how do YOU attract readers?

[Mister_Chris]

My stories are scoring poorly, and aren't attracting readers.

I can live with lower scores than I had expected; the scoring system can be easily gamed, and doesn't necessarily reflect the quality of writing in any case. Or so I tell myself.

But my lack of market penetration is puzzling me greatly.

Typically, many stories on Lit are running 50,000 to 100,000 views; by comparison, my best two stories have each attracted slightly less than 30,000 views, while my most recent - posted 4 days ago - has attracted a measly 4,600 views.

And that's pathetic.

In reviewing views numbers from other writers, it's clear that stories with multiple chapters lose views very rapidly; by the time you reach chapter three, you've typically lost 30% to 50% of your readers. In my case, it's much worse; Milk and cookies part 1 brought in 29,001 views, while part two brought in 4,622 views - a stunning 84% drop. The numbers will probably improve a bit as part two ages, but even so, it's going to be mind numbingly bad. And neither story scored particularly well.

So. Low scores, few readers.

There are conclusions which can be reached from that.

Thoughts, anyone?

>MC

 

[1sickbastard]

My stories are scoring poorly, and aren't attracting readers.

I can live with lower scores than I had expected; the scoring system can be easily gamed, and doesn't necessarily reflect the quality of writing in any case. Or so I tell myself.

But my lack of market penetration is puzzling me greatly.

Typically, many stories on Lit are running 50,000 to 100,000 views; by comparison, my best two stories have each attracted slightly less than 30,000 views, while my most recent - posted 4 days ago - has attracted a measly 4,600 views.

And that's pathetic.

In reviewing views numbers from other writers, it's clear that stories with multiple chapters lose views very rapidly; by the time you reach chapter three, you've typically lost 30% to 50% of your readers. In my case, it's much worse; Milk and cookies part 1 brought in 29,001 views, while part two brought in 4,622 views - a stunning 84% drop. The numbers will probably improve a bit as part two ages, but even so, it's going to be mind numbingly bad. And neither story scored particularly well.

So. Low scores, few readers.

There are conclusions which can be reached from that.

Thoughts, anyone?

>MC

Two words: Timing & Tags.
Tags: Are you using them effectively? Any number of readers will search for stories based on tags.
Timing: When a story drops can have a huge effect on number of views. Maybe two days before Valentines Day (which happened to be on a Saturday this year), was inauspicious. People who might usually spend their weekend masturbating to erotica were out with their significant others actively getting their collective freaks on.

Category can have something to do with number of view. Some are just more popular than others.

How many Fav's have your stories gotten? People like to fav a story or an author, then will regularly check back to see if more has been added to a favored story line or if a favored author has submitted anything new.

Also, the vast majority of views on any story are going to happen within the first week, with most in the first three days. Having a story on any of the Top Lists will help attract readers, as will having favorable comments.

 

[geronimo_appleby]

enter the themed contests.

April Fools is next. click

oh, and you're new - persevere.

 

[HeyAll]

Think of yourself as a businessman, and your story is your product.

I could have told you that your story "Milk and Cookies" would have bombed just by the title and description alone.

You have to tell the reader what the story is about in either the title or description. If you're writing father/daughter, then put that somewhere in the title or description.

Just look at all of the other popular Incest stories on this site. None of the "popular" authors would ever title there story "Milk and Cookies"

Also, growing your reputation helps. If you consistently put out good stories with catchy titles, then it's easier in the future to bring in larger numbers.

best of luck!

 

[1sickbastard]

Given how prolific HeyAll & Geronimo Appleby are, it would be well to attend to their insights.

 

[CharleneBarr]

But your stories average out at about 4.5 A lot of authors on here would die for that score.

 

[RejectReality]

It takes time to build readership. You can have a runaway hit, but that's equal parts luck and talent.

As Geronimo said, entering the themed contests gives your story top-billing on the New Stories list on the day it posts. Those stories attract more eyes initially, and are slower to fall off the first page of the New Story list. In addition, your story will appear on the contest page for close to a month, ( longer for the Winter Holidays contest ) giving it a bit more targeted exposure than an average story.

So check the themed contest thread and then check your head for wild plot bunnies that might fit the theme.

Search your head for some shorter plot bunnies. I think it's safe to say that most of the people coming here are doing so for a quick fix. Chaptered stories don't really fit that bill. The sweet spot is about 3 Lit pages, or just under 10k words. Many of those people won't vote, but the law of averages ends up bringing you more votes and comments through sheer volume.

They do tend to score lower than chapter stories on the back of more 4s from people who "liked it, but didn't love it." Again, volume and averages.

You don't have to give up long stories if that's what you enjoy. If you can come up with a short story or two, it will boost your readership on the long stories as well.

Also, don't leave your chapter stories hanging. That can be seen as a black mark on your reliability. The best policy is to finish the entire story before ever posting chapter one. You get more control over what day each chapter releases, saying the story is done in a note with the first chapter gives people confidence it's worth starting, and consistent posting is another reader attraction. People are far more likely to go back to a chapter one when they notice chapter three and discover that each previous chapter posted every three days or so.

