why a story didn't perform well

[BorderKalley]

After I posted my first story, it was received very well (at least more than I expected) with a lot of views, likes, and comments.
I took all the criticism you people and the comments gave me and I wrote my second story.
It didn't perform as well as I hoped. I wonder why that is.

I have some ideas but I would like to hear from you, what do you think?

here is the link to the stories.

 

[StillStunned]

First up, a second chapter will always show a big drop-off in views compared with the first, usually by about half over time. I see that you advertised your first chapter here, but not the second. You could post a link in this thread in Story Feedback, and/or this thread here in the Hangout.

But the ratings are usually higher for a second chapter. So perhaps you set up expectations in your first story that your second story didn't live up to. Or perhaps the tags you used weren't an accurate reflection of the contents. Or perhaps one or two readers were having a bad day and gave you a poor rating. It's impossible to say.

Otherwise, it's all very random. If your story is high up on the "New Stories" page when it's published it will get more views. If it's high on the list for the category on its first day of publication, it might stay on that list for two or even three days before dropping off. But those are things you can't control.

Just keep writing, just keep publishing, and try to have fun along the way!

 

[BobbyBrandt]

You are submitting a multi-part (chapter) story in a piecemeal fashion.

If many readers are like me, they won't become too invested in it until all the chapters are available to them. Focus on the long-haul; what your story views and ratings show after weeks or months when readers have the chance to read everything.

 

[TheLobster]

What @StillStunned said is all correct, especially the part about trying to have fun There are many random factors that influence how likely people are to read and rate a story. Your very first submission also gets a natural boost because you get featured on the New Authors list.

The good news is that even if your first few submissions fall flat because of these factors, subsequent ones, if they do get views, can boost the readership of all your works.

There are also some significant differences in popularity between categories. If you are specifically trying to build a follower base and are flexible about the themes of your stories, write incest

 

[StillStunned]

If you are specifically trying to build a follower base and are flexible about the themes of your stories, write incest

Hairy pussy mother-son impregnation incest. And make sure to include those words in your title and/or description. That should do the trick.

 

[mildlyaroused]

Hairy pussy mother-son impregnation incest. And make sure to include those words in your title and/or description. That should do the trick.

The funny thing is that, out of all the infinite imaginative titles that you could come up with, "Hairy pussy mother-son impregnation incest" would probably get the most clicks.

 

[StillStunned]

The funny thing is that, out of all the infinite imaginative titles that you could come up with, "Hairy pussy mother-son impregnation incest" would probably get the most clicks.

I was thinking the same. Of course you'd have to leave out "incest" to make it fit the character count.

 

[Bazzle]

I was thinking the same. Of course you'd have to leave out "incest" to make it fit the character count.

put that in the strapline.

 

[onehitwanda]

Hairy pussy mother-son impregnation incest. And make sure to include those words in your title and/or description. That should do the trick.

 

[nice90sguy]

No thats a whole differnet fetish, not allowed on lit, sadly

 

[StillStunned]

A GIF is worth a thousand words.

 

[onehitwanda]

A GIF is worth a thousand words.

I am the midnight goddess of brevity.

 

[StillStunned]

I am the midnight goddess of brevity.

We have one of those, but we call her "the cat that chucks up under the bed".

 

[StillStunned]

In the meantime, apologies to @BorderKalley for derailing the thread. But the simple truth is that there are too many variables to give a straightforward answer.

 

[cadeauxxx]

There are several factors on why a story may not have garnered the performance you were hoping for.

My advice is to not take it personal, and view the number of votes or comments on a story as a meter of engagement. You could also gauge the interaction based on users favoriting the stories.

You're not going to please everyone. You will get negative comments and some that are spiteful from anonymous cowards trolling and so forth, that's just how it goes on this site. The bottom line is to not take it personal or let it get under your skin.

I think an author should write whatever they want, and not care about the critics. You have absolute freedom to write whatever you want, and the only person that really matters for pleasing at the end of the day is yourself. You're not going to win over critics, but if you consistently write long enough and put out more material, you'll gain followers and an audience.

 

[ElectricBlue]

After I posted my first story, it was received very well (at least more than I expected) with a lot of views, likes, and comments.
I took all the criticism you people and the comments gave me and I wrote my second story.
It didn't perform as well as I hoped. I wonder why that is.

