Newbie question about views

[RejectReality]

Really? This place is so strange.

Cupid's Arrow of Time also has an air of Sci-Fi/Fantasy to it, and that's one of the lower readership categories.

People make snap decisions about what they'll click. Little things pile up. All that affects is who clicks it, though. What's inside has to engage for it to matter.

 

[FrancesScott]

I guess no one has the answer (beyond incest fans being, well, incest fans). I had better just forget about this and do some work instead.

 

[FrancesScott]

Cupid's Arrow of Time also has an air of Sci-Fi/Fantasy to it, and that's one of the lower readership categories.

That’s possible - though just as misleading as @old_prof mentioning family. It is what it is I suppose. I’m moving on.

 

[MelissaBaby]

As far as anybody knows, clicking on a story title results in a "view". The number of pages has no impact.

I have submitted 20+ page stories and had multiple views recorded for them within a few minutes, so it does seem that just opening the story counts as a view.

 

[SimonDoom]

Neither of us check this box IMO.

I don’t think either of us qualify as popular - that’s 5,000+ followers or something.

I don’t think this is a factor on day one.

We are both in the same contest.

Neither of us have clickbaity subtitles.

Both stories are in the correct category.

Again, not a factor on day one.

There are differences, but stories lower on the new list for LS on the same day have more views.

So I don’t really see an explanation coming from your framework.

I think you may be looking for too neat and predictable an explanation, which I suspect does not exist. There are a number of factors, many of which I pointed out, and they combine and play out in different ways.

Your story shows 35 votes within approximately the first 24 hours. That's comparable to some other stories that appear in the top 50 Lesbian Sex stories for the last month, so I don't see anything unusual happening for an author who is relatively new, has not built up a big following yet, and hasn't published the story using especially clickbaity words.

In other words, I don't think anything is "going on." You're looking for an explanation for something that isn't really a thing. What you're seeing is simply the substantially random result of a number of different factors.

I've published about 30 incest stories over the years, with wildly different results, and incest is probably one of the more predictable categories here. Being a bit obsessive myself about the whys of it, I've wondered about it, but ultimately concluded there's only so much to know. There's a high random factor.

 

[RejectReality]

Experiments years ago using old stories with minimal activity concluded that page count doesn't matter. It's one click per session that counts. Paging through doesn't matter. Coming back to the same story without leaving the site doesn't register a click. If you leave and come back after the session expires, then it will register a click again.

 

[FrancesScott]

I think you may be looking for too neat and predictable an explanation, which I suspect does not exist. There are a number of factors, many of which I pointed out, and they combine and play out in different ways.

I’m confused, you offer a detailed framework and then say there is no predictable explanation. Then you refer to your framework again.

I don't see anything unusual happening for an author who is relatively new, has not built up a big following yet, and hasn't published the story using especially clickbaity words.

How does that track with my having two previous LS stories with more than 18,000 views? Both when I was even newer. And neither of them has clickbaity titles or subtitles.

It’s the massive discrepancy with past experience that is baffling.

I keep saying I’m going to stop obsessing over this. Guess I should take my own advice and step away.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Newbie question about views​

Adopt the position that every single stat on Literotica (views, favorites, comments, votes, rating, blue Ws) is essentially the outcome of a stochastic process and you will have better mental health. Said as a recovering addict.

 

[SimonDoom]

I’m confused, you offer a detailed framework and then say there is no predictable explanation. Then you refer to your framework again.

How does that track with my having two previous LS stories with more than 18,000 views? Both when I was even newer. And neither of them has clickbaity titles or subtitles.

It’s the massive discrepancy with past experience that is baffling.

I keep saying I’m going to stop obsessing over this. Guess I should take my own advice and step away.

It's good advice.

I gather your puzzlement is why your previous Lesbian Sex stories did "better" in views than this one is on track to do.

You only have a sample of four published Lesbian Sex stories, so right off the bat that's not enough to provide you with meaningful analysis.

Two of them, the ones with higher views, were published as part of a longer story. So right there, they're different from your latest story, and you're comparing apples and oranges. The view patterns in your series are somewhat unusual, to me, so I don't have an explanation for them. I'd have to look at them more. But, in any event, you cannot compare how chapters of series do with standalone stories.

Your only other standalone Lesbian Sex story, which was published seven months ago, has 2900 views. That's the more suitable comp. Your latest story is on track to do better than that one.

 

[old_prof]

I have two more factors to throw into the pot.

You only used two tags for your story. I went back and checked, and you used many more (I didn't count them) for your two 18K stories.

I used I think 8 or 9 for mine. I have always poohpoohed the impact of tags, but maybe?

On the other hand, this is my first story published as old_prof. So other than my followers and the few hundred people who are aware of my name change from here, almost all the readers view me as a new author or have no idea who most authors are (I suspect this is common for many readers, despite our worries about followings). So I don't think my past writing has much of any impact on my views.

I do think your title this time is more erudite sounding. Someone above described it as more sci-fi/fantasy-ish. Your more viewed stories were Pumpkin Spice and The Soldier's Widow. I think they appeal to different readers, but probably a bigger audience than Cupid's Arrow of Time.

