How do you 'win' the title and description?

[yibala2]

I've been posting stories here for a year. Most of them are part of a single series. However, most of my stories have original titles, even if they fit within a larger series. For example, usually instead of titling a story While the Gods Slumber Pt. 17, I call it Night of the Forgotten. (Early on, I submitted each distinct story in parts, but I have gotten away from that.) The stories tend to average around 15-20K words.

I suppose as writers, we have at least two different approaches to creating our titles and descriptions. One would be to maximize retention of readers by maintaining the same title and adding a chapter or part number. In the description, that would mean naming the main character and describing whatever happens in that installment. The second approach would be to maximize views (hopefully attracting new readers) by giving the installment an original title, and not naming the character in the description - just giving a generic summary of the plot or whatever, without character names.

I see a distinct difference in views between the descriptions that name my characters and those that don't. For example, my latest story has a generic description, but the one before it in the series, published at the end of November, names both main characters. This newest one has more views in four days than the last installment got in eleven weeks. That single fact about the description - whether the characters are named - seems to be more determinative of my views than anything else (e.g., both descriptions mention sex or sensuality, both are straightforward plot summaries).

To be sure, views don't mean a whole lot. They don't mean anyone liked or even read that much of the story. I get that. But if your approach is to maximize your exposure, particularly if you are a newer Lit writer, that's something.

I've noticed that some writers don't seem to care about any of this and use the same title, Chapter/Part x+1, and even the same description for all of their installments.

So I'm curious. What is your approach to title and description? What lessons have you learned from writing them?

-Yib

 

[HeyAll]

To me the biggest point is that either the title or description (or both at the same time) must indicate the main theme of the story.

ie if it's an incest story it's got to say 'mom' or 'sister.'

If it's an office story it has to say 'office' somewhere.

The key is to make sure the targeted readers knows that your story is for them.

 

[SimonDoom]

I have very firm views about this sort of thing. My personal philosophy is that the content of my story is what I want it to be. I write what I want to write, for me. But everything else -- the title, the category, the tagline, the tags -- is practical. My goal is to get as many eyeballs on my story as possible. So I choose my story title and tagline/description with that in mind.

If I'm writing a mom-son incest story, then "mom" will appear in the title, every time. It works. There's no point in ignoring what works.

I try to make the story title and description complement one another. So if the title doesn't say enough about what the story is about, then I write the description to fill in the blank. My goal is to entice potential readers to read my story.

To me, the story content is the art, and everything else is advertising.

 

[PoisonPen33]

So I'm curious. What is your approach to title and description? What lessons have you learned from writing them?

To me, they have to catch a reader's eye, which means they have to stand out if someone's scrolling down a category page looking for a story. Once the title's caught them, then the description has to describe the story without describing the story.

For example - I have story called Sally Cinnamon. Not your normal title for an erotica story. For the description, I could have typed "a drummer bangs a rocker girl" and it would have been accurate, but it's very...clinical. The title may have gotten their attention but the description might make them go "eh, doesn't sound creative." But saying "a drummer dances to a rocker girl's tune" adds a hint of mystery. How does he dance and what's the tune? It's a simple twist on words that might be enough to push a reader to click on the story.

Or, just go for a balls-out punny title, like Temptacles or Wonton Lust. I really think I Touch My Elf placed in the Christmas contest because if someone saw a title like that, who WOULDN'T want to see what's up?

 

[oggbashan]

This older How-To by whispersecret is worth reading:

https://www.literotica.com/beta/s/how-to-get-people-to-read-your-story

 

[yowser]

I've noticed that some writers don't seem to care about any of this and use the same title, Chapter/Part x+1, and even the same description for all of their installments.

As a reader, I don't mind the same title, with chapter numbers following. But if an author cannot come up with a different description for each chapter, they have lost the game. Say *something* to pique my interest, suggest that the new chapter offers some movement or potential, give me a reason to keep reading.

 

[KeithD]

Various.

 

[Omenainen]

My method of burping up titles and descriptions is based purely on intuition. I think about the story and whatever bubbles up, it is. It probably doesn’t count as winning, and sometimes doesn’t produce the best result. My most viewed ones so far are the ones where I’ve happened to cater to category readers’ expectations, so if the story happens to follow those lines it’s probably worth it to stuff it into the description, as well. For example my romance story with a description of “Two broken souls find solace in each other.” - doesn’t get much more romance-y than that, does it?

