Are views important?

[Big Papa Usagi]

I've never really cared that much about views, since it doesn't tell me what people thought of my story or if they even finished reading a chapter before rushing out and writing me off as someone to stay away from. But it often takes weeks or even months for my stories to get any feedback it seems, no matter where I seem to post them. When I do check my view numbers, although not being earth shattering, they do seem to fall in the moderate success range for something with the niche combo of kinks I put in (futanari, underage, a lot of blowjobs and non-penetrative sex acts considering, etc.). Should I learn to pay more attention to the view numbers more often and not get discouraged that often most posts in my threads are just me either updating new chapters or the status of when the next chapter might be, or should trying to get people to say what they thought about it still be my big hope from readers? Are views more important than I thought, or is no one responding because I'm just not that good at it?

[psiberzerker]

Great Question.  I take what I can get.  While I would like more feedback than I do get, it's better than nothing, but views just tells you how many people clicked on a given story.  As I write them (In installments) I check in the upper right hand corner of the top post on a page, to see who's Still viewing the story.  I figure if say UsageYojimbo is still there after I upload another instalment, they stayed to read instead of getting off, or bored, and moving on to something else.  So, I also suggest keeping the story, or stories you're tracking (I think you have a couple so far) in separate tabs so you can refresh Who's Reading without adding a view of your own as a false positive.

As for content, Underage is extremely popular.  So, if you just stick to that forum, you should get more views, but I believe that there are Guest Bots that artificially inflate the top 3 in the most popular forums.  (Here, that would be SSBM, Incest, and UA)  Even if that isn't true, anyone who logs on is probably going to read the titles top-down to find something they like.  If it's marked (Futa) and they don't know what that means, you might draw people in just to find out.  (Similarly, other obscure terms like Meganekko.)

I hope this helps!

[seveninchblues]

Since a view may consist of someone clicking on your post, reading a few words, and leaving in a hurry, no, a view is of little importance.

[Uncle Ed]

Unless you write for an audience of one, views count.

Writing is performance art, like singing, acting, and dancing. Taylor Swift in the shower? (Yes, please!) Tom Cruise on the patio?  Maggie Zeigler in a van? (Yes, please!) Performers want need to be seen. Otherwise, why bother?

Step One is the title. Most guys would read "Sweet Pussy" but not "Vaginal Secretions."

Step Two is the code(s). Lots of people will read "M, f-teen, first, oral" but not "MMMMMMMMFFFFmmfffff, dog, snake, NC, suicide, murder, rape, chickens."

Step Three is the opening line. "Call me Ishmael" is out of the park. "My mom, her name was Gladys, and she wanted to name me Frank, but my dad collected harpoons and was a Bible thumper, so he insisted on naming me Ishmael" is caught by the pitcher, who throws out the guy on first base.

At this point, all you need is one great sentence after another creating a compelling narrative. Why do all of that for nobody?

[HppyHrryHrdn]

It is interesting that the person that started this thread hasn't been on the site in a while. The same with the next two.  I am sure that if you want views you avoid “Stories by Members”  As I was told by Uncle Ed people tend to like the taboo.  Or what they would never have the opportunity to do or if the opportunity arose wouldn't take it. 

I have a spreadsheet of  view for each story I've posted. I would track replies an reviews but they are way too far and few to help. Unfortunately views are of only passing help to know if the story is liked by the audience.  I don't have the first idea of people are actually reading them or just opening and closing them back. 

At times I will look at what page people are on and see how long they have been on it.  Most of the time I've  noticed my stories garner a five to ten minute read. Where grammerly or Hemmingway says it should take twice that to read. So either the reader bails out or copies them off to read later. ( I do this sometimes) I don't know and have no way of knowing

@Uncle Ed  I sometime feel I am writing to an audience of 1 or 2. (you being one of the two) In fact one of my stories I've gone to sending to members updates directly.

I would like to see one of the features a sites I post to has,  added here. It has a poll/rating at the end of the story or last chapter.  It should open to even the public not just members.  I think part of the reason for the low number of reviews is only members can post. (Which I think is good by the way) 

It was part of the reason I started posting to one particular site. It has been nice to see how my writing compares to other writers. ( About a C+ in my case) As it is easy for anyone to rate a story quickly and leave the more in-depth reviews to members. (well as in-depth as they sometimes get.)

Anyway my thoughts on the subject. I hope the moderators seriously consider the idea of a quick rating system for everyone.


Happy Harry Hardon

Oops This post got a lot longer than I planned (I wonder how many people will read it to the end)

[Vela Nanashi]

I read to the end, like the idea about adding a poll that can be anonymous to give ratings for a story/thread, or as you said better yet for each part without having to make extra threads

The best thing for a writer to get is a comment, even if it is a bit critical or such, woos are nice and all but I don't think there is a way to track where they come from or why, and views are better than nothing.

However I think it is healthier to write for oneself, primarily, and then anything else one gets is a bonus I guess if one believed ones story was really good one could say "next part will be made and posted when I get X replies of more than five words Also for those not comfortable commenting in the thread, pm comments are nice too

[MintJulie]

However I think it is healthier to write for oneself, primarily, and then anything else one gets is a bonus

100% this ^

Over the last 25 years I've written thousands of things, at first for a different reason, now for my own pleasure.  And I'm not talking about sexual stories, just writing about different things. It's therapeutic to me.

[Hilda]

At one time, when I was exploring the medium of digital publishing, I used to hang out on Goodreads and post reviews of the books I was reading. I never felt bad about giving a book a negative review and a 1-star rating. If authors are selling books as a living, they should be able to take the knocks.

I wouldn't feel so comfortable making negative comments about stories written as a hobby by amateur authors.

[Pornhubby]

They say that opinions are like ass holes, everybody has one. Being a lawyer, I have a pretty thick skin, and there’s not much that bothers me. Moderating here for close to a decade, I made it a point to read (or at least scan) every story. Some of them do absolutely nothing for me. It doesn’t mean they’re bad, they just don’t appeal to my particular tastes in perversity. So if you like scat, rape, or snuff, I’m not going to criticize you. But that doesn’t mean I enjoyed it. Don’t take that personally. I’m sure someone enjoyed it. I also know that people tend not to comment. We have *hundreds* of lurkers that visit every day, and never comment on anything. So you can’t take a lack of positive response to mean anything. Just keep writing. Your audience will find you. And if they don’t, hopefully you had a good experience creating something. That’s what Kurt Vonnegut always focused on. The creative experience.