I think the Aunt reference is probably the best guess as to why I have so many views. I just would have expected one of those viewers to complain. Maybe there's a whole slew of complaint comments waiting for moderation on it.

 

[RejectReality]

I’m confused, you offer a detailed framework and then say there is no predictable explanation. Then you refer to your framework again.

How does that track with my having two previous LS stories with more than 18,000 views? Both when I was even newer. And neither of them has clickbaity titles or subtitles.

It’s the massive discrepancy with past experience that is baffling.

I keep saying I’m going to stop obsessing over this. Guess I should take my own advice and step away.

A double dilemma for diffident Dhyani. That's just good, catchy wordplay. The fact that one doesn't have as many views as the others is a crime in my opinion.

A divorced mother makes a new friend. Familial title.

A bereaved woman tries to reconcile her past and future. Nothing particularly catchy there, but certainly intriguing to me. Implies romance and healing. A good bet for a category that gets far too many male gaze pure fuck stories for the taste of the readership.

 

[FrancesScott]

Two of them, the ones with higher views, were published as part of a longer story. So right there, they're different from your latest story, and you're comparing apples and oranges.

I think you might need to do some more research. The ‘series’ you refer to is an anthology one, not episodic. Each story is stand alone and has its own characters. Though the protagonists from story A might be in the supporting cast of story B.

Bilingual was when I was just starting out and - IIRR - was way down on the new LS stories list. It’s pretty lightweight for me, just a silly idea suggested by the actual meaning of the title. It also wasn’t in a comp, while each of Cupid’s Arrow of Time, Pumpkin Spice, and The Soldier’s Widow were (Valentine’s, Halloween, Summer Loving). The Soldier’s Widow is my best story by my own estimation and has a rating that reflects that (it was much higher before being bombed off the all time list), but the ratings of CAOT and PS are comparable. The views are not.

 

[FrancesScott]

A divorced mother makes a new friend. Familial title.

Seriously - it’s a big stretch to parlay that into incest.

 

[MillieDynamite]

I'm sorry @FrancesScott, an obsession isn't an obsession if one can simply stop obsessing over it! It'd be only facanation if you stopped. D'oh!

I keep saying I’m going to stop obsessing over this. Guess I should take my own advice and step away.

 

[RejectReality]

Seriously - it’s a big stretch to parlay that into incest.

It doesn't matter if it actually looks like it will be incest. The familial title is sufficient to garner extra clicks, regardless of context. It's a neon sign like the red H that causes people to pause and look.

The fact that there's a suggestive tagline with a familial title very near the one you're talking about in the OP in the new list likely has a lot to do with it. You're getting lost in the glow of that neon.

 

[FrancesScott]

It doesn't matter if it actually looks like it will be incest. The familial title is sufficient to garner extra clicks, regardless of context. It's a neon sign like the red H that causes people to pause and look.

The fact that there's a suggestive tagline with a familial title very near the one you're talking about in the OP in the new list likely has a lot to do with it. You're getting lost in the glow of that neon.

If so, the human condition is deeply, deeply weird. Then this conditional observation has a ring of truth to it.

 

[MillieDynamite]

H

It doesn't matter if it actually looks like it will be incest. The familial title is sufficient to garner extra clicks, regardless of context. It's a neon sign like the red H that causes people to pause and look.

The fact that there's a suggestive tagline with a familial title very near the one you're talking about in the OP in the new list likely has a lot to do with it. You're getting lost in the glow of that neon.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Well, at least, her at Lit-Wold they are.

If so, the human condition is deeply, deeply weird. Then this conditional observation has a ring of truth to it.

 

[AwkwardMD]

It's the tags. For one thing, CAoT is largely untagged, making it show up on almost no searches.

For another, @old_prof has the cherished First Time tag in LS, which basically guarantees 20k views over time.

 

[AwkwardMD]

Use all ten tag slots on all of your stories, you beautiful bastards. Every time.

 

[FrancesScott]

It's the tags.

2k words (and the content of the story) didn’t seem to merit over-tagging.

 

[AwkwardMD]

2k words (and the content of the story) didn’t seem to merit over-tagging.

That's fair, and I would probably do the same thing, but using First Time in LS is a cheat code to views. This has less to do with your work and more to do with what @old_prof did

 

[crookedletter]

the human condition is deeply, deeply weird

If this is all you learn from this experience, then it will have been worth it.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

It's almost certainly the implication of possible incest in his subtitle. Its popularity trumps everything else.

I once had something in the story subtitle that could imply a possible incest angle in my lesbian series. It was a chapter 4, and I couldn't figure out at first why its views skyrocketed compared to chapter 3.

It's not you, it's just the hint of incest.

 

[AwkwardMD]

It's almost certainly the implication of possible incest in his subtitle. Its popularity trumps everything else.

I once had something in the story subtitle that could imply a possible incest angle in my lesbian series. It was a chapter 4, and I couldn't figure out at first why its views skyrocketed compared to chapter 3.

It's not you, it's just the hint of incest.

This is not to be discounted.