Anyone else gets discouraged by your average views per chapter dropping?

[ForestDweller]

Kinda bums me out from releasing new chapters tbh.

 

[NotaNuffian]

Kinda bums me out from releasing new chapters tbh.

All I can say is keep it up with your good work I guess. To face a declining customer rate is normal while to maintain it at a threshold is the crux of your business model, you just have to keep churning while asking for feedback. Go make a discord if you did not do so.

 

[LostLibrarian]

Kinda bums me out from releasing new chapters tbh.

Look at it the other way round: All those people still reading your novel are those, who are really invested in it. You have written over 700k words. The average reading speed of an adult is 200 to 250 words per minute, but due to easier reading in webnovels let's even take 350 words/minute. So that are over 2,000 minutes or nearly 34 hours people spent reading your stuff and still stick with you.

And to see it the other way round: people will naturally stop reading at some point due to real life, stress, or maybe even because they found new novels who excite them more. Without it saying anything about your novel. At the same time, the entry barrier for new readers is 34 hours just to catch up, which less and less people will take.

I mean, it's just the standard for the entire entertainment industry. Your 700k words are around ~11,12 light novels. There is a reason, a lot of these long-running novels will get an anime or drama CDs or other stuff around this point to push in new viewers. It's the point where the user base made it clear, that there is money to be made, but completely new readers will often go for a new story instead, to be part of the process.



There are things you can do to help that number a bit. E.g. clearly using arcs/volumes to give "milestones" for new readers, not going into hiatus, showing a clear story progression (often even increasing the pacing by cutting the repeating stuff), etc, etc.

But the truth of the matter is: if you find the formula to keep readers through writing alone, hundred of companies and publishers will come and pay you millions and millions for that secret...

 

[SailusGebel]

I killed the novel myself, so I'm resigned to my fate. At least I have a couple of readers who still enjoy my work.

 

[Cipiteca396]

The more chapters you have, the harder it is for people to get all the way to the end. I read a really, really good story that has like... 12 favs per chapter. In spite of having like 200 on the first 100 chapters. People just can't sit through that much story.

The only thing I can think of trying is writing multiple stories at once. Gives your readers multiple reasons to get invested in your writing, and more time to get caught up.

 

[Pujimaki]

Of course, you just have to do your best to make your story interesting and update at least daily. That's the best strategy imo.

 

[MissPaige36]

Kinda bums me out from releasing new chapters tbh.

I focus mostly on my readers than average views.

 

[Cipiteca396]

I focus mostly on my readers than average views.

That's kinda backwards, though? A reader should leave at least one view when they read your story. If you have fewer views than readers, then they aren't actually reading your story at all.

Well, if you have more views than readers, then that's success. Be happy.

 

[PeacefulCatastrophe]

Honestly, what bums me out are irregular numbers. I wouldn't mind relatively consistently increasing or decreasing numbers, because that would at least give me some idea of the popularity/lack of popularity of my story, but with numbers just kinda all over the place, I have no idea what to think!

 

[Anon_Y_Mousse]

I haven't been writing as long as you, but I don't really care about my views, and while I am happy about more readers and favorites, I care about the comments the most. I mean none of my chapters have 0 comments, so considering I have 43 readers I'm quite proud of that.

 

[Tropic_Panda]

I don't give a damn about the statistic. There are already too many things i need to worry about, for example is my life.

 

[SakeVision]

Personally, I'm gonna keep writing even if no one reads it, because there is a story I must project into reality, to the best of my ability, and there is a character I need to make "alive" within the framework of that story.

I don't give a damn about the statistic. There are already too many things i need to worry about, for example is my life.

so which shady organization is after your life?

 

[Derin_Edala]

Average views per chapter are always going to drop. That's perfectly logical. Come people are going to abandon any story, and nobody's ging to start a story at chapter 30, so chapter 1 will always have more views than chapter 30.

It doesn't discourage me because I've never looked at the stat and don't intend to start now. I don't see how that data would be useful to me, it can only be distracting.

 

[happypanda]

Heh, to be worried about dropping, I'd have to see it rise first.

 

[KoyukiMegumi]

Okay, why worry about how many people see your work? Just be glad that 1 or 2 make it to the top! Then again, this is me and I don't do this for luxurious reasons. I do it with the goal of giving 1 person an escape from their life while they read my story.

But an author should first write for themselves. The readers will come and go. But some will stay and those are the little amazing ones you will have with you cheering you on! I love my readers, lurkers, or commenters. Don't worry about the views. There are readers for everything.

 

[CupcakeNinja]

Kinda bums me out from releasing new chapters tbh.

Gotta git gud I guess.

 

[Yamazaru]

It really does. My fist chapter started strong with 26 views, then dropped to 5 the next chapter, and only 1 of my readers read the next chapter. It really does discourage you. Especially since I write 10 - 13 minute chapters, it takes about 7 hours, if no one read it, 7 hours of your day gone.

 

[CupcakeNinja]

It really does. My fist chapter started strong with 26 views, then dropped to 5 the next chapter, and only 1 of my readers read the next chapter. It really does discourage you. Especially since I write 10 - 13 minute chapters, it takes about 7 hours, if no one read it, 7 hours of your day gone.

...what's the average word count? Cuz anything over 4k and people dont want to read it. Personally I never really make chapters more than 2k long or so. Sometimes that goes over as I try to find a good stopping point. But yeah. People like shorter, easily and quickly readable chspters.

 

[Tropic_Panda]

so which shady organization is after your life?

None, it just my daily life is a mess. So no time to think about statistic. Also, I'm already happy enough if i able to release new chapter.

 

[Yamazaru]

...what's the average word count? Cuz anything over 4k and people dont want to read it. Personally I never really make chapters more than 2k long or so. Sometimes that goes over as I try to find a good stopping point. But yeah. People like shorter, easily and quickly readable chspters.

About 2K Words. I like people to have fun with this read, and I think short chapters aren't that good for that.