declining viewing

[misterJJP]

This question is for writers.
I like to write stories with multiple chapters published one after the other.
Is it your experience that the number of readers decline steadily after the first chapter?
If I had poor ratings I would understand that people are not interested in knowing what will happening but my ratings are good, in the 4.5 range.
You can find my stories under misterJJP
Thanks for your input

 

[BrokenSpokes]

This question is for writers.
I like to write stories with multiple chapters published one after the other.
Is it your experience that the number of readers decline steadily after the first chapter?
If I had poor ratings I would understand that people are not interested in knowing what will happening but my ratings are good, in the 4.5 range.
You can find my stories under misterJJP
Thanks for your input

That happened to me too. I think it’s par for the course. Your first story will get a lot of looks, but may not be for everyone. So the people coming back for the next chapter and the next will necessarily fall off. It’s not a comment on your ongoing story, just how it works.

My highest rated chapter in my series is Chapter 03, but it has half the views of Chapter 01. Also I think if you really have your hooks into your readers they will go back and re-read the preceding chapters when a new one comes out, which inflates the views of those first chapters.

tl;dr - you’re probably fine. Don’t read too much into it.

 

[KeithD]

Yes, readership typically declines over a multiple-chapter series. Stands to reason. Anyone jumping in later in the series is coming in out of context. And those reading chapter one have got to really, really like it to stick with it--especially if they aren't assured it will post rapidly and will be given an end.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Based on multiple threads on this over time, you can reasonably assume your second chapter will get half the Views of the first, the third chapter another 50% drop from the second. Your View count for the third chapter (now 20 - 25% that of the first chapter) will usually be your reader count through to the end. Probably more so if the whole story is published over a short period of time and the quality stays consistent. If you publish as you finish each chapter you need to keep churning it out, or the drop-off continues.

This drop-off will also go on in stand-alone stories - there is no way of knowing how many readers finish any single story (a View means only a click onto the first page, nothing more).

 

[gordo12]

I often see stories for the first time with something like ch 13. To me it means reading 12 chapters before I get there. There are easier roads with other stories so I avoid them like the plague.

 

[Jada59]

I don't read chapter stories here as a general rule. I want something to get off on! Exception being friend's stories. Some of my friends do write chapter stuff.

 

[LupusDei]

I don't read chapter stories here as a general rule. I want something to get off on! Exception being friend's stories. Some of my friends do write chapter stuff.

Good authors see to have something to get off on in every chapter, but there's no warranty of course. Since I mostly seek context than detailed descriptions, I rather enjoy long form stories where the world around and beyond sex is built, and that means reading chaptered works too. Unfinished stories can be frustrating sometimes, but since I allow my own fantasy roam and create my own long lasting continuations every time I lift my eyes from the text, a missing one only means I don't have the chance to confirm my guess and see how author themselves will answer the unknown questions and consequences.

However it's true, I'm too far less likely to jump in on chapter #7 or #23. When I see such and find it intriguing by the title, category and blurb line, I may either open it for a look or open author's page to see blurbs of the entire series so far. Either way, I would then look at the first chapter first. There's no warranty I would read it through, and then I decide weather I want the second, and even when I inclined so, there's no warranty I would follow through, I have a bunch of starts bookmarked but never revisited. Likewise, if/when I catch up with the current working break, I may wait indefinite time until continuing, of course, that includes also occasional near instant readings of stories I have followed authors for that exact purpose.

All in all, even analyzing behavior of one reader (myself) it becomes obvious such a drop in views of chaptered stories is natural.

 

[SimonDoom]

This is a universal phenomenon. Every writer of series encounters it.

It makes sense. A "view" doesn't reflect a full read of your story. It reflects someone clicking on it after they've seen the title, the category, and perhaps the tagline. From my observation, far fewer than half the people who click on a story to view it actually read the whole thing.

Of those that read the whole thing, some won't like it and won't want to read chapter two.

So, there's usually a very sharp drop off in views from chapter 1 to chapter 2. There's usually a noticeable but not quite as significant drop off from chapter 2 to chapter 3. After a certain point the drop off is much smaller. In a really long series it's not unusual for chapter views to stabilize. You see this in a long series like Tefler's 100+ chapter sci fi series. He's got a stable readership at this point.

In my 8-chapter series the last chapter has fewer than one third the number of views that the first chapter has. That's normal.

