How important are Title and Description?

[davion2308]

I spent time writing, reviewing, reading, editing, and working on the guts of the story, ie the story itself so I can entertain, tittilate, and hopefully get some people excited out there.

I spent maybe 10 minutes, tops, on the actual Title and Short Description.

My question: How much importance do you place on those two elements to get more eyeballs on your story? We'd all love to have more readers but what kind of time and effort do you spend on descriptions and titles, especially if you don't have much of a following?

 

[jaF0]

There is an entire multi-billion dollar worldwide industry devoted to advertising that deals specifically with things like title and description.

 

[Enchantment_of_Nyx]

I spent time writing, reviewing, reading, editing, and working on the guts of the story, ie the story itself so I can entertain, tittilate, and hopefully get some people excited out there.

I spent maybe 10 minutes, tops, on the actual Title and Short Description.

My question: How much importance do you place on those two elements to get more eyeballs on your story? We'd all love to have more readers but what kind of time and effort do you spend on descriptions and titles, especially if you don't have much of a following?

The title and description made the difference between whether someone clicks on your story to read it or not. Just think of it in terms of how you choose stories to read. Unless you pick stories from tags, the title and description are all you have to go on when you decide which one to read. I can't think of anything more important to whether your story gets read in the first place. I think you're the only one who can decide how much time and effort that's worth to you.

The descriptions are a huge headache for me and I'm not great at them. The severity of the character limit is frustrating, and I find I have to compromise between being descriptive and being artistically appealing. If someone has good advice for writing the descriptions, I hope they'll share it here!

 

[oggbashan]

I keep coming back to this very old How-To by whispersecret:

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

 

[SimonDoom]

I firmly believe that title, tagline, and tags matter.

80 or so new stories are published every single day. In a category like incest, for example, so many new stories are published that one's story will be pushed off the new story hub list within two or three days. So it makes sense to do what you can to get eyeballs on your story.

Read the article cited by Oggbashan. It summarizes some of the key points.

A few things to consider when choosing title, taglines, and tags:

1. Consider your intended audience. Think about what words will appeal to THAT particular audience.

2. Use words that are both a) titillating and b) on point. If you write a mom-son incest story, then put "mom" in the title. It's very simple. I guarantee it will make a difference to the number of reads. The word "bikini" is a titillating word -- if your story has a bikini in it, then put that word in the title. Use sexy words if they apply.

3. If your story title is opaque or unclear (maybe you like it because it sounds artistic even if it isn't descriptive) then use the tagline to convey more information about the story's substance. I think a good way to write a tagline is to make it suggestive and titillating. Describe the premise, leaving the conclusion uncertain so the reader has to read the story to find out what happens.

4. Choose tags carefully. Imagine a hypothetical reader looking for a story exactly like yours. What tags would they use to search for it?

 

[Brutal_One]

What’s the view on Story Series or Arc’s though? I can see that for a single one off story that attention grabbing makes sense - and maybe as suggested some key words.

If it’s however a longer series do you have to worry about attention grabbing for each and every chapter? Maybe not. I wonder too on target audience. I see quite a few of what I think would be considered ‘notable LIT writers’ who normally it seems have a series.

Also re audience sure some want short on point stories to satisfy their kink. Others may like a longer serious of characters they can follow, a bit like modern soaps and sadly increasingly reality TV wannabe’s (though less of these in some target areas like BDSM or incest - though some of the best soaps cover the latter but none I know of the former).

Curious too for a reader following a series if he/she sees the same episodic title with chapter 1 2 3 etc does this make them more likely to jump in and with whatever chapter they first see encourage them to read the series in full from chapter 1?

 

[SimonDoom]

What’s the view on Story Series or Arc’s though? I can see that for a single one off story that attention grabbing makes sense - and maybe as suggested some key words.

If it’s however a longer series do you have to worry about attention grabbing for each and every chapter? Maybe not. I wonder too on target audience. I see quite a few of what I think would be considered ‘notable LIT writers’ who normally it seems have a series.

