What drives views for old stories?

[SimonDoom]

I've been around here long enough now to have been following with some curiosity the views that some of my older stories get. The results are curious and they make me wonder what drives views for older stories and why some stories get so many more views than others.

For example, I have stories A and B that have similar titles. Story B is a sequel to story A, although it's not numbered as an obvious chapter. Story B has a higher rating than Story A. But Story A gets 5 to 6 times as many views per day as Story B.

Both were published a bit over 2 years ago, so they've long since dropped off any most-viewed and highest rated toplists.

The only thing I can see is that Story A has been "favorited" about 3 1/2 times as often as Story B. Story A is on the top 250 most favorited list , but it's buried so far down the list I can't imagine its appearance on that list makes much difference.

The other thing that's interesting to me is how consistent daily views are. Once the numbers for a story get established they don't vary that much, even though they vary a great deal from one story to the next.

I'm trying to figure out how this makes sense in terms of how readers are exposed to older stories for the first time.

 

[NotWise]

I've been around here long enough now to have been following with some curiosity the views that some of my older stories get. The results are curious and they make me wonder what drives views for older stories and why some stories get so many more views than others.

Laurel and Manu created a lot of routes for readers to find older stories.

Tags are the most evident route. Presence on a top list will generate views. If you're story is listed in one of the sidebars ("recommended for you", and so on) that should generate views. If your story comes up in a random selection on the category hub, that will generate views.

Publishing a popular new story is a very effective way to get views on older stories. People with an interest in the new story read older stories off your profile. My Nude Day story generated a lot of views on older stories, and the voting rate on those stories skyrocketed. Those are also high quality views, since they're from readers who already like something you've written. Some of the old stories were getting a vote for 10-20 views for a couple days. Anything else that leads people to your profile can also generate views.

 

[Voboy]

Every time I post a new story, my back catalog gets a boost. I’m not surprised, since that’s how I used to do it when I was solely a reader: browse the new stories, find something you like, then click on the author and read their other stuff.

 

[SimonDoom]

Every time I post a new story, my back catalog gets a boost. I’m not surprised, since that’s how I used to do it when I was solely a reader: browse the new stories, find something you like, then click on the author and read their other stuff.

Yes, I've noticed that when I publish a new story my older stories in the same category see a significant boost in views. I don't see the same boost for stories in other categories.

But what interests me is how stories do when I haven't published anything in a while. Views in that case are not influenced by anything new that's happening.

 

[litfan10]

As NotWise mentioned, I find that new contest entries are a huge boost for my backlist.
A Lit feature that I feel also helps boost backlist is the little box towards the bottom of the story page on the right that suggests similar stories.

 

[HeyAll]

1. New stories, because new readers have a route to your catalogue. Or maybe it reminds readers to go back to your work.

2. The Top List. I notice that when stories climb the Top List, whether it be 30 days or the 12 month list, the views start to grow once again.

3. Search function. People really do use this. And if you have a particular fetish as a tag (ie breast milk, pegging, secretary, etc...) then people can find it, since those aren't commonly used tags.

4. All the lists and the random story thing in the hubs.

5. Looking at other people's favorite list and skimming down the titles/descriptions.

 

[tomlitilia]

Being on the top-whatever def helps. Bare in mind that many stories on the toplists are series chapers, which doesn't appeal to most readers. Even if your story is at place 200, readers who skip over the 90% of stories that aren't a stand-alone entry quite quickly find yours.

 

[KeithD]

Publishing new stories, as previously noted.

 

[NotWise]

3. Search function. People really do use this. And if you have a particular fetish as a tag (ie breast milk, pegging, secretary, etc...) then people can find it, since those aren't commonly used tags.

A few days ago, someone favorited and voted on my "One Night in XXX" story, which had been largely ignored since the event. I was curious, so I checked the readers profile. The reader was fairly new, and their list of favorite stories appeared to feature nun sex. I took that to mean they'd searched for stories tagged with "nun" and came up with mine.

 

[HeyAll]

A few days ago, someone favorited and voted on my "One Night in XXX" story, which had been largely ignored since the event. I was curious, so I checked the readers profile. The reader was fairly new, and their list of favorite stories appeared to feature nun sex. I took that to mean they'd searched for stories tagged with "nun" and came up with mine.

