A thing about stories in a series

[Kimikimidoll]

Because of the order they are published, and the way they have to be read (to be understood) the first chapter should logically have the most views, then the second, then third, and so on.

Instead, I see that each alternate chapter seems to do better/ get more views than its immediate predecessor. I guess that maybe the discrepancy happens because the story would be in the top 30 or the new list or be re-read because the readers like it.. but would there be a difference of 3000+ views?

Maybe I'm just being nit-picky, but I wonder if other authors see this too in their series.

 

[NOIRTRASH]

In a sane world readers wanna find out what happens at the end, and keep reading. The hot spots get extra views for a little monkey spanking, but from start to finish should be similar, unless the story isn't there to hold their interest.

 

[Kimikimidoll]

In a sane world readers wanna find out what happens at the end, and keep reading. The hot spots get extra views for a little monkey spanking, but from start to finish should be similar, unless the story isn't there to hold their interest.

Agreed, but to find out what happens, you'd wait for the next chapter, right? Not visit the last one and hope text will magically appear or something.

How easy do you think your series is to pick up from the middle of a chapter? I've done that, started reading from the middle of the series, and in most it's easy to identify who's what and what's going on. I suppose flexible chapter selection attract more readers.

 

[oggbashan]

On Literotica there are chapters, and chapters.

Some stories are complete and intended to be read from Chapter 1 through Chapter 2 to the end.

Other stories are not really chapters at all but sexual scenes perhaps involving the same characters repeating sexual encounters ad infinitum. Some of those 'chapters' go on and on and on to high numbers but it doesn't matter in which order they are read.

I have some continuing stories that can be read in any order. The premise is the same but the stories stand alone. My Shelacta stories are supposed to be random pieces from the planet Shelacta. There are a couple of them that link but most can be read in any order.

Jeanne_d_artois' Laundry Tales are the same. Any Laundry Tale can be read in any order.

But I don't call them 'chapters'.

 

[Carnevil9]

I have an eleven "chapter" series where each chapter stands alone. They would be better called "episodes" than chapters, although there is a loose arc that runs through them. I kind of think of them like a television series, where the first one sets the stage, the last one wraps things up, but the middle ones pretty much stand on their own.

In any case, the number of views generally decreases with increasing chapter number in this series, but not perfectly.

 

[NOIRTRASH]

Agreed, but to find out what happens, you'd wait for the next chapter, right? Not visit the last one and hope text will magically appear or something.

How easy do you think your series is to pick up from the middle of a chapter? I've done that, started reading from the middle of the series, and in most it's easy to identify who's what and what's going on. I suppose flexible chapter selection attract more readers.

Why would you do it? is the question I ask myself. What must be true for the facts to make sense?

 

[CoffeeWithMonkeys]

I have one story that has 4 chapters.
Chapter 1 got 14xxx views! Then chapter 2 only got 21xx, so a lot of people must not have liked chapter 1 enough to read chapter 2
Chapter 3 got a bit more at 28xx. And chapter 4 went down again to 15xx.

I always thought the views were kind of odd, but who knows!

 

[lovecraft68]

Something else that factors in sometimes is the day it was released, some days seem to get more hits than others I've noticed.

 

[Kimikimidoll]

So Sundays and Mondays seem to be the best days for my stories.

But more than that, I seem to have done something terrible in Ch. 6 because almost half the views dropped after that XD and at that point of time, I was sending out a new chapter almost every week, so it's not a matter of forgetting to follow up the story. It picked up after that, though.

*tries to recall what was so terrible, fails*
I have too much time on my hands.

 

[NOIRTRASH]

So Sundays and Mondays seem to be the best days for my stories.

But more than that, I seem to have done something terrible in Ch. 6 because almost half the views dropped after that XD and at that point of time, I was sending out a new chapter almost every week, so it's not a matter of forgetting to follow up the story. It picked up after that, though.

*tries to recall what was so terrible, fails*
I have too much time on my hands.

Consider that it prolly aint your story. Its likely the audience. Do your best and fuck them.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Something else that factors in sometimes is the day it was released, some days seem to get more hits than others I've noticed.

That, and also where it happens to sit on the New Stories page when it first comes out. Stories get posted in batches and if you're lucky enough to be last in batch i.e. first on the New Stories page, you'll get a lot more eyeballs.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I have one story that has 4 chapters.
Chapter 1 got 14xxx views! Then chapter 2 only got 21xx, so a lot of people must not have liked chapter 1 enough to read chapter 2
Chapter 3 got a bit more at 28xx. And chapter 4 went down again to 15xx.

That's the pattern I'd expect to see. A high view start, maybe not such a high score (people back out, or get to the end of Part 1 and are ambivalent). Next chapter not so high, and by the third or fourth chapter - there's your readership, most of whom will stay to the end.

I've got a 23 chapter EH yarn, Part 1 is 24k, Part 2 is 12k, settles down between 5k and 8k for a long haul, and ends up with 4k views for the final chapter. I can tell which chapters people go back and read again, they blip up by 1500 reads - they're the hotter ones.

What I like about the story arc is that I got to Part 9 and was hit with a plot twist I didn't know anything about. The story introduced a new heroine, who went on to become one of my favourite characters. I had to write fast, just to keep up. It took me another 14 parts to resolve the whole thing - it got complicated, time travel back and forth, a ghost girl taking the shape of different birds, a brother and sister and their mother....