The Art of the Title and Description

[Serafina1210]

I did it again today: posted a story I'd sweated bullets over but totally froze when it came to thinking up a title and description. Nothing good came to me, and now the story is limping along with few readers (or few clicks anyway).

Now I'm trying to be analytic about what kind of title and description is most likely to draw readers (to speak only of my own case, I'm pretty sure a good title and description is more important than my magical handle or my yuuuge reputation).

Here are some story pairs from the same categories: the first did well (talking about views, not ratings) and the second did poorly:

LW:
Diary of a Faithful Wife: An ordinary day in her life
Augustina's Confession: Young, married, pregnant, and cheating

I have no idea why the first got more clicks than the second. Perhaps because the first played against standard LW expectations?

BDSM:
Kitten and the Wolf: A rough-love fantasy for grown-up women
Slave Girl Emily Ch 09: She plays with Mr. Watanabe and Ai

First conveys a decent amount of info about the story: two main characters, well characterized, with some rough play: a romance. Second (which did much worse than the surrounding chapters) doesn't tell much about the story--the proper names don't convey much information.

NonConsent:
The Ruination of Annabelle: A student and her sadistic benefactor
The Ultimate Thrill: Does it have to be death?

Both promise dark stories, but the first is much more forthcoming about what will actually be in the story. The second is actually pretty cryptic.

My theory here is that the title/description that actually tells a potential reader what's in the story will do better than one that's cute without being descriptive. One of my favorite descriptions was for Pipit Ch. 10: "Two fucks, a razor, and a sandwich." Maybe people chuckled over the description, but they didn't click on the link.

How do others go about coming up with titles and descriptions? Do you have a method, or do you wait for inspiration to strike?

 

[HeyAll]

Coming up with a good title/description is highly underutilized on Lit in my opinion. Most are terrible imo.

Personally, I try to go with something eye grabbing, but not over the top where it's like porn. I try to focus on the erotica. here are some of the favorites I've made:

High Heels, Red Lipstick
Red Lipstick Confidential
The "Red Lipstick" Series
The "Anal Curiousity" series
5 Floors of Claire's Submission

I try to go for titles like that. Something catchy and makes you want to open it. And I do see a corrolation between a good title/descritpion and more views. However, that's not always the case.

My process is, I try to have a title that reflects the story. For instance, if it's a mother/son story, then I put 'mom' in the title.

But if it's just a catchy title like "High Heels, Red Lipstick," I try to make extra sure that I put the story theme in the description.

Basically when I come up with the title/description, the main goal is to have something eyegrabbing, yet it is also very important to use the BUZZWORDS. If it's a mom/son story, the word 'mom' has to be somewhere. If it's an exhibitionist story, I'll use a word like 'nudist' or 'exhibitionist' somewhere. If it's bdsm, i'll use dominance or submission.

Things like that.


btw, I have 4 lesbian stories that begin with "Red Lipstick" as part of series. They all ballpark the same number of views/votes.

I also have a bunch of bdsm stories that start with "The Bondage..." and they do strong numbers.

Those are catchy titles. From my experience, when I ventured away from those titles, the results get a little mixed. So it shows the importance of a good title.

But then again, if you look at the Top List for 30 days or a year, you'll see that the results are mixed. Some stories don't really have eyecatching titles/descriptions but manage to do really well.

 

[FantasyXY]

For titles I like using short verb based phrases (two or three words). Some examples...

Feel for Jack, and Have Faith

These let the reader mentally fill in the words they want to around the title. Such as...

Jack gets a feel, and You can have Faith

It just makes the readers stop for a moment to understand what the title actually means. This will hopefully draw them in to start reading in order find out. Take a look across the best sellers lists for the last couple of decades and you will find a huge number of these types of titles. Believe it or not, this type of marketing through title actually works. Another title type that works well that I haven't used is simply a person's name. Even though this isn't a book, the movie "Dave" comes to mind.

For descriptions I try to tell what sort of story the reader should expect. For my story "Have Faith", The description told readers that the story was "very dirty, sick, and wrong". I try to avoid telling any pert of the story in the description, but I also avoid the guessing game.

That's how I do it.

 

[Hypoxia]

For Incest tales, put the relationship in the title. My 'Neath Western Skies, Ma! got many more views than a 'Neath Western Skies would have. A subtitle of "Oh Daddy!" she screamed will attract attention. You want to grab eyeballs? Be blatant. Try Ass-Pounding Fun; or One, Two, Kiss My Shoe followed by Three, Four, You Dirty Whore.

 

[oggbashan]

I recommend reading this old How-To about titles by Whispersecret:

https://www.literotica.com/s/how-to-get-people-to-read-your-story

 

[Hypoxia]

Of interest: Erotic novel ‘Space Raptor Butt Invasion’ is up for the prestigious Hugo sci-fi award. Does the title grab your eyeballs? Will your heart and mind follow?

 

[Serafina1210]

Thanks very much for all these useful observations.

"Space Raptor Butt Invasion" doesn't do a lot for me, though it may be only because I'm not an SF fan. I think the title would draw many clicks here at Lit.

 

[NOIRTRASH]

Location, location, location:His heart was always in the right place, just like his cock.

Mister Sandman Make Me A Dream, But Notta Nightmare

Hazardous Waste:Life Is A Prison Sentence You Cant Escape Alive.

She Called Me The Dentist: Cause I was So Good At Filling All Her Cavities.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Of interest: Erotic novel ‘Space Raptor Butt Invasion’ is up for the prestigious Hugo sci-fi award. Does the title grab your eyeballs? Will your heart and mind follow?

