Title and Teaser Line question

[Trionyx]

I have a question regarding two of my stories. These were both published on the same day for the April Fool’s contest, both were just shy of 2 pages long and both were in the Erotic Coupling category. The one story entitled Midnight Quickie had as a teaser line “Things aren’t always as they first appear.” The second story was Zorro’s Girl with a teaser line “A flamenco dancer falls for Zorro.” The first story had three times as many views and just about three times as many votes as the second story had.

My question is ‘why did this happen?’ I can only guess that the titles and teaser lines really must have had some kind of an impact. Maybe I should have called the second one Zorro’s Conquest with a teaser line “He makes a flamenco dancer his.”

Thoughts and ideas? Thanks.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Midnight Quickie cuts straight to the sexual content, while Zorro's Girl turns off anybody who is not into Zorro. I'm not sure that subtitles would have influenced much, in this case.

 

[SimonDoom]

Agree with EB.

The second story sounds like fanfic. Some people are into that, and some people aren't. "Midnight Quickie" has more universal appeal and sounds more like something that someone look for a quick stroke story might like.

I doubt the taglines made much difference in this case.

None of this is to say you shouldn't write Zorro stories. But be prepared that fanfic doesn't usually have that many readers.

 

[RejectReality]

I'll third that analysis.

Because it was a contest story, one typical thing that causes views to skew wildly is off the table — new story page placement. A story at the top of the list can vastly outperform those that fall lower. Contest stories all are at the top of that list.

( This effect shrinks by the day as more people utilize the hubs instead )

Since reports say that virtually nothing had an H until the end of the contest, that makes another possible view driver unlikely. A story that gets an early H can attract a lot of eyes.

It is remotely possible in a high submission category like EC — where contest stories are being approved with no regards to category balance — that one story might have been on the default new story list on the hub, while one was pushed off. Seems unlikely, but that could seriously hurt the one that got pushed off.

With most of the view disparity drivers having low probability, it is indeed down to title and tagline.

 

[AvroAnsonXIX]

I was hungry, it was late, and I didn't have my glasses. I misread it as Midnight Quiche. Please deduct one hit. Thanks.

 

[Rustyoznail]

I've been wondering the same. Most of my stories have a tag line that pretty much indicates what's in the box. My two Ind v Aus stories don't, and I think I'm missing views because of that. Heyall, who had a look at my early stories made the point that the tag line should catch the readers eye.

My next story in the series will have the line "Neha fucks a family of firemen in a firestorm."

 

[TarnishedPenny]

Agree with the above. Welcome to the arcanity that is Literotica.

 

[Trionyx]

Thanks.

I appreciate your responses. It’s unfortunate that the name Zorro may have turned some people off because Zorro was just a costumed student at a Mardi Gras costume ball.
Oh well, live and learn.

 

[sirhugs]

Agree with EB.

The second story sounds like fanfic. Some people are into that, and some people aren't. "Midnight Quickie" has more universal appeal and sounds more like something that someone look for a quick stroke story might like.

I doubt the taglines made much difference in this case.

None of this is to say you shouldn't write Zorro stories. But be prepared that fanfic doesn't usually have that many readers.

Mot many readers, but fanatical readers- which is good if you find their sweet spot, but alas, not so fun if they pictured the story differently. There is a reason I don't write fanfic, besides not being good at it.

 

[sirhugs]

I was hungry, it was late, and I didn't have my glasses. I misread it as Midnight Quiche. Please deduct one hit. Thanks.

But it was tasty!

 

[sirhugs]

I've been wondering the same. Most of my stories have a tag line that pretty much indicates what's in the box. My two Ind v Aus stories don't, and I think I'm missing views because of that. Heyall, who had a look at my early stories made the point that the tag line should catch the readers eye.

My next story in the series will have the line "Neha fucks a family of firemen in a firestorm."

but will she really?

 

[davion2308]

Teasers are everythin

I'd be interested in an experiment where I have the same exact story but with two different titles and two different teasers, as you call them.

You are in the middle of all these thousands of other stories and you have the flick of a reader's eyes before they pick your story or move on to something else. It's all in how you present.

"Zorro" will attract attention from a small, dedicated base who expect something about a Mexican bandit fighting for good in the dusty uplands of Chihuahua. I wouldn't click on a Zorro story, no matter the score, because he never did anything for me, sexy-wise or other.

That's what got you. I'll 6th or 7th what everyone else said so far.

 

[JanusGoneAwry]

A bit OT but what about the story tags themselves? How impactful are descriptive and comprehensive tags when it comes to readership?

I follow the advice I read in a good help post (sorry I don't have the link) but I've always been curious about the real impact that story tags have on driving readership.

Thoughts?

 

[TadOverdon]

My tags tend to be a little flippant. Necessary brevity encourages that.

 

[ElectricBlue]

A bit OT but what about the story tags themselves? How impactful are descriptive and comprehensive tags when it comes to readership?

I follow the advice I read in a good help post (sorry I don't have the link) but I've always been curious about the real impact that story tags have on driving readership.

Thoughts?

Folk frequently comment that they find stories by searching tags. You get ten, so use all of them, make them relevant.

Use this resource, which helps focus: https://tags.literotica.com

 

[Rustyoznail]

but will she really?

Ahh, you’ll have to wait and see.

 

[SimonDoom]

A bit OT but what about the story tags themselves? How impactful are descriptive and comprehensive tags when it comes to readership?

I follow the advice I read in a good help post (sorry I don't have the link) but I've always been curious about the real impact that story tags have on driving readership.

Thoughts?

What EB said (again). People search for stories using tags. So by all means, use them, and use them wisely.

The mistake people make with tags is sometimes they don't choose the right ones. They choose tags that relate to specific things in their story, but they're not things that any person is ever going to search for. So they're on-point, but they serve no useful purpose.

Choose tags that maximize the probability that people doing searches will find your story.

Go to the Tag section and search the most popular tags that are used in connection with the category of the story you plan to publish. Choose the tags that combine the qualities of a) being popular tags that people looking for stories are likely to use, and b) accurately describe your story.

 

[KeithD]

I haven't really seen evidence that a large percentage of readers here use tags at all to find stories. As an author, I use them mostly as an "I warned you there was that in this story." I don't put much faith into many others than me searching on tags in my stories and I mostly do it to answer readers' questions of "have you written any more like this?" With over 1,300 stories under my belt here at Lit. under one name or the other, I can't rely on remembering the content/title of each story I've written with any given fetish or theme.