is it just my stories or are there less readers about during the Covid outbreak?
Lately, I've noticed that the majority of the stories posted are not the type of story that I like to read. If others have the same feeling, then that may explain why some download counts are low for new stories. Maybe the readers are downloading older stories instead of the new stories, which is what I have been doing lately.
In this day of stay at home, I would think that the number of readers would be higher. Perhaps they have more time for personal tasks instead of going to work and are working on the lists of tasks they have been putting off instead of reading.
You would have to have access to the total download counts over the past months to determine if there are now fewer downloads. Lazeez may have the site's total download per month for the past months. That is one metric I would want to know if I were in Lazeez's position. It is also a metric that I may not want to share, so maybe he would say the download count is level, increasing, or decreasing.
Lately, I've noticed that the majority of the stories posted are not the type of story that I like to read.
I agree wholeheartedly. Thanks to Lazeez's generosity, I've actually downloaded more stories than usual, but most are older stories that I reread. For some reason, it seems that many of the newer stories have hit all of my personal squicks, so I avoid them. Thanks to Argon and rlfj, there are still some new stories that capture my interest, but they are few.
Thanks to Lazeez's generosity, I've actually downloaded more stories than usual, but most are older stories that I reread. For some reason, it seems that many of the newer stories have hit all of my personal squicks, so I avoid them. Thanks to Argon and rlfj, there are still some new stories that capture my interest, but they are few.
Amen. Having nothing better to do recently than sit and read, I sent some money for a Premier membership so that I could download my favorite stories before they disappear forever.
Almost all of them were written 10 to 20 years ago. That may tell you more about society in general than it does specifically about readers and writers.
My Isekai Life in D&D: Storm, Suddenly Rich Kid, The Way of War, Demigod of War, and A True History are the only current stories I'm following on this site. The rest of the new offerings are too far outside of my norm to interest me.
Insinuating or outright delving into current politics kills the story for me. I don't need to read a fictional story to get inundated with politics, just turning on any news channel does that.
Stories where the main theme is degredation of anyone is a kill shot for me as well. There appears to be an overabundance of those lately.
On the whole, I'd be very much surprised if the readership isn't down. But I think the reasons for that are more varied than appears at first blush.
My .02
A True History
Thank you.
I'm quite honestly shocked at the number of responses I've received, as well as the sheer number of downloads I'm getting with it. Each chapter is getting around 7,000 downloads before I post the next one, and the earlier chapters are all hanging at around 13,000 downloads or so, with the total for the 22 chapters posted right now at 142,600.
It helps a lot in my opinion that A True History has a solid storyline. While there is sex, the sex is part of the storyline and is not the story. There is also a nice balance so sex does not overwhelm the main part of the story.
I am loving A True History. It is so far a great story in every way to me. I like everything you have done with the character and the supporting cast.
Lately, I've noticed that the majority of the stories posted are not the type of story that I like to read.
That would be the title of my autobiography on this site.
There are maybe 5% of the stories that appeal to me.
Which is still not bad - considering that the alternative is 0% if I didn't have SOl.
I've tried other sites and they don't have anything that appeals to me. the interface is clunky and they don't encourage the serial stories that are longer. I don't like to fall in love with characters only for the story to end in 2 chapters.
I keep writing though because I want to give back and provide stories that I would like to read if someone else had written them.
I keep writing though because I want to give back and provide stories that I would like to read if someone else had written them.
That's how many of us started: we either write what we wish others were writing, or think 'I can do better than this' and then try our own hand at the craft. And typically, we rely on a combination of the two (turning the sub-par stories into the type we'd rather read.
If it weren't for the hacks, you'd have much fewer authors on this forum, as rather than discourage readers, they often challenge readers to step up to the plate, and try a turn at bat themselves.
REP may be right in assuming that more of the older stories are downloaded. Maybe because they are complete and can be downloaded in one go and not chapter-by-chapter (if you have a premium membership). The result is just one download instead of multiple downloads. It's also possible that more readers start with longer stories because they have more time to read. It's all guessing but it seems logical that if you have more time you start a longer, completed story. It will count downloads for that long story if read on-line but at the same time multiple shorter stories are not downloaded. That would also be an interesting metric to know: are downloads shifting to longer stories now people are stuck at home.
5/17/2020, 12:10:25 PM
REP may be right in assuming that more of the older stories are downloaded.
Yeah. My usual stats (which come in number-of-download order) usually come with the current story first, then (much lower) the immediate previous one.
Currently, they show half a dozen old stories in double digits. One of them is VERY old.
I don't know the genre in which you write, but it could be that upbeat, vanilla stories such as my Suddenly Rich Kid are more popular when people are under stress and worried. Who wants to read dark stories when your life is bleak already?
I can also confirm that people prefer my long, finished stories over my short, finished stories. There is indeed a pretty good correlation between story length and weekly downloads (R(square) = 0.66), with the exception of my sappy A Christmas Story which got downloaded like a serial.
My hypothesis: long, vanilla, feel-good stories are the rage right now. Of course, my evidence is anecdotal.
