Hi authors. I got the following email in my inbox as feedback from a reader. Below I have pasted my reply. What do we think? Was I out of line. How do the rest of you feel about voting?
My reply:
Hi,
I discovered your stories through Bob on Board, which I really enjoyed. I then went to see what else you had written and read all the stories in order and enjoyed them all. I gave every story a 4 rating. Sorry it wasn't a 5, but for a story to get a 5 from me it has to be absolute perfection. I don't think that I have yet gieven a story a 5 - there is always room for improvement. Most stories only get a 3.
Anyway, I am looking forward to reading more of your stories, both the continued adventures of Belinda and Rupali and also any other stories you write. Keep up the good work.
My reply:
Ouch. I beg you to reconsider your voting regime. Perfection in a story is not indicated by a SINGLE vote, but through an AGGREGATE of votes. When ten people vote on a story and nine think it is hot (5), while one thinks it is somewhat hot (4), that's an average of 4.9. Conversely if only 5 think it is hot, 4 somewhat hot, and 1 thinks it is "good' (3), then it gets a 4.4 average.
Stories with a 4.5+ average on Literotica earn the 'H' tag for "HOT". Quite simply, that means most people think it is hot. ANYTHING less than a 4.5 is NOT HOT, and in my book, a NOT HOT erotica doesn't deserve to be published; NOT HOT erotica is pointless waste of time. Quite simply, if any of my stories averaged under 4.5 after a couple of months on Lit, I would withdraw them as clutter and contemplate what I had done wrong, and why I had wasted a month of my life writing such trash.
Right now, my story Twisting on the Gallows Pole is teetering on 4.53. I don't know what I did wrong, because I thought it was pretty hot, but it hasn't attracted readers. I may have made a mistake with the title; maybe I will republish it as 'Strip Twister'.
I beg you, if you find my stories hot, give me 5 and let the average of others' votes determine the degree of 'perfection' in the story, rather than taking that entire responsibility on yourself.
If you don't think my stories are hot; if they don't get you hard, then by all means give them a lower score and go on in search of a truly hot story by another author.
Thanks for your kind words. The fact that you read them all makes me think that you did in fact find them hot, but the 4-votes are breaking my heart.
Belinda