sounds like you're writing for that second crowd. So all I can suggest is patience and understanding you're marketing yourself to the minority crowd of readers here.

And before anyone misunderstands or takes offense:

I have absolutely no problem with the authors of the more popular stroker style stories. Ive written my share as well.

But the evidence of the divide in readership VS content is abundant.

 

[FrancesScott]

Sounds like you're writing for that second crowd.

Yeah, I guess so. I’m definitely writing stories that are erotic, but they are stories first and foremost.

 

[alohadave]

In general, I think a lot of this thread is: here is my experience as an [certainly relative to me] established author.

You've broken the code of the AH.

 

[NotWise]

As I may have said, your world is not my world. Though I have had Laurel reply to a message, which I understand is a big deal round here. She thanked me for contributing which was sweet.

You are privileged. Laurel has been so busy for the last five or six years that we rarely hear from her. I keep hoping that she can find someone to help with her work and have a little more time.

 

[FrancesScott]

You are privileged. Laurel has been so busy for the last five or six years that we rarely hear from her. I keep hoping that she can find someone to help with her work and have a little more time.

I was just apologizing for editing a story that she had already accepted for publication. I assumed that made more work for her. It was the worst typo in the history of typos and I couldn’t leave it like that. I didn’t really expect any response.

 

[ChloeTzang]

Definitely. I pay a lot of attention to titles, tags, and taglines, and they make a difference. You have a limited opportunity to snag eyeballs for your story out of the many other stories posted that day. You've got to catch readers' attention.

Agreed. Titles, seconday titles grab the reader eye up front - that and the category the story is in make a big difference - and when you first post the story, that's what gets you views.

Some categories are low views and you will just never get big #'s. Others are middling, and Incest and Loving Wives are the biggies for views and attractig followers.

Tags are important for longer term views - once your story is off the latest stories lists, tags are the only real way it will pop up on readers radar, so choose and use your tags wisely.

Also, enter competitions and events - those get you readers who might otherwise not see your stories. And the competition and event pages are sticky, so they stay around.

Different categories - writing in different categories will give you more exposure. If readers like you stories, they are more likely to read your other work, regardless of category and even if it is in a category they don't generally like or read.

That said - once you have eyes on your story, you have the first 50 words to grab your readers attention and hold them - if you lose them in that first couple of paragraphes, they're gone, so grab them, make that start good, and hook them in - and we all know why the majprity of Lit readers are here - and in general it's not for works of literary art, altho if you combine that with erotica content, you're flying....

The real secret to high views here is content that generates an erection (I generalize - there ARE female readers, but a lot less than there are males), provides a satisfactory stroke experience, and contains sex scenes that don't end too quickly or run on too long.....if there's a story around it, even better.....but a few of THOSE stories will get you name recognition as well, and that gets you more views too....

My two cents worth

 

[FrancesScott]

You've broken the code of the AH.

It’s that like Omertà?

 

[ElectricBlue]

Thank you for the vote of confidence. But the pattern with which views on a story with 40k plus views decays is unlikely to be the same as one which is struggling to get to 1k.

In general, I think a lot of this thread is: here is my experience as an [certainly relative to me] established author. I’m not sure all of you recall starting out that clearly.

I reckon it took me a year to get traction, mainly through a long chaptered story in Erotic Horror.

It had a central theme but was mostly a collection of experimental pieces strung together - I didn't know how to write fiction. As is typical for me (as I know now), it had a hugely unexpected plot shift half way through - the last half of the story is me trying to figure out how it ended, as I wrote towards that ending. I'm a pantser writer, so I didn't have a clue except vaguely.

That long shaggy dog story taught me a bunch of things, my fundamental style, mostly; some, but by no means all, of the technical basics. It's dialogue light, because back then, I didn't know how to write dialogue. But it served as my apprenticeship, gave me more confidence in myself. Enough to write an autobiographical piece, which was the reason I joined Lit in the first place, to write it. But I took that first year before I started it.

The first story I wrote where I really thought, "I can do this," was written after that first year. A year and a half later, I wrote my second breakthrough story. I'd arrived, content with my own ability, knowing I'd found my voice. So, two and a half years.

The thing I see with many new writers, especially those new to erotica, is that they seem to think their first piece will be the next great erotic novel, and they dive deeply into it. Without knowing how to write yet. I get it, they've lived with the idea probably for a long time, but the thing is, they rarely ever do it justice. They're simply not ready yet. I think most of us here in the AH, us "old hands", will agree with me. You've got to do that apprenticeship first, and yes, it takes a long while.

 

[FrancesScott]

@ChloeTzang thanks for the suggestions. I’m not sure I want to write that way, so maybe I just resign myself to low views.

 

[FrancesScott]

The thing I see with many new writers, especially those new to erotica, is that they seem to think their first piece will be the next great erotic novel, and they dive deeply into it. Without knowing how to write yet.

I might be new here, but I’m not new to either writing, or to erotica.

 

[ChloeTzang]

I reckon it took me a year to get traction, mainly through a long chaptered story in Erotic Horror.

It had a central theme but was mostly a collection of experimental pieces strung together - I didn't know how to write fiction. As is typical for me (as I know now), it had a hugely unexpected plot shift half way through - the last half of the story is me trying to figure out how it ended, as I wrote towards that ending. I'm a pantser writer, so I didn't have a clue except vaguely.

That long shaggy dog story taught me a bunch of things, my fundamental style, mostly; some, but by no means all, of the technical basics. It's dialogue light, because back then, I didn't know how to write dialogue. But it served as my apprenticeship, gave me more confidence in myself. Enough to write an autobiographical piece, which was the reason I joined Lit in the first place, to write it. But I took that first year before I started it.

The first story I wrote where I really thought, "I can do this," was written after that first year. A year and a half later, I wrote my second breakthrough story. I'd arrived, content with my own ability, knowing I'd found my voice. So, two and a half years.

The thing I see with many new writers, especially those new to erotica, is that they seem to think their first piece will be the next great erotic novel, and they dive deeply into it. Without knowing how to write yet. I get it, they've lived with the idea probably for a long time, but the thing is, they rarely ever do it justice. They're simply not ready yet. I think most of us here in the AH, us "old hands", will agree with me. You've got to do that apprenticeship first, and yes, it takes a long while.

Oh yeah, agree with all of that. Took me a couple of years to get my feet on the ground and about 3 years before I felt comfortable writing - and I've been learning from day one.

I had no real idea about how to write when I started - I just took an exisitimg story I liked and rewrote it. I just read it today and omg it's so klutzy, but it was a start and it got good reactions, which was what motivated me to keep writing. That, and one of my very first stories somehow ended up in the Top 20 list for a few weeks - and THAT was very motivating, even if it dropped off pretty quickly.

But writing here really helped me find my voice, that's for sure.

 

[ChloeTzang]

@ChloeTzang thanks for the suggestions. I’m not sure I want to write that way, so maybe I just resign myself to low views.

LOL. The main thing is to know what you want. As long as you have a goal here, you're good. Soundslike you're pretty clear on yours, which is good

Mine was to write a few stories, see how they flew with readers, and go from there. Ten years on, I'm still totally enjoying myself writing here - so I got what I was looking for plus a lot more. LOL

As far as erotica goes, Lit is THE site with way more readers than the others.