PS: I have a medium length, sad story in development. No way I'm going to finish and post it now 😉
is it just my stories or are there less readers about during the Covid outbreak?
Since the quarantines started, log-in counts went up +~11%.
Since I increased the limits, download counts went up +~20%.
I think I have downloaded all of REP's stories and thoroughly enjoy Starfleet Carl, Vulgas, Grim Reaper, Cowboys and Aliens. I am stuck at home even though I am retired and prefer being out on my Bicycle or driving my Mercedes around the West coast. I was so disappointed in posting some of my stories that I have quit. It seems some were Too long, Too much sex, not enough sex, not enough spelling errors that the replies were very poor. I did receive many very pleasing e-mails that liked my stories so much that I sent them extensions or rewrites of the posted stories. I would prefer to post longer chapters of about 125K-150K words per chapter because I use a computer, not a smart phone to write the stories.
125K-150K words per chapter
Wow.
Novellas top out around 50k words. Many novels are ~100k words. How many chapters do you include per book?
I have spent more hours reading now that I am forced to stay home. I search for the long stories and have returned to long stories that I enjoyed earlier. With a list of favorite authors as a guide I select any new projects. Short stories involve setting up for another short chapter is a pain.
As writers, could we, please, say "fewer readers"?
or at least: "fewer lesser readers". ;)
More fewerer?
Nope: "Additional Lesser (i.e. 'unimportant') readers" or the proverbial "Less is More!"
It may just depend on the type of the story.
Myself, I have noticed my counts go up on some, and feedback has increased dramatically.
But I am also one now that rarely reads much here anymore. I agree that in general, the quality seems to have drastically decreased. Incest, Rape, and many other things I tend to not read. The "kitchen sink" stories are also ones I generally avoid.
One thing I find amusing is that one of my lowest ranking stories Is one of my most downloaded. BIQ's is rated at 6.19 and has more than 12,000 downloads which is a lot for me.
I'm like "Well, ok."
One thing I find amusing is that one of my lowest ranking stories Is one of my most downloaded.
Me too!
On a 'most reads per chapter' basis, my top story is a slight affair with a rating of less than 6.
AJ
One thing I find amusing is that one of my lowest ranking stories Is one of my most downloaded. BIQ's is rated at 6.19 and has more than 12,000 downloads which is a lot for me.
I'm like "Well, ok."
I am always somewhat surprised when something I write gets popular. My highest rates story here is still one I wrote well over 20 years ago (Okinawa), and posted here 18 years ago. And it is on my "hit list" of getting a major revision when I clean my plate a bit of other projects.
And my most popular is still Country Boy, almost 215k downloads. Not bad for a story I had only started as a single chapter throwaway. That was simply another case of where once I stated to write about them, they took on a life of their own. Plus the more I wrote about the "Good old days" of the early 1980s, the more I found I wanted to say.
I actually had to laugh when I got one comment from a reader, asking why the guy did not just use his cell phone to call his father. That was really a comment that gave me a good laugh I must admit.
lol, in the early 90's the vice president of the company I worked for had one. He measured calls by the second as they were so expensive. He made $60,000 plus a year which was awesome money back then and he was scared of his cell phone bills, lol
lol, in the early 90's the vice president of the company I worked for had one. He measured calls by the second as they were so expensive. He made $60,000 plus a year which was awesome money back then and he was scared of his cell phone bills, lol
If you watch the 20 years of Law and Order you can see the evolution of phones. From pay phones to cell phones. There was one time frame of the evolution that you don't see. When cell phone first came out and were the size of a brick. You wonder why they skipped that part of history, Then you remember that they cost so much to buy and use that no cop could afford one.
Then you remember that they cost so much to buy and use that no cop could afford one.
The one I remember was the one Gordon Gecko had in Wall Street. He was the only one shown with a phone, the implication being that you needed 'f-ck you' money to own one, so I'd say your analysis is accurate!
I actually had to laugh when I got one comment from a reader, asking why the guy did not just use his cell phone to call his father. That was really a comment that gave me a good laugh I must admit.
I'm pretty sure that some teacher, somewhere, has asked "What was Lincoln's Gettysburg Address", and gotten the answer:
honest.abe@gettysburg.com
Or before the advent of email, something on the order of:
2075 Old Harrisburg Road Gettysburg, PA 17325
The "kitchen sink" stories are also ones I generally avoid.
Yeah, I generally avoid any 'American Pie' imitations involving a kitchen sink too! :)
I strongly suspect the stats you're seeing on readers are a misrepresentation due to the reader activity process. Thus, the only stat that can relate to pre-covid is the number of downloads in the first 24 hours.
Pre-covid a reader would normally read a story or part of a story between other activities that take them away from being able to read. Thus a typical reader may log in to reader a chapter a day due to time limitations, thus the system shows a reader counter for the story from the same reader each day. However, with more time to sit and read at home they're likely reading the whole story in one sitting and show as only one reader for that day instead of the several they would otherwise have been over several days of reading.
Thus the counts are down while the actual number of readers are the same or more.