Suddenly not attracting readers

[PJRH]

Getting a little discouraged. My last two stories, "Karen," and "Sarah Robbins Part 2" have attracted far fewer readers (1.8K and 1.2K) than my other stories. Not aware I've changed anything significant about my stories--writing style or themes or organization.

It's fun to get ratings above 4.5 (Sarah Robbins got a 4.69) but just as important is knowing that my work is attracting (and attractive to) many readers. Wonder if any of these thoughts resonate with you and how you responded.

Thanks for reading,
Paul

 

[caleb35]

My personal experience is that readership varies widely and it's not always easy to tell why.

In my own case, my stories posted since 2021 have averaged over 8,200 views each. I posted three stories, one in November 2025 and two in early-to-mid January 2026. Each was below average (the November story was well below average, only 2,147 views to-date). However, my latest story was posted in late January, was a contest entry, and the viewership on that is gangbusters -- 11.5k and still going.

I suspect one factor is whether it's posted in a category with few other entries that day or if that category is swamped when yours is posted; how long a story stays up on under the new banner right when you open the page is important. Another factor is whether the story was entered into a contest or not; it's not a guarantee of higher viewership but two of my three contest entries in the past year have above-average views.

 

[EmilyMiller]

A lot of factors impact readership, not all of which are within the author’s control.

If your story gets published on a busy day for the category, then it might appear low down on the category new list and not at all in the first page of the site new list.

Even if you place highly on these lists, you might get a category God publish on the same day and vacuum up all the views.

There are slight variations between views on different days as well.

Add in that chaptered works see a decline as more chapters are published. And the impact of how many followers you have.

Also, if you get a red H early on, that attracts attention while you are still on the new lists. The opposite also holds.

Beyond that, the title and subtitle can have an impact, as do the tags.

But, there is still an element of random luck to it all.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

Getting a little discouraged. My last two stories, "Karen," and "Sarah Robbins Part 2" have attracted far fewer readers (1.8K and 1.2K) than my other stories. Not aware I've changed anything significant about my stories--writing style or themes or organization.

It's fun to get ratings above 4.5 (Sarah Robbins got a 4.69) but just as important is knowing that my work is attracting (and attractive to) many readers. Wonder if any of these thoughts resonate with you and how you responded.

Thanks for reading,
Paul

I recently posted a thread on story longevity that you might want to take a look at.

You will see that reader interaction in general will ebb and flow over the life of a story. There are several factors that contribute to this, including whether the story has won any contests and the associated draw derived from publishing new stories.

Where newly published stories are concerned, factors influencing views include things like the category, title, description, and whether it is merely a piece of a larger tale, which your Sarah chapter clearly is.

Recognizing it as a chapter work, many readers will pause and wait for you to complete it entirely before continuing on. Keep going and be patient.

 

[IWroteThis]

I recently posted a thread on story longevity that you might want to take a look at.

You will see that reader interaction in general will ebb and flow over the life of a story. There are several factors that contribute to this, including whether the story has won any contests and the associated draw derived from publishing new stories.

Where newly published stories are concerned, factors influencing views include things like the category, title, description, and whether it is merely a piece of a larger tale, which your Sarah chapter clearly is.

Recognizing it as a chapter work, many readers will pause and wait for you to complete it entirely before continuing on. Keep going and be patient.

To add on to the previous comment, reader engagement tends to decrease over the life of a series. People who click on the latest chapter tend to primarily be those who liked all of the previous chapters.

 

[Voboy]

Getting a little discouraged. My last two stories, "Karen," and "Sarah Robbins Part 2" have attracted far fewer readers (1.8K and 1.2K) than my other stories. Not aware I've changed anything significant about my stories--writing style or themes or organization.

It's fun to get ratings above 4.5 (Sarah Robbins got a 4.69) but just as important is knowing that my work is attracting (and attractive to) many readers. Wonder if any of these thoughts resonate with you and how you responded.

Thanks for reading,
Paul

As others have said, tacking a "Part 2" onto any title is likely to decrease readership on its own. There are several reasons I tend not to publish chaptered works, and that's one of them.

Can I ask what category "Karen" is published in? That's an important variable, as is the blurb you put to attract attention. On its own, absent knowing anything else about the story, your title is not very compelling (at best) and might be repellant (at worst); it gives no indication of what a reader can expect, and "Karen" tends to be a name that, in American English, is loaded with negative connotations. And it's fairly unimaginative, on the whole, to just use a person's name as a title.

 

[Djmac1031]

Getting a little discouraged. My last two stories, "Karen," and "Sarah Robbins Part 2" have attracted far fewer readers (1.8K and 1.2K) than my other stories. Not aware I've changed anything significant about my stories--writing style or themes or organization.

It's fun to get ratings above 4.5 (Sarah Robbins got a 4.69) but just as important is knowing that my work is attracting (and attractive to) many readers. Wonder if any of these thoughts resonate with you and how you responded.

Thanks for reading,
Paul

How long ago did you publish the first Sarah Robbins?

The low numbers on part 2 are easy to explain: The average reader is not going to click on a Part 2 unless they've already read Part 1 and enjoyed it. So the vast majority of readers will scroll on by.

And if its been any length of time between part 1 and 2 even those who did read part 1 have moved on already.

 

[TheWritingGroup]

My personal experience is that readership varies widely and it's not always easy to tell why.

What he said.

My novel (published in five parts) Pranked: Barbie has readership that makes no sense to me. Part 1 has 13.5 thousand readers, part 4 has 13.4, but part 2 has 7.8 and part 3 has only 4.5? And people who read as far as part 4 didn't bother to read the ending, which has only 2700 reads so far? I don't get it. I'd say maybe part 4 sucked and people bailed, but it has a rating of 4.71 and 15 favorites.

 

[Comshaw]

Getting a little discouraged. My last two stories, "Karen," and "Sarah Robbins Part 2" have attracted far fewer readers (1.8K and 1.2K) than my other stories. Not aware I've changed anything significant about my stories--writing style or themes or organization.

It's fun to get ratings above 4.5 (Sarah Robbins got a 4.69) but just as important is knowing that my work is attracting (and attractive to) many readers. Wonder if any of these thoughts resonate with you and how you responded.

Thanks for reading,
Paul

Don't worry to much about it. It might take the readers some time to find them. I have two in Erotic Couplings that have good scores, only .07 points apart, but one, published in 1/2021 has 62,044 views and the other published in 2/2020 has 13104 views. Who knows what motivates readers to look at a story? I sure don't.

Comshaw

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

Put some more effort into your titles. One or two word titles, or those with only a name aren't going to pique the interest of too many.

 

[yowser]

There have been various discussions about the differences between 'chaptered' series and a series of more or less 'standalone' episodes (maybe the same characters, but each story is capable of being read independently to the rest of the series.)

I've written both, and with a bit of effort, now prefer the latter (which is one strategy for maintaining interest.) My latest series (no chapters) have strong view numbers all the way along (lowest is over 10k, largest (second in the series) at 40k, and the most recent has view numbers greater than the initial tale.) Over 150k views total for the eight sections so far.

Of course some longer tales need to be chaptered, to break them into digestible chunks (although you will also hear arguments about just making one long story out of all the pieces, another way to manage readership and not have a 'drop off'.) But you may find some value in experimenting with more standalone but related stories in a series.