First Chapter is a Turn-away?

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After noticing that my readers increased (stats on my story), I decided to take a gander at my views on the last few chapters.

Utter confusion overwhelms me when I saw only 15 views in a couple of days.

Digging deeper, I found that most of my readers stop at the first Chapter. Therefore, I assume there's probably something wrong. Be it word count or just writing, or the style.

Just a simple question, just need some tips to find the real issue.
 

Jemini

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Well, the drop off is only around 25%. That's actually about average for most series. Just look around at the view counts for any other series on the site.

That said, I did take a quick glance. You literally started out your chapter by saying "I was born in X date" and then followed that up with "The year is..." That is just a flashing neon sign that says "this is exposition" and puts the reader into instant boring lecture mode and it makes for a very bad first impression. At the very least you should save the exposition for paragraph 5. Further down than that would be good as well. Just a general tip.

EDIT: There are other techniques an approaches that allow the exposition to come in sooner than that though. "In the year" beginnings tend to have more spice to them, despite the fact that they are more or less saying the same kinds of information as the "the year is" beginnings. "In the year" is just a somewhat more engaging line.
 
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Well, the drop off is only around 25%. That's actually about average for most series. Just look around at the view counts for any other series on the site.

That said, I did take a quick glance. You literally started out your chapter by saying "I was born in X date" and then followed that up with "The year is..." That is just a flashing neon sign that says "this is exposition" and puts the reader into instant boring lecture mode and it makes for a very bad first impression. At the very least you should save the exposition for paragraph 5. Further down than that would be good as well. Just a general tip.
Got it, I appreciate it.
 

Jemini

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Some people just bookmark the story so when it has enough chapters they can come back to binge it. Maybe.

Does bookmarking count as a chapter view? I don't really know how that works.
 

Valmond

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After noticing that my readers increased (stats on my story), I decided to take a gander at my views on the last few chapters.

Utter confusion overwhelms me when I saw only 15 views in a couple of days.

Digging deeper, I found that most of my readers stop at the first Chapter. Therefore, I assume there's probably something wrong. Be it word count or just writing, or the style.

Just a simple question, just need some tips to find the real issue.
To be fair, there will be large amounts of dropoffs between chapters 1 to 5. Around midway of the book, that is where the read will be consistent. It is usually preference, nothing that can be countered easily. Unless you don’t want to write what you want. Typically, a specific base is found from the middle of the book and onward.
 
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To be fair, there will be large amounts of dropoffs between chapters 1 to 5. Around midway of the book, that is where the read will be consistent. It is usually preference, nothing that can be countered easily. Unless you don’t want to write what you want. Typically, a specific base is found from the middle of the book and onward.
Oh... I see.

Very valid point. Thank you.
 

Zones

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Some people just bookmark the story so when it has enough chapters they can come back to binge it. Maybe.

This is what I do. Specifically I rarely read until 10 chapters or so and I get a feeling the author actually has an interest in writing the story. The vast majority of series in my reading list are dropped so it's kinda hard to want to read something from chapter one.

I understand why people are tempted to look at readership numbers but you should really try not to do so and write your story because you want to write it. I'd imagine part of why so many series get dropped is at least partially due to being depressed by readership values.
 

Valmond

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This is what I do. Specifically I rarely read until 10 chapters or so and I get a feeling the author actually has an interest in writing the story. The vast majority of series in my reading list are dropped so it's kinda hard to want to read something from chapter one.

I understand why people are tempted to look at readership numbers but you should really try not to do so and write your story because you want to write it. I'd imagine part of why so many series get dropped is at least partially due to being depressed by readership values.
I understand this mindset. I as well don’t even like picking up a book unless one of two conditions are met.

1. The book is complete.

2. I know the person, and am fully aware of their completion/work rate.

Other than this, I would almost never touch an online book. Rather not know the story, than to know it and it is never completed.
 

KiraMinoru

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I understand this mindset. I as well don’t even like picking up a book unless one of two conditions are met.

1. The book is complete.

2. I know the person, and am fully aware of their completion/work rate.

Other than this, I would almost never touch an online book. Rather not know the story, than to know it and it is never completed.
Maybe I’m just weird, but when I used to read all day everyday, I’d actually prefer never reaching the end of a story. I’d just binge everything up to what was released then move onto the next story. Typically never to return to it. Reaching a conclusive end to a story always felt either depressing knowing that it was over, or I’d just be sick of reading it and I just wanted to be caught up to whatever was released at that point in time. It not being completed to me felt more like the world continued to move even if I wasn’t watching it. If it was completed, it felt more like that world came to a halt.

I guess I find incomplete works have a certain charm to them that completed works do not.
 

Valmond

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Maybe I’m just weird, but when I used to read all day everyday, I’d actually prefer never reaching the end of a story. I’d just binge everything up to what was released then move onto the next story. Typically never to return to it. Reaching a conclusive end to a story always felt either depressing knowing that it was over, or I’d just be sick of reading it and I just wanted to be caught up to whatever was released at that point in time. It not being completed to me felt more like the world continued to move even if I wasn’t watching it. If it was completed, it felt more like that world came to a halt.

I guess I find incomplete works have a certain charm to them that completed works do not.
It might be age. When I was younger, I wouldn’t mind as much. Though as I get older, I want to complete as many things as I can.

I agree with your statement that incomplete has a certain charm to it. Though, getting older pretty much flips that. 😐
 

K5Rakitan

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It happens to the best of us.
Maybe I’m just weird, but when I used to read all day everyday, I’d actually prefer never reaching the end of a story. I’d just binge everything up to what was released then move onto the next story. Typically never to return to it. Reaching a conclusive end to a story always felt either depressing knowing that it was over, or I’d just be sick of reading it and I just wanted to be caught up to whatever was released at that point in time. It not being completed to me felt more like the world continued to move even if I wasn’t watching it. If it was completed, it felt more like that world came to a halt.

I guess I find incomplete works have a certain charm to them that completed works do not.
Have you read mine yet? Mine has a long way to go, and I'm on maternity leave now.
 
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