I'm puzzled

[Frederick Carol]

Puzzled by reader voting.

I have two three-part tales on Literotica, 'Suzi' (my first ever submission) and 'Birthday Girl', my latest opus.

I'm getting votes and feedback (thank you all!) but I'm curious as to the balance.
Suzi Pt.1 has 17 votes, Suzi Pt.2 9 and Suzi Pt.3 21 (low votes because it's an older tale, I think).
Birthday Girl Pt.1 has 166 votes, BG 2 has 140 and BG 3 has 86, at the time of writing.

I would have expected a bigger vote on the last part of a story, if anyone has bothered to read to the end. This is true with Suzi, but not Birthday Girl.

Have other writers noticed a similar trend with multi-part tales? Any explanations or theories? No big deal, but like I said, I'm puzzled.

 

[KillerMuffin]

Pretty much, I have one 3 part story, they have a big difference in votes and an even bigger difference in totals. It's even more obvious when you look at the top list and see like Hostile Takeover Ch. 4 is there, but the rest of the story hangs out in limbo somewhere or something.

 

[SteamyChik]

I have wondered this too. I have only posted two stories and they are doing really well right now. But I was wondering if people will get bored with Chapter 72 you know?

I was wondering also if writing each chapter like it was it's own story and not a "cliffhanger" would make the series have more repeat hits. If the reader know that if they read Chapter 30 it would be a story in itself instead of reading all 29 chapters before it.

I have read books that are a series and I much prefer the ones where each story stands on its own. I don't mind a few references to previous books as long as that knowledge isn't required to understand the story.

Anyway, be interesting to hear others thoughts on this.

 

[Frederick Carol]

Good point, SteamyChik.

'Suzi' and 'Birthday Girl' were each written as one tale and split on submission, otherwise the readers would have had several (Literotica) pages to read and I'm not sure about reader endurance.

'Suzi' was submitted way back in the pre-script days as a single file, and was split into three by Laurel. In WordPerfect it totals 20 pages.

'Birthday Girl' was submitted via the scripts in three parts, split at what I thought were logical breaks so as to make the three parts self-sufficient. In WordPerfect, the three parts are 16, 26 and 19 pages respectively, a considerably longer tale than 'Suzi'. (Suzi totals 3+ Lit pages and BG 8 Lit pages, but I don't know where Laurel makes the cut for page size.)

On reflection, if I am writing a collection of tales about the same characters, I will ensure each part stands on its own. My (so far) two-parter 'Change of Plan' is written that way. If I can ever emulate Whispersecret and produce a novel-length opus, I'll make sure it says so!

 

[KillerMuffin]

Reader endurance depends on the story. I find it's easier to click the little numbers or next down at the bottom than to go looking for part two. It depends on the story, though, some stories need to be one page, some need to be about 40. I have one that stretched to 3, about to do another one. I know Mark Singer has one that's 4 or 5 pages that you can't help but read all of. The problem with separate chapters, unless you really want to post before you're done writing, is that there is no link to move you from one chapter to the next, you have to click the author's name and get to it that way, but hey, I'm bitching about a couple of clicks, 10 years ago I would have had to get into the car and drive all the way to the bookstore and browse for hours to find part two. I'm not seeing a downside to that either. Oy. I'm going to shut up and go write now.

 

[Dillinger]

I have noticed the same thing with my Jessica series - some chapters, for no reason I can discern, have considerably more votes than other chapters.

Here is what I think. While some authors and series have loyal readers, there are a LARGE number of visitors to this site who are just looking for a couple things to read at the moment. I think its the luck of the draw to some extent. If your story happens to be near the top of the new list on a week when there are lots of visitors looking for that particular type of story you get lots more views and votes. Being near the top of the voting lists, as mentioned elsewhere, also brings you more votes.

As much as somone might have enjoyed Chapter 4 of your story that does not necessarily imply that they will read any other chapters. You have to think about who the readership is here. If one were to read a series - like Harry Potter as an example - there are very few people who wouldn't start with Book 1. I know I would. AND, if I liked it enough - I'm likely to buy and read future books in the series.

That kind of logic doesn't necessarily apply here. It will for some readers but not for all. Hence the disparity in the number of votes different chapters receive (and in the 1 - 5 rating as well).

You realize that just the description could have an impact. If chapter one's description is "Mary and her husband make love" and chapter two's description is "Mary sucks her boss's huge cock" - I have a feeling that chapter two is going to get more views and more votes.


[Edited by Dillinger on 03-03-2001 at 09:49 AM]

 

[vgrey]

About chapters...

I agree with most of what has been said above by SteamyChik, KillerMuffin and Dillinger. For my story, which is divided into chapters, I tried to make each chapter an episode that stood by itself with some sort of link to the rest of the story at the end. This "cliffhanger" style has its limitations, (such as needing to make sure that each chapter has a begining, middle and an end) but it does allow me to jump back and forth in time a lot from chapter to chapter.
I like to think of it as one of those old movie serials, like "Flash Gordon" or "Undersea Kingdom". My intent was to write a story that allowed the reader to jump in anywhere but encouraged them to investigate the rest of the story if they chose.
One chapter of my story failed in this regard however, when I made the mistake of having a "flashback chapter" that was little more than thinly veiled exposition. I don't think that it was a poorly written chapter (any more than the rest of my story) but my mistake was obvious when it only recieved about a third of the votes that my other stories got. Live and learn!
Now I try to make sure that each chapter is a complete unit that will stand alone. At the same time, I want to write primarily for the few die-hards that will actually read the entire story from begining to end, even at the risk of alienating a small number of casual readers.
VG

 

[KillerMuffin]

I'd brought it up to Laurel sometime before, not sure how or when, slept since then. I do remember mentioning something about the Novels category and voting on the entire story, rather than just the chapters. She didn't know if that would be better or not or what the authors would rather have. I don't have on long enough to be in that category, so I have no opinion on the matter. I just thought that it may be better to have say, Jessica's Big Dicked Adventure in the top lists than Jessica's Big Dicked Adventure Ch. 4. I know it would make more room if the multiple chapters of the same story didn't all sit there. I also know that some chapters are better than others and the author/reader may prefer giving feedback on individual merit rather than on the whole.