Also re audience sure some want short on point stories to satisfy their kink. Others may like a longer serious of characters they can follow, a bit like modern soaps and sadly increasingly reality TV wannabe’s (though less of these in some target areas like BDSM or incest - though some of the best soaps cover the latter but none I know of the former).

Curious too for a reader following a series if he/she sees the same episodic title with chapter 1 2 3 etc does this make them more likely to jump in and with whatever chapter they first see encourage them to read the series in full from chapter 1?

It's difficult to know for sure what readers' habits are with respect to series, but I believe based on the data that we can say with some confidence that many readers DO jump into series in the middle to check it out. Then, if they like it, they may go back to the first chapter.

Why do I think this? Because view:vote ratios don't change as much as you would otherwise expect them to over the course of series. They remain high. What that suggests is that even with Erotic Story Chapter 23, some people click on it to check it out even though they haven't read the previous 22 chapters.

Which means, yes, you should still pay attention to your tagline and tags for late chapters. It may still make a difference.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I have found that once you develop a following, whether it is a good or bad one, that they don't give a shit what you title your story or what the tag line is.

I've only had one complaint about a title and of course it was someone who hated what I write.

 

[vanmyers86]

My experience has been that a clever title means more views. My two most-read stories aren't my highest-rated; they are the ones with the best titles.
(A Costume Built for Two, and Every Christmas Needs a Virgin.)

 

[Enchantment_of_Nyx]

...
Why do I think this? Because view:vote ratios don't change as much as you would otherwise expect them to over the course of series. They remain high. What that suggests is that even with Erotic Story Chapter 23, some people click on it to check it out even though they haven't read the previous 22 chapters.
....

Chapter 4 of the series I"m working on has 700 more views than Chapter 3, so readers have to be jumping in midstream and not going backward afterwards. That may sound like a small number in I/T, but in non-con, it's significant for a chapters that haven't hit 100 votes yet to get on the Top List for more visibility.

It's not how I read series. When I run across a highly rated chapter from a series that looks interesting, I might give it a short test read, but then I'll go back to the first chapter to start in earnest if I like what I see. Sometimes I just go straight to Chapter 1 if I have any interest.

However, if life so far has taught me anything (a dubious proposition some days), it's that the fact that I do something a particular way is not the least bit predictive of what other people do. When it comes to chapters in a series, though, I have a very difficult time understanding why people jump into the middle.

There have to be things that just don't make sense coming into it in the middle. In subsequent chapters, I try to briefly and subtly reference key facts, but there's only so much of that I can do, and I'm not going to clutter up the story for people who have read the earlier chapters. Character motivations in particular seem likely to be lost if chapters are skipped. It makes me think they're reading my beautiful smut for sordid purposes!

 

[Voboy]

As a longtime reader of the site, they matter about 85%.

I'd break it down thusly, just for me as a reader who browses from the New Story portal:

Category: 4.999%
Score: 10%
Title: 40%
Description: 45%
Tags: .0001%

YMMV, and I'm aware most people use tags a lot more than I do. But as a reader is scrolling past a long, long list of stories, what's really likely to jump out at them?

 

[Kojak01]

As a longtime reader of the site, they matter about 85%.

I'd break it down thusly, just for me as a reader who browses from the New Story portal:

Category: 4.999%
Score: 10%
Title: 40%
Description: 45%
Tags: .0001%

YMMV, and I'm aware most people use tags a lot more than I do. But as a reader is scrolling past a long, long list of stories, what's really likely to jump out at them?

Category: 50% Because the category often is a killer criteria (e.g Gay Male, I/T, LW)
Score: 5% because after the first couple of votes a low score (<3) usually has a reason)
Title: 15% if it doesn't catch my interest in some way, it's not worth it.
Description: 20% if it doesn't give me an idea of what's to come, I don't risk it.
Tags: 10% certain tags chase me away (e.g. cuckold)

After that, if the first couple of paragraphs don't pull me in or even bore me, I'm out.

 

[HeyAll]

On another note, if there's a certain fetish/kink in it, mention that somewhere in the title or description.

 

[Brutal_One]

After that, if the first couple of paragraphs don't pull me in or even bore me, I'm out.