If I would write a series, I’d title it “Story Name Ch 01” etc and try to come up with catchy and descriptive descriptions. Having spent time at this site, I’d also write all of it before publishing and announce the series is completed from the very start, there’s so many unfinished series around. Maybe I would even put it in the first chapter’s description, something like “Story of these cool kinks, 1/8”. And add an author’s note to tell it’s a completed series. That would help me as a reader.

 

[AvroAnson]

Q: "How do you 'win' the title and description?"

A: "Write your username on the back of a $47 bill and send to:
Bob and Ray Magliozzi,
One Car Talk Plaza,
Our Fair City,
Cambridge, Mass."

 

[Phantom300]

-----

 

[8letters]

Your title should be a short summary of your story and tell readers of your category that this story contains things they will enjoy reading.

Let's look at your titles. Most are SF&F. Up first is "Blossom". A one-word title that tells the readers very little. I'd guess that's the name of the main character. Reading the description, I'd suggest as a title, "Her Quest to Find Her Brother". That's a short summary of the story and has the word "Quest", which I think would be appealing to SF&F readers.

Next is "Descent". Again, a one-word title that tells the readers very little. How about "Travels Beyond the World's Edge"?

"Legacy" - another one word title that tells the reader very little.

I'm going to skip down to "While The Gods Slumber". That's an interesting title, but it doesn't tell the reader anything about what happens while the gods slumber.

 

[yibala2]

Your title should be a short summary of your story and tell readers of your category that this story contains things they will enjoy reading.

Let's look at your titles. Most are SF&F. Up first is "Blossom". A one-word title that tells the readers very little. I'd guess that's the name of the main character. Reading the description, I'd suggest as a title, "Her Quest to Find Her Brother". That's a short summary of the story and has the word "Quest", which I think would be appealing to SF&F readers.

Interesting... I'll think about this some. I've definitely gone for more literary titles, using the description or tagline, rather than the title, for a summary of the story. Part of this is genre-related. Perusing the most popular sff stories here, (Upon a Savage Shore, Three Square Meals, Starlight Gleaming, Dream Drive, Westrons, The Rask Rebellion, etc.) few of them work as plot summaries, but they might be evocative in other ways.

I definitely agree with Simon Doom's statement that title and description should be complementary. If the title isn't a descriptive summary, the tagline should be.


"To me the biggest point is that either the title or description (or both at the same time) must indicate the main theme of the story.

ie if it's an incest story it's got to say 'mom' or 'sister.'

If it's an office story it has to say 'office' somewhere.

The key is to make sure the targeted readers knows that your story is for them."


My stories thematically involve a lot of lesbian, nonhuman and group encounters, and combinations thereof. But I haven't set out to occupy an erotic niche, and I would guess that most of my targeted audience is more interested in the overarching story than for the specific types of sex involved.

With future series and stories, I might try to consciously fit into an erotic niche. I could definitely see, if I was targeting people who like office sex, that I would want to talk up that setting in the description.

-Yib

 

[LexxRuthless]

I just wrote a lengthy e-mail on this very subject earlier today:

I was thinking of how "formulaic" some of my writing is, and yet that has certainly yielded some widely read stories. When I sorted my stories by views, it didn't immediately register that the top of that list was dominated by third-person narratives. After that thought hit me yesterday, I went back and looked at the statistics more closely.

When I first began writing, I wanted to get as much "out there" as quickly as I could, so I could see what readers liked and what they didn't. I expected to use the ratings and views as guidelines, because I had no idea how much chicanery and pure dumb luck factored into those numbers. Nonetheless, there are clear patterns for what kinds of stories will yield the most views and therefore increase your visibility and following as a writer.

If you look at the Top Lists and look at the Most Read stories, there are three different lists: All Time, Last 12 Months, and Last 30 Days. All three of those lists are dominated by incest stories, with Mom / Son narrowly edging out Brother / Sister. Not exactly news, right?

Here's the next "key" that I've noticed, though. Think of it as the "Three Ts" -- Title, Tags & Teaser (the short description). As stupid and limiting as it may seem, just throwing the word "Mom" "Mommy" "Sis" or "Daddy" into the title practically gives you an extra 50k views. That "bonus" to views will build on itself if the premise is titillating and the story is well-written. Finally, there are the tags that inherently draw readers. That is a little more problematic to work out.

