The Adventures of Bridget Gallagher

This is a series about a young woman coming of age, and coming to terms with her spanking kink. People have been generous and complimentary in their comments.

However, the views have fallen off a cliff as the series continues, with the latest episodes struggling to break into three figures, so far.

Given that I’m only half way through, this is dispiriting! I imagine getting to the end with three readers…

I do know that this is the lot of the LSF series writer, but why not give it a go, and see if those comments are justified.

I think the problem is that when part 15 appears and readers do not know what was in the previous 14 parts, or possibly can't remember, they may be disinclined to read part 15. However, I would strongly urge readers to check out part 1 and take it from there. I found it an interesting story and Theo is one of the best writers on this site, so there is much to enjoy. I, for one, am delighted to hear it is only half way through.

It's a difficult decision. Chances that more people will read a story to the end is also slim if all 15 parts are dished out at the same time, even the more 30 as you mention the total span. People need a break, although as Bob points out, not so long so they forget the storyline. As Gloup I often face the same dilemma. I'd recommend dishing out 3

Thanks a lot BB, for your appreciation, and generous comments.

I don’t imagine there’s an easy answer, or any answer really, to the problem of falling numbers of readers.

I even posted a five part series on the same day and inexorably the numbers fell, episode to episode.

It even happens with two parters.

I like writing series, I enjoy the chance to develop characters and to make their worlds fuller and more interesting, but I know a lot of people want short things. Some even want stories in which the spanking starts as quickly as possible, whereas I like things slower, to build up the context and the drama.

I foresee myself using the plugboard again as the series develops. The way I write, and the demands of ordinary life make this series a pretty long term project!

Well, you'll always have to take that there is a rather prominent drop from the first episode to the second. Most readers view the story before there is a synopsis, meaning that they take a chance clicking it, but many readers will find that this is not their cup of tea. Normally, I'm content with a 50% read-on ratio to the second episode. Anything higher means that you've stumbled on a goldmine meaning that your plot just happens to appeal to many different readers. Normally, the drop to the subsequent episodes after the second episode is less, even though there always is a certain drop as some readers may have had their fill, have begun to forget the story and don't want to take the time required to brush up on it as long as there are other stories on the latest loaded page they haven't viewed yet, and new readers may hesitate to dive into the middle of an ongoing story. I have a handful of stories where a later episode actually have more views than the previous, but it is quite rare and usually coincide with slow rotations, meaning that some people begin to read in the middle of my story out of sheer desperation to get their fill of spankings. I'm afraid that there is no magic formula to solve this. As an author, we just have to live with falling numbers of views in long-running stories, no matter how good they are.

A possibly explanation is that in general, people these days seem to have a shorter attention span. I see this in real life, not just in fictional contexts. Too many look for overly simple answers and want instant gratification.

It’s also apparent that some people use the synopsis, and the content symbols, to pick and choose episodes, you can see that in the window that shows readers, and any episode with a sexual content mark always gets a few more views!

Obviously, people read how they want to, from the start, from the end, from the middle or whatever, or not at all, and that’s just how it is!

I’ll use the plugboard again, which does seem to have some effect.

One comfort I would take from this is if someone as proficient as Gloup/Glagla is happy with a 50 per cent drop-off then it shows the phenomenon is not just something to do with us but is more universal. It is what it is.

Personally, I shy away from serial stories. I might read the first part, or maybe take a chance with a middle part, but it would have to be a very good story indeed for me to read multiple parts. For me, it's a matter of time and maybe it's not easy for a writer to keep up a standard over multiple parts. I think this is a general thing, and there's probably more reasons than mine.

I admit I tend to go for stand alone stories or shorter serials. I get distracted a lot at home so it's easier to read shorter stories, plus I fear my attention span has decreased over the years.
Also, I usually prefer reading about adults rather than teens, which is probably the main reason why I haven't clicked on this series yet (except for part 17, which my uncoordinated fingers opened by mistake when trying to click on my own story, oops!) although recently I've made plenty of exceptions when I know I appreciate an author's style or the story itself seems interesting enough. Having enjoyed some of your shorter works, I think I'll give it a go, after I'm done reading another series (I'm very slow reading serials, thanks to aforementioned problems).

I wouldn't worry too much about the dropping reader numbers. As Glagla said, a large number of views are always readers who will quickly open a number of stories to see if it's what they're looking for at that moment, and will discard it if it's not. Those are unlikely to finish even part 1, let alone to move on to the next part.