I notice that too, especially when someone favs a bunch of my adult breast feeding stories, then i check their profile to see similar stories.

The only logical conclusion is the search function.

That's why it pays to be smart about tags.

 

[oggbashan]

As others have said, continuing to post new stories draws attention to some of your older submissions.

 

[ElectricBlue]

New stories, obviously; but I agree, the slow steady increase in views (and I will add, ratings) in my back catalogue is one of the curiosities on Lit for which I have no explanation. Sure, there's always a surge in activity on the back of any new release (and for me, the back wash tends to be across all categories - I don't concentrate on any one category, so that might be a factor), but I'm not pumping something out every fortnight, so my first page presence isn't huge, nor is it regular.

I suspect that seed sowing here in the AH has a slight affect - I mentioned Rope and Veil not long ago, and two days ago someone faved one of the related drawings. Shameless self promotion works, I think.

Tags, too, must be important. One thing I've noticed is the number of newish accounts that follow me - I can only assume someone new joins Lit, has a kink, discovers the search function, and pulls up some stories. It's kinda nice to see yourself in somebody's first ten, a bit like losing your virginity again. And again .

 

[LexxRuthless]

The site feature that has fascinated me on this topic is the "Similar Stories" link. As authors, we have no control over it whatsoever. As a reader, that was a feature that constantly provided me with new stories to read--but there seemed to be a rather limited selection of stories that would appear repeatedly in that little sidebar.

If one of your stories appeared regularly linked in that little box, I would imagine you would quickly push into the top lists. Does anyone know how that feature actually works?

 

[SimonDoom]

New stories, obviously; but I agree, the slow steady increase in views (and I will add, ratings) in my back catalogue is one of the curiosities on Lit for which I have no explanation. Sure, there's always a surge in activity on the back of any new release (and for me, the back wash tends to be across all categories - I don't concentrate on any one category, so that might be a factor), but I'm not pumping something out every fortnight, so my first page presence isn't huge, nor is it regular.

I suspect that seed sowing here in the AH has a slight affect - I mentioned Rope and Veil not long ago, and two days ago someone faved one of the related drawings. Shameless self promotion works, I think.

Tags, too, must be important. One thing I've noticed is the number of newish accounts that follow me - I can only assume someone new joins Lit, has a kink, discovers the search function, and pulls up some stories. It's kinda nice to see yourself in somebody's first ten, a bit like losing your virginity again. And again .

The number of views overall I think can be attributed to two offsetting trends.

On the one hand, there's a declining trend. All things being equal, the number of potential new readers declines, so the number of new reads declines over time.

On the other hand, things aren't equal. Over time, one picks up new followers, and new favorites for one's stories, and one's new stories drive traffic to the old stories.

What I've found is that over the last year, a period during which I've published relatively few stories, the "background" rate of new views -- views that appear to be uninfluenced by new stories -- is remarkably steady. I get the same number of new views for my stories, collectively, with remarkably little deviation, every single day.

What's curious to me is that some stories get many, many more views than others, and it has nothing to do with the score. The number of favorites seems to play a role.

 

[NotWise]

New stories, obviously; but I agree, the slow steady increase in views (and I will add, ratings) in my back catalogue is one of the curiosities on Lit for which I have no explanation.

One thing that no-one's mentioned (that I saw) is that when your story drops down to a few views/day, a significant part of those views may be from robots.

I suspect that seed sowing here in the AH has a slight affect - I mentioned Rope and Veil not long ago, and two days ago someone faved one of the related drawings. Shameless self promotion works, I think.

That might have some effect. In my experience, it isn't necessarily a positive effect on the score.

Tags, too, must be important. One thing I've noticed is the number of newish accounts that follow me - I can only assume someone new joins Lit, has a kink, discovers the search function, and pulls up some stories. It's kinda nice to see yourself in somebody's first ten, a bit like losing your virginity again. And again .

Tags, and key words in titles and short descriptions.

When I haven't posted a story recently (which is most of the time), a lot of my long-buried stories get a very regular number of views/day. They could be bots, but I also attribute it to the many different ways the site provides for readers to find stories. If one isn't working right now, then another will.

