Swamping a Category

[BreakTheBar]

Hey all,

I just wanted to throw out a Literotica-related frustration to see if anyone else is feeling the same way, or if there is anything to "do" about it.

We all know that some categories are more popular than others, netting more views and therefore more votes. A trend I've been seeing in the SciFi/Fantasy category, however, is that the views have dropped significantly for the stories on the front page. When I first started posting my series Font of Fertility, in the first few days I netted about 15k views. It's no Incest category submission numbers, but that's a pretty decent count.

When I look at view counts in the category now they have dropped to 1k, and I think I know the reason. For the past several months one, and now a few, contributors have been posting short, daily updates to their series. At first you could see the impact of having 50+ stories in their series had on themselves as their views dropped, but now with multiple people taking this route the category is totally swamped out. Even one-shot stories are only seeing a couple thousand views.

Maybe it's because I'm not a fan of the series, but 1-page blasts every single day seems to be crippling the category. Every time I personally go to look at it I just wince and go somewhere else, and the low view count correlates with low vote counts, making the series artificially 'more popular.'

Maybe the answer is Literotica opening up a 'frequent updates' category or something. All I know is that while the writers doing it deserve to have their work seen as much as the next, it's my firm belief that if you're going to write daily updates you should have your own blog somewhere.

 

[CyranoJ]

I can't guess at the truth of your thesis, but I was under the impression that the view counter is broken?

 

[Darkniciad]

Your views are always going to decrease the farther you go into a series. You simply don't hold onto everyone with every chapter.

People posting 1-page chapters to Sci-Fi&Fantasy aren't likely to hurt anyone's views but their own. The readership is not fond of that.

The category hub is still listing new stories back five days. The frequent postings aren't pushing anyone out of visibility there, either.

The lag between chapter releases probably has a lot to do with your drop-off. When people start seeing that, the expect that the story is eventually doing to stop posting before it's finished.

http://www.darkniciad.com/hotlink_pics/All_3_Names_05_01_15.htm

That's the most recent quarterly track of my numbers. There's some long-term data there that shows how chaptered stories trail off over time.

 

[Sammael Bard]

Your views are always going to decrease the farther you go into a series. You simply don't hold onto everyone with every chapter.

People posting 1-page chapters to Sci-Fi&Fantasy aren't likely to hurt anyone's views but their own. The readership is not fond of that.

The category hub is still listing new stories back five days. The frequent postings aren't pushing anyone out of visibility there, either.

The lag between chapter releases probably has a lot to do with your drop-off. When people start seeing that, the expect that the story is eventually doing to stop posting before it's finished.

http://www.darkniciad.com/hotlink_pics/All_3_Names_05_01_15.htm

That's the most recent quarterly track of my numbers. There's some long-term data there that shows how chaptered stories trail off over time.

Holy Shit, dude....how do you compile all these numbers?


Please tell.

 

[RejectReality]

My submissions page open on the top half of the screen, the spreadsheet open at the bottom. Look at number, type into spreadsheet. Then I've got to go through every single story and scroll to the bottom to get the favorites number.

In other words, complete caveman method.

I've fiddled with coding a scraper to automate some of it in the past, but kept getting sidetracked, and I'm willing to bet that some of the security features recently implemented on the site would make it more difficult that it would be worth anyhow.

It takes at least a couple of hour every three months -- and that's only for this site. I post on two others.

Holy Shit, dude....how do you compile all these numbers?


Please tell.

 

[Sammael Bard]

My submissions page open on the top half of the screen, the spreadsheet open at the bottom. Look at number, type into spreadsheet. Then I've got to go through every single story and scroll to the bottom to get the favorites number.

In other words, complete caveman method.

I've fiddled with coding a scraper to automate some of it in the past, but kept getting sidetracked, and I'm willing to bet that some of the security features recently implemented on the site would make it more difficult that it would be worth anyhow.

It takes at least a couple of hour every three months -- and that's only for this site. I post on two others.

