You really have to understand what the TG market will bear .. you don't want to seem passé, right?
Made this one for Wendygirl, who I haven't seen online since the end of March, so I'm hoping she's OK. Anyway, I had no real idea what to do with this picture at first, other than I think she'd love to be the model in the photo .. and I thought it'd be a good workplace caption, with its pegboard and locked cabinets lending an employment sort of aura about it all.
And since she's still recovering from her change, I preferred that she didn't talk, and since I wasn't reading some sort of grand eloquent supervillain monologue, I knew that there would have to be two people involved. From there, I figured that there'd be one guy that was the mastermind behind everything, and one that was a complete lackey that didn't bring much to the party. That way, I can have the actual perpetrator gloat over what he's done, while his buddy can be the one who questions his methods and ponder what is going on .. which helps lead the reader to understand, getting the story out as it's understood.
Then I thought of what the overall appeal of the caption is for Wendy, and tried to amplify it beyond the original idea .. one that could be more universally appealing to anyone visiting this blog. This post is the 2,153 one I've put up since I started on August 5, 2010. If I kept posting the same thing over and over, it never would have grown to over 40 million views since. And some posts bomb .. big time! Pregnancy does not seem to be very popular here, even if I do continue to dabble with it occasionally. The 4/20 post from a few days ago ..complete stinker .. worse than the skunk weed your friends smoked when you were 15 years old!
So as mentioned in a few of the last captions, I am trying to keep relevant. I've noticed that more viewers are reading via cell phone now than desktop. Perhaps that is why people are heading over to twitter to make TG "captions". I've never tried, nor wanted to try, viewing my content on a phone until recently .. when I'm out for the weekend, I will sign in through a incognito browser to publish the posting I've written up before hand (this one was written on Thursday night, and hopefully will be posted sometime on Saturday night) .. and I wonder if people are enjoying my work (and understanding the whole gestalt of it all) as much though a small screen.
So, I think this caption works on both levels, in both the story I wanted to tell, and subsequently, how I try to figure out how to stay up to date on how to deliver this content to you, my loyal followers, and also to try to grow the audience and keep our community vital.
If you could humor me, in the comments, please list all the different ways you view TG content. Is it just though blogs like mine? Do you download fiction or captions through Amazon or other content providers? Perhaps, you subscribe to Patreon? Watch videos on Youtube or view TG content on Discord, Twitch, or Twitter? Something else I haven't mentioned? I am definitely curious.
And hey, talking about the caption is fine with me too!
Sorry, how many? 2,153!!! Hell's bells! That's, like, a lot. Buty you're right, they're all of them fresh and... different - I mean that entirely as a compliment! And 40 *million* views!!! That's almost the population of the UK in the 1950s and 60s. Woah!
ReplyDeleteI'll be honest, up until getting my own laptop very recently, I'd save up and splurge on the work laptop - if you see what I mean - and my phone I use irregularly to view captions. I use it for bdsmlr because... yeah, maybe safer? I prefer a laptop, more easily navigable for me. I've only recently discovered reddit content (not captions though, more memes). I am a bad example and statistical sample though, keep in mind.
FWIW, I'm partial to a pregnancy caption every now and then. Like a guilty pleasure or an entire bar of cheap chocolate: I try not to consume them too often. I enjoy it when I do. It's more wistful melancholy than, ahem, titillation when I do however. Maybe that explains the lower viewcounts?
Now, geeky lesbians I can get behin- that's... an unfortunate turn of phrase.
*and, by splurge, I mean view blogs and captions all at once.
DeleteEh? Was there something you posted before that I'm not seeing? Hmmmm?
DeleteGlad you do splurge though. Much rather see you do that than Splooge!
I wondered why you had that last line all by itself, so I went deeper into the blogger app and found you had the original comment written out, but it was flagged for SPAM, so it's now free for everyone to read!
DeleteI do pregnancy captions when I had a trade partner that likes them, or if I fund a great picture that just pulls a good story out of me. Thanks for the info on how you view your tg content. I just like using a computer better, as I don't take my computer anywhere. I'm not sure I'd like to take a portable veersion of every kink I have, along with personal information, pictures, contacts, etc .. seems way too risky!
And also, thanks for the compliment!
Generally I read either through a laptop or mobile if I have a spare moment and it's still mainly the Haven but there are a couple of other story sites I go to. I've also been thinking a bit more about Twitter lately too but I doubt I would do much captioning there.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on so many views though. Although I don't have that many I'm still always surprised how many countries are reading my blog and in so many different ways. The fact that people have read me in Thailand or Spain is just wild to me. My most popular post is just me talking about a Role Exchanger story for some reason.
I don't mind pregnancy caps myself and it is something I have gotten into more over the years.
Thanks so much, sweetie! Good to know how people are viewing my blog.
DeleteAnd I think when it comes to hits, the more people check in, the more bots seems to check in too, so I'm betting that does uptick the views quite a bit! For me, the better measuring stick is that I'm close to 10k comments. I understand that perhaps 40 percent of them are me responding to others, but that is still a BUNCH of comments, and I love getting feedback!
Desktop here, pretty much just websites. Phone is too small.
ReplyDeleteGotcha! I wondered if people get the whole caption experience if they have to view the picture THEN read the story beside it afterwards. I guess whatever-floats-your-boat but still, I like to see everything at once. This also could be a generational thing as well.
DeleteCaption really turned out sweet.
ReplyDeleteCongrats on the high output and readership.
Large screen laptop for me. The phone is okish, but having to zoom in and out and read the post separate the picture is a huge drawback. I guess I am close to Dees generation. The computer experience is definitely richer than the phone. Phone is ok for a quick check or catchup or posting something small or using it to publish a larger piece of work that was prepared earlier on your computer.
My profile should list the blogs I follow, a bit more than TG. Stories sites for TG are bigcloset, fictionmania and yes on youtube there's always great suggestions to view which can lead to finding more content as they sometimes have a blog too.
Occasionally if I like a commentator on one blog I'll check out their profile as I just did on Terri and read their blog if they have one.
I feel like the comments section should help the community to grow, and I'm glad that you've visited Terri's site. I've known her for years through Rachel's Haven, and she's very thoughtful in both captions she creates and also her real life adventures.
DeleteI think one thing about phones vs computers I hadn't brought up yet is that I have been wandering away from the apartment on most weekends, so that I'm away from where I do much of my online work .. which gives me a bit of a 'vacation' where I don't have to think about anything. If I was on my phone all the time, I'd probably not get that separation. As it is, I tend to just use my phone to message close friends and occasionally check Facebook.
Thank you for telling me of your viewing habits.