So what gets the punters in?

[Stultus]

Plus stories fare better or worse depending on the category. Loving Wives and Incest/Taboo get quite a few hits. Romance stories/Erotic Couplings float about in the middle somewhere. Graveyard categories - Novels and Novellas (unless you've got a bit of a following) and Letters and Transcripts...

On SOL, where I've been mostly publishing, every story is a complete adventure. Sometimes one of my better stories will disappear off of the radar so fast that virtually no one read it. Other time, some piece of dreck that I just tossed up gets high downloads for nearly a week. It all depends upon the phase of the moon. Also avoid posting holiday three-day weekends.

 

[Stultus]

I'm going to write a loving wives story. I am!

I love the Cheating (Loving) Wife genre. They can be extremely fun stories to write, but you need rhinoceros thick skin to handle the emails. Half of your readers will want you to kill the adulterous whore with fire (and then piss on the ashes) and the other half with be furious if there is not a total reconciliation. No win situation.

Still, the plot options are nearly limitless...

 

[mikado2005]

This is an interesting post. My last story went viral on the first day. It is baffling to me as I thought it was not my best work, but got its "H" the first day it was posted with over 20 votes. I'll have to go back and see when it was posted to see if that had anything to do with it. I've got other stories that have been out for weeks, have high scores, but haven't met the minimum to get their "H".

I'm not pimping for votes, just trying to understand my audience.

Ha! It was released on a Friday. That could have been a factor. Timing may be everything, after all.

 

[Firebrain]

I think a lot of it is to do with luck, if I'm honest.

My story has (apparently) had nearly 1000 views in a few days, but only six votes (most of which were great). Seems rather disproportionate but I'm only a newbie, so we shall see! Not used to this kind of system.

 

[JulieArt]

Chapters cut back readership, too

I think that running long stories with chapters submitted over a period of time significantly reduces the number of readers. Who wants to read chapter 4 if you have not read chapter 1?

The good thing, though, is that the reader willing to follow a story through is a more dedicated reader.

 

[BallsOfSteel]

My latest story went 'live' this morning and already it has more votes and almost as many views as one which went up just over a month ago.

What is it? Title? admittedly my last to one title did suck

Maybe it's the subject matter?

I don't think the writing is that different in terms of quality or erotic content.

Any thoughts?

You're asking about tastes. 'There's no accounting for people's tastes.'

Personally, I absolutely love the stories that focus on the adventures of a loving couple who are exploring new frontiers. The kind of stuff that happens in real life (not fantasy/science fiction), involving believable situations, and characters with depth and emotions. Where the stakes transcend money or sex.

 

[simplyme]

I don't really know. I'll be honest and admit that I've never given it any thought.

The stories that I've completed are, for the most part, in catagories I have little to zero actual physical knowledge of yet they, after going in to look at the numbers, are rated higher and have FAR more views than the others (the number of views aren't that high on any of them to begin with nor are the comments). But I also don't take it too personal either. I just write 'em and leave it up to the fates and chance that they'll even get read.

I don't know if a more personal relationship, i.e. keeping in contact with readers, makes a difference or not or if a more open presence on the boards here brings in people or if it's as some of the others have said that it's just the writing itself that does it.

I say just write what you like, do your best, don't get too bogged down by the numbers and have fun.

Now, hearing about the "Loving Wives" thing makes me want to write one in there to see what kinda shit hits the fan.

 

[starscape]

My latest story went 'live' this morning and already it has more votes and almost as many views as one which went up just over a month ago.

What is it? Title? admittedly my last to one title did suck

Maybe it's the subject matter?

I don't think the writing is that different in terms of quality or erotic content.

Any thoughts?

You're asking about tastes. 'There's no accounting for people's tastes.'

I definitely think tastes have something to do with it, even a lot to do with it, but not all.

It makes a difference what day of the week your story posts. My experience has been those stories that debuted from Thursday-Saturday got more views than those that debuted the other days of the week.

It makes a difference how high up your story is on the "New Stories" page. I had one chapter of a novel I'd been writing and it was like #3 on the New Stories page and I had a huge surge in views. On the other hand I had another chapter about #20 on the list and it didn't have near as many viewers as those chapters that debuted, say, in the top ten spots.

I think the title and the description make a big difference in whether or not people click. My first story had a clever title with a play on words and a pretty "gotcha" tag line and it did very well in views and votes. My second story had/has a more subtle, darker theme and the tag line reflected it. The title is not particularly catchy either. I was blown away by the difference in views and votes as compared to the first, especially since the second story, IMO, has a better plot and is better written. I know better now.

And, of course, as the poster above mentioned, the subject matter makes a big difference too. My first story was adventurous and fairly joyful while the other, while also adventurous, has a somber tone. I'm guessing part of it was the tone. I'm sure there are other factors as well.

As far as the point someone made upthread about posting a chaptered story with too much time between segments affecting the readership of subsequent chapters, I must concur. 'Cause it happened to me. I noticed the greater the gap between chapters, the more readers/viewers I lost. I also noticed the votes/views were more consistent when the chapters debuted one day after the other.

 

[lance gt]

You're all getting close to the real answer. What really works in terms of getting viewed any day of the week is making noise about your story. I posted a shlock piece in LW recently, 'Payback's a Bitch', truly nothing note-worthy. In less than a day, it had acheived just under 13000 views and over 300 votes. And yes, the trolls were on it in a flash and beating the hell out of it. Now after a couple of days, the views are almost 17000 and the votes just over 400. It has been the top commented story for the 24 hr and the 7 day list and it gets noticed. The most important part of it, is that it got readers looking at my other stories as well and I ended up on 5 more fave author lists, and several more fave story lists. So, for all the negative feedback that was posted and received, I took it all in stride and chalked it up to a success. I'm not saying that everyone should create a stir like I did, but getting readers to look at your work just because it's the most commented, brings you attention. All comes back to the rubber-necking at an accident. They all want to see the blood and gore, no matter how bad it is. It's all a psychological game of words. To quote the BeeGees, "It's only words, and words are all I have, to take your heart away."

