I know that “Real Life” happens! It happens to all of us (both here on BCTS, as well as outside in the big bad world).

That being said and acknowledged, my suspicion for the cause of readership numbers dropping is most likely the long hiatus from posting as well as the longer interval between posts. Some of the previous readers sadly are no longer with us. Other previously regular readers have “Real Life” happening to them, which prevents them from reading and/or feedbacking (is that a term?) right now. Other previously regular readers have faded memories of the characters and story-lines, so they need to go back at least a few chapters to reacquaint themselves with those vital threads. And new readers need to go all the way back to the very beginning of your postings and read through the whole archive in order to really appreciate your current story postings.

So, please do not despair if the reads counter on current postings is still low. It should start to tick up slowly but surely over time. And you can also expect an uptick of the reads counters of previously posted chapters, as previous readers re-read them to refresh their memory and new readers get to know your literary output.

I know and acknowledge that not everybody is capable of adhering to a regular posting schedule. In my personal opinion a weekly or semi-weekly posting schedule more or less hits the sweet spot from a reader's perspective. A daily post can quickly overwhelm the reader, even if the chapter length is less than 1000 words. If the interval between posts is three weeks or more, the continuity becomes an issue for the readers since the memory of preceding chapters is fading over time.

With many encouraging greetings from Europa.
Jessica Nicole