Brutal I guess but honest. Two paragraphs of course should be enough but I guess you are saying if it doesn’t float your boat or push the right buttons you can be out the door.

Some writers though can be like that. Steven Donaldson is one example. I have had a friend comment in his second trilogy that the entire second book could have been said in one paragraph! This is the extreme version. Needless to say I didn’t read the second Trilogy. The first was good but hard going at times.

Brutal One

 

[JuanSeiszFitzHall]

I'm always perplexed when an author does little or nothing with the short description, repeating the title or the chapter number. You've been given free space to say a little more about the story. Why not use it?

 

[AlinaX]

I hate where every chapter in a series has the same description.

I often browse people's favourites, and then the description is the most important thing.

 

[ElectricBlue]

However, if life so far has taught me anything (a dubious proposition some days), it's that the fact that I do something a particular way is not the least bit predictive of what other people do. When it comes to chapters in a series, though, I have a very difficult time understanding why people jump into the middle.

There have to be things that just don't make sense coming into it in the middle. In subsequent chapters, I try to briefly and subtly reference key facts, but there's only so much of that I can do, and I'm not going to clutter up the story for people who have read the earlier chapters. Character motivations in particular seem likely to be lost if chapters are skipped. It makes me think they're reading my beautiful smut for sordid purposes!

I continued my A Girl on the Bus series (Chapter One was part of the most recent 750 Word Anthology) to deliberately test how readers approach a continuing story cycle - what they would accept, where they'd jump in or out, how they'd vote. Overall, they acted pretty much as I predicted.

Each of the first five chapters was increasingly longer, starting with the 750 word vignette and progressing up to a 2,000 word chapter five - all very short by Lit standards and very very short compared to my usual output. As expected, these chapter scores are low - between 4.07 and 4.45, pulling about 100 or so votes - but I could see that readers were "getting" what I was doing: dragging them along with short, quick, frequent episodes that were clearly moving towards the climax.

The reward, and the reader reaction was clearly shown, came in chapter six. It's (still only) 4,200 words, but garnered a 4.79 from 114 votes, with twice the number of Views compared to chapter five (9.6k vs 4.7k). It was written both as a resolution (long sex scene) of the preceding "getting to the point" chapters, but also as a self contained chapter/story. So, either twice as many people read it once and voted favourably but didn't go back to read the other chapters, or those folk who came along for the ride all read the chapter twice, because it delivered.

 

[Comentarista82]

I'll say this: if you forget to include that it's got something in it (e.g., like bi, threesome) it would lose a reader like me who doesn't go for that at all.

Perfect point: it was obviously one author of a story was building up a character to "move on" with another female, one closer to his own age. All the evidence was there. Suddenly, inexplicably (no buildup, no hints, and the foreshadowing backed up the "single" angle)...the main guy decides to keep the older lover, add the younger one...AND the younger one goes "bi" with the older female, so then you had bi and threesome with zero evidence/inclinations. The story was a 5 before that point and I would have lowered my rating to a 2 for such a non-sequitur. That was one of the few I didn't vote on but did comment why I didn't. No tags included and the description totally suggested "mature teaches younger lover, then younger lover moves on."

So yes, title and description matter, although I would say the description more so than title and certainly get it in the most appropriate category (that could be a pain if you have significant story elements that overlap into 3, though).

 

[Enchantment_of_Nyx]

Did you see the same relative increase in the number of votes for Ch.4? Otherwise, it could be that for some undefined reason, your Chapter 4 received more exposure (less stories published at that day, a more favorable position in the story-list, a more attractive description, ...) and that more people were enticed to open this chapter to check it out. These people may very well have followed your approach of reading a few lines before they either moved to chapter 1 or closed the story?

Chapter had a 3.2 percent votes to views rate and Chapter 4 had a 2.4 percent rate, so yeah, I see what you mean. I keep equating views with having been read, and that just isn't accurate.

It makes sense given the content of the beginnings of my Chapters 3 and 4. Chapter 3 has a sex scene very early on. Chapter 4 opens with the main characters dealing with the ugly aftermath of something one of them did in Chapter 3. So, there's a good chance Chapter 4 got more exposure, but people checked the first part of Chapter 4, saw no sex on the immediate horizon and moved on without reading it.

