Have a story with only 4.2 rating that is still getting 700 reads a day after almost a week. What is going on?

[Tomh1966]

It's a week out on it and it is still getting that many reads. Normally my stories' readership fades hard. I think it's fairly good, but I have others that rate better.

I'm confuzzled and no it isn't an incest story with a mom and son. (Tenth Anniversary in LW FWIW.)

 

[lovecraft68]

4.2 is pretty good for LW, you have a story that's getting enough sane voters to counter the lunatic trolls there.

anything over 4 in LW is equal to 4.5+ in just about any other category, so its not your house, its the neighborhood.

 

[Tomh1966]

I understand but 'Four Minutes Thirty Seconds' rates far higher and gets about fifty reads a day and faded far FAR faster. I'm just trying to figure out what I did right.

 

[SimonDoom]

You should provide a link to your story so people know what it is and can help you answer the question.

 

[Tomh1966]

https://www.literotica.com/s/tenth-anniversary

Simon with advice for the win. Trying to figure out what I did right because I assure you that it is completely accidental.

 

[SimonDoom]

This is my guess. It's one of the highest-rated Loving Wives story of the last week, and it's still on the new story hub, so it's attracting attention because of its high score and its subject matter. Readers probably like what happens in the story, too, which is not always the case in LW.

 

[Tomh1966]

So if it falls off day after tomorrow that would confirm your theory. Thanks.

I had a thought. Popular tags? Problem is I have NO idea what the popular tags are.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

Remember...

"Views" do not equal "reads".

Focus more on comments and how many times it gets marked as a favorite as better gauges of reader acceptance. You're doing well with both right now.

 

[SimonDoom]

So if it falls off day after tomorrow that would confirm your theory. Thanks.

I had a thought. Popular tags? Problem is I have NO idea what the popular tags are.

I looked at your tags, and that occurred to me as well.

Also standalone stories will tend to get more views than chapter stories, so that could account for some difference in your stories as well.

 

[NoTalentHack]

It's a week out on it and it is still getting that many reads. Normally my stories' readership fades hard. I think it's fairly good, but I have others that rate better.

I'm confuzzled and no it isn't an incest story with a mom and son. (Tenth Anniversary in LW FWIW.)

I’ll agree with what the others said and add that it’s also a bit of a rarity in there: an LW story where the wife doesn’t cheat and proves her loyalty to her husband. It’s a different form of “comfort food” than the BTB story, but it’s in the same neighborhood. “Unlike in my life, the MMC trusted his wife and was rewarded for it.”(I may borrow this as an example for Loving Loving Wives, my essay on the category)

 

[SimonDoom]

I’ll agree with what the others said and add that it’s also a bit of a rarity in there: an LW story where the wife doesn’t cheat and proves her loyalty to her husband. It’s a different form of “comfort food” than the BTB story, but it’s in the same neighborhood. “Unlike in my life, the MMC trusted his wife and was rewarded for it.”(I may borrow this as an example for Loving Loving Wives, my essay on the category)

Totally agree, and I think this is why the score is higher, which in turn results in more views.

I tried to thread this needle once with my 750-word Loving Wives story Super Bowl Halftime Show, where a wife who likes to show off has an encounter with her husband during the Super Bowl while the buddies are sitting around watching the game, but they never catch on to what she's doing.

I received mostly favorable comments from readers who liked the fact that she didn't have sex with the friends, just the husband.

I did receive one comment from a reader who described her as a "halftime whore," notwithstanding my efforts. So you can't please all tastes in this area. Presumably some want the wife in an ankle length shapeless dress as she serves snacks to the friends.

As a very broad principle, I think a significant chunk of readers in this category like the idea of a hot wife who COULD cheat (because she's so hot, etc.) but doesn't because she's faithful to the husband. The OP's story plays to this element very well.

 

[gunhilltrain]

https://www.literotica.com/s/tenth-anniversary

Simon with advice for the win. Trying to figure out what I did right because I assure you that it is completely accidental.

It's probable that you'll never know exactly what you did right (or did wrong) because it is - not quite accidental - but "serendipitous." Maybe that's not quite the right word either. Call it "random," because for the most part none of us has a formula that works. There are tens of thousands of readers here and it's hard to predict what they will do. That is the nature of a site like this. You have to write the story you want to tell and then see what happens.

