The importance of the title

[leeanna19]

I write trans/TV/CD fiction. This site took a while to get used to. Many trans/TV/CD fiction stories can involve the character when they are young, or just starting out. I have never written a story involving underage sex, and never will, but even mentioning a child trying on their mother's shoes is a no, no.

Once I stopped being a whiney bitch and followed the rules I found that some of my stories were getting a huge amount of reads. (compared to other sites I post on) I was shocked to see some of my average offerings getting so much attention. I write for fun really, short, direct stories. Some of the stories I see here are novel-length, and amazing.

The magic formula seems to be putting the words "Wife" or "Housewife" in the title. Well at least as far as my stories are concerned. My most read was part 1 of Seven years as a wife. That has just over 60k reads now.

Does the title make that much difference? I suppose the way it works is anyone who looks at the story counts as a read.

 

[MajorRewrite]

The magic formula seems to be putting the words "Wife" or "Housewife" in the title. Well at least as far as my stories are concerned. My most read was part 1 of Seven years as a wife. That has just over 60k reads now.

Hmm. My two most viewed stories have “wife” in the title too. But a third story with “wife” in the title has done okay but not great.

Other trigger words I’ve noticed for titles include “mom” and “son”. The weirdest and possibly most powerful title word is “lap”. I put ”lap” in a title even though the story doesn’t follow the usual lap story formula, and it still attracted loads of views. It’s the catnip of title words.

 

[Euphony]

Formulaic titles, category specific, can and do drive views.

Plenty of readers are more of the drive through sort and just need something that satisfies their particular need so they can move on with their day.

LW and Incest are juggernaut number of reads categories and readership responds to obviousness in the title (Mom, Daddy, Son, Wife,

 

[stickygirl]

Bitch shemale housewife reamed by son's throbbing lap tool
... which could turn out to be engineering story

 

[Euphony]

Bitch shemale housewife reamed by son's throbbing lap tool
... which could turn out to be engineering story

First comment:
"Wasn't at all what I expected but G'Damnit if I don't love it b/c of the title."

 

[MajorRewrite]

Bitch shemale housewife reamed by son's throbbing lap tool
... which could turn out to be engineering story

Ha! I’m surprised there isn’t a story titled simply “Lap Wife” (if there is, the search didn’t find it). That’s gold, Jerry. Gold!

But the readers will be highly disappointed when they figure out that the story is about a man who married a woman from Lapland.

 

[SimonDoom]

Absolutely, 100% yes, titles matter. They matter a lot.

When your story gets published, it is competing for eyeballs with other stories in its category, or on the general new story list. How do you get the eyeballs in the first place? The title is a big deal.

Not long after I started publishing stories here, I adopted the attitude that the story text is my art, and everything else is marketing. Most (not all) of the time, I craft my story title with the goal of grabbing the highest number of eyeballs possible. And that strategy has worked.

IMO, these are elements that make a good story title:

1) Make it descriptive of the subject matter so the prospective reader knows what they're getting. Every single mom-son incest story I've written has "Mom" or a variant in the title.

2) Use a titillating word in the title. Do a search for titles and tags in the category in which you intend to publish to find out what are appealing/titillating words. Think about your prospective readership and what they are looking for. Give it to them. My all-time most viewed Exhibitionist story has the word "bikini" in the title. It's not a high-rated story, but it continues to get over 100 views every single day almost 6 years after publication. I think people who read exhibitionist stories are drawn to that word.

3) Try to make it catchy, if you can. Give it some rhythm, alliteration, something. Make it a play on words. Use or make a twist on a popular song title.

 

[Privates1stClass]

There are so many stories posted here that the average reader can only sample a small percentage of them. The title, plus the description, are the only things a reader can go on before opening the story, so use an interesting title to catch the reader's attention. I've used "A Four-Night Education in Bangkok," "Sarah's Stallion," "Lucky Beyond Belief," "Sleeping With the Competition," and "The Orgasm Button" as titles for five of my stories, and they've all done well.

 

[HopelessDreams]

Speaking for myself, I do always glance at the titles when I search for stories by tag(s), because the titles are large and in the same column as the descriptions, etc. And titles would be even more important for people doing title/text searches, because titles with the search term in it appear at the top.

But when I'm browsing through an author's list of submissions, it's tempting for me to just scan down the list of descriptions because those are far more informative. But, if a description appeals to me, I'll also check the title and category of that story before clicking on it. After all, the author intends those to also filter the story's readership to the people who will enjoy it the most, and I understand first-hand how difficult it can be to adequately summarize a story in only a 60-character description line. The title and category can fill in the gaps. Or rather, because those have more limitations, authors may tend to choose the title and category first and then write the description to convey anything else that's important to convey.

