A thought on Erica The Edited.

PrevertOne

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When I submitted Erica The Edited https://www.literotica.com/s/erica-the-edited-pt-01 for posting last week, I didn't expect very much. Certainly it was the first mind control story I submitted to this site. The other two stories I posted this past month did well in views and votes (Pepper On The Inside https://www.literotica.com/s/pepper-on-the-inside , in fact, is the highest rated story I ever posted) but only as well as most I posted, reasonably so. Erica The Edited: ten thousand views in two days? (!) One hundred votes in that same period (mostly positive, for which I'm extremely grateful)? (!) It's the most successful story I ever posted (very grateful for that too), but it was so unexpected. I'm just curious to see how far it goes before it plateaus. Has anyone written a story, where your expectations were low but the performance far exceeded it?
 
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Has anyone written a story, where your expectations were low but the performance far exceeded it?
Mine usually go the other way. I write something clever and it goes into the shitter, rating-wise. My most-read story is also my lowest-rated. Go figure.

Reader response depends on meeting audience expectations. Pander enough, and you'll do well. Challenge the crowd and you'll be punished. Readers want what they want. Incest readers mostly want parent-child and sibling sex, not sweet kissing cousins or (in my case) sibs transformed into banana slugs. That's how it works here.
 
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Has anyone written a story, where your expectations were low but the performance far exceeded it?

Yes. This story: https://www.literotica.com/s/three-graces-of-maidstone

I didn't really feel inspired when writing it. I thought it was a Ho-Hum story i.e. reasonably competent but not special. It has lost its Red H over time but the votes, comments and emailed feedback were much better than expected.

This one: https://www.literotica.com/s/hedgehog-feud

I thought was a fairly low-key story of mature love but it seemed to work better than I expected.

BUT the opposite is more often true for my stories. I write ones I'm very pleased with and they get few votes (and 1 bombs), never get a Red H, and slip down the new list almost unnoticed. That can hurt when I have spent many hours writing a story that attracts little notice.
 
I'm learning quickly not to get surprised by reader responses on this site, but one thing that has surprised me is the lack of any relationship among the number of views, ratings, and number of favorites. As far as I can tell, they are unrelated to one another.

A lot of it has to do with the category in which the story is submitted, and whether the story delivers what the average reader in that category wants to see.

In terms of getting views, I think the title matters, too. I've noticed that the most viewed story on this site is 'A' My Name Is Alice, which begins with the letter A. I wonder if one of the reasons it is so popular is that it shows up first, or nearly first, in alphabetical lists. A teasing, erotic title is more likely to get readers.

PrevertOne, I'm not surprised your story did well. It moves along at a good pace, it's the right length, and delivers what somebody reading a mind control story is looking for. Also, you've written a lot of stories and probably have a following (I had to check out Big Honkin' Slugs -- lol).

My highest-rated story also is the one with the fewest views and the fewest favorites. I assume that has something to do with its having been submitted in the BDSM category.

My lowest-rated story, by far (3.3 rating, and tons of 1 bombs) also has had over 25,000 views, and 649 votes. It was submitted, of course, in the Loving Wives category. Those folks love to pour on the hate. If you want responses, good or bad, that seems to be the category where you're going to get them. But steel yourself.

I thought my latest story was my best, and I was somewhat disappointed that its rating wasn't quite high enough to get an "H." But it's done very well in its category in terms of total views and being favorited.

If you're a data geek, as I am, it's all very interesting, but it doesn't tell you whether you are writing good stories or not.
 
All the votes and rating do is show the popularity of the story. That can be a result of the title, the category, and the length.

But there is no measure of the quality of the writing. Having said that, a popular and high-rated story has proved writing efficiency in meeting the preferences of a large number of Literotica readers.

Popular does not necessarily mean bad (or good) writing. Unpopular does not necessarily mean bad (or good) writing.

Bad or poor writing can be popular if the story-telling is good and reaches the parts other stories don't.
 
More often than not, reception here of my stories goes a different way than I expected.
 
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