 

[lance gt]

In reference to Starscape, if you are posting multiple chaptered stories, avoid submitting the first chapter and then starting the next. Finish the first AND second chapters and then post the first. If there are more, make sure you are already into the third when the first is posted. This keeps the time between chapters down to a minimum and the readers are happier and will stay with the story. It gives you some breathing room as well to keep writing, without sweating out a chapter. Some readers avoid multi chapters just because of the time it takes to write and post. Hope that helps you. Lance

 

[Guest]

You're all getting close to the real answer. What really works in terms of getting viewed any day of the week is making noise about your story. I posted a shlock piece in LW recently, 'Payback's a Bitch', truly nothing note-worthy. In less than a day, it had acheived just under 13000 views and over 300 votes. And yes, the trolls were on it in a flash and beating the hell out of it. Now after a couple of days, the views are almost 17000 and the votes just over 400. It has been the top commented story for the 24 hr and the 7 day list and it gets noticed. The most important part of it, is that it got readers looking at my other stories as well and I ended up on 5 more fave author lists, and several more fave story lists. So, for all the negative feedback that was posted and received, I took it all in stride and chalked it up to a success. I'm not saying that everyone should create a stir like I did, but getting readers to look at your work just because it's the most commented, brings you attention. All comes back to the rubber-necking at an accident. They all want to see the blood and gore, no matter how bad it is. It's all a psychological game of words. To quote the BeeGees, "It's only words, and words are all I have, to take your heart away."

I made my first forway into the LW catagory ten days or so ago with a story called Like Poison, and survived the experience relatively unscathed. It's really had to take personally the most vicious attacks since they tend to be so horribly spelled, worded, and written. "U r a dizgrace to wirfes and teh mens!!" coupled with a zero rating isn't exactly crushing criticism.

On the other hand, I rather liked the story I wrote and thought it was somewhat clever, if a bit mean, and it annoys me a bit to see it sitting at a sub three rating simply because of all the angry 40-something divorcees who dominate that catagory's readership. In hindsight, I'd recommend leaving throw-aways to the LW catagory if it's going to be a story that doesn't fit what the masses there want, else your tale will wind up buried and abyssmally-rated.

 

[lance gt]

I made my first forway into the LW catagory ten days or so ago with a story called Like Poison, and survived the experience relatively unscathed. It's really had to take personally the most vicious attacks since they tend to be so horribly spelled, worded, and written. "U r a dizgrace to wirfes and teh mens!!" coupled with a zero rating isn't exactly crushing criticism.

On the other hand, I rather liked the story I wrote and thought it was somewhat clever, if a bit mean, and it annoys me a bit to see it sitting at a sub three rating simply because of all the angry 40-something divorcees who dominate that catagory's readership. In hindsight, I'd recommend leaving throw-aways to the LW catagory if it's going to be a story that doesn't fit what the masses there want, else your tale will wind up buried and abyssmally-rated.

My first try at a LW story didn't go over well, because I let the husband and wife make up in the end. So I gave it a twist and let the husband have some revenge and it still didn't go over well. I'm thinking that, because there are two factions, nothing you write in LW will ever be accepted en masse. It will always get trampled on and the writer spat upon by them. I do it just for the sheer fun of watching them re-act to it. You could write a masterpiece of literature in terms of story structure, plot and so forth, but it's wasted on the trolls who read those things. Just write LW stories for the fun of a writing exercise and try new styles of writing in them.

 

[poppy_cock]

My first try at a LW story didn't go over well, because I let the husband and wife make up in the end. So I gave it a twist and let the husband have some revenge and it still didn't go over well. I'm thinking that, because there are two factions, nothing you write in LW will ever be accepted en masse. It will always get trampled on and the writer spat upon by them. I do it just for the sheer fun of watching them re-act to it. You could write a masterpiece of literature in terms of story structure, plot and so forth, but it's wasted on the trolls who read those things. Just write LW stories for the fun of a writing exercise and try new styles of writing in them.

LOL, absolutely. I suspect there's a hardcore readership who live to trash LW tales. Great way of releasing tension, maybe? Better than popping all the bubbles in a sheet of bubble wrap.

Hmm, what does pull the punters in? The great thing about Lit is that it provides something for just about every taste. If you want a real quick stroker, it's here. If you want to read about a fetish you almost don't want to admit to having - it's here. If you want great romance stories on a par to what you can buy from a bookstore, you can find it here if you look hard enough. I found most of the authors I read by looking at the favorite authors lists of the authors I liked (in fact, I'm always a bit perplexed when I come across an author who doesn't have any favorites on their profile pages - seems rude not to pay it forward.)

I think what I'm trying to say is that there's no right answer. Getting yourself known by writing stories on a regular basis so that people get used to seeing your name certainly helps - especially if you consistently make the effort to write as well as you possibly can.

 

[torchthebitch]

I have posted non-erotic and got picked up by LW readers. Clearly the title and tagline suggested the content would appeal. I got a mixed bag of comments, but decent voting.

I posted a story on LW called Overwatch with the tag "The things you see when you have a gun". I got a lot of hits, but the story was clearly not what they expected. I sits at about 3.8-4.0. I'm not really sure how that measures up, it doesn't make the top list but I think it is fairly respectable.

I think the key to getting hits in the first place is to choose your category first, then carefully tailor your title and tagline to the intended audience. Attracting the right audience should produce helpful comments.

It pays to advertise.