An upswing in followers?

[SamScribble]

Is it my imagination? Or has there been an upswing in Followers lately?

For many years, I had the same ten followers. But over the past couple of months they have been flocking in like seagulls following a fishing boat.

Has something changed?

 

[ElectricBlue]

I've had a bit of a flurry in response to my latest story, perhaps more so than usual (I don't track rates of change). Maybe something's been put in the water.

 

[SimonDoom]

Not that I've noticed. My rate of getting new followers has remained about the same as before.

 

[NotWise]

Is it my imagination? Or has there been an upswing in Followers lately?

I think that about 1/3 of my followers signed up in response to my last two I/T stories. That's definitely new, but I attributed it to increasing name recognition in the category. My current Romance has only netted ten new followers, but it's only my second story in the category.

 

[8letters]

My followers for the year:
1/14/2019 2290 +12
1/21/2019 2299 +9
1/28/2019 2307 +8
2/04/2019 2310 +3
2/11/2019 2324 +14
2/18/2019 2344 +20
2/25/2019 2352 +8
3/04/2019 2364 +12
3/11/2019 2376 +12
3/18/2019 2385 +9
4/01/2019 2404 +19
4/08/2019 2414 +10
4/15/2019 2420 +6
5/06/2019 2451 +31
5/13/2019 2463 +12
5/20/2019 2471 +8
5/27/2019 2474 +3
6/03/2019 2483 +9
6/10/2019 2491 +8
6/24/2019 2507 +16
7/01/2019 2551 +44
7/08/2019 2604 +53
7/15/2019 2623 +19
7/22/2019 2634 +11
7/29/2019 2651 +17
8/05/2019 2660 +9
8/12/2019 2666 +6
8/19/2019 2673 +7
8/26/2019 2687 +14
9/02/2019 2697 +10
9/09/2019 2708 +11

I had a story published on 6/29.

 

[KeithD]

The only thing I've noticed with followers is that more frequent story posting tends to bring more frequent favoriting. The same holds for sales in the marketplace.

 

[SimonDoom]

The only thing I've noticed with followers is that more frequent story posting tends to bring more frequent favoriting. The same holds for sales in the marketplace.

Very true. When I post a new story, I typically will get at least twice as many new followers during the month after its publication as I would without publishing a story. My publication rate over the last year has been paltry compared to the year before that, and I've seen my "background" rate of acquiring new followers drop somewhat from where it was a year ago. But with the publication of my last story almost two months ago I netted a nice new bunch of followers. The popularity of the story (and the category in which it's published) makes a big difference.

 

[BelleCanzuto]

My current Romance has only netted ten new followers, but it's only my second story in the category.

"Only ten new followers", *only*. ONLY!
I'm happy to get two new followers from a story.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, you've got a bunch of stories; ive got 9. You're well known and have been around for a while; im a newbie posting less than 6 months.
Well, at least I have a goal to aim at.

 

[NotWise]

Well, at least I have a goal to aim at.

Publishing popular stories frequently and all in one category is probably the best way to build name recognition and gain followers.

 

[SimonDoom]

"Only ten new followers", *only*. ONLY!
I'm happy to get two new followers from a story.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, I know, you've got a bunch of stories; ive got 9. You're well known and have been around for a while; im a newbie posting less than 6 months.
Well, at least I have a goal to aim at.

You might try writing stories in some different categories, even if just as an experiment. BDSM, Mind Control, and Erotic Couplings often do not get big viewer numbers, so you're less likely to pick up followers at a good clip if you publish in them only.

My first two stories were published in Erotic Couplings and in BDSM. The view numbers were small, and so were the followers, although my BDSM story had a very good score, the same as your top BDSM story.

Several months later I published a few stories in Exhibitionism and then Incest, and it opened the floodgates. Within 6 month of publishing my first story, and just a bit over one month after publishing my first incest story, I had well over 500 followers. It does make a difference to branch out, and to specifically target categories that have more readers, if you want more readers and more followers.

 

[BelleCanzuto]

Publishing popular stories frequently and all in one category is probably the best way to build name recognition and gain followers.

Several months later I published a few stories in Exhibitionism and then Incest, and it opened the floodgates. Within 6 month of publishing my first story, and just a bit over one month after publishing my first incest story, I had well over 500 followers. It does make a difference to branch out, and to specifically target categories that have more readers, if you want more readers and more followers.

Thanks to you both for the advice. At this stage I'm going to stick with writing what I want, rather than writing with a specific audience in mind. Or with a specific goal for followers, votes or favorites. I can't see myself writing an incest story at all, but there are probably some E/V plot bunnies hibernating in the back of my brain (do bunnies hibernate? Nevermind). I'm at the point in this hobby where I want it to remain a hobby, i.e. something I choose to do because I feel like it, to blow off steam etc, not something I've assigned myself to do to meet a quota of some kind. I realized looking at 8letters post that they literally post every week, and that seems too much like a job to me.

