What are "Views" as a story metric

[Sanzas]

Do views mean a click on the story or something else (impressions on the main page?)

 

[ElectricBlue]

A View is a click onto the first page of a story. A person might read the whole story, or back out after the first paragraph, so don't ever think it means that number of people have read the story.

My rule of thumb, based on a bunch of different observations over the years, is that maybe 15% - 25% of Views on a standalone story = Reads (based on chaptered story view counts).

 

[Sanzas]

Thanks! Even for single clicks, that's awfully high traffic.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Thanks! Even for single clicks, that's awfully high traffic.

Literotica is the biggest erotica writing site, by a very, very large margin. You'll also find a huge difference in traffic, depending on category.

 

[RelentlessOnanism]

I do think readership or viewership is falling away. From personal experience, my most recent stories have had a dramatically lower level of clicks. I'm not one of those authors who has a huge following, but I used to get some readers. I'm still scoring okay, but the number of readers is waaaaay down.

 

[SimonDoom]

I do think readership or viewership is falling away. From personal experience, my most recent stories have had a dramatically lower level of clicks. I'm not one of those authors who has a huge following, but I used to get some readers. I'm still scoring okay, but the number of readers is waaaaay down.

My personal experience with my own stories is that numbers are not quite as high over the last year or so as they were for similar stories 5-6 years ago. But the pool is too small to know if this is meaningful.

When I look at the number at the top of the 12-month most-viewed toplist, I don't see much difference from what I recall six years ago. However, the numbers at the BOTTOM of the top 250 list are much lower than they were six years ago, which is interesting. I recall that 5-6 years ago, the number 250 story had views around 110,000 to 115,000 in the previous 12 months. Now that number is 85,000. Some have suggested this is the site having taken measures to reduce "fake" views which may be generated by bots or something (a process I'm no expert with).

 

[Euphony]

Some have suggested this is the site having taken measures to reduce "fake" views which may be generated by bots or something (a process I'm no expert with).

I like this optimistic interpretation. I had wondered if maybe the rise in the app (and it's general wonkiness for me at least) might have contributed some to the falls. Maybe poor initial counting or data carry over.

 

[Sanzas]

Since I'm here:
1. What does the "hot" tag signify? Is it a lot of clicks in a short time or something else?
2. can you include links / graphics in a story?
3. If a story is both Non-consent / Reluctance and Fantasy/Science Fiction is there a place that would be better to put it (I submitted it to NC/Rel and it got published there--but maybe I should do it somewhere else. There isn't any way to cross-post, right?)

 

[SimonDoom]

I like this optimistic interpretation. I had wondered if maybe the rise in the app (and it's general wonkiness for me at least) might have contributed some to the falls. Maybe poor initial counting or data carry over.

I know from personal experience that weird things happen from time to time with views. I had a chapter of a story that was maybe a year old, maybe more, probably getting under 100 views per day, and in 24 hours it had 10,000 new views. Then everything went back to normal. I have absolutely no clue why. I think perhaps the site has taken steps to minimize that, because obviously that can't be the result of any normal process, and I haven't seen anything quite like that in several years.

I have several stories where there is a long-term significant gap in the view count between the numbers appearing on my control panel story list and on toplists on which the stories appear. The gaps are NOT the result in delays of counting by a few days--they are much more significant than that. Again, I have no clue why. For instance, I have an incest story that I published in May of last year, and the number on my personal story list is about 11,000 more than the number that shows up on the 12-month toplist. At the rate that the story gets daily views that's a gap of over 100 days. That makes no sense to me.

 

[SimonDoom]

Since I'm here:
1. What does the "hot" tag signify? Is it a lot of clicks in a short time or something else?
2. can you include links / graphics in a story?
3. If a story is both Non-consent / Reluctance and Fantasy/Science Fiction is there a place that would be better to put it (I submitted it to NC/Rel and it got published there--but maybe I should do it somewhere else. There isn't any way to cross-post, right?)