 

[gunhilltrain]

So if it falls off day after tomorrow that would confirm your theory. Thanks.

I had a thought. Popular tags? Problem is I have NO idea what the popular tags are.

I don't think there are many "popular" tags. Okay, we've confirmed (not me personally) that most incest stories/tags will do well. Beyond that, you just have to use whatever is in the story. That may include the setting (assuming there is something notable about it) and any sexual activities or themes described.

Chasing popularity for its own sake can be futile, As I implied, there will always be surprises, both good and bad. "All glory is fleeting."

 

[alohadave]

I’ll agree with what the others said and add that it’s also a bit of a rarity in there: an LW story where the wife doesn’t cheat and proves her loyalty to her husband. It’s a different form of “comfort food” than the BTB story, but it’s in the same neighborhood. “Unlike in my life, the MMC trusted his wife and was rewarded for it.”(I may borrow this as an example for Loving Loving Wives, my essay on the category)

It plays into the fantasies of readers there.

It's a story of a wife who is endlessly devoted to the husband, feels like a failure for having normal feelings and attractions.

This is a BTB story, once removed. The other three wives cheated, got caught, and will be getting divorced. The wife who didn't cheat and feels bad and confesses is rewarded with a cruise and a trip to the UK.

The husband also gets to dictate to the wife what she can and can't do, and she is basically a sex object for the husband, with seemingly few characteristics besides being a devoted wife, mother, and teacher. That he allows her the once a month time with her friends is his way of being magnanimous.

He also has no respect for her privacy by having a policy of being able to look at her phone any time he wishes.

The bit about restricting where she can go is troubling, even when he applies it to himself (and which he has no interest in, so it's not a sacrifice for him).

I was confused about the PI, as that implies a level of distrust in his wife that he needs validation that she is being honest with him.

I'm not surprised that it's getting decent attention in LW.

 

[NoTalentHack]

It plays into the fantasies of readers there.

It's a story of a wife who is endlessly devoted to the husband, feels like a failure for having normal feelings and attractions.

This is a BTB story, once removed. The other three wives cheated, got caught, and will be getting divorced. The wife who didn't cheat and feels bad and confesses is rewarded with a cruise and a trip to the UK.

The husband also gets to dictate to the wife what she can and can't do, and she is basically a sex object for the husband, with seemingly few characteristics besides being a devoted wife, mother, and teacher. That he allows her the once a month time with her friends is his way of being magnanimous.

He also has no respect for her privacy by having a policy of being able to look at her phone any time he wishes.

The bit about restricting where she can go is troubling, even when he applies it to himself (and which he has no interest in, so it's not a sacrifice for him).

I was confused about the PI, as that implies a level of distrust in his wife that he needs validation that she is being honest with him.

I'm not surprised that it's getting decent attention in LW.

Agree. And, honestly? I think this is why it's NOT doing as well as it could. The readers like a certain amount of fairness, and the wife having proven that she's trustworthy makes the rest of it seem like paranoia, because it is. More than probably any other category, the readers there aren't a single bloc, but one thing the majority really seems to dislike is hypocrisy. Cheating on a cheater is still cheating, for example, in their eyes. It's not retributive, it's just being sleazy. Making the cheating spouse work for a reconciliation is one thing; making them suffer endlessly is another. It's one of the nuances that it's easy to miss unless you are the kind of obsessive that reads the vast majority of the stories and a lot of the comments.

 

[MillieDynamite]

And you think this is a bad thing?

It's a week out on it and it is still getting that many reads. Normally my stories' readership fades hard. I think it's fairly good, but I have others that rate better.

I'm confuzzled and no it isn't an incest story with a mom and son. (Tenth Anniversary in LW FWIW.)

 

[Tomh1966]

And you think this is a bad thing?

NO. Trying to replicate more readership and what I did right because I honestly have no idea what is different. NO idea. This is the only story I have written that had any kind of continued relatively high numbers and yeah, I know many here have 400K view stories.