To clarify, though, I don't read only the first few lines unless those lines are so good that I go straight to Chapter 1 after that, and if that's the case, I'll be back to the chapter I originally saw when I get to it chronologically. My test read is read around five paragraphs, minimum, before I give up on a story. I don't know how anyone could tell based on a few lines. Do you think people are reading that little before they decide?

 

[Enchantment_of_Nyx]

I hate where every chapter in a series has the same description.

I often browse people's favourites, and then the description is the most important thing.

Me, too, particularly favorites of an author that I like. That's how I find the best stories that didn't make the Top Lists. Since you can't see the category in on the favorites list, description and title are everything, but description offers the most information.

 

[ElectricBlue]

To clarify, though, I don't read only the first few lines unless those lines are so good that I go straight to Chapter 1 after that, and if that's the case, I'll be back to the chapter I originally saw when I get to it chronologically. My test read is read around five paragraphs, minimum, before I give up on a story. I don't know how anyone could tell based on a few lines. Do you think people are reading that little before they decide?

Really bad writing shows in the first paragraph, gets confirmed in the second, and "case rests" by the third.

Okay writing takes longer, and if the characters or story line are okay or intriguing, the writing is usually good enough to continue (and to forgive the weaknesses). Similarly, with really good writing you know pretty early on that it's special. You can tell when a writer has hit the ground running, I think.

 

[RetroFan]

My story titles often sum up what the story is about and I often like to alliterate to make them catchy, for example 'Bridget the Bossy Bridezilla', 'Leanne the Lusty Lifeguard', 'Janelle and the Janitor', 'Mandy Makes a Man of Mark' and 'Learning to Love Louise".

I always laugh when I read negative comments about stories where readers have said they dislike that particular type of subject matter when the title and/or description clearly state what the story is about.

For example, say there was a story in Fetish called 'Pretty Penny's Period Problems' and the description was 'Pretty PA Penny has problems with her periods' it is pretty obvious what it is about. If the author was messing around the readers and the story was actually about a pretty PA called Penny who has very poor grammar and punctuation and always puts periods (i.e. full stops) incorrectly or not at all in official correspondence and documents she types up causing issues in the office with not even a passing mention of menstruation, then I can see how people wanting to read a period fetish story might be angry at being duped and make negative comments.

But if you didn't like stories about periods, why click on the story in the first place when it is clear what it is about?

 

[BelleCanzuto]

I hate where every chapter in a series has the same description.

Me too. If the author is taking the time to put the story in chapters, I'd like at least a hint of what's different or how the story is moving.

 

[lovecraft68]

I'd say pretty important, that's how I pick what to read. I don't go by score or red H.

I think the most important thing in the title and tag line is whatever the kink, try to call it out in both.

Some people skim the new story list without looking at what category its in, so be sure to call it out in somewhat.

 

[GroverLang]

The title and description made the difference between whether someone clicks on your story to read it or not. Just think of it in terms of how you choose stories to read. Unless you pick stories from tags, the title and description are all you have to go on when you decide which one to read. I can't think of anything more important to whether your story gets read in the first place. I think you're the only one who can decide how much time and effort that's worth to you.

The descriptions are a huge headache for me and I'm not great at them. The severity of the character limit is frustrating, and I find I have to compromise between being descriptive and being artistically appealing. If someone has good advice for writing the descriptions, I hope they'll share it here!

When I put myself in the position of a reader the first thing I look at is the story description, then the title. If they strike my interest I look at the length. Usually, if it’s more than 3/4 pages that’s the end of it. If it’s a really good title and description I may stretch to 7 pages. I’m never influenced by the current rating because I’ve read terrible stories with a high rating and really good ones with a low rating.

I agree with AlinaX as regards the story description being the same for every chapter. I’ve read individual stories by an author, which I’ve enjoyed, but then when I see a multi-chapter with the same description for each chapter I don’t bother to look at all. It may very well be a great story but they’ve lost a reader. However that’s just me. 99.9% might not be bothered.

I don’t think I’ve ever come up with a good title or description no matter how much time and thought I’ve given it