 

[JuanSeiszFitzHall]

Based on multiple threads on this over time, you can reasonably assume your second chapter will get half the Views of the first, the third chapter another 50% drop from the second. Your View count for the third chapter (now 20 - 25% that of the first chapter) will usually be your reader count through to the end. Probably more so if the whole story is published over a short period of time and the quality stays consistent. If you publish as you finish each chapter you need to keep churning it out, or the drop-off continues.

This drop-off will also go on in stand-alone stories - there is no way of knowing how many readers finish any single story (a View means only a click onto the first page, nothing more).

EB's projection matches closely to my experience, and I've only published one series. These are the data as of today:
Part 1, 4280 views, 39 votes
Part 2, 1914 views, 16 votes
Part 3, 1002 views, 4 votes
Part 4, 1134 views, 7 votes
Part 5, 1083 views, 16 votes
There has been no decline in ratings, by any reasonable reckoning. The five ratings range from 4.25 to 4.71, with an average of 4.39. This suggests that the readers who stayed with the series felt pretty much the same about it end-to-end, and I met reader expectations (I guess). Maybe the uptick in total votes for Part 5 included some readers voting then on the whole series, rather than on individual parts, but this is a really small sample size.

https://www.literotica.com/stories/memberpage.php?uid=5116173&page=submissions

 

[SimonDoom]

I don't read chapter stories here as a general rule. I want something to get off on! Exception being friend's stories. Some of my friends do write chapter stuff.

I don't usually read to get off, but I have read some chapter stories that would work very well for this purpose. They can be very titillating.

The way they usually work is each chapter represents a "ratcheting up" of the main character's erotic experience with something kinky. Each chapter gets a little bit more outrageous than the previous one. It's a pattern that works well with, for example, exhibitionism, where the main character exposes more and more with each chapter.

I wrote an 8-chapter series of this type in the mom-son incest genre, where mom and son's encounters get more and more intimate and finally come to fruition in the final chapter. Readers seemed to like it. In each chapter there's a setup and a sexual/erotic encounter. So, theoretically, each chapter could help the reader get off, if that's what the reader wants.

 

[Vix_Giovanni]

I don't read chapter stories here as a general rule. I want something to get off on! Exception being friend's stories. Some of my friends do write chapter stuff.

Oh, dear Jada, I lament how much you miss! Some of the very hottest writing on this site is in the long-form stories; writing that leaves an afterglow for hours and occasionally even days later. To me personally, it's like the difference between a decent quickie and shivering, shimmering foreplay: completely worth it when it takes only a few minutes investment of additional time.

 

[BrokenSpokes]

Oh, dear Jada, I lament how much you miss! Some of the very hottest writing on this site is in the long-form stories; writing that leaves an afterglow for hours and occasionally even days later. To me personally, it's like the difference between a decent quickie and shivering, shimmering foreplay: completely worth it when it takes only a few minutes investment of additional time.

*Breaks finger pressing “LIKE” button*

 

[DryLips]

This question is for writers.
I like to write stories with multiple chapters published one after the other.
Is it your experience that the number of readers decline steadily after the first chapter?
If I had poor ratings I would understand that people are not interested in knowing what will happening but my ratings are good, in the 4.5 range.
You can find my stories under misterJJP
Thanks for your input

I like to read chapter stories, rather than long stories in a single post. Reason? If I get interrupted or have to stop for some reason, I don't want to have to remember what page I was on. With chapter stories, I can stop at the end of the chapter and then pick up the next one, when I'm ready to read again.

I agree that every chapter should have something to get off on, but some chapters may need to be dedicated to character development (if it's a long story). In that case, the author should let the reader know that the chapter doesn't contain any sex, yada, yada, yada.

I have a chapter story I'm working on right now, and to be honest, some of the chapters are weak in the sex department, and one has no sex whatsoever. I'm working on beefing up the chapters I have yet to post, so there will be some good sex scenes for the readers.

My chapters haven't been up very long but I have noticed that the older chapters increase in hits after I post a new chapter. I think that's a good sign that readers are going back and starting at the beginning to see what they missed...at least I hope so.

 

[ElectricBlue]

My chapters haven't been up very long but I have noticed that the older chapters increase in hits after I post a new chapter. I think that's a good sign that readers are going back and starting at the beginning to see what they missed...at least I hope so.

Yes, that's exactly what happens; folk wander into the latest at random, and go back to the beginning. If you track closely enough you can see the kick with each chapter. The same effect happens with any story - you'll see a step-up if activity in your back catalogue.