And, as I started this post -- patience. Keep posting. Exposure of your name through new stories is the best attention-getter there is.

 

[DG Hear]

Not sure how serious you are. When I wrote my first few stories I couldn't believe it when i received 1,000 reads. All your stories are over 4.00. If you just want a lot of reads, write something in Loving wives or incest.

I'm not trying to be mean here but being honest with you. Write good stories and post them regularly and the readers will come. Until then be happy with the results you are getting and listen to what the previous posters have told you. We've all been there.
Best of luck to you.
DG

 

[DreamCloud]

Do nothing, readers will find you in time. Lit does not require that you self promote.

 

[geronimo_appleby]

Not sure how serious you are. When I wrote my first few stories I couldn't believe it when i received 1,000 reads. All your stories are over 4.00. If you just want a lot of reads, write something in Loving wives or incest.

I'm not trying to be mean here but being honest with you. Write good stories and post them regularly and the readers will come. Until then be happy with the results you are getting and listen to what the previous posters have told you. We've all been there.
Best of luck to you.
DG

be wary of Loving Wives until you know how it works in there!

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

There's no sense to reader taste. Genes generally predispose each of us to one thing or another for anything you can imagine. 50 Shades is fit for the gods if your IQ is less than average, and cold gruel for the rest.

Take TOBACCO ROAD by Erskine Caldwell. Its a porn classic about bottom feeding white trash. Bores the shit outta me. PLACE LIKE ESTHERVILLE, his porn novel about interracial sex, is much better but hardly known.

 

[Magnetron]

Write a few poems, see how many views those get and then be thankful.

 

[soflabbwlvr]

The most important piece of advice has already been listed; Post stories, and eventually readers will find you. Staying on the New Story listing , and the New Story listing for the categories in which you write is the best way to get eyes on your stories.

One caveat--don't overdo it. Give your story time to breath before you post another and shift focus away from the last one. I'm not a prolific writer, but I have found that posting more than one piece per week results in fewer views, rather than more.

Readers scanning the story lists have four pieces of information they can use when deciding whether to read a story; your name, the category, the story title, and the tag line.

Your author name is what it is. Once you develop a following, it will generate views all by itself. Until then, it is a bit of a hindrance, but there's nothing you can co about that other than post stories and become familiar to more readers.

Category selection is critical. Most stories can conceivably fit in more than one category. Some categories generate far more reader traffic than others. But that doesn't mean that you want to automatically post in the highest traffic area. Factors within your story can have a downward effect on the score in some categories. This is too large of an issue to examine in depth here, but there are plenty of threads on this board discussing category selection.

The title is the factor you have the most control over. A title that stirs the emotions of your target audience will draw in readers. Viewer eyes will skip right over an opaque or cryptic title. Put some thought into your title. It makes a huge difference.

Just as important as the title is the tag line that follows. This is your last chance to attract readers. Put some bait on that hook and draw them in. If you're like me, you don't want to give away the whole story, but you have to give them a reason to select you. Make it provocative. Make it interesting. But do not waste that space!

Finally, tags are important for readers who select their stories through the search function. Use all ten tags that are allowed. Use words that are not too obscure, but not so common that they will pull up every story on Lit. If your story is about a college girl getting gang banged while on spring break in Ixtapa, use "gang bang", "Spring Break", "Mexico,". Don't use "Ixtapa"--too obscure. "Pussy" and "fuck" do nothing for you. Think of words that a reader would use to find a story.

One final thing--put a link to your stories in your forum profile and in your signature. Post in other parts of the forum. I'm not sure how much traffic that generates, but I know I sometimes will click on a link if I find the author interesting.

For the most part, it just takes time. Write, write often, and write some more. Be patient. Have fun.

 

[SandraMustard]

I asked my husband your question some months ago. He said put a question in the header, bury the answer in the story. Readers who send feedback with the correct answer get a link to a picture of my naked boobs.

He wasn't kidding.

I haven't tried it.

Yet.

 

[DG Hear]

be wary of Loving Wives until you know how it works in there!

That's true but that's where I got my feet wet. haha Have over a hundred stories there. It didn't use to be as bad when I started. I still post there.

 

[sr71plt]

I agree with the "post stories to contests" advice. Posting stories regularly helps too and title and slug them provocatively. Above all else, make the story worth reading so that the reader will continue to look for your stories.

 

[TxRad]

I asked my husband your question some months ago. He said put a question in the header, bury the answer in the story. Readers who send feedback with the correct answer get a link to a picture of my naked boobs.

He wasn't kidding.

I haven't tried it.

Yet.

Someone already tried that but he only sent out a picture of one boob.

I was going to raffle off a picture of my butt but some say I'm all ass so....

 

[Carnal_Flower]

If you're writing D/d, I guarantee a huge jump in views if you include Daddy in the title.

I think the title was off for Milk & Cookies. It's not usual a title will push away, but that does. Too mild? Innocent?