Story Tags (tags.literotica.com) gives a tremendous tool for finding stories, and lots of readers utilize that or Search Story (search.literotica.com), which also utilizes tags. What we can see at a glance is what tags are most commonly used. What we don't see on either of those lists is what tags draw the most views. The weird thing I've noticed with my stories is that readers tend to utilize the same tags on Literotica -- to look for sex stories -- that they use on other porn sites to look for videos they want to watch. So, I have had a lot of success with tags like "Huge Cock" "Big Tits" and the like, even though I'm not showing any pictures of those characters.

[As an aside here, it would make a lot of sense that those stories would earn a ton of views if my story was posted in "Illustrated" stories. Also, those stories get a disproportionately large number of views. Something I figured I ought to mention, in case it hadn't come to your attention sooner.]

So, the story My Busty Mom Is an Anal Slut! should draw a ridiculous number of views. Need to write it in third person, of course. In the story description, make that clear. When Shannon saw her son's enormous dick, she had to have it! Then, to ramp up the views, you need some sort of tease worked in there to make readers think there could be a sequel. You want them to come back to the story to see if you've written it, thus giving your story additional views over time. So, neither Shannon the busty mom, nor Tommy, her horse-hung son are aware that Tommy's sister is watching them and toying her own virgin asshole as she imagines taking her brother's giant dick back there.

Let's see, crunch the numbers and we get...500,000 views in a year. Winner!

 

[Emirus]

As a reader, I don't mind the same title, with chapter numbers following. But if an author cannot come up with a different description for each chapter, they have lost the game. Say *something* to pique my interest, suggest that the new chapter offers some movement or potential, give me a reason to keep reading.

If I see a series which runs:

Fun time at the Zoo Ch.01. A rusty nail seals Simon’s doom
Fun time at the Zoo Ch.02. A rusty nail seals Simon’s doom. etc etc etc

I don’t even open the story. I’d that’s the extent of the writer’s imagination how readable is the story going to be? If the story is good, despite the description, how many potential readers, me included, have they lost because they couldn’t be bothered to come up with a different description for each chapter? It is each chapter the same story?

 

[lovecraft68]

Whatever the kink make sure something indicative to it is referenced in the title and tag line.

In the tag line I try to put in some type of hook, or dramatic line calling out the kink further.

Example from a couple of my incest stories. When you read the tag line, do the dramatic pause in your head, it has a rhythm to it

I Want Mom Too!
Jimmy catches his mother having sex....with his brother!

Mom Loves To Suck
Sean's girlfriend won't do it, but his mother will!

Shhh!
Julie's little brother will never know what she did, right?

 

[jaF0]

For example, usually instead of titling a story While the Gods Slumber Pt. 17, I call it Night of the Forgotten.

Consider:

While the Gods Slumber; Chapter Name

While the Gods Slumber; Night of the Forgotten

While the Gods Slumber; Chapter Name

That retains the followers of the original series and gives new eyes a hint that there are more chapters previous.

We recently did an anthology series involving multiple authors that used that format and it seems to have worked out OK.

 

[GinnyPPC]

I appreciate when an author tells me in the description that this is the concluding or final part of a series. I often hunt through the random stories and am more inclined to ready an older multi part series when I know it is complete.

 

[SisterJezabel]

Certain elements attract certain people. I remember when I used to have a Flickr account, my most viewed photos were 1) The kids at Nudey Beach (Nudey Beach is a Beach on Fitzroy Island where we went for a holiday!) and 2) Knee High Black Boots.

Both were absolutely innocent but attracted lots of views. Neither were photograph worthy pics imo, one of kids building a sandcastle and the other showing my lower legs and new boots.

 

[jsmiam]

...As stupid and limiting as it may seem, just throwing the word "Mom" "Mommy" "Sis" or "Daddy" into the title practically gives you an extra 50k views. That "bonus" to views will build on itself if the premise is titillating and the story is well-written. ...

Add “thong” to that list. I discovered quite by accident my story with the word “thong” in the title, 4 years old, gets about 700 views per week, more of them Friday through Monday.

Until recently, I mainly watched the fluctuations in scores, and didn’t pay attention or even notice the view count changes, since the others changed so slowly. How many are human rather than bots, I can’t say. The vote count barely moves, and even inches downward (I recall Lexx mentioning this elsewhere, and lengthy discussions when the phenomena first showed up.)

