What makes a story popular?

Hello,

What makes a chyoa story popular?

Yes, I am focusing on "likes" and "comments", which I admit is shallow but I am still curious. So, I went through the "Top Sex Stories" and noted what they had in common:

* All were written in English.
* For POV, they were either Male (5) Both (1), or Other (1), no Female.
* Mind Control (5) was the most popular category, with two Science Fiction and one Fetish, Erotic Couplings and Teen.
* At least half allowed for a great deal of freedom at the first question encouraging others to add on to the story.
* All attracted multiple authors.
* All, save the first one, made extensive use of tags.
* Only two used the "Start Game" function.
* Not all the stories were ancient. 2017 seemed to be the "golden" years for stories. (2019, 2017x5, 2015, 2014x2, 2013)

I admit I posted here on the forums after a new story I wrote didn't get much of a response. Yes, I understand there is the purity of "art for art's sake" and there is a beauty of having a diversity of stories on chyoa. (And my story might simply be poorly written or have a boring plot.) However, after spending a lot of time working on a plot and doing research into the world, it is a bit discouraging thinking that one is only writing for one's self. I am wondering if making a simple change, not writing in the female - 2nd person, for example, might have made a big difference?

What are your thoughts?

And thank you for taking the time to read my ramblings.

 

More or less, we've all been through this, honestly.

The correct reply to your post would be: you can't find the motivation to write despite the lack of succes and popularity of your story, you should recosider why are you doing this and maybe find another hobby.

Then again, for pure speculation, we can discuss for the umptenth time what makes a story popular here on chyoa...

You made a little data analysis yourself and you found out already that the site has a specific demographic with specific tastes.
Why is that? Can't say for sure, every community has it's own history.

Now, either you conform to the bigger public's tastes, which means ditch/rewrite/modify your story and die a little inside, or you just accept that only a handful of people wanna read the quest of a guy, whose souls has been transposed into a stuffed T-rex by a magical ring, and which likes to be farted on his face while he wears female lingerie, to find true love.

I'm sure others will be happy to fill you in with the whole be-patient&update-regularly kind of advices.

 

SeriousBrainDamage,

Didn't mean to drag up a dead horse, I am new to the forums, but I appreciate the honesty.

 

Don't worry, it doesn't feel a thing anymore

 

I think it's kinda like how John Wayne won an Oscar. Just stick around long enough. (No worries, I'll happily supply the newbie speech, and some old music.)

Most people who pick up a new story for the first time are attracted by the tags, or the theme. Just think of how the average person looks for a porn scene on a video site, and that's pretty much how folks jump in here. And I'll be the first to admit, it's a TAD discouraging when "Mind-Controlling My Embarrassed Nude Step-Granddaughter 8" is topping the charts. However, that is what people are enjoying, and I say let folks enjoy what they enjoy!

Spreading yourself around a bit when you first start is a great way to get mutual attention. A lot of folks quit fast because they don't ask for help or feedback, and get discouraged when they don't get it. If you want more attention, the top stories are a faster way to get it, and if you hit the kinks of the author, you're all set. But, if you want to go your own way, As SBD mentioned, it's a little harder to get the story to grow, unless you're willing to put in the work. The biggest story I have on here isn't even mine any more, and is much more of a community project now, and I wish it luck!

TLDR: If you want a BIG story to be YOUR vision, you will have to put in the work until others want to make your vision theirs.

 

Yeah, it can be difficult, and I think there's always an element of luck etc and just having the story be up at the right time. In any case, here's just some things that do encourage me to check out a newly published story and continue reading/liking and favoriting.

- An attractive and unique cover image that says something about the story will make it stand out, more so than a generic porn one. I know I've chosen a lot of stories based on what the cover image told me. (obviously just having an attractive girl here can help attract readers, I think )
- Same for the summary, try to make it short and snappy but attractive to readers. All the better if it has a unique of interesting idea summarized there, something that makes it stand out.
- The introduction is really important. If it's well-written, people will want to continue. Otherwise, stuff like poor grammar/paragraphs or just a really short chapter that doesn't tell me anything make me give up then.

This isn't going to be true for everyone and just updating regularly to have the story be on the front page and be visible is the best way of getting attention. Some people are lucky or hit the sweet spot where their story just happens to get lots of attention early on, but if you keep working at it then you'll find your own group who enjoy your writing.

 

I sacrificed a hundred virgins on an altar to Satan for A Fantasy Dynasty to be popular. I dont know how everyone else does it

 

brevdravis,

Thanks for the replay and the encouragement. My first story had zero sex in it and did okay. In my second attempt I decided to put more sex into it, and more upfront. I decided to continue with the female-2nd person POV, which I knew wasn't going to be that popular, but was important for the story.

