Anyone experiencing reader drop off in an episode?

[tiff524]

So, I'm noticing a strange pattern with my novel currently. When I check my stats, I notice that many readers are making it through to my 20th episode, and then there is not so much after. The episode is called "San Francisco", and it's leading into a pivotal point in the story. So, I don't think it's a slow chapter.

For example: I have 28 reads, with a steady number of people going through about that much for each episode up to there. Then, for ep 21, it drops to about 5. It's like either people are getting discouraged or are they just not wanting to go on?

I'm not sure if it is the reveal that happens there as a cliff hanger or what. It is in the middle of a dinner conversation. So, I thought it would lead people right into the next episode. But I could be wrong. My protagonist has a make-over earlier for the dinner.

I'm just stumped. Has anyone else noticed this happen in your novel? With a drop off suddenly of readers after several episodes into your novel?

[AmysGames]

This happens to every single comic I've ever posted, where there's a sudden dropoff of views at specifically episode 20. I've heard it's from bots that crawl your first 20 episodes.

Most infuriating screenshot:

[jwabeasley]

Huh, I'd never noticed before, but there is a ~200 view drop from 20 to 21. You might be right about those bots!

[kyupol]

My earlier episodes have more views

Vs my recent ones...

Must be normal

[jwabeasley]

You would generally expect a decline in views on a per-episode basis, people who read the early ones don't come back only for the newest chapters. Like, what if a reader read everything once, and then came back a year later and read the whole thing through again?

But in this case we're looking for a ~200 viewer drop around episode 20.

[Aleksei]

Well let's see... oh! Yes, it happened to me too.
Well, the first 2 chapter has like 6k and 1k from people who didn't come back, and then it keep stable around 400 until chapter 20, and then it drops 200, and then it stabilizes with gradual decline until chapter 79, the last chapter, having around 80 faithful readers reaching the epic conclusion of the comic.

I didn't noticed the 200 drop on chapter 20 before, because it looked kind of consistent with the overall numbers, but yeah, it coincides with everyone else experience.

[tiff524]

Thanks for getting back to me @Aleksei, @jwabeasley, @kyupol, and @amysgames. I was really starting to think there was something wrong with that episode. But from everyone's experiences, it seems to be a "bot" situation or some kind of crawler checking out our stories. At least it gives you an idea how many humans are reading after episode 20. And I'm relieved. I won't need to look at that episode for rewrites or something to draw people in. Looks like I do have a small following. With just 17 subscribers, at least I've got some people reading it. I have about 10 episodes until it's done. So, maybe the number will go up when it is complete.

It could be some internal things relating to Tapas, like 20 episode "Any novel 20 episodes" and get free ink quests. Or internal crawlers from Tapas. But thank you all for helping out with this. I was thinking it was something about that specific episode. Now, I can get back to just finishing the last 10 episodes. I'm hoping to coordinate finishing around Valentine's Day, Feb. 14th. Good time to end a romance. Thank you all for your help.

[Inspector_Spinda]

Great observations guys! I checked my old 2019 comic and it’s the same.

[Ordinaryaverageguy]

It surely could be bots. Reader counts per episode aren't actually assurances anyone read the episode. Just accessing it will count like a read even if not a single word was actually read. Also, I wonder if any of those bots are AI training on the stories here?

[AmysGames]

Yeah, it's probably a similar reason why the first episode always gets way more views than any other episode. Don't take it personally; it's just a thing that happens.

Also, I wonder if any of those bots are AI training on the stories here?

It's been happening since long before genAI was a thing, so I wouldn't immediately assume that, though I guess that's no guarantee that it's not happening.

[tiff524]

You know, I have to add on to this discussion, because it is helping with the planning of my next project. Since I have seen this pattern of 20 episodes being a drop off point, I'm wondering if shorter projects are preferred by readers on Tapas. I am lining up my next project, and it is a novella. So, it would fit a 20 episode structure really nicely. So, I'm going to plan for that now. I have to reword the ending some, and should make it about that magic 20 episodes. Whether it makes a difference in people subscribing, liking and commenting to make it just a 20 episode story? I don't know. But it is something to keep in the back of my head as I work on my next project. Thanks for the discussion everyone. It's been helpful.

[jwabeasley]

I don't think the 20 episode drop is that big of a deal if you're doing decently - Yeah, I have ~10% fewer views between update 20 and 21, but there's also a 10% drop between 149 and 150. There's a general uneven but steady decrease in views for newer pages. But I remember when a new page got <10 views in its first week, and now it's about 100-150 for new pages.

If we're right about the first 20 drop being caused by bots that only index the first 20 pages, it doesn't make sense to make 20 episodes the whole story. It would make sense to try and tell a full story/arc in that time period and really try to knock the socks off of whoever is reading what the bots are up to.

On the other hand, I am totally in favor of short projects with defined endings. Let us know how it goes!