Dwindling readership

[Arkfisting]

I just posted the final chapter in my erotic novel "The Swim Team" and I was glancing through my profile and noticed that while each chapter gets roughly the same ranking, the total number of reads drops with each chapter. First chapter currently has 93k reads, but chapter two only has 47.5k. Chapter 10 only has 3.8k (granted chapter 1 was posted 2 years ago and chapter 10 was last month). I guess this means people don't want to read 140k word erotica.
Anyone else notice this or have this issue...or am I all alone in this?

https://www.literotica.com/stories/memberpage.php?uid=4821801&page=submissions

 

[SimonDoom]

You are not alone. Significant attrition occurs for almost all chaptered stories, especially early on. It's very common for chapter two to have half the views that chapter one has.

Remember that views are not reads. A view simply means somebody clicked on your story. So it stands to reason that a much higher percentage of those who click chapter one won't read it than will be true of chapter two.

If the story captures people's interest then views will tend to stabilize over time, after enough chapters, but that's not always true.

 

[Privates1stClass]

All my chaptered stories show a decline in views as chapter numbers increase. I think people lose interest, particularly if you don't post succeeding chapters on a regular basis.

 

[HeyAll]

That's the way chapters are. There's always a decline. The question is how hard the decline is.

The way to get more views is to write new stories and hope that people will enjoy your work and go back to read your old stories.

 

[SimonDoom]

The other factor, of course, is time. I checked OP's chaptered series. Chapter 7 was published two years after Chapter 1. Readers are more likely to drop off if you take a long time between chapters. But even if that were not true, there would be a big gap, because of time. Chapter 2 has had over 2 years to reach its number of views, while Chapter 7 has had only two months.

 

[Anthonysdaughter]

In every series that I have published (all under alternate usernames) the number of clicks significantly falls off after the first or second installment. BUT the scores go up as well which indicates to me that the audience is self-selecting itself. I also finish a set of stories before posting one and post the succeeding stories every two or three days apart. I also indicate that the series is done when it is. New stories leading off where the other ended can be given nearly identical names just keep in mind the index alphabetizes.

IE:
Dina-n-Doug, Amore: 8 part series
Dina-n-Doug, Beginnings: 7 part series
Dina-n-Doug, Commitment: 10 part series

 

[KeithD]

That's the way chapters are. There's always a decline.

This. It's just a fact of serial publication.

 

[ElectricBlue]

IAnyone else notice this or have this issue...or am I all alone in this?

That's typical. My rule of thumb is a 50% drop in readers between chapters one and two, another halving of readers to chapter three, and that's roughly the number who will read through to the final chapter - roughly 20 - 25% of your chapter one Views.

Views doesn't mean a story has been read - chapters give you an idea of the actual number of readers who finish a story.

 

[lovecraft68]

I won't repeat everyone else who has given the correct answer, but will add the advantage is that the scores usually go up because you're down to a core readership that's hooked on the story and will vote favorably.

Its why for years author's here have tried to get the site to stop allowing chapter stories in the top lists and the awards, they have an unfair advantage when the only factor taken into account is score.

 

[Trionyx]

I won't repeat everyone else who has given the correct answer, but will add the advantage is that the scores usually go up because you're down to a core readership that's hooked on the story and will vote favorably.

Its why for years author's here have tried to get the site to stop allowing chapter stories in the top lists and the awards, they have an unfair advantage when the only factor taken into account is score.

Agree with the complaint about chapter stories in top lists and awards. It is unfair that several chapters take up slots in a hall of fame listing. The result is the loss of many good stories that should be there. A programmer could potentially fix this issue quickly.

 

[lovecraft68]

Agree with the complaint about chapter stories in top lists and awards. It is unfair that several chapters take up slots in a hall of fame listing. The result is the loss of many good stories that should be there. A programmer could potentially fix this issue quickly.

Fix an issue that has been discussed and complained about by the authors that make this site money for the last ten years?

You're on the wrong site if you think that'll happen.