 

[Dillinger]

I should point out that I did post all 12 chapters of "Jessica's Big Dick Adventure" as separate submissions in the Loving Wives category.

I did this because I did not feel that a story posted in any category of that length would entice a large readership. I also didn't feel that I could get as large a readership by posting it in Novels and Novellas. I hoped that by posting it the way I did that people, after reading one chapter, would be interested enough to read other chapters.

My personal belief is that most people coming here are not ready to invest the time to read a full novel. But that, if the chapters were able to stand on their own, they might be willing to do so in installments.

The highest rated Chapter of "Jessica's Big Dick Adventure" is Chapter 6 - to date its received 114 votes for a total of 4.26. I'm very happy with this. For that many votes I think its a pretty good score. This is also the chapter with the largest # of votes.

The lowest rating is shared by Chapter's 1, 2, 3 and 8. They all have a 4.04 rating... the breakdown of # of votes, respectively, is 83, 47, 45, and 76.

Why such a large difference in the # of votes? This interests me more than the actual ratings, in fact. I think this can be attributed to several things. As I said above, I think there is the random/timing factor. When it got posted - who came to the site and what they were looking for - what else in that style/category was new at the time it first got posted at Lit.

What else? Well... subject matter, I think. The description for Chapter 6 is "Jessica takes on a HUGE cock" - I believe Laurel gave the chapter that description, not me... I can't recall for sure. But - I think that tells us something about what the readership here is interested in? I'm not saying this is good or bad or inbetween. It is just an observation.

FYI - my submissions that have received the least number of votes are the poems that I have had posted.

 

[KillerMuffin]

Don't feel bad Dill, my poems haven't gotten many votes either. For good reason too, I SUCK at poetry. LOL.

I can understand that, I don't have a long story out. I have one that I may or may not post here that's too long and when I "chapter" it, the chapters don't stand alone. So it's a novella, at least that's my take on it.

 

[SteamyChik]

This brings up another question. If you have a series that you are putting into chapters, should they all be in the same category?

My Broken Vows Chapter 1 and 2 are nonconsent. However, Chapter 3, pending, is incest using two of the characters in Chapter 1 and 2. So, do I post it in incest or nonconsent?

I put it in incest because of the readership following for that category. I also put a short disclaimer at the top of the story saying the first two chapters could be found in non-consent.

I would be interesetd in knowing how other series authors handle it.

 

[circe!]

My Long -Ass Story

Apparently, I can only write good erotica whilst ovulating so my chapters get added on a monthly basis to my Hurrying Down the Dark Road series: http://literotica.com/stories/showstory.php?id=5698
http://literotica.com/stories/showstory.php?id=6948
http://literotica.com/stories/showstory.php?id=6949
http://literotica.com/stories/showstory.php?id=6954
http://literotica.com/stories/showstory.php?id=7142
http://literotica.com/stories/showstory.php?id=7552
http://literotica.com/stories/showstory.php?id=7351
http://literotica.com/stories/showstory.php?id=8660

(diabolic laughter...)

I think long, seperatly chaptered stories gain a readership which will loyaly await each new installment. I get a lot of email suggestions and requests for material in future chapters. (And now my readership knows how heavily I rely on my Spell Check!!!)

 

[Dillinger]

This brings up another question. If you have a series that you are putting into chapters, should they all be in the same category?

Well in the case of "Jessica's Big Dick Adventure" the chapters could easily have fit into different categories but since its the story of Jessica, told from her husband's point of view - they all fit into Loving Wives easily enough...

I personally would be reluctant to put a series into multiple categories. I think you need to pick the one that fits the main theme of the story.

 

[KillerMuffin]

I have three in a series, they're in two categories.

 

[sylviarockon]

long stories

Interesting subject. I've been trying to work out what to do about multiple chapters as well. It seems like there are lots of theories. My first submission ended up being (I think) seven literotica pages. I was a complete novice and didn't actually realize that it would end up being so long. It has done very well even for its length, so maybe story quality prevails.

I agree with the comments that there are people who just drop in for a "quickie" so to speak ...LOL! There are also readers who are loyal and wait for the next installment of a multi-part story. By the way circe! can't wait for the next installment of "Hurrying..." Roll on those hormones

So whether you have cliffhangers or stand alone stories, novellas, or multiple installments in one or more category, maybe it all depends on the whim of the readership.

Not very helpful maybe, but let me know if someone comes up with a sure-fire way to get a large readership

Happy writings.

 

[Ally C]

Re: long stories

So whether you have cliffhangers or stand alone stories, novellas, or multiple installments in one or more category, maybe it all depends on the whim of the readership.

Not very helpful maybe, but let me know if someone comes up with a sure-fire way to get a large readership

Happy writings.

I think this thread relates to what has been termed 'The Death of the Author'. Having said that, I've always found that notion to be a bit obvious anyway ... and when we turn to the last page and see the word 'butler', well I think I've said enough ...

... and I just know you're going to agree!