And the author has a new title out to celebrate.

When Tuck Bingle receives and email explaining that he’s been nominated for science fiction literature’s most prestigious award, he’s left utterly confused. On one hand, Tuck is a successful writer of gay, science fiction erotic, but on the other, this email is addressed to someone by the name of Chuck Tingle.

Tuck replies, but his message is not delivered because the recipient exists in another layer of The Tingleverse, a revelation that will take Tuck on a journey into the deepest realms of his butt’s heart.

Soon, Tuck is breaking fourth-walls and anal limits, pounded hard by a handsome sentient Hugo Award nomination named Kelpo and learning the true meaning of homoerotic love!

This erotic tale is 4,500 words of sizzling human on prestigious award nomination action, including anal, blowjobs, rough sex, cream pies and gay interdimensional love.

 

[CharleyH]

"I'm pretty sure a good title and description is more important than my magical handle or my yuuuge reputation."

Don't think about it and especially do not overthink. Something as simple as 'Sweat' or "Red" could do the trick.

 

[NOIRTRASH]

Good titles and descriptions require sense of humor, and few LIT writers are gifted with sense of humor. Most must be drunk or wasted before they can smile.

 

[NOIRTRASH]

This thread helped me finalize my newest story's title:

MIKEY DRAKE. His head was in the right place, so was his heart, and his family jewels were in the best place of all.

 

[sr71plt]

I almost always have the title before starting to write although I sometimes think of a better one as I write. At Lit., I have noticed that the blatant ones attract more readers than the clever ones do, so it depends on the content of the story which I go for.

I think the primary problem here is with the slug, not the title. Very limited space is provided to develop a "come on" slug line. Ones like JBJ just posted are too long for Lit.

 

[oggbashan]

My most popular TITLES are Virgin's Sister, and Virgin's Sister Again.

Two key search words in the title.

 

[ForeverLaughing]

Here's a related question. Is there any benefit in having a title begin with a letter early in the alphabet, like businesses used to do to be seen first in telephone books, so that it shows up earlier when a user browses by section? Or are most users going to sort by tags, which don't sort stories alphabetically?

 

[sr71plt]

I consider my "early in the alphabet titles" my fire wall. Those who decide to run from the forum and punish me by blasting my stories either do so with something still on the new list or go to my list and start from the top. Seeing how daunting the task is, though, they usually don't make it all the way through the As before they realize it's more effort than it's worth.

 

[HandsInTheDark]

"Why I Hate My Roommate" is one of the better things I've written, it affects people, and it rates very well - when people find it. The title doesn't pull them in.

"Chosen", in the lonely and windswept category of non-erotic, is probably the best thing I've ever written. It's gotten very few reads, but rave reviews.

"Rent Comes Due", a dark and meandering piece which has well drawn characters, rates ok and has gotten a lot of looks - probably because the title is vaguely menacing. But it's not that special a story.

So if I was after eyeballs I could do better with titles. But there's a different criteria I use when I pick a title. I want there to be an a-ha moment as the reader reads along, and the story and the title suddenly fit together. In Chosen, the title should resonate with the reader twice, once in the first couple chapters, and once on the last line of the story - where, if I did it right, readers should get zinged with a near tears, bittersweet smile.

In other words, I try to use the title to fit the story in a way that will boost ratings, not readership. Readership you get eventually anyway, if you're patient and any good. But getting to people is a dearer prize.

 

[BuckyDuckman]

I tend to err on being very direct with my titles. I blame youth wasted in the newspaper world and writing erotica for magazines like Penthouse "Forum." I treat titles like click bait. Quite often, my subconscious must be doing some of the work for me.

My recent April's Fools day entry spent its genesis on my computer as "Forbidden Kisses," since it was a forbidden kiss between friends that kicked off the story. I posting it as "Avril's Fool, a CFNM story" with the tagline: Avril loves seeing Ted, her best friend, naked. It was just a happy accident that Avril's name was so close to April. Especially since I never anticipated entering it as a contest entry.

"Coed Blowjob Buddies"- Two cumslut coeds share their fetish for sucking off guys - You sort of know what you're getting as soon as you see that, don't you?

My advice? Don't be afraid (or ashamed) of slapping a descriptive title on a story. And then do your best to wow the reader with decent writing and a good story.

 

[NOIRTRASH]

Publishers change titles all the time, especially for books released back in the 40s and 50s. And a few weren't bad in the original. David Goodis' DARK PASSAGE was popular and became a popular Bogart/Bacall movie. But many remember it as THE FUGITIVE tv series and 2nd film version.

 

[Ewobbit]

Apparently, I know nothing about titles. I still think;

The Totally Meaningless and Occasionally Cacophonic Ravings of a Would-be Confessional Poet.

was a dandy name for my chapbook collection of one hundred and fifty poems complete with background artwork, only six of which could be found elsewhere.

No publishers or literary agents agreed.

 

[Hypoxia]

Apparently, I know nothing about titles. I still think;

The Totally Meaningless and Occasionally Cacophonic Ravings of a Would-be Confessional Poet.

was a dandy name for my chapbook collection of one hundred and fifty poems complete with background artwork, only six of which could be found elsewhere.

No publishers or literary agents agreed.

You should have gone with BUGGER ALL: A World of Verse.

 

[NOIRTRASH]

YOU CANT GO WRONG WITH BETTY BONG is the current evolution of my story's title. Betty Bong is America's first female President. The title is her campaign slogan. Maybe this: TO DIE FOR, You cant go wrong with Betty Bong.

BONG is a Swedish name.