Given the very tepid response to my most recent story in the Rachel Torres series I think I'm going to cease writing on that one. I write for my pleasure but also for the pleasure of the readers here and if I don't get any feedback and very little response in the way of views than I see no reason in continuing. I've noticed that the number of views I get for every new chapter of something drops rather sharply so it's time for me to think hard about continuing at all.
Rachel Torres series
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Comments
Comment rates
I wouldn't apply too much significance to comment rates.
Many readers will look at Chapter 1 just to see if it is something that they would be interested in. Others will bookmark ch. 1 in order to return when further chapters arrive. Yes, people will link off the front page if your story is on the front page - and reasonably near the top, but others may come back and just go straight to their bookmarks.
I have someone who goes to ch. 2 of one of my other stories just to get into the list of my stories and then jumps from there. It is regular, I see it two or three times every week.
Don't forget also that others will come back to look at comments left by others. This will inflate the number of readers, especially if somebody then adds another comment or replies to one, since everybody else will then come and look at the new comment.
TL;DR: Hit counts are not readers. Don't use hit counts to assess the popularity of a piece.
Penny
Rachel Torres series
I take a look at hit counts, comments, and kudos and all of them take a steep dip. I'm not sure what to make of it all.
Then there are readers like me
I don't read a story until it is completed. I check the first chapter to see what it's about and then note it down and check to see if the final chapter has posted so I can download and read the whole story at once.
Commentator
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I would agree with Commentator
I very rarely read an incomplete story because way too often the story never ends. There are only a few authors who I actually read before complete, and only because they have a track record of completing their stories.
There's a difference between
There's a difference between "compete" and "finished" since there are quite a few writers, myself included, who finish a story but are not done with the characters as a whole. I have had a continuous saga going across 18 series with a possible end in sight but each of the stories as a whole have finished.
I'm told STFU more times in a day than most people get told in a lifetime
Complete vs finished
I'm with Efindumb on this. My Tammy series is a collection of (currently) six books. Each book has an ending but the story arc continues into the next book.
Shiraz
Actually I'd reverse those two words
You complete a storyline but perhaps have not yet finished with the characters. And there may be an story arc that overrides multiple complete stories until it too is complete and then everything is finally finished.
In either case what ShadowKat and I are saying is that we don't want to read a story until the plot line is complete. Sure Holmes dealt with Moriarity on multiple occasions but each case stood on its own and we wouldn't want to read about a case to discover it stopped half way through so we wait until the case is complete to read it.
I didn't read Frills until it was complete nor Embracing Justice) In fact I bought the books). I think the idea is I can put the book down and have a feeling of satisfaction, that there has been a resolution of a problem. Yes there may be other problems in the offing but for this particular problem there is closure.
That is the difficulty of posting while still writing the story. If the writer loses interest or the readers don't show interest stories get abandoned and those that invested time in reading to that point are left high and dry. I don't mind a story being posted in parts as long as the writer has already finished the story. I still will wait until the end to read it but at least I know the end is coming.
And to the writers I say have faith in your characters, stay the course with them, don't abandon them and make them orphans.
Commentator
Visit my Caption Blog: Dawn's Girly Site
Visit my Amazon Page: D R Jehs