_{This is a complementary series for the Steemit-exclusive, original novel A Day in the Clouds. Be sure to check out the final chapter before you read this post to avoid spoilers.}

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<< #24 (Part 1 of 3)

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_{Cloud Image Source}

Now, let's put on our data analyst hat for a bit and look at the stats. I won't dive deep with the specifics, so I'll brush on the By The Numbers. As you may recall, I give all the earnings divided to @zeppelin and my chosen charity. Speaking of which, here is the proof of my donation:

Since I'm not able to draw out my Steem Power for that, I took money from my own pocket to give to them. With a wedding coming up, no full-time job, and no prospects (if anybody needs a writer, tester, coder or whatever hit me up ;) wink wink), that was all I could spare. My bank account is hemmorhaging, but I promised to give back and I chose Autism Speaks as a charity. I have made $0 from this entire experience and have gained only 2 reputation since I started. Suffice to say, this whole story was a labor of love.

I kept a detailed record to keep track of the earnings, but I made sure to transfer it after every payout so I won't forget. For those people who think this is some sort of scam, I have no control over the @zeppelin account and it was created by Zepp's father. The only times I had access to its finances was when I paid out to @verbal-d, @ryivhnn and @randowhale for the work that they did for this project. If you want to check all of the transaction, please feel free to do so, for transparency.

The Breakdown

	Votes	Views	Earnings	True Comments
Chapter 0	77	69	22	6
Chapter 1	173	61	26.16	8
Chapter 2	303	57	20.5	5
Chapter 3	134	49	1.59	20
Chapter 4	384	47	6.22	10
Chapter 5 (Part 1)	334	49	6.36	6
Chapter 5 (Part 2)	185	25	1.41	6
Chapter 6 (Part 1)	172	23	11.17	8
Chapter 6 (Part 2)	240	35	18.18	12
Chapter 7 (Part 1)	149	47	7.85	11
Chapter 7 (Part 2)	146	35	6.63	6
Chapter 8	136	40	3.41	15
Chapter 9	381	43	11.41	11
Chapter 10	95	32	2.03	8
Chapter 11	142	34	5.24	25
Chapter 12	137	33	12.88	13
Chapter 13 (Part 1)	95	65	0.61	16
Chapter 13 (Part 2)	68	26	0.74	5
Chapter 14 (Part 1)	135	37	5.38	12
Chapter 14 (Part 2)	133	62	3.05	13
Chapter 15	115	50	5.32	10
Chapter 16	79	22	3.83	10
Chapter 17	58	42	3.87	17
Chapter 18	134	35	16.91	14
Chapter 19	99	36	20	19
Chapter 20	91	37	50.43	14
Chapter 21 (Part 1)	124	26	51.51	18
Chapter 21 (Part 2)	78	37	79.22	15
Chapter 22 (Part 1)	109	37	123.08	12
Chapter 22 (Part 2)	102	56	93.28	25
Chapter 23	106	66	121.17	31
Chapter 24	105	29	162.31	8

As of writing, the story averaged $24.92 per chapter, with Chapter 24 having the highest payout, because of the HF19 spike and Chapter 22 (Part 1) having the second-highest payout, thanks in large part to generous votes by users like @canadian-coconut, @ausbitbank, @engagement, @trafalgar and @lukestokes. I appreciate all of the voters who put in their votes of course, I just don't have the space to name them all so I namedropped the top 5 that really pushed it over the top. Coincidentally, Chapter 21 and Chapter 22 are my favorite chapters of the series.

The average length of the chapters is 2253.375 and the difference between my NaNoWriMo count and the edited version with @verbal-d was a gross addition of 596 words (or 24.833 words per chapter). Chapter 5 is the longest with 4517 words, and Chapter 1 is the shortest with 1290.

