My series A Wicked Summer for Carnal Girls

[HuckPilgrim]

My series started off like a burning barn (a barn burner?), but then subsequent chapters stopped getting many views, although the ratings across all the chapters have remained fairly high. I have no sense for why this happened, but I feel discouraged. I have one more part to post, but it's a long part, and I feel like fuck it.

Anyhow, what can you tell me about any of this. I was posting the parts one right after the other, but maybe I should have given people more time? Is it the title? That it's in non-consent (it belongs there). The little story descriptions maybe?

Or maybe, it's just the way it is. I dunno!


http://www.literotica.com/s/a-wicked-summer-for-carnal-girls-ch-01

http://www.literotica.com/s/a-wicked-summer-for-carnal-girls-ch-02

http://www.literotica.com/s/a-wicked-summer-for-carnal-girls-ch-03

 

[PennLady]

I think it's pretty standard for views to fall off on a series. As long as the scores are high, or satisfactory, I wouldn't be concerned.

People stop reading or read less for all kinds of reasons.

I'd also say that you really do need to write for yourself. I know feedback is important, believe me, but this is a big pool and not a critique or peer review site. Views, votes, etc., are very uneven here, so if you pin your writing to those, it's going to be a roller coaster.

 

[Serafina1210]

I couldn't take a lot of time with the stories (I'm *supposed* to be working), but they looked well done and very naughty to me: I mean to come back to them, and I'd like to see part 4.

I think the ratings are good (I'd count them as good if the stories were mine). I imagine the page view counters at the bottoms of the pages are running behind what you can see, as they always do.

There are so many variables that feed into the number of page views you get: how many other strong stories are in the "New" list for your category on the day you post, how quickly new material pushes yours out of sight, how many comments and favorites you get. It's all so random.

 

[soflabbwlvr]

Huck, I've read the first two chapters and I expect to read the third very soon. I've been kind of busy and am behind on reading at the moment. Nonetheless, you already know that I like your story. I don't believe the issue is your writing.

I have two thoughts on why you may not be getting the views your story deserves. Whenever a potential reader is scanning the new story list, there are four pieces of information that can direct them to your story. The first is the story title. The second is the slug line that follows the title. The third is the category, and the fourth is your author name.

I don't think the title hurt you, but it didn't help you much, either. It's not a bad title, but it doesn't convey much direct information about the story. That wouldn't have been a problem if your slug lines filled in the blanks for readers, but they were not at all helpful. They don't tell the reader anything about the action that takes place in the story. This, I think, was where you let yourself down. I've noticed that in the stories where I put little to no effort into hooking the readers before the story pops up on their screen, there are few readers to hook with the story. Selling your story starts on the New Story page.

Turning to the third piece of information, category, I think your story was properly placed. Nonconsent/Reluctance is not one of the most popular categories on Lit. (see Loving Wives and Incest/Taboo), but it is far from the least popular. I don't have statistics, but I believe it sits somewhere in the middle in terms of views per day.

Finally, your screen name is also a factor. I see that you are relatively new on Lit., having been posting here less than one month. You are doing the smart thing and posting frequently, which is the best way to gather a following of readers. Maybe you are posting a little too quickly, however. On May 28-29 you put up three pieces. I think you might be better served if you limited yourself to one or two new submissions per week. Give them time to sink in before rushing out the next one. But keep posting regularly so that you are not forgotten. Until you develop name recognition, you will want to keep your name on the new Story list. It just doesn't have to be at the top of the list all the time.

Now, the my next thought may be unpopular, but I'll say it anyway. Around the time that chapter one went up, two other stories with similar themes were also posted. At least one was by a first time author. Both of those stories garnered more views than yours, and by a wide margin. Why? It wasn't because of quality. I felt your story was much better than those other two. Part of the answer is in what I stated above. But the other part, I feel, is attributable to sexism. The other stories had female authors. There is a large portion of the Lit. audience that consists of men who will only read stories that they think are written by women, and this is especially true--apparently--for a story about an older man taking advantage of a young woman. I don't know why that's the case--you'll have to ask them. But I do think this is another way in which your screen name hurt you.