I think the source may be the story search page more so than tag searching, because this story was before tags came along.

“Panties” too, btw.

...So I'm curious. What is your approach to title and description? What lessons have you learned from writing them?

Let me add my “I hate series, but nothing personal” perspective. Seriously, no offense. It’s one opinion, mine, just as other opinions (series lovers) are valid too. (Even if they’re wrong. )

Not naming your stories in a way that makes it clear it’s a series is a bit of a party foul. Stories named according to the well established naming conventions helps me avoid series! It’s a middle ground. If we can’t stop series from cluttering up top lists (edit: I wish it were listed only ONCE), at least let us avoid clicking into them more easily.

Whereas, sneaking a non-series sounding title so that it looks like a standalone story causes me to click into it, causes me to swear when the author’s note explains that it’s part of a series, and wastes my time. (Also, this is my proof that it’s nothing personal. I happily and igualdad opportunidad click on non-series stories written by serial series writers with no problem. Even when many of them waste my precious clicks with their convention-breaking titles. )

So, be a sport. Help me not click on series stories by adhering to convention and making it clear that it’s part of a series. Write a good tagline, and read up (search) the many threads on category hopping. General consensus, in spite of lots of opinions seems to be “it’s ok.” I of course abstain from voting or commenting in those discussions. Unless it’s to point out how much I hate series, that is.

Thank you

 

[Bramblethorn]

If I see a series which runs:

Fun time at the Zoo Ch.01. A rusty nail seals Simon’s doom
Fun time at the Zoo Ch.02. A rusty nail seals Simon’s doom. etc etc etc

I don’t even open the story. I’d that’s the extent of the writer’s imagination how readable is the story going to be? If the story is good, despite the description, how many potential readers, me included, have they lost because they couldn’t be bothered to come up with a different description for each chapter? It is each chapter the same story?

Also, if I loved your story and now want to reread a particular chapter, a good description helps me figure out which one it is.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

As a reader, I don't mind the same title, with chapter numbers following. But if an author cannot come up with a different description for each chapter, they have lost the game. Say *something* to pique my interest, suggest that the new chapter offers some movement or potential, give me a reason to keep reading.

Most of my stories are series and I have played around with different ways of submitting them to appease the requests of my readers. Some have been posted as one long story, others have been broken into the individual chapters, and some have been submitted in "parts" containing several chapters in each.

When submitting either a whole, long story or individual chapters, the description can be relevant to the content. That isn't as easy when submitting "parts" that contain multiple chapters with significantly different content in each. I rely upon the readers who have followed my works to continue on to the next part in faith, and it has been successful for the most part. How it affects the attraction of new readers is another story.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Series are weird. Readers seem to treat them as stand-alones even when they aren't. I've only written one but ch.5 (description: Ade finally gets fucked again) has more readers than any of the previous four, and higher votes, yet it clearly didn't occur to most of them to read subsequent chapters because I was taking the fucking as read by then. I should have amended descriptors like Ade and Dan go to a sauna to 'Ade and Dan fuck in a sauna', just to make it bloody obvious. The average reader appears to have very little imagination
...

 

[jaF0]

ie if it's an incest story it's got to say 'mom' or 'sister.'

If it's an office story it has to say 'office' somewhere.

All three of those lists are dominated by incest stories, with Mom / Son narrowly edging out Brother / Sister. Not exactly news, right?

As stupid and limiting as it may seem, just throwing the word "Mom" "Mommy" "Sis" or "Daddy" into the title practically gives you an extra 50k views.

Add “thong” to that list. I discovered quite by accident my story with the word “thong” in the title, 4 years old, gets about 700 views per week, more of them Friday through Monday.

So, 'The Wrong Sister's Thong In Mom's Office' should break, Lit, right?

 

[jsmiam]

So, 'The Wrong Sister's Thong In Mom's Office' should break, Lit, right?

“ERROR 1406 (22001): Data too long for column”, I’d bet... . (But don’t get me started on the allowed length of titles, and more so, tagline/descriptions!)

But yeah. I would bet that title would do the job well!

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Titles are limited to 35 character, so plan ahead.

Description are also limited to some short length too, so plan ahead.

I know there are longer titles out there, but the author must have made a deal with the devil... er... Laurel.