 

[Rob_Royale]

My most read story has Mama in the title.

 

[Filipinawife]

The title is very important. Helps me decide what to read

 

[leeanna19]

Thank you for all your useful comments. I actually do the same when looking to read on here. The title attracts me first then read the description. Some of my highest rated stories do not have high amounts of reads. They are my trans stories. It seems that crossdressers love the idea of being a wife or a housewife. Admirers seem to like reading about having a "sissy" wife. I get emails from readers suggesting I write more "housewife" stuff.

I do worry about running out of ideas. I try to keep things believable. That is one of the reasons I do not write magical stories. They seem too easy. My forced stories usually involve blackmail or kidnap.

My most popular story

Seven Years as a Wife
Man is blackmailed into being a wife.

It got 63 comments, admittedly a few of those were my replies.

So, "Kidnapped and Forced to become a housewife mom by my son" is my next title. LOL

 

[Rob_Royale]

This is tough for me. If as an artist I figure out the title should be Shipwrecked because it fits the whole story, calling it Big Milf Tits on the Beach, rankles me some. But I get it, the goal is getting it read. Leave the artistry to the writing.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I never stopped to think about it before, but I now wonder how many of the almost 134,000 views that my first story, "His Daddy's Car" came from readers expecting subject matter unrelated to the story being told. If so, it hasn't hurt the score in eight years.

It is a long story (96K words) and was posted in Novels and Novellas, which is one of the catch-all categories for some readers.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

This is tough for me. If as an artist I figure out the title should be Shipwrecked because it fits the whole story, calling it Big Milf Tits on the Beach, rankles me some. But I get it, the goal is getting it read. Leave the artistry to the writing.

There's a balance between getting more views, vs not disappointing the views you do get. A very serious story about the psychological effects of being shipwrecked, eventually leading to a woman and someone getting together in desperation, shouldn't have a title like Big Milf Tits on the Beach. With that, you expect jolly topless women and some fun.

I pondered what to call my last story, which was going to be in Non-Erotic until too much sex snuck in. It's basically a rant about Catholic funerals, with lots of quotes from the liturgy and a few songs including a Christmas hymn. I abandoned attempts at clever titles like O Come, O Come, Daniel, and went with the boring "After the Funeral" (good enough for Agatha Christie, after all), and the descriptive "Dan helps Ade celebrate life after his mother's death" (I know, the 'his' is ambiguous, but there's a character limit).

And a warning this is not a stroke piece, referring people wanting something cheerier to other stories with these characters.
Views are low but not bad for GM, but it did have a 5* red H for a little while until the score fell.

In comparison I have a story called Mummy Porn, in BDSM, with a warning that this isn't an incest story - it's about the effects of giving birth etc on BDSM - and it's got OK views for the category but a low score, with comments 'decent story but not what I was expecting, and, judging by the score, not what others expected either'. The score's slowly crept up as people presumably find it from my other tales.

 

[thomas1965]

For me the title isn't that important. If I read a story or not depends on the description.

 

[sirhugs]

Titles are important. One story of mine that should have been popular, if I may say so myself, was a fun tale poorly titled Funions, Onions, Bunions. It failed to find its audience. My least viewed story, but a score of 4.33 suggests more readers could have enjoyed it.

 

[Rob_Royale]

For me the title isn't that important. If I read a story or not depends on the description.

See that's where I put my "MILF takes on the varsity squad", to pull in the readers, but is it enough?

 

[nice90sguy]

No wonder my incest story "The Rationale behind Ennui" didn't do so well

 

[lovecraft68]

Titles are important when it comes to giving the reader a gist of what the story is about. It needs to be direct, not vague, because people are scrolling through a long list and they're looking for something to "pop" or fit their taste and mood.

But in a sense this can also put people off if its not what they're looking for, but in a way that's not a bad thing because you're better off with less reads, but less bombs or meh comments.

The lap example works because for many its a draw, but for others, myself included, its a put off because personally I find them to be eye rolling and something a 14 year old could write. That's just my opinion, but shows the latter half of my point that a detailed title can draw who you want, but put off those with no interest and save you the low vote.

 

[lovecraft68]

No wonder my incest story "The Rationale behind Ennui" didn't do so well

You need the buzzwords in incest...mom, dad, sis etc...tagline as well. Not every taboo reader likes every "pairing"

 

[MajorRewrite]

For my Christmas story this year, I didn’t want to give away the twist in the plot, so I used this title and description:

The Last Wallace
Ellie inherits a unique town and learns a secret.

It‘s in the taboo category and hasn’t attracted many readers. The description probably should have included something like “Secret half-sisters find love“ but that would’ve given it all away.