My stories are scoring poorly, and aren't attracting readers.

I can live with lower scores than I had expected; the scoring system can be easily gamed, and doesn't necessarily reflect the quality of writing in any case. Or so I tell myself.

But my lack of market penetration is puzzling me greatly.

Typically, many stories on Lit are running 50,000 to 100,000 views; by comparison, my best two stories have each attracted slightly less than 30,000 views, while my most recent - posted 4 days ago - has attracted a measly 4,600 views.

And that's pathetic.

In reviewing views numbers from other writers, it's clear that stories with multiple chapters lose views very rapidly; by the time you reach chapter three, you've typically lost 30% to 50% of your readers. In my case, it's much worse; Milk and cookies part 1 brought in 29,001 views, while part two brought in 4,622 views - a stunning 84% drop. The numbers will probably improve a bit as part two ages, but even so, it's going to be mind numbingly bad. And neither story scored particularly well.

So. Low scores, few readers.

There are conclusions which can be reached from that.

Thoughts, anyone?

>MC

 

[Zeb_Carter]

All right, this may not have any correlation with the number of reads a story gets, but it might...

Here is a list of all the categories. The number to the right is the number of submissions in that category. I would bet there is a correlation between the number of stories and the number of read a story in each category gets. The more submissions, the more new stories, the more reader for that category.


Erotic Couplings..............43,423
Incest/Taboo..................32,459
BDSM..........................26,227
Loving Wives..................24,414
Group Sex.....................18,272
NonConsent/Reluctance.........16,965
Exhibitionist & Voyeur........14,586
Romance.......................13,476
Gay Male......................13,117
Lesbian Sex...................12,141
Novels and Novellas...........11,860
Sci-Fi & Fantasy..............10,565
Fetish........................10,503
Mature.........................9,374
Interracial Love...............9,332
NonHuman.......................8,035
Celebrities....................7,935
Transsexuals & Crossdressers...5,713
First Time.....................5,290
Anal...........................4,078
Non-Erotic.....................3,535
Mind Control...................3,279
Toys & Masturbation............3,026
Erotic Horror..................2,682
Humor & Satire.................2,295
Text With Audio................1,799
Letters & Transcripts..........1,407
Reviews & Essays...............1,164
How To...........................909
Chain Stories....................556
Illustrated......................470
Non-English........................2

Just a thought. My LW and Incest stories get more reads than my Sci-Fi stuff.

 

[legerdemer]

As you seem to be a computer whiz kid (age immaterial), is there a relatively easy way to extract the most popular ~30 or so tags used? This may not be useful due to several variants of the same word, for example, but it would be informative.

All right, this may not have any correlation with the number of reads a story gets, but it might...

Here is a list of all the categories. The number to the right is the number of submissions in that category. I would bet there is a correlation between the number of stories and the number of read a story in each category gets. The more submissions, the more new stories, the more reader for that category.


Erotic Couplings..............43,423
Incest/Taboo..................32,459
BDSM..........................26,227
Loving Wives..................24,414
Group Sex.....................18,272
NonConsent/Reluctance.........16,965
Exhibitionist & Voyeur........14,586
Romance.......................13,476
Gay Male......................13,117
Lesbian Sex...................12,141
Novels and Novellas...........11,860
Sci-Fi & Fantasy..............10,565
Fetish........................10,503
Mature.........................9,374
Interracial Love...............9,332
NonHuman.......................8,035
Celebrities....................7,935
Transsexuals & Crossdressers...5,713
First Time.....................5,290
Anal...........................4,078
Non-Erotic.....................3,535
Mind Control...................3,279
Toys & Masturbation............3,026
Erotic Horror..................2,682
Humor & Satire.................2,295
Text With Audio................1,799
Letters & Transcripts..........1,407
Reviews & Essays...............1,164
How To...........................909
Chain Stories....................556
Illustrated......................470
Non-English........................2

Just a thought. My LW and Incest stories get more reads than my Sci-Fi stuff.

 

[lovecraft68]

Keep writing and they will come....and they will follow your stories.

Seriously, just keep putting it out there and they find you.

 

[TamLin01]

My stories are scoring poorly, and aren't attracting readers.

What do you mean scoring poorly? Your lowest score is a 4.21. Your average score is a 4.42. Maybe this is "low" compared to peer stories, but if so that just means scores are inflated all around.

 

[jomar]

They changed the scoring descriptions a few or so years ago which made it harder to get the red H. Now, folk feel if you get 4 and over you're doing good.

 

[sr71plt]

What do you mean scoring poorly? Your lowest score is a 4.21. Your average score is a 4.42. Maybe this is "low" compared to peer stories, but if so that just means scores are inflated all around.

Ah, yes. Scoring 2.7 is scoring poorly. Scoring 4.2 isn't--except for those here who are highly competitive and have their noses in everyone else's business.

 

[SandraMustard]

--except for those here who are highly competitive and have their noses in everyone else's business.

Can't help yourself, huh?