Teasers, do they work?

[Shocker]

I have been rather vocal in some of my recent reviews on the topic of teasers, how I see them and how they might be used to greater effect. Not because I think the authors did anything wrong, but because I would like their work to attract more readers. This triggered a question in my mind, does anybody actually read teasers? I know I don’t, or at least I don’t when picking a story to read. Once I opened the story I will read the teaser first, but at that time I’m already committed to reading the story anyway.

The original intent of the teaser, was to provide a quick preview of what a story entails, by just hovering with your mouse over the title, giving a reader the option to get a glimpse of what is to come. I hope this isn’t news to most readers.

But the question remains, is anybody reading them as a help to decide what to read? Are the teasers an actual hook to draw you in? Do you care about teasers?

The attached poll is primarily for my curiosity.

[BlueRaven]

Sometimes I read them, sometimes not. It depends weather I already know I want to read the Story, or if I just look around. In the end I get an better overview, if its a longer story from the content earnings for each chapter.

[Claire]

Short answer: Probably not. I think about two thirds of our users browse the forum on their phone. To use the topic preview feature, which shows you the teaser without entering the topic, you need a mouse that you can hover over the topic title with. So that feature simply doesn't work for the majority of users.

Back in February for the last announcement of Project Relaunch I said this:

Future Updates

Also, we want to add topic descriptions to the board. These would then give authors a way to advertise their stories a little more and look something like this:



However, the descriptions will likely be limited to 160 characters and not be as long as in the screenshot.

I don't know how effective these would be limited to 160 characters, but I can tell you that on AO3 a good teaser, which on AO3 is displayed similar to what you see in the screenshot, makes a massive difference. When @RapeU first posted his CUNT Rapist story on AO3, I suggested for him to use a different teaser. The number of views he got on the first day after posting a new chapter increased from 40 to 100, so by a factor 2.5. That was the effect of a different teaser alone.

If we allowed authors to write teasers like that, which get directly displayed on topic view, I'd expect that to have a similar effect here as well.

That being said, this comes with a risk. If we allow for teasers like that, each individual story takes up more space in the topic list (see the screenshot). And that could mean that attention for stories might focus even more on the stories at the top of the board than it already does.

[Vela Nanashi]

I suggested we put teaser and meta information on mobile at least but even on pc perhaps in an expandable box, spoiler box aome may call it, that way the story lines can be compact but if title is interesting one can click on info expand to see the teaser and more info, rsther than entering the topic for that it would fix the need for a hoverable mouse.

[Shocker]

@BlueRaven and @Claire
Thank you for the feedback.

Claire, I absolutely get what you mean also the difference in browsing habits. It might sound strange, as I have admitted to nit use teasers as an aid to decide what I read. But I do put considerable thought into what I write into my own teasers. Ideally I try to use the opening lines, as I firmly believe those will have to draw the reader in. So my opening lines are always designed to hook a reader. When writing under a pen name for a contest, I tend to mix things up a bit.

In general I do like the idea of how teasers are being shown, but like tags I don’t make an effort to look for them when picking a story to read, but that’s a me problem.

[BlueRaven]

The line that got me to unlock Record Chaser came right at the end of the free section"

“I’m Mark and… I’m your rapist for the coming day.”

Would have been the right teaser for me.

[Shocker]

The line that got me to unlock Record Chaser came right at the end of the free section"

“I’m Mark and… I’m your rapist for the coming day.”

Would have been the right teaser for me.

I completely agree that this would have been a perfect teaser. Giving a reader enough to be intrigued and yearning to find out what that line means.

[Lucius]

Option 2 for me, I think I always read teasers (or note their absence -- sometimes it's a symptom of other technical problems with the story), but I don't choose stories to read on that basis.

[AdmiralPiet]

For me the answer to the opening question is: Sometimes.

Sometimes I read the teaser, sometimes I skip it.

Sometimes it is the title that hooks me right away, sometimes only after the teaser.

Sometimes I read the teaser and turn away because I realsie it is not a story for me...