^^ That kind of hard work is commendable. I thought you used a programme of sorts.

 

[RejectReality]

^^ That kind of hard work is commendable. I thought you used a programme of sorts.

More like certifiable

It provides a lot of useful data I can use for illustrative purposes when discussions like this come up, so it's not a complete waste of time. Just mostly.

 

[lovecraft68]

Personally I think one page chapters are BS. Its a cheap way to always be on the new list, always have your name on the popular list and a way to pad an author's story file "Look I have 100 stories, so what if none are more than 3500k?

Oh, and let's not forget the very high scores long series will gain and the increased chance to win a monthly contest with a 4.92 (on 60 votes)

Now of course there are no hard rules when it comes to length, but one page chapters in a series? Why not at least 2/ 3 pages? Because there would be less stories....

I think the site should have a minimum length requirement for chapters, at least two pages and perhaps three.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Personally I think one page chapters are BS. Its a cheap way to always be on the new list, always have your name on the popular list and a way to pad an author's story file "Look I have 100 stories, so what if none are more than 3500k?

Oh, and let's not forget the very high scores long series will gain and the increased chance to win a monthly contest with a 4.92 (on 60 votes)

Now of course there are no hard rules when it comes to length, but one page chapters in a series? Why not at least 2/ 3 pages? Because there would be less stories....

I think the site should have a minimum length requirement for chapters, at least two pages and perhaps three.

Stupid son of a bitch. One page is 3500 words. Most print chapters are around 3500 words. Sometimes youre so goddamned imbecile I wanna puke.

 

[oggbashan]

Personally I think one page chapters are BS. Its a cheap way to always be on the new list, always have your name on the popular list and a way to pad an author's story file "Look I have 100 stories, so what if none are more than 3500k?

...

I have some one-page chapters, and some much longer. The length depends on what fits that part of the story.

I have over 200 stories varying from 15 x 50 word stories to multiple Lit page stories, and I have combined a couple of originally chaptered stories into one complete story. I'm not concerned about my total number of stories, just telling stories that my Muses say ought to be written...

 

[lovecraft68]

Stupid son of a bitch. One page is 3500 words. Most print chapters are around 3500 words. Sometimes youre so goddamned imbecile I wanna puke.

Shall I pass you the bucket?

In the print world people are buying the whole book and they will read more than one chapter in a sitting(at that length)

his is a web site not a bookstore.

 

[lovecraft68]

I have some one-page chapters, and some much longer. The length depends on what fits that part of the story.

I have over 200 stories varying from 15 x 50 word stories to multiple Lit page stories, and I have combined a couple of originally chaptered stories into one complete story. I'm not concerned about my total number of stories, just telling stories that my Muses say ought to be written...

The part in bold is the difference. "It depends" an occasional one page chapter may be what works for that instance, but when you're looking at 25 chapter series and everyone one is one page...

It could simply be the fact that over the years because of a handful of individuals and the sites skewed voting system that everything is seen as a sneaky tactic. You mention story file means nothing to you, but to some its all that matters.

I have a 45 chapter series here. chapters range from 2 pages to 12 pages. Going by some people's formula I should have stretched it to 150 chapters.

 

[lovecraft68]

Of course I have yet to see anything as manipulative as the incest author who pulled his entire series because the top lists were broken.

he has since returned and is re-posting his series one chapter at a time therefore adding new readers and favs with previously written material getting a chance to be 'new'

In his bio at one point he threatened his readership by stating if his scores weren't high enough or if the top 25 list that shows on the incest hub(the only list that works for incest) he would pull his series again.

Its people like them that make people start thinking every thing is an 'angle'

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Shall I pass you the bucket?

In the print world people are buying the whole book and they will read more than one chapter in a sitting(at that length)

his is a web site not a bookstore.

I think youre a 5 star writer AND you repeat the same stuff 5 times in your stories. Youre the king of pad.

 

[Learin]

Personally I think one page chapters are BS. Its a cheap way to always be on the new list, always have your name on the popular list and a way to pad an author's story file "Look I have 100 stories, so what if none are more than 3500k?