	Votes	Views	Earnings	True Comments
#0	152	40	14.12	8
#1	159	30	17.54	9
#2	79	26	1.92	4
#3	211	26	25.5	2
#4	104	25	4.29	6
#5	164	20	2.76	4
#6	149	21	2	5
#7	639	45	13.27	19
#8	157	36	5.37	15
#9	152	21	6.51	20
#10	123	40	4.98	13
#11	100	27	2.88	7
#12	53	66	0.39	11
#13	77	32	1.19	9
#14	134	44	6.61	8
#15	83	30	1.74	18
#16	80	33	4.24	15
#17	91	28	16.8	18
#18	79	34	24.14	20
#19	68	33	13.1	15
#20	91	43	54.06	10
#21	57	43	50.56	20
#22	102	44	58.9	26
#23	84	33	56.34	10
#23	86	43	167.1	15
#24	32	27	46.39	8

As for the complementary series, SILVER LINING, it averaged $16.22 which was surprising to me because I felt like I received more interaction there than the story itself. In truth, the comments they received were mostly the same. Since I reply to all comments, the number of true comments could be derived by taking the half of the number of comments. The average of the comments the story received compared to its complementary series was 12.94 versus 12.17. In the middle of the 6-month life of the series, the SILVER LININGs felt more lively, mostly because it was shorter and easier to digest. When I started though, its initial intention was to just add to the total number of earnings and to provide additional information for the chapters, that's why I didn't think it would earn much.

Here's a look at the per chapter stats:

As you can see, the number of votes at the beginning were quite high, mainly because it was padded by curation trails like @curie and @steemtrail. The sharp drop-offs was caused by my disqualification from being voted on. The earnings didn't really coincide with them, so that suggests to me that there might be something wrong with how the trails are going about with their business. I don't mean to sound ungrateful though, because I'm very appreciative of all the help that it has done while it lasted. @naquoya was an awesome curator who almost always nominated my work, so I am very grateful to what he has done for the series. The earnings took hits during the great Flag War of 2017, so yeah..

Based on the graph alone, it supports that the best earnings was on Chapter 24, since the earnings were higher than the votes, followed closely by Chapter 22 (Part 1) and Chapter 23. The worst performer was both parts of Chapter 13 since you can see that it's almost zero. The steady increase of earnings made me quite optimistic. Chapter 20 saw the start of the trend, perhaps spurred on by the timing of the post.

Here's a look at the SILVER LINING stats:

The massive spike in #7 was caused by the combination of @j3dy's nomination in @steemvoter (thanks for that again!), @steemtrail and @curie. It still stands as my highest voted post, but the earnings just don't reflect. Again, this is another example of why the strategy of the curation trails should be reconsidered. #12 was the worst for the entire series (even considering the story itself), in all aspects. It had the most views out of all the SILVER LININGs, but it had the lowest earnings and votes. Looking at it, it's a bit confusing as to what contributed to that. The post itself was average in length, and the comments had the fourth most number at the time. Perhaps it was in the timing of the post.

I prefer not to divulge the exact reader stats, but I did thank my best supporters (based on the interaction in the comments section) previously.

The Takeaway

The difference between the number of views as opposed to the number of votes suggest a massive surge in autovoters. Now, I'm not saying that autovoters are wrong, but its main purpose of bringing in real readers isn't being fully realized. That is, at least in my case. I'm sure there are others who will attest to this.

The later chapters saw the optimal graph in terms of earnings and votes. Those two variables should at least be close to each other, or better yet, have the earnings greater than the votes. Chapter 0 was the closest I got to votes and views being equal. That would mean that almost all of the viewers actually read the post. Or, it could be that some people just return to the post to re-read it.

The steady increase in view, earnings and votes are what really make me optimistic about everything. Even though there were dips, everything retraced and normalized in the end. Hopefully, this is only the beginning, and even though this story has come to and end, I could use the momentum generated by this to propel myself further.

Now that we're done with the objective analysis, stay tuned for my emotional recap of the entire journey tomorrow :'(

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From the bottom of my heart and soul, thank you for reading!

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