I have some ideas but I would like to hear from you, what do you think?

here is the link to the stories.

It's too early to say anything. Your first chapter shows 18,500 Views, your second chapter shows 125.

That's the worst case of premature expectation I've ever seen.

 

[StillStunned]

It's too early to say anything. Your first chapter shows 18,500 Views, your second chapter shows 125.

That's the worst case of premature expectation I've ever seen.

The story page shows 3.9k views, down from 19.8k for the first chapter.

 

[TheLobster]

It's too early to say anything. Your first chapter shows 18,500 Views, your second chapter shows 125.

That's the worst case of premature expectation I've ever seen.

Story stats on the new author page seem to update at very irregular intervals. For my latest story, this is what I can see on the My Stories page vs. what the author page shows:

So it's quite likely that OP is seeing many more views and votes.

 

[ElectricBlue]

The story page shows 3.9k views, down from 19.8k for the first chapter.

Not on the page the OP's link went to. Setting that aside, it's far too early to say - other than the usual: a second chapter never gets as many Views as the first.

The OP needs to panic more slowly - the second chapter is only a week old, the first chapter came out in January.

 

[KeithD]

The mix of the high volume of readers/voters going through Literotica each day makes comparative "how received?" determinations nigh impossible to make.

 

[Lifestyle66]

After I posted my first story, it was received very well (at least more than I expected) with a lot of views, likes, and comments.
I took all the criticism you people and the comments gave me and I wrote my second story.
It didn't perform as well as I hoped. I wonder why that is.

I have some ideas but I would like to hear from you, what do you think?

here is the link to the stories.

I don't usually browse the NonCon stories, so I opened your second story to see the rating, currently 3.56 versus the 4.15 of your first one.

Right from the start, I can see a problem. As someone else here said, you posted Chapter Two of a multi-chapter book. But the stories posted here on LitE are stories the readers click on to read ... as a story. Chapter Two does not give any background to build the characters or scene for the new reader. You assumed the reader has already read Chapter One (which posted months earlier). Very few readers will go back to first read Chapter One. And even of those who read that first chapter, many of them have read plenty of other stories since then and don't hold the scene in the mind.

Your first paragraph in CH2 had me question "Why is she embarrassed? What ordeal?" You're making ME work to try understanding what I'm reading!

To post a series, at a minimum, you need to provide a Prologue or condensed summary of the relevant material from the previous stories to reset the reader's mind in the scene.

 

[THBGato]

To post a series, at a minimum, you need to provide a Prologue or condensed summary of the relevant material from the previous stories to reset the reader's mind in the scene.

Best example of this ever: https://www.literotica.com/s/high-voltage-mittens-1

(Posted two years after the previous chapter.)

 

[Lifestyle66]

Best example of this ever: https://www.literotica.com/s/high-voltage-mittens-1

(Posted two years after the previous chapter.)

I prefer a more subtle approach.

In the OP's second story, it might have started:

'As Annie started the morning, undressing to change for her mandatory gym class, she hung her bra in the locker. She was embarrassed after her ordeal a few weeks ago, and now learned her lesson to always wear a bra and keep quiet in class. The uneventful days since allowed the talk about her BDSM ordeal to die down and her life was approaching normal. She was gagged and spanked in that ordeal because she was found not wearing a bra, and the spankings done in that environment were ....................'


That 'fill-in-the-blank' is where the author should outline what she went through. Provide just enough to show the reader what happened to cause her embarrassment and teach her those lessons. Don't make the reader work for it to enjoy the current story.

 

[lovecraft68]

The funny thing is that, out of all the infinite imaginative titles that you could come up with, "Hairy pussy mother-son impregnation incest" would probably get the most clicks.

I wouldn't be surprised if Silkstockingslover has already used it. The woman who has a story called "What mom doesn't know fucks her in the ass" is always on the hunt for even better ideas.

 

[HeyAll]

I've written over 300 stories here.

Truth is, every story is a roll of the dice. Some are just riskier than others.

You've got the think like a buisness-person. What does the audience want?

Certain themes do well; professor/student, office stories, ect...

For taboo, backseat stories are the biggest surefire.