I guess it’s a lesson in what not to do, but I stand by my decision to not put spoilers in the description. How do y’all avoid spoilers in your description?

 

[nice90sguy]

Ok, got it. I'll change it to "The Mom behind Sis"

 

[DarkRaven13]

I am going to be someone that offers a different opinion ... and I think I am in the minority at that.

Let me preface what I say - what others are saying about viewership is likely very true ... while I like that people would read my stories and like them (hopefully) ... I admit that my main goal when writing is more to write...I guess, for myself. (Admittedly, on Lit I do write a little for the audience...meaning, I put sex in the stories when I normally would not. The reason I write in Lit is a WHOLE other story though...I will try to keep on topic...)

Anyway, to me, the title is a huge deal. I try to pick something that has meaning to me and to the story. It's not necessarily descriptive of the story, but is a part of it. Again, my main objective is not to get viewership ... and again, that is just me ... I know a lot here are great writers and want viewership....there is nothing wrong with that. So what most everyone has said is correct in regards to that.

However, for me, the title of a writing .. a book...a poem ... is integral to the story told. I tend to like to tie it together with my story....and I know that a lot, if not most readers won't pick up on it. And I am okay with that.

Some examples (and I only have a few, as I have not published a lot in Lit ... so take what I say with a gazillion grains of salt)...

The story I did, that was titled, "A Costume Party at the Forum" was written about some of my experiences in Lit ... in these forum pages. While the physical setting was at the Forum in Englewood, I was really alluding to the threads and the people I met here.

In another submission, I titled it, "Butterfly Nectar". I sprinkled references or allusions to that. The name of a juice bar, the way the protagonist's err...legs....spread. I even tied it in to the opening of the doors of the juice bar. Again, would anyone else have caught that? Perhaps not ... unless you read it for themes. I guess that is how I write...and how I read.

A final example. Its a story from a very good friend who writes here, and who I think is one of the better writers - @TarnishedPenny .. and I hope its okay that I use TP's work as an example. However, TP wrote a story titled "Black to White" .... and it is GREAT. After I finished reading the story, I appreciated the title so much more. Everything just tied together for me. (I won't say what it was about in case others wish to read it.)

At any rate, perhaps the importance of a title in Lit differs from that of other sites or writing venues ... but...those are just my thoughts.

 

[SimonDoom]

I am going to be someone that offers a different opinion ... and I think I am in the minority at that.

Let me preface what I say - what others are saying about viewership is likely very true ... while I like that people would read my stories and like them (hopefully) ... I admit that my main goal when writing is more to write...I guess, for myself. (Admittedly, on Lit I do write a little for the audience...meaning, I put sex in the stories when I normally would not. The reason I write in Lit is a WHOLE other story though...I will try to keep on topic...)

Anyway, to me, the title is a huge deal. I try to pick something that has meaning to me and to the story. It's not necessarily descriptive of the story, but is a part of it. Again, my main objective is not to get viewership ... and again, that is just me ... I know a lot here are great writers and want viewership....there is nothing wrong with that. So what most everyone has said is correct in regards to that.

However, for me, the title of a writing .. a book...a poem ... is integral to the story told. I tend to like to tie it together with my story....and I know that a lot, if not most readers won't pick up on it. And I am okay with that.

Some examples (and I only have a few, as I have not published a lot in Lit ... so take what I say with a gazillion grains of salt)...

The story I did, that was titled, "A Costume Party at the Forum" was written about some of my experiences in Lit ... in these forum pages. While the physical setting was at the Forum in Englewood, I was really alluding to the threads and the people I met here.

In another submission, I titled it, "Butterfly Nectar". I sprinkled references or allusions to that. The name of a juice bar, the way the protagonist's err...legs....spread. I even tied it in to the opening of the doors of the juice bar. Again, would anyone else have caught that? Perhaps not ... unless you read it for themes. I guess that is how I write...and how I read.

A final example. Its a story from a very good friend who writes here, and who I think is one of the better writers - @TarnishedPenny .. and I hope its okay that I use TP's work as an example. However, TP wrote a story titled "Black to White" .... and it is GREAT. After I finished reading the story, I appreciated the title so much more. Everything just tied together for me. (I won't say what it was about in case others wish to read it.)

At any rate, perhaps the importance of a title in Lit differs from that of other sites or writing venues ... but...those are just my thoughts.

These are perfectly legitimate and valid observations. There's no right way to do things.

The OP asked, "does the title make a difference?" The answer is, absolutely yes, it does. It can make a difference to you artistically. It can make a difference to how many people read it. You can do whatever you want with that information.