I’m not a fan of serials, but I believe there is an audience. Delivery, execution, and marketing determine success. I decided to try a weekly series of flash stories. Instead of serializing a short story, I wrote a new story in serial fashion made of individual units containing overlap and reminders. Dunston Monster is the result. I set a limit of 8 parts so visitors could choose to wait and read at own pace (devious, I know.) My hypothesis: traffic declines as some stop reading or wait until end.
Not-So-Scientific Stats
Views declined over the period of 7 weeks of 8 episodes, and comment counts declined gradually to a base of regulars. Note that all comments are by #FridayFlash participants. Other readers are shy.
Views by Parts + Contents
The graph on the left shows a general decline, which counters the goal of a serial or series, until the final. Part 5 included a drawing that shows up in Facebook thumbnail, and I tweeted it in addition to the story. Note that I’ve added weekly views of the Contents Page which is the primary driver for the spike at 8 when ePub download was posted.
Comment numbers averaged 13 on each part with peaks at episode 3 and final. Comparing to other weekly flash series by other writers (6*,) I see similar comment patterns including the same regular visitors. Keep in mind that comment counts primarily represent #fridayflash participants with a variety of styles and backgrounds.
I’ve hidden the view counts as traffic counting is biased. The graph reflects averaging two systems.
Top Posts Comparison
None of the episodes beat my best stories in traffic seen in the graph on the right in chronological order.
Traffic to normal blog posts generally beat flash stories, and one post beats all my stories every month: “How-To: Make a 3D Photo” due to Google searches. (Except February, view counts to “The Only Color” just barely beat it.)
Conclusion
This is a low traffic blog, but the assumption is that the results generally scale. As expected, many readers will wait until the end or stop reading a serial. My stories, tend to come with layers and include details that aren’t immediately recognizable making them less suitable for weekly flash. Daily flash serial might work better.
I wouldn’t expect a reader to read something of mine that I wouldn’t read myself, and I wouldn’t read Dunston Monster at a pace of one episode per week. For that, I apologize. I will not present a traditional weekly flash series again. My post, Series and Serials, discusses the general case and why I decided to try a serial.
What do you think of my Dunston Monster conclusion?
*6 other flash series
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