1. Hot means the score is 4.5 or more and the story has achieved 10 votes or more.

2. I'll defer on number 2 since I don't ever do either.

3. You should read this article about categories, which is the best explanation of how they fit together and where something goes if it might go in more than one: https://literotica.com/s/love-your-readers-categories. Generally speaking, nonconsent is regarded as a "trump" category, so if it has nonconsent elements that's where it goes (plus nonconsent gets higher views than sci fi). But Sci Fi is pretty flexible, from what I understand, so you might get away with putting a hybrid story there if you choose.

 

[Euphony]

2. can you include links / graphics in a story?

If if you can, I wouldn't.

Links need to refer back to Literotica in some way, no outside links.

Graphics/art approval is so far delayed right now as to have made the Art portion non-functional for a large subset of users.

*edit* I'm almost proud my autocorrect makes functional = fictional for me.

 

[SouthernCrossfire]

I have no idea how the number of total hits stories get in one average day now would compare to an average day five or six years ago. However, one thing to remember about comparing current views to views on past stories is that the number of stories available to read (i.e., the new story's competition) increases every single day. While many people read new stories, many others are going through older stories using keywords to find works they might like or through the story listings of authors they've only recently discovered that they like.

In addition, as readers become more familiar with established authors they may flock to or steer clear of them, driving numbers of views for a particular author up or down in comparison to past works. A new story with a good score can potentially attract more readers and new followers, while one that doesn't appeal as much to the early readers may drive scores down somewhat and lead to a corresponding lowering of overall views in comparison to past offerings.

 

[NotWise]

Since I'm here:
1. What does the "hot" tag signify? Is it a lot of clicks in a short time or something else?

As Mr. Doom said, a score of 4.5 or more, and at least 10 votes.

2. can you include links / graphics in a story?

You can link to targets on Literotica--your bio, for instance, or another story. I don't know if you can link to photos or other works that are posted in a forum thread.

You generally can't include graphics unless the story is in the "illustrated" category. You'd have to check FAQs on how to post to that category. There are a few instances (well, one I know of for sure) where Laurel allowed a photo in another category, but that's an exception to the rule.

3. If a story is both Non-consent / Reluctance and Fantasy/Science Fiction is there a place that would be better to put it (I submitted it to NC/Rel and it got published there--but maybe I should do it somewhere else. There isn't any way to cross-post, right?)

Wherever it is now, you should probably just leave it there. It won't appear on the New list or the category hub when it's moved, so it won't get many views in the new location. The exception to "leave it there" is when a story is offensive to readers in the category where you placed it. Might also be an exception for the first chapter of a series, if you plan on putting the series in a different category.

There is no cross-posting. That's a little restrictive, but I can only imagine the mess that some authors would make if they were allowed to cross-post.

From that description, I'd say that SF/F would have been a good choice. Readers in SF/F accept a wide range of erotic content, and even non-erotic content, without blinking. The NC/R crowd may not read SF/F content.

 

[Sanzas]

As Mr. Doom said, a score of 4.5 or more, and at least 10 votes.


You can link to targets on Literotica--your bio, for instance, or another story. I don't know if you can link to photos or other works that are posted in a forum thread.

You generally can't include graphics unless the story is in the "illustrated" category. You'd have to check FAQs on how to post to that category. There are a few instances (well, one I know of for sure) where Laurel allowed a photo in another category, but that's an exception to the rule.



Wherever it is now, you should probably just leave it there. It won't appear on the New list or the category hub when it's moved, so it won't get many views in the new location. The exception to "leave it there" is when a story is offensive to readers in the category where you placed it. Might also be an exception for the first chapter of a series, if you plan on putting the series in a different category.

There is no cross-posting. That's a little restrictive, but I can only imagine the mess that some authors would make if they were allowed to cross-post.

From that description, I'd say that SF/F would have been a good choice. Readers in SF/F accept a wide range of erotic content, and even non-erotic content, without blinking. The NC/R crowd may not read SF/F content.

It got what I thought was high / good engagement--I have no idea what to compare it to but it was far more views than I expected. As it was the first set of things I'd submitted, as a first time author, I expected basically nothing. I have some science fiction ideas. I'll try that under SF.

Thanks.

 

[ElectricBlue]

If if you can, I wouldn't.

Links need to refer back to Literotica in some way, no outside links.

Graphics/art approval is so far delayed right now as to have made the Art portion non-functional for a large subset of users.

