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Chapter 95 always one of my favourites ...

What an interesting and funny thread this is. I laughed out loud at the biblical passages!

I love interpreting numerical data - it's what I do for a living. There's a saying that in the hierarchy of number-crunching villains, there are liars, damned liars, and statisticians. It's true that if one has an agenda other than finding the truth, statistics can be subject to "spin," but if one's agenda IS truth, numbers never lie.

I've noted the phenomenon that PhilK mentioned, where he clicks on a story and, just a few lines into it, clicks away to find something else. Several weeks ago, when I began to explore the Last Read window, I realized that a large percentage of people who had clicked on my latest story, subsequently clicked on another within the first minute or the second minute. I began to follow this trend and found that it held steadily true that about one-third of readers abandoned my stories before they finished them. Premature e-click-ulation.

I think this is the main reason that serials suffer such a drop between the first installment and later installments. My theory is that the reader clicks on "Part 1" and if it's found lacking, they never bother to click on "Part 2+" Why would they?

I wrote a four-parter recently that I knew would help me explore this hypothesis. All four parts posted simultaneously. Part One had no spanking in it. It was just the background and the buildup. Parts 2, 3, and 4 each described a stand-alone M/F spanking scene that related back to Part one only in the vaguest of terms - they had no background and very little explanation. The reader had to read to the end of Part 4 to be sure how it tied together, if at all.

I logged in as often as time permitted to see the view counts and how they grew relative to one another. When Part 1 hit 40, Part 2 was at 27; When Part 1 hit 80, Part 2 was at 50; As of a few minutes ago, Part 1 was at 162, Part 2 at 126, Part 3 at 112, and Part 4 had 110. I conclude that roughly only about 2/3 (70% at best) of the people who try my stories stick around to the ending.

I draw no conclusion other than the obvious. It is what it is.

And before any of you tell me I need to find a hobby - this IS my hobby.

70% is great, bb. I only wish my summer flagship "movie' MENACE FROM MONGO had done as well. I usually count a series as a success if I can retain 50% readership from beginning to end. And I think what happens here happens when the story is first posted. At that time there is no synopsis or codes to tell the reader what the story is about, the ages involved, the orientation etc, so people just click and scan a paragraph or two. So if it's American M/F contemporary, the child story enthusiasts might drop out, the F/M fans drop out, the English boarding school fans drop out, etc. Over time the trend reverses, because readers go back and find it after it's been coded. Still 50% seems pretty good.

I generally don't read a story unless I have some idea what to expect, either from the synopsis--I'll wait for it to be provided if necessary--comments about it, familiarity with the author's other work and/or occasionally from the title. In my case, "Mongo" in the title would've indicated a "Flash Gordon" fanfiction/parody story even if you hadn't 'advertised' that story ahead of time via a 'Plugboard' post.

It just strikes me as rather inefficient to more-or-less randomly click onto a story and try to figure out what it's basically about based on reading only a few paragraphs. But then again, I may have comprehension issues since I'm often most of the way through reading a story--one that I have little or no outside information about--before I'm certain of the plotline. At that point, I'm usually figuring that I may as well finish it up... --C.K.

That's right and I advertised it for that reason. And still by last count Part1--238 hits, part 18--81 hits with the other numbers in between falling all over the place. I think despite the plug and the title some readers tried part 1 and figured it wasn't for them.

On serials I have found the closer they are together when submitted the less reads one gets. My series "Wife's Cousin" was a total of 3 stories posted over severall months, it got much better reading then previous series all posted within days of each other.

I know for myself when I see a serial with more then 4 or 5 chapters posted at the same time, chances of me reading all the way through are slim, number 1 reason is time, but there are other factors, like if it is not in my genre or the chapters are too long. If one posts serveral chapters at a time I find the shorter chapters get more reads then something that goes in great detail.

This worthy phrase shall be incorporated into the Book of Flopsybunners as a warning to they who clicketh too fast

BB - It has been ever thus with serials, regardless of who the author is, what the title is, and the quality of the writing. I think it boils down to the fact that a big slice of the readership/potential readership is out for a quick fix as opposed to reading something that may actually require some effort to peruse in it's entirety.

But take heart that those of us who have read many of your works know that you are an author worth visiting time after time, regardless of any stats

I go back and forth about this and I finally came to the conclusion that if it's two or three parts, post it all at once or at least within a day of part 1. If it's a true serial, that is, a continuing story line (as distinguished from a series--same characters/settings but discrete stories, e.g., Little House on the Prairie) post at intervals of 36-48 hours. MONGO is a true serial with "cliff hangers" and if you get into it, this is a satisfying way to read it.

What puzzles me a bit - and it has happened a couple of times to me - is when Part 3, say, gets more hits than Part 2, and yet it would be hard to understand Part 3 without reading 1 and 2. I suppose this is people who just like the sound of that episode and aren't bothered about understanding.

barretthunter

Oh, absolutely. I sort of bang my head against the wall and say "how can this be?" Actually it could be the synopsis--if it speaks to the reader, they look at it. I think flopsy is right. We have a lot of readers in search of a quick fix and not inclined toward long works in general. We have a lot of very good long works here like ruegirl's, like the flopsy/DJB collaboration, and if I may, my LaForge trilogy. But they don't get a lot of hits.