Now, moving on to my third of two points. As PL stated, later chapters of a story invariably receive fewer views than the first chapter. There are a number of reasons why, and you can probably imagine them quite easily. But I think you made a few missteps that might have cost you some readers. As we discussed before, the intro was a tad indulgent. Also, the outline at beginning of the story may have turned some readers away. It didn't offend me, but the longer it takes for a reader to get hooked, the less likely they are to return. The outline is just more words to get through before getting to the story.

I hope this is helpful. I hope you finish your story. I think you are a fine writer with a unique style. You've got me reading material I normally avoid. I know the disappointment of indifference. It's not as bad as rejection, but it doesn't feel great. Hang in there, improve your storytelling, and you will build an audience. Few Lit. writers are overnight successes.

 

[HuckPilgrim]

I think it's pretty standard for views to fall off on a series. As long as the scores are high, or satisfactory, I wouldn't be concerned.

People stop reading or read less for all kinds of reasons.

I'd also say that you really do need to write for yourself. I know feedback is important, believe me, but this is a big pool and not a critique or peer review site. Views, votes, etc., are very uneven here, so if you pin your writing to those, it's going to be a roller coaster.

It's so true. Thanks for the reminder PennLady. You speak the truth! I had hoped to use this place to get feedback on how the stories work together as a whole, but it might work better to do them as singles. Or maybe as a series with the same character.

I don't know, but I know what you're saying is the truth. I have to dial back my expectations a little more.

 

[HuckPilgrim]

I couldn't take a lot of time with the stories (I'm *supposed* to be working), but they looked well done and very naughty to me: I mean to come back to them, and I'd like to see part 4.

I think the ratings are good (I'd count them as good if the stories were mine). I imagine the page view counters at the bottoms of the pages are running behind what you can see, as they always do.

There are so many variables that feed into the number of page views you get: how many other strong stories are in the "New" list for your category on the day you post, how quickly new material pushes yours out of sight, how many comments and favorites you get. It's all so random.

Yay, Serafina! Thank you so much for the kind words.

I am going to post part 4! I think it's important to finish what you start and I'm going to do that with this series. I even plan to write a little epilogue to wrap things up a bit, even if it ends up being a non-erotic epilogue.

Good point about all the variables. I know the site was down a little right after I posted part 3. Maybe that happens a lot, but if it goes down on the days your story goes live, it may hurt its visibility.

 

[HuckPilgrim]

I have two thoughts on why you may not be getting the views your story deserves. Whenever a potential reader is scanning the new story list, there are four pieces of information that can direct them to your story. The first is the story title. The second is the slug line that follows the title. The third is the category, and the fourth is your author name.

Excellent post soflabbwlvr!

Thank you so much for taking the time to spell all of that out for me. I had suspected some of what you wrote with the title and the slug line. I hear you with the introductory matter, too. I think when I post part 4, I'm going to give the introductory material a pass. Just jump right into the story maybe. And I'm going to give the slug line some careful consideration.

I hear you about being patient too. I think it's an excellent point and I hope I don't come off sounding like a prima donna. I think it makes a lot of sense to slow down on my posting and put the work in to build a reputation here on Lit. Some things I can't do much about. I already have a male name and most of my stories fall somewhere along the noncom-reluctance line.

Someone else encouraged me to enter the contests. I'm going to put something into the Nude Day contest and see what it does to help build my exposure around here.

I laughed when I read what you wrote about gender and popularity. I met my wife on a text based computer chat thing called a MOO that was popular back in the 90s before the web rose to such prominence. It was part chat room, part dungeons and dragons game. For weeks I got zero people to chat with me, and finally I got disgusted and flipped my "gender bit" to female. LOL, then I got popular. I met my wife as a female (and she was looking for a male!) but it all worked out okay for me in the end. We'll have been married 17 years in a few more days.

Thank you for the kind words!

 

[HuckPilgrim]

I just put part 4 in the tool, so it should be up before too long. Thanks so much for the encouragement. I appreciate it!