I have other stories in LW and all fell off a cliff in views as I expected. I have a story that sits at 4.48 in LW that gets far fewer reads. Yeah, I'd like to hit 50K views on something. Ironically once I do, I will probably not care as much for a second one to get to 50K. Once I had one 'H' story, yes, the other 'H's were nice, but I got it once so... I still like it but I got to ring the bell once.

Call it a goal perhaps. Get one to 50K and drive more views. Not the be all end all, but call it a nice little win.

 

[MillieDynamite]

In the past, I wrote loving wife stories by request. I followed the outline provided by the requestor. No matter the story, there were more detractors than admirers. I did a workaround by not putting them in loving wives, but still, the trolls found the stories. Finally, I stopped doing requests and haven't returned to them. I'm thinking of considering requests again, with the caveat that it isn't a cuckold story.

NO. Trying to replicate more readership and what I did right because I honestly have no idea what is different. NO idea. This is the only story I have written that had any kind of continued relatively high numbers and yeah, I know many here have 400K view stories.

I have other stories in LW and all fell off a cliff in views as I expected. I have a story that sits at 4.48 in LW that gets far fewer reads. Yeah, I'd like to hit 50K views on something. Ironically once I do, I will probably not care as much for a second one to get to 50K. Once I had one 'H' story, yes, the other 'H's were nice, but I got it once so... I still like it but I got to ring the bell once.

Call it a goal perhaps. Get one to 50K and drive more views. Not the be all end all, but call it a nice little win.

 

[Tomh1966]

Alohadave. ANOTHER husband hired the PI. Not the MC.

Ben the husband hired the PI and followed the three women to the yacht.

Thanks for the critiques y'all, yes really. I can't get better with nothing but praise and tend to pass up drive-by whining by anons. I read some, but tend to pay more attention to people willing to sign their name to it.

 

[Lifestyle66]

https://www.literotica.com/s/tenth-anniversary

Simon with advice for the win. Trying to figure out what I did right because I assure you that it is completely accidental.

It's your title and description line which draws the viewers.

Tags are only good for drawing in those who look for a specific tag. But readers don't see your tags until they click on your story.

Your Four MInutes story has a description line showing it's yet another "February Sucks" spinoff.

Your current story has the description of girl's night out and what could go wrong? That's provocative and suggest a new girl's gone wild story.

 

[Lifestyle66]

NO. Trying to replicate more readership and what I did right because I honestly have no idea what is different. NO idea. This is the only story I have written that had any kind of continued relatively high numbers and yeah, I know many here have 400K view stories.

I have other stories in LW and all fell off a cliff in views as I expected. I have a story that sits at 4.48 in LW that gets far fewer reads. Yeah, I'd like to hit 50K views on something. Ironically once I do, I will probably not care as much for a second one to get to 50K. Once I had one 'H' story, yes, the other 'H's were nice, but I got it once so... I still like it but I got to ring the bell once.

Call it a goal perhaps. Get one to 50K and drive more views. Not the be all end all, but call it a nice little win.

Again, I'll reiterate: For attracting VIEWS (that's people who clicked it open, it's the title and description alone which must grab their attention.

Tags are needed for the longer term to get to those searching for a story. I've recently decided that adding tags from the popular search list for the category might be the best strategy. Go to your category and look at the top listed tags searched. Then use as many of those for your own story, because that's what those category readers are searching for later.

As for the title, series titles need to be as short as possible due to the character limit of titles. The more characters you use as "This is my Loving Wives series: Ch 01" eats up most of the characters in the repetitive title. A series might be better titled: "Hotwife: Ch1 The Wife Begins- First Fucking". The majority of that title is unique, and make it a sex descriptive as practical.

Description lines should NOT be subtle. Your line of "girl's night out and what could go wrong" was both descriptive and draws in the readers.

My most viewed story is in LW with over 81K views: "What Were You Think?" "Husband discovers his wife’s deception." That description shows the LW BTBers that it's a cheating wife story, which they want to read. Of course, it's rated 3.32 with over 1.1k raters because the husband doesn't burn her, but just goes out for his own fun weekend without her.

 

[Tomh1966]

Again, I'll reiterate: For attracting VIEWS (that's people who clicked it open, it's the title and description alone which must grab their attention.