*edit* I'm almost proud my autocorrect makes functional = fictional for me.

Correct, the only links allowed in a story are to another Lit story. No external links allowed. Edit - not sure about profile page or story list page, but I can't see why not.

Similarly, all art has to be embedded in the file, not linked externally - the reason, I suspect, for the lengthy process times for illustrated stories: large file sizes, and optimising image sizes. Server capacity might be an issue, as well.

 

[NotWise]

It got what I thought was high / good engagement--I have no idea what to compare it to but it was far more views than I expected. As it was the first set of things I'd submitted, as a first time author, I expected basically nothing. I have some science fiction ideas. I'll try that under SF.

Thanks.

Welcome to Lit, and have a good time.

SF/F has a fairly friendly crowd, but it's a small crowd. I think NC/R has a small crowd, but SF/F may be even smaller. They do like world-building though.

 

[Duleigh]

can you include links / graphics in a story?

Yes, but your links can only be for Literotica. If you have another story or series of stories on Literotica that you want to mention you can link to those stories. Many writers in writing events and challenges or contests will include a link to the lead page for the challenge/contest. There are illustrated stories here also, the rules are very specific to them, you will have to look up the FAQ.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I haven't tracked stats on my stories since the beginning, but I find it interesting to track the number of days since each story has been published so that I can measure its appeal to readers over time.

My first story was published back in 2014 and has been active here for 3,230 days as of today. Over this time, it has averaged 42.26 views per day. Since 1/19/2023, the average views per day for this story has been only 28.93.

How much of the drop in daily average is attributed to factors such as the V-Day contest being live is anyone's guess.

 

[oggbashan]

The views are an effect of the attractiveness of the title/category. They mean nothing exept to tell you whether your title was effective.

 

[12oclocktales]

It's just a guess, but I wonder if with Covid restrictions gone people just don't have as much time to indulge - too many other things to do now. Who knows, the views numbers may start to creep up again now that many companies are laying off people. But that doesn't exactly put a good taste in my mouth, either.

 

[Duleigh]

The views are an effect of the attractiveness of the title/category. They mean nothing exept to tell you whether your title was effective.

Two of my stories are sulking in the depths of being ignored, people are exerting energy not looking at My Very Dear Cô Dâu (Cô Dâu = "Bride" in Vietnamese) and Serendipitous Liaison which I thought was a witty name, both are being ignored in droves, but get fairly good ratings. However Blind Sided by the Blind Guy gets a LOT of views (comparatively)

 

[Sanzas]

Two of my stories are sulking in the depths of being ignored, people are exerting energy not looking at My Very Dear Cô Dâu (Cô Dâu = "Bride" in Vietnamese) and Serendipitous Liaison which I thought was a witty name, both are being ignored in droves, but get fairly good ratings. However Blind Sided by the Blind Guy gets a LOT of views (comparatively)

I was surprised they didn't have subtitles with stuff like FF/m and the list of key words. I'm new to the site but I find it hard to figure out what a story is like without reading it--which is fine--but if I'm looking for something specific it's a little harder to tell.

 

[NotWise]

I was surprised they didn't have subtitles with stuff like FF/m and the list of key words. I'm new to the site but I find it hard to figure out what a story is like without reading it--which is fine--but if I'm looking for something specific it's a little harder to tell.

FF/m would be common in the Group category, and you might find it in the tags. The tags are also the "key words" you're looking for. You can search for tags using the advanced search, and you can look at a story's tags before you read it by selecting the tag icon from the "Story Info" box at the top right of the story.

 

[Sanzas]

I didn't know that, thanks. I'm surprised the tags aren't on the main page under each story--but yeah, click the link and then the tags isn't that hard. I'm going to put more thought into the tags I give the stories.

 

[HeyAll]

Regarding the number of views people are getting, I've noted before that I think views for new stories are less because people go straight to the Hubs they like. Before, people who wanted to read new stories went to the New List, thus more views.

Plus people largely read old stories.

A large percentage of my daily favorites come from old stories. I'm sure that's true with other authors as well. If someone is going through your profile, I doubt they care whether the story is new or old. It's the title/description that grabs them.

Websites that measure web traffic shows that Lit has stronger traffic than years ago.