I know my approach to stories isn't that exciting but the reaction to my latest one, or lack there of, did raise a question: Would one keep on writing and posting chapters for a story that hardly anyone cared for? This isn't meant to be a complaint, I do believe in the free market, but it makes me wonder if I should try something different.

I admit I am toying with completely whoring myself out and might try a new story that is meant to be as popular as possible: A guy POV, lots of graphic sex, cater to as many male fantasies as possible, etc. Thus the final question: Which would I prefer, a story that I enjoy creating but no one wants to read, or a story that might not be my cup of tea but I get a lot of response to. Both have interesting challenges.

 

PrinceCai,

Thank you for the reply and the very solid advice.

I actually sent a lot of time finding and manipulating (I didn't create the original) cover image for my story. I thought it was very cool and really went with the story. But alas, classy click-bait didn't work this time.

I agree strongly with your other two points and put some time into both. I am not a fan of initial chapters that simple describe who the reader is as if one is reading the first chapter of a game manual. I tried my best to have a really strong first chapter to catch the imagination.

 

100 virgins for 160 likes in the first chapter? Not sure if that is in full compliance with a cost-benefit analysis approach. After all, virgins are a scarce commodity this day and age. Unless you used incels but that might explain the lack of results. I mean someone like Fay Wary would be worth at least 200 likes by herself. Are you sure it was to Satan and not Phil, the Prince of Insufficient Light & Supreme Ruler of Heck, you made a deal with?

Seriously, thanks for the post, it made me laugh.

 

"Top Stories" are rated by the total number of Likes.
So if you have two stories with a similar number of likes per chapter, the story with more chapters will appear first.

This kind of rating is quite flawed.

So I recommend not judging the quality of these stories by their position.

Some times were better to publish stories.
As of now, the average time between the release of two chapters is below 5 minutes.
a few years ago, it was one chapter in 15 minutes.

The 2019 story has a great ratio of likes per chapter. (It has an average of about 85 likes per chapter. Place 1 has 108, place 3 has 43)

As soon as you have a certain size, it attracts readers.
Being a well-known author attracts readers as well.

When performing a search, only title, subtitle, synopsis, and tags are taken into account.
So I guess tags are quite important. (And very easy to abuse.)
A small note about "Halloween" in the synopsis might be good as well.


If users search for stories, they might use filters. Some users stated that they never search for stories with less than 5 chapters. (Your story reached a depth of 5 yesterday.)
Additionally, the standard sorting when searching for stories is "updated recently."
So updating is a major part of getting readers.

An introduction with a sex scene might boost the initial readers and likes, though that might not last long.

 

I get it. It's not The Gamer, Chyoa edition. However, it was top 10 back in The Day briefly.

Maybe it's time for some more sacrifices....

That was the goal.

I mean, who said I was joking

 

See? You got to my original question: why did you decide to write?
Was it because felt like you knew your way around with words and you were looking for a challenge?
Was it because you needed the endorphin injection of likes?
Or was it just because no one wrote stuff you could really enjoy and ultimately resorted to DIY?

 

Damn you Satan! I was strangely compelled to check out "A Fantasy Dynasty" and was forced to hit "like" by some dark spirit!

It does look like a fun story, btw.

 

I need to go back to it. Just having trouble getting the creative juices flowing again.

 

Frick. Mine is none of those things you mentioned. Oh well. Go your own way and see what happens.

 

Gene.sis,

Thank you for all the insight and how everything works "behind the scenes."

I had to chuckle at your last sentence, however, "An introduction with a sex scene might boost the initial readers and likes, though that might not last long." was a wonderful play on words.

 

No, I am not a professional or skilled writer (obviously), a certainly not in the realm of fiction. I do enjoy the creativity, however.

Yes, that is part of the reason I decided to write my second story. I wanted to try something with more of a coherent plot and to challenge myself in areas that were not in my first story (horror themes, some humor, more erotica, use of the variable-thingie).

No, not as the primary reason. I knew such a story would not be very popular. However, I did think a few more people might be interested. If one doesn't care about an audience at all then why post it on the net?

That one never occurred to me. Writing and reading, for me, are two very different things. The challenge of putting one's feelings and imagination on paper (as it were) was an interesting exercise and a bit cathartic.

 

Beats me. I don't get tons of likes or comments. I just write what makes me happy and I'm glad the occasional CHYOA denizen bothers to read it

 

How do you even find 100 virgins in this day and age? Um... asking for a friend.