Tags are needed for the longer term to get to those searching for a story. I've recently decided that adding tags from the popular search list for the category might be the best strategy. Go to your category and look at the top listed tags searched. Then use as many of those for your own story, because that's what those category readers are searching for later.

As for the title, series titles need to be as short as possible due to the character limit of titles. The more characters you use as "This is my Loving Wives series: Ch 01" eats up most of the characters in the repetitive title. A series might be better titled: "Hotwife: Ch1 The Wife Begins- First Fucking". The majority of that title is unique, and make it a sex descriptive as practical.

Description lines should NOT be subtle. Your line of "girl's night out and what could go wrong" was both descriptive and draws in the readers.

My most viewed story is in LW with over 81K views: "What Were You Think?" "Husband discovers his wife’s deception." That description shows the LW BTBers that it's a cheating wife story, which they want to read. Of course, it's rated 3.32 with over 1.1k raters because the husband doesn't burn her, but just goes out for his own fun weekend without her.

Damn, now I have to read that story you mentioned. ANOTHER story on my too-long list on my spreadsheet. Anyway thanks for the info.

I like a 'light burn'. IE Sometimes just the guy remarrying, having a nice 3 bedroom house and a second wife who adores him IS a win for the cheated man.

I'll never understand the "She's now homeless and a meth user after being chainsawed in the face and ugly..." Then someone says in all seriousness, "WHY wasn't she burned at the stake?? Cuck Cuck CUCK! ONE STAR!!!!!"

Oddly, Im working on two reconciliation stories, one is a true mistake, the other explores 'what if you caught her right before...?' As usual I have the beginning and end and struggle with the middle.

 

[Lifestyle66]

Damn, now I have to read that story you mentioned. ANOTHER story on my too-long list on my spreadsheet. Anyway thanks for the info.

I like a 'light burn'. IE Sometimes just the guy remarrying, having a nice 3 bedroom house and a second wife who adores him IS a win for the cheated man.

I'll never understand the "She's now homeless and a meth user after being chainsawed in the face and ugly..." Then someone says in all seriousness, "WHY wasn't she burned at the stake?? Cuck Cuck CUCK! ONE STAR!!!!!"

Oddly, Im working on two reconciliation stories, one is a true mistake, the other explores 'what if you caught her right before...?' As usual I have the beginning and end and struggle with the middle.

After my "What Were You Thinking?" story was so popular, I had one comment saying "This couple needs therapy!"

So, I wrote the follow-on "What Were You Thinking? - Therapy". "Do swingers need marriage counseling after they cheat?" It only got 17k views and rated 3.1 with 305 raters.

Notice the difference in the descriptions. The first suggests a husband discovers his cheating wife, and the BTBers want to know how he's going to handle it. In the second story, I describe them as swingers, and not as many LW readers were interested.

 

[Tomh1966]

After my "What Were You Thinking?" story was so popular, I had one comment saying "This couple needs therapy!"

So, I wrote the follow-on "What Were You Thinking? - Therapy". "Do swingers need marriage counseling after they cheat?" It only got 17k views and rated 3.1 with 305 raters.

Notice the difference in the descriptions. The first suggests a husband discovers his cheating wife, and the BTBers want to know how he's going to handle it. In the second story, I describe them as swingers, and not as many LW readers were interested.

I ended up with 3 of your stories in my list. Thinking, The hall pass one and the wife on stage at a strip club one.

If I don't like them I don't rate them until something actually offends me which is rare. I only upvote people until you piss me off which generally is maiming someone or something that extreme.

I personally like two-sided swinger stories, that is... husband and wife both get laid. Especially 2 couple - even swaps.

 

[SimonDoom]

It's your title and description line which draws the viewers.

Tags are only good for drawing in those who look for a specific tag. But readers don't see your tags until they click on your story.

Your Four MInutes story has a description line showing it's yet another "February Sucks" spinoff.

Your current story has the description of girl's night out and what could go wrong? That's provocative and suggest a new girl's gone wild story.

This, but I think in this case the score helps too. He's probably getting most of his new view clicks from the new Loving Wives List, and his story is one of the top-rated stories on the entire list over the last week, so that probably sets him apart from other stories on the list. That effect may go away once it drops off the list in a day or two.