 

[jaF0]

My guess is somebody has it mentioned on some Wordpress or other site out there, maybe only by link, not by title. People read that, follow the link here, read the one story mentioned and move on.

 

[ElectricBlue]

What's curious to me is that some stories get many, many more views than others, and it has nothing to do with the score. The number of favorites seems to play a role.

I get a fairly steady state, but proportional increase in views. Some of it must be bot crawlers, but it's uncanny how the view count increases at the same steady rate across my file (about eighty stories/chapters/parts).

In my case, I do see a positive skew, the higher the score, the increased view rate is slightly steeper, and the score creeps up at a slightly faster rate. I don't plot it regularly though - I just know my lowest ranked stories keep their lower rank order and their score seems to be quite static, but my borderline 4:46s and 4:48s will eventually Red H. When I do plot it, it's almost parallel lines, trending upwards with a slight divergence around the mean.

Your data set is much more genre specific than mine, though; those pesky penguins have a set of unique habits, I think .

 

[oggbashan]

My guess is somebody has it mentioned on some Wordpress or other site out there, maybe only by link, not by title. People read that, follow the link here, read the one story mentioned and move on.

My stories have been stolen and posted in many places, often with my copyright notice attached. Some people look for me and Literotica is the place I'm most frequently seen.

 

[jsmiam]

Are a and b identified as part 1 and part 2?

To me, if I somehow hadn’t seen them already, I definitely would avoid “The empire strikes back” until after I saw “Star Wars”. I bet a lot of people see it that way.

 

[SimonDoom]

Are a and b identified as part 1 and part 2?

To me, if I somehow hadn’t seen them already, I definitely would avoid “The empire strikes back” until after I saw “Star Wars”. I bet a lot of people see it that way.

No they are not. If you look at the stories on my submissions page, they have the same first two words, but it's not obvious that B is a sequel of A on that page.

The only big difference I can see is that A has 3 1/2 times as many favorites, and that must somehow drive views. I've noticed that it appears on some of the lists of similar stories that appear at the end of all stories. That may drive traffic as well.

 

[Voboy]

Are a and b identified as part 1 and part 2?

To me, if I somehow hadn’t seen them already, I definitely would avoid “The empire strikes back” until after I saw “Star Wars”. I bet a lot of people see it that way.

I know a surprising number of people who claim to have seen "Empire" and not seen "Star Wars." It never ceases to amaze me.

One phenomenon I have seen, unexpectedly, are odd bursts of people favoriting one specific story in my back catalog around the same time. I suspect it's to do with it being noted as a "similar story" to a new posting, either mine or someone else's.

 

[SimonDoom]

One phenomenon I have seen, unexpectedly, are odd bursts of people favoriting one specific story in my back catalog around the same time. I suspect it's to do with it being noted as a "similar story" to a new posting, either mine or someone else's.

This seems very plausible, and it would explain why there might be a sudden spike in popularity that lasts for a few days and then goes away.

 

[NotWise]

This seems very plausible, and it would explain why there might be a sudden spike in popularity that lasts for a few days and then goes away.

I once replied to a request for story suggestions with a link to one of my first stories. According to the forum, the thread was viewed seventy times, but my story got about 250 views in one day, and elevated views over a period of three or four days. I've never figured out how that works.

 

[ThisNameIsntTakenYet]

I think the conclusion we can draw at this point is that, as my old programming mentor during my internship would put it, the site runs on "dark voodoo magic". It was a term he used for systems or sections of code that weren't understood. Occasionally, he'd also use it when he didn't want to go into an in-depth explanation of something when it wasn't relevant.

 

[8letters]

Something to consider:
I have two versions of the same story. "My European Summer Vacation" is a contest winner and I regularly see it in the Contest Winners box in the top right of the I/T hub. "My European Summer Vacation (With+)" is an extended version of that story that regularly appears in the I/T Hall of Fame. The latter version usually has a rating that's 0.01 better than the former version.

I checked the number of views over the last year for both stories, and the contest winner had 91,276 views and the I/T HoF version had 75,432 views. So for an old story, being a contest winner will get you more views than being in the Hall of Fame.