 

[HuckPilgrim]

Yay! Part 4 of my series went live sometime earlier today. I got rejected once, but it just needed an age disclaimer at the start. This was probably my most ambitious single story in the series, so I hope you like it.

http://www.literotica.com/s/a-wicked-summer-for-carnal-girls-ch-04


I'm working on an epilogue for the series, which probably won't stand alone well and most likely won't have much sex, but will hopefully offer readers of the entire series a little closure.

 

[astuffedshirt_perv]

That is an interesting theory, soflabbslvr.

However, Huck, what I find more fascinating is that A Wicked Summer for Carnal Girls Ch. 03 has a rating of 4.53 and American Girl has a rating of 4.16 and they appear to be the same story!

Same category (and obviously author), posted within days of each other, different titles and descriptions...Why the big difference in scores? Do both have a similar # of votes?

 

[HuckPilgrim]

Yup, American Girl and Ch 3 of the series are the same story. Some minor differences, but I'm probably the only one who would notice.

I published American Girl as a stand alone to see if it would get more views. It did. This was before I knew doing so was frowned upon by the site admins. I asked why and was told it irritated people to see the same story posted twice and was invited to edit existing stories instead. So I posted American Girl as a stand alone story, even though it was a dupe of Ch 3 in my series, but I'm not going to post the others that way.

I got a heck of a lot more votes, views, and favorites. I feel good about the score even if it is a little lower, especially considering the broader readership and so many added favorites. Why did it happen? I have no idea. If you read it, it's sort of a harsh story, so I'm guessing it turns people off. A girl goes to a party and gets gangbanged. But I worked hard on it and it's got some interesting character and plot stuff going on it that I really like.

I feel even better about being told I wouldn't have to delete the dupe post. It has some really cool comments I wouldn't want to lose.

 

[HuckPilgrim]

soflabbslvr, I gave your post a lot of thought before I posted chapter 4. Thanks so much. I took out all that crazy front matter and tried to come up with a clever tag line. Your help was much appreciated.

 

[astuffedshirt_perv]

that no dupe thing is what makes American Girl so interesting...on of the few duplicates on the site, and the results are quite different. I'm curious if over the months if the ratings converge or not.

 

[HuckPilgrim]

Laurel said most dupes get 1-bombed, but that's not what happened here.

Also, seriously? One of the few? There are so many stories it's hard to imagine there aren't a few dupes. It's also odd that the dupe thing seems to be like a tribal knowledge kind of thing. I didn't see any mention in the rules.

 

[walkerlong]

Maybe it would help if there were a dramatic arc connecting these stories. I have no data to support the theory, but personally when I stick around for a long series it's because I want to see how it turns out at the end.

As it is they stand on their own. Someone who reads part 1 hasn't developed any curiosity for part 2. No cliffhanger, so to speak. Conversely, someone who comes upon part 2 without having read part 1 may assume they'll be starting in mid stream and pass it over.

 

[HuckPilgrim]

That's an excellent point. These are more like connected stories, each with it's own arc, but I can see the advantage of using, say, a single POV and building dramatic tension over the course of the series. I've got an idea for another longer story that does something similar.

These were originally meant to be standalone stories, but I've always thought of it as a series. In the first editions, I had experimented with buy links pointing back to my blog (not for posting on Lit, of course), but my wife felt strongly that was a cheesy move, so I took them out. I do still like the idea of a longer story that can also be chopped up and distributed piecemeal, as individual stories.

 

[walkerlong]

For individual stories that you want to be part of a connected series, you might attach a common prefix to the titles rather than labeling them "part 1" etc. For example "Carnal Girls: American Girl" and so on. Then they get sorted together in your story list, but a reader feels no reluctance to read them "out of order."

 

[HuckPilgrim]

For individual stories that you want to be part of a connected series, you might attach a common prefix to the titles rather than labeling them "part 1" etc. For example "Carnal Girls: American Girl" and so on. Then they get sorted together in your story list, but a reader feels no reluctance to read them "out of order."

I arranged these stories into a specific order for this collection. You don't need to read them in this order, but if you do, the last story calls back to the other stories and there is a small reveal that hopefully make it a more satisfying read.

I plan to publish this series, but before I do, I want to write an epilogue that offers a little hope for the POV character in American Girl.