I have begun to realize that the BDSM audience doesn't engage very much. However, those are the stories my pervvy brain wants to write, right now.

 

[SimonDoom]

T

I have begun to realize that the BDSM audience doesn't engage very much. However, those are the stories my pervvy brain wants to write, right now.

That's what matters most.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Thanks to you both for the advice. At this stage I'm going to stick with writing what I want, rather than writing with a specific audience in mind. Or with a specific goal for followers, votes or favorites. I can't see myself writing an incest story at all, but there are probably some E/V plot bunnies hibernating in the back of my brain (do bunnies hibernate? Nevermind). I'm at the point in this hobby where I want it to remain a hobby, i.e. something I choose to do because I feel like it, to blow off steam etc, not something I've assigned myself to do to meet a quota of some kind. I realized looking at 8letters post that they literally post every week, and that seems too much like a job to me.

I have begun to realize that the BDSM audience doesn't engage very much. However, those are the stories my pervvy brain wants to write, right now.

I think you misinterpreted 8letters' post. He's tracking his followers on a weekly basis, but notes his last published story was in June. He's said elsewhere he's quite a slow writer.

KeithD is the most prolific writer I can think of, both in terms of his back list and his new content, and churns it out. I suspect there are no windows in his attic . SilkStockingLover is prolific too, the last time I paid much attention.

As Simon notes, category matters if popularity matters. You want volume, write I&T, it's that simple. But you've got to be a big penguin or stand on a tall rock, to stand out.

 

[BelleCanzuto]

I think you misinterpreted 8letters' post. He's tracking his followers on a weekly basis, but notes his last published story was in June. He's said elsewhere he's quite a slow writer.

AH! Ok, that makes sense. Thanks for the clarification.

 

[Rustyoznail]

However, those are the stories my pervvy brain wants to write, right now.

Hi Belle

I’ve been here about the same time as you. I started writing to dump stuff out of my head, similar to you. Laurel dropped my first story into I/T, although I was thinking first time. However, I really didn’t care. It was what I wanted to write, and I was really happy people liked it.

To me, that’s the main thing. I write what I want, and a good score is just a bonus. If a plot bunny happens to jump in the pot from a left field area, great. But I’m not going hunting for them.

 

[ThisNameIsntTakenYet]

I'm going to assume Lesbian is also one of the categories that gets a lot of readers and favorites. And comments I guess. My first story has way more reads, favorites and comments than my second, and probably brought in 20-25 of my 35 current followers. But I only have two stories so far, so this might as well just have been me getting lucky with my first rather than any hard data.

 

[LupusDei]

You know what I find a bit strange?

Apparently, I do have a handful of followers. No, I still do not have any published work at all. No, I haven't talked to any of them, as far I'm aware of. So, how random is that? How hopeful they must be?

Well, kind of makes me hope it starts raining soon... not that I'm promising...

 

[SimonDoom]

I'm going to assume Lesbian is also one of the categories that gets a lot of readers and favorites. And comments I guess. My first story has way more reads, favorites and comments than my second, and probably brought in 20-25 of my 35 current followers. But I only have two stories so far, so this might as well just have been me getting lucky with my first rather than any hard data.

Lesbian is a middle-of-the-pack category in terms of number of readers. Incest is far and away number 1. Incest stories dominate all of the viewer toplists. Loving Wives is a solid number 2. After that are (in no order) Anal, Nonconsent/reluctance, First Time, Mature, Illustrated, Mature, Group Sex. Lesbian and some others are a step below those, and Romance is another step below those. At the bottom are categories like Letters and Humor.

The best way to garner a lot of views is to publish a hot incest story with pictures in the Illustrated Category. The reason is that so few stories are published in Illustrated that the story will remain on new story hub for months and months, while so many stories are published in Incest that they drop off the new story hub after a day or two.

Here's the link to the analysis: https://forum.literotica.com/showthread.php?t=1487508&highlight=8letters.

 

[ThisNameIsntTakenYet]

Lesbian is a middle-of-the-pack category in terms of number of readers. Incest is far and away number 1. Incest stories dominate all of the viewer toplists. Loving Wives is a solid number 2. After that are (in no order) Anal, Nonconsent/reluctance, First Time, Mature, Illustrated, Mature, Group Sex. Lesbian and some others are a step below those, and Romance is another step below those. At the bottom are categories like Letters and Humor.

The best way to garner a lot of views is to publish a hot incest story with pictures in the Illustrated Category. The reason is that so few stories are published in Illustrated that the story will remain on new story hub for months and months, while so many stories are published in Incest that they drop off the new story hub after a day or two.

Here's the link to the analysis: https://forum.literotica.com/showthread.php?t=1487508&highlight=8letters.

Interesting, guess I did indeed just get lucky. That it was a contest story might have helped too. Or maybe I just happend to write exactly what the readers were looking for. Just hope that the followers I got from that won't get too disappointed, as while I do have some ideas for another lesbian story, it probably won't happen for a while.