Conan The Librarian
Really Experienced
So, after watching this recent post here https://forum.chyoa.com/threads/how-important-are-likes-to-you.2817/, I thought it would be an ideal moment to talk about this, in relation to how important likes are and how you should value them in your own story: I'm sort of a fan for spreadsheets, I like to do them when I'm bored. So, I did one for my story in this site, Whore of the Dragon. Its not a very refined or complex thing: basically, I entered every chapter views and likes, did a simple division and asked the program to give me an average and other calculations. The purpose was simply to know how many likes per view I had in each chapter. The numbers themselves are not really that important for what I want to say, but here is part of the crude data for my first 20 chapters so that you get an idea:
Chapter — Views — Likes — Ratio (number of views per like)
1.1 — 42844 — 77 — 556,42
2.1 — 14725 — 54 — 272,69
3.1 — 10224 —49 — 208,65
4.1 — 8655 — 54 — 160,28
5.1 — 7692 — 62 — 124,06
6.1 — 6153 — 53 — 116,09
7.1 — 6095 — 51 — 119,51
8.1 — 3107 — 37 — 83,97
9.1 — 5011 — 42 — 119,31
10.1 — 4411 — 43 — 102,58
11.1 — 4564 — 46 — 99,22
12.1 — 4282 — 40 — 107,05
13.1 — 4226 — 50 — 84,52
14.1 — 3659 — 43 — 85,09
15.1 — 3800 — 41 — 92,68
16.1 — 3169 — 44 — 72,02
17.1 — 2702 — 37 — 73,03
18.1 — 2719 — 40 — 67,98
19.1 — 2703 — 41 — 65,93
20.1 — 2501 — 33 — 75,79
... and so and so
Now, here is what I really want to say, which is the patterns that I see in those numbers and my reflections on them. I also want to add that I cheeked for this patterns in other stories of the site, to see them repeated almost without exception. (I won't post the data or names of those stories out of respect for their authors, but I encourage you to test this in your own stories). Here are those patterns:
Hope you are all doing well.
Chapter — Views — Likes — Ratio (number of views per like)
1.1 — 42844 — 77 — 556,42
2.1 — 14725 — 54 — 272,69
3.1 — 10224 —49 — 208,65
4.1 — 8655 — 54 — 160,28
5.1 — 7692 — 62 — 124,06
6.1 — 6153 — 53 — 116,09
7.1 — 6095 — 51 — 119,51
8.1 — 3107 — 37 — 83,97
9.1 — 5011 — 42 — 119,31
10.1 — 4411 — 43 — 102,58
11.1 — 4564 — 46 — 99,22
12.1 — 4282 — 40 — 107,05
13.1 — 4226 — 50 — 84,52
14.1 — 3659 — 43 — 85,09
15.1 — 3800 — 41 — 92,68
16.1 — 3169 — 44 — 72,02
17.1 — 2702 — 37 — 73,03
18.1 — 2719 — 40 — 67,98
19.1 — 2703 — 41 — 65,93
20.1 — 2501 — 33 — 75,79
... and so and so
Now, here is what I really want to say, which is the patterns that I see in those numbers and my reflections on them. I also want to add that I cheeked for this patterns in other stories of the site, to see them repeated almost without exception. (I won't post the data or names of those stories out of respect for their authors, but I encourage you to test this in your own stories). Here are those patterns:
- The number of views gets skewed really, REALLY quickly and then stabilises the deeper you get into a story. The first chapter is always the most viewed by A LOT, at least two or three times more than just the second chapter. Which means that many many people will take a look at your story and then decide that is not their thing. In my own example, by chapter ten I have almost 10 times less views than in chapter one, and the number will only get lower. My average number of views is 1865,5 per chapter, which is much more lower than that initial 42844.
- The number of likes it's more unstable and variable, but it also tends to get lower, except for chapters that achieve a sort of '''''dramatic''''' climax. This is a simple and direct result of less people reaching those chapters, which is a natural thing that should not worry you.
- However, and this is the important fact, while views and likes go lower, the ratio of those likes only gets HIGHER, meaning the percentage of those views that give a like grows equally notably. You have less of an audience, but it is a far more 'grateful' one. To maintain my own example, my first chapter is by far the most liked, with 77 likes, but it has an abysmal ratio with 556,42 views per like, meaning less that two likes per thousand views. Now, compare this to my most recent chapter, which has a much more humble number of 5 likes, but with only 95 views so far. One like per exactly 17 visits. That's an improvement of 3273%! and I asure you that you will see that pattern repeated in your own work, specially the deeper your story goes. In my own case, the ratio tends to stabilise around 70 views per like.
Hope you are all doing well.
