Can we talk about the disappointment of getting a story pushed off the front page on its first day?

[filthytrancendence]

The new section of each category page is 10 entries long. If more than 10 get published in that category on the day yours is pushed out, and you are #11 or higher, guess what?

Chapter 2 of my latest dropped today and it's presently within .01 of the rating of part 1. But it has a factor of 10 fewer ratings, favorites, and views, and a factor of infinity fewer comments.

It's also not a temporal thing. Chapter 1 was 3 days old when chapter 2 was published. Sigh.

I know change tends to be glacial, but it'd be real nice if the new section was made to be at least as long as the number of stories published that day in the category.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

The new section of each category page is 10 entries long.

I see 25.

 

[StillStunned]

I see 25.

That's probably the old web design. The new version shows 10, but there's a button for "More new [category] stories". If you click that, it shows all the stories published in the last 7 days.

To the OP:

The new section of each category page is 10 entries long. If more than 10 get published in that category on the day yours is pushed out, and you are #11 or higher, guess what?

Chapter 2 of my latest dropped today and it's presently within .01 of the rating of part 1. But it has a factor of 10 fewer ratings, favorites, and views, and a factor of infinity fewer comments.

It's also not a temporal thing. Chapter 1 was 3 days old when chapter 2 was published. Sigh.

I know change tends to be glacial, but it'd be real nice if the new section was made to be at least as long as the number of stories published that day in the category.

I doubt this is a factor. It's a factor if you're not in the first 25, because anyone using the old view doesn't see you. But with the new version it's too easy to click the "More new stories" button for readers not to see the whole list.

The simple fact is that subsequent chapters always have fewer views than first chapters or standalone stories. Unless you have a really gripping title or an intriguing description, readers are just less likely to jump into an ongoing story if they haven't read the rest.

Hopefully the views will catch up over time.

 

[TheLobster]

The simple fact is that subsequent chapters always have fewer views than first chapters or standalone stories.

But not by a factor of 10.

In the series I recently posted the third chapter of, that chapter has half the views and ratings of the second one. The second chapter, in turn, has a third of the views and half the ratings of the first one.

Even comparing chapter 1 and 3, the drop is fourfold for rating and sixfold for views; still less than what OP observed just from ch. 1 to ch. 2.

One confounding factor in this comparison may be the number of followers, which could be accounted if we compared the drop-offs in OP's other series.

 

[Omenainen]

I’m sorry to hear this happened to you. Hope chapter three is higher when it comes out.

Elsewhere on the site, my latest has been on the category new page for about two months now, and it still has barely a thousand views

 

[StillStunned]

But not by a factor of 10.

In the series I recently posted the third chapter of, that chapter has half the views and ratings of the second one. The second chapter, in turn, has a third of the views and half the ratings of the first one.

Even comparing chapter 1 and 3, the drop is fourfold for rating and sixfold for views; still less than what OP observed just from ch. 1 to ch. 2.

One confounding factor in this comparison may be the number of followers, which could be accounted if we compared the drop-offs in OP's other series.

Title and description are probably more of a factor that position on the New list. I've had stories right at the top of the category list - even listed first on the all-categories New Stories page - and it's sometimes barely made a difference.

 

[Voyeurkenneth]

The new section of each category page is 10 entries long. If more than 10 get published in that category on the day yours is pushed out, and you are #11 or higher, guess what?

Chapter 2 of my latest dropped today and it's presently within .01 of the rating of part 1. But it has a factor of 10 fewer ratings, favorites, and views, and a factor of infinity fewer comments.

It's also not a temporal thing. Chapter 1 was 3 days old when chapter 2 was published. Sigh.

I know change tends to be glacial, but it'd be real nice if the new section was made to be at least as long as the number of stories published that day in the category.

I do think the publish day might also play a role, though I have no hard evidence to prove that. Just looking at some of my previous I/T stories, Mondays don't seem particularly busy. Could be a titles/taglines thing too. Hard to say.

I don't know if your suggestion is feasible under the current interface. But another idea would be, for every page refresh, to shuffle the new stories into the 10 slots.

 

[Bamagan]

The simple fact is that subsequent chapters always have fewer views than first chapters or standalone stories. Unless you have a really gripping title or an intriguing description, readers are just less likely to jump into an ongoing story if they haven't read the rest.

Almost always. I have one counterexample: a two-parter in Nonhuman published in Feb of last year, eleven days apart. Chapter 1 has, as of this posting, 16,104 views, while Chapter 2 has 16,285. Their ratings were identical before I turned them off, although the first one has more votes (neither had a lot).

But to the OP: yes, what he said is basically correct. A normal drop-off is somewhere in the neighborhood of 50% after the first story, but there are many confounding factors. The fact that your stories are only three days apart may well mean that some readers who don't check the site daily haven't seen the new one yet, regardless of which page. I imagine there are some readers who only ever check the front page of a hub, but any regular visitor who goes more than a day between visits will probably be accustomed to poking around a bit more thoroughly.

 

[lovecraft68]

If you want a silver lining, the faster you're off the front page the less trolling you'll get from being a low effort target, especially in certain categories.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

Well, at least your story wasn't published with yesterday's date.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I have two suggestions:

1. Take a longer term perspective. How your story fares in the first few days or weeks means little over the course of time. Instant gratification is nice, but the legacy of your story is where the true success resides.
2. Publish the story in its entirety rather than by chapter. Many readers reward "crumbs" with crumbs of interest.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Well, at least your story wasn't published with yesterday's date.

Every story here is published with yesterday's date, when you're in Oz. Keep up .

 

[SimonDoom]

That's probably the old web design. The new version shows 10, but there's a button for "More new [category] stories". If you click that, it shows all the stories published in the last 7 days.

When you click on "More New stories" you get a list that consists of the larger of stories from the last 7 days OR 35 stories. If the category is incest, you'll get stories from the last 7 days, so it will be a very long list. If the category is Illustrated or How To, either of which may go days without a new story, the list consists of 35 stories, and it may go back 8 months or more.

The Site is trying to balance giving a fair shake to new stories with not overwhelming readers with information. There's no ideal way to strike the balance.

 

[TheRedChamber]

When you click on "More New stories" you get a list that consists of the larger of stories from the last 7 days OR 35 stories. If the category is incest, you'll get stories from the last 7 days, so it will be a very long list. If the category is Illustrated or How To, either of which may go days without a new story, the list consists of 35 stories, and it may go back 8 months or more.

On Chain Stories, 35 stories takes us back to 2015 - even with the 12 or so added as part of this years AH Chain Story activity.