Oh, and let's not forget the very high scores long series will gain and the increased chance to win a monthly contest with a 4.92 (on 60 votes)

Now of course there are no hard rules when it comes to length, but one page chapters in a series? Why not at least 2/ 3 pages? Because there would be less stories....

I think the site should have a minimum length requirement for chapters, at least two pages and perhaps three.

I started reading a succubus series (probably 100 chapters, not kidding) and left it at chapter 3. I think most readers would punish the authors themselves by voting low or by not reading altogether.

Adding more "rules" makes the water more murkier than it already is. It's best to keep it simple.

 

[soflabbwlvr]

I can see how some might find these single page chapters annoying, but are they really a problem? What's the harm?

 

[sr71plt]

Personally I think one page chapters are BS. Its a cheap way to always be on the new list, always have your name on the popular list and a way to pad an author's story file "Look I have 100 stories, so what if none are more than 3500k?

Oh, and let's not forget the very high scores long series will gain and the increased chance to win a monthly contest with a 4.92 (on 60 votes)

Now of course there are no hard rules when it comes to length, but one page chapters in a series? Why not at least 2/ 3 pages? Because there would be less stories....

I think the site should have a minimum length requirement for chapters, at least two pages and perhaps three.

One Lit page chapters (under 3,750 words) are industry standard for e-book novels. The standard for print is 5,000 words, and everything is shorter than print in the e word because e-read is more difficult than print read.

A chapter length should be determined by content not by a "more wordage = higher quality" mentality. Literotica writers and readers are just on a "bloat" standard because they can and because it's rewarded.

 

[sr71plt]

Of course I have yet to see anything as manipulative as the incest author who pulled his entire series because the top lists were broken.

he has since returned and is re-posting his series one chapter at a time therefore adding new readers and favs with previously written material getting a chance to be 'new'

In his bio at one point he threatened his readership by stating if his scores weren't high enough or if the top 25 list that shows on the incest hub(the only list that works for incest) he would pull his series again.

Its people like them that make people start thinking every thing is an 'angle'

I think you are too obsessed with what everyone else is doing--with the inference that they are stealing something from the spotlight that should be on you.

 

[sr71plt]

I can see how some might find these single page chapters annoying, but are they really a problem? What's the harm?

In the mainstream writing world, 3,750 words is a big chunk--it's more wordage than most mainstream short story contests permit for the whole story. So it's only at a "bloat = high quality" site like Literotica that rewards verbosity that one Lit page is disparaged. But any Lit. author who is trying to develop to move into the mainstream world is going to have to change bad habits and concentrate more on making every word count.

 

[oggbashan]

Some of the chaptered stories are much less than one Lit page and only a few words over the 750 minimum.

But if it appeals to the reader? Why not?

 

[PervOtaku]

I write stuff out in a word processor formatted for 8.5 by 11 inch pages with a one inch margin all around. I really don't spend any time thinking about whether or not I'm reaching beyond one "literotica page" just to make people here happy. Sometimes a chapter is shorter than the others, and that's what the story calls for, and it's fine. As long as it meets the minimum length for submission, it's fine.

Now, deliberately cutting a story into smaller chunks so that you have more parts to submit is silly. Write the story the way the story needs to be written, worry about the reader count later.

 

[lowphat]

The OP needs to pay attention to what day of the week he posts a story. For the most part, his high view stories were over the weekend, and his low stories were at the beginning of the week. He's only been posting since January, and the massive multi chapter runs have been going a lot longer than that.

 

[lovecraft68]

The OP needs to pay attention to what day of the week he posts a story. For the most part, his high view stories were over the weekend, and his low stories were at the beginning of the week. He's only been posting since January, and the massive multi chapter runs have been going a lot longer than that.

And being that new he hasn't built a big fan base yet to help out his numbers, but that comes in time, and not with one series because you keep getting the same fans, not new ones.