Discrepancies between expected and received rating

[Not2Pervy]

I’ve been writing here for over a year and a half and I admit to being somewhat baffled by my inability to predict what rating my stories might receive.

A recent story I wrote too quickly and submitted for the winter contest received my highest score to date (first time over 4.8) while my most recent was just under 4.3 after 100 votes. In both instances I was somewhat surprised.

I know the ratings are problematic for multiple reasons, but I am curious whether or not other writers feel like they have a sense of where their stories will land, and whether that sense turns out to be accurate.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

Sometimes it just doesn't make sense. I threw together a story in a couple of hours for the Halloween contest, thinking it was just ok. It's holding strong at 4.88/303. hey, I'll take it.

 

[StillStunned]

No clue, usually. There are too many factors that are out of the author's: how many people read your story, mostly, and what mood they're in.

Overall, though, I know that some of my more experimental stories - Love at First Sight, Ben's Big Mistake, You Know You Shouldn't and most recently Life and Death of the She-Wolf - are less likely from the start to be big hits.

For the rest? Lily in the Springtime drew loads of views (by my modest pre-I/T standards) and ratings. I wrote a sequel a few days later, much hotter I thought, and barely anyone has bothered to read it, much less rate it.

In short: very hard to predict.

 

[Imstillfun]

I’ve stopped paying attention to ratings. I write mostly loving wives stories which get attacked all the time. I track my followers wnd favorites.

 

[R. Richard]

I write what I think is a really good a story for my for pay publisher and I get poor sales. I write something that's maybe average and I get good sales. I think that it may have to do with the storm god.

 

[Not2Pervy]

I’m definitely feeling better that my perception of randomness is shared. Although since I’m always searching for explanation it did just occur to me that a half dozen of my new followers from the Romance category may have been expressing their displeasure at my dipping into I/T and could have done a lot of damage, ratings-wise.

My refusal to be pigeon-holed probably has a cost.

 

[NotWise]

I’m definitely feeling better that my perception of randomness is shared. Although since I’m always searching for explanation it did just occur to me that a half dozen of my new followers from the Romance category may have been expressing their displeasure at my dipping into I/T and could have done a lot of damage, ratings-wise.

My refusal to be pigeon-holed probably has a cost.

The number of voters that could cross over from Romance would be pretty small compared to the number of voters in I/T. Even if your Romance readers did express their opinion on your I/T story, they probably wouldn't have much effect. I cross between those categories and haven't seen a problem.

I usually expect ratings to come in around my personal average. If they come in lower or higher then I look for reasons. The answers are easier if the rating is higher than my average. Lower scores prompt some soul-searching.

 

[alohadave]

Sometimes when you don't try to polish something you keep what makes it better. Writing something when you are totally relaxed and not worrying too much about it, you let your voice remain prominent. Editing over and over, and obsessing over each and every word can take some of your voice and feeling from the work.

A story that you can't understand why people like--because you know every single flaw--they are responding to the story, not your grammar or word choice. They aren't seeing the (same) flaws you see, because they have no emotional attachment and are reading the story cold, while you as the author have likely read it 10-50 times.

Besides, you just never know what people are going to respond to. Also, it's always a different set of readers that encounter each story. It's never a homogeneous group.

 

[TxRad]

I learned a long time ago to write what I want, where I want, and how I want it and let the chips fall where they may.

 

[Mastered_again]

I learned a long time ago to write what I want, where I want, and how I want it and let the chips fall where they may.

And sometimes we get buffalo chips

 

[MyBareTorso]

I’ve been writing here for over a year and a half and I admit to being somewhat baffled by my inability to predict what rating my stories might receive.

A recent story I wrote too quickly and submitted for the winter contest received my highest score to date (first time over 4.8) while my most recent was just under 4.3 after 100 votes. In both instances I was somewhat surprised.

I know the ratings are problematic for multiple reasons, but I am curious whether or not other writers feel like they have a sense of where their stories will land, and whether that sense turns out to be accurate.

100 votes???!! I'd be happy with that regardless of the score! I've stopped trying to figure out why some stories get higher scores than others...as long as a few people are viewing my stuff, I'm happy...the real joy comes from the writing and turning myself on.

 

[TheRedChamber]

I think I'm starting to get a rough handle on what is going to score highly and what isn't (at least for me and my style) - but as others have said there are tons of factors to consider. One thing to remember is that if you're aiming for 4.5 then 7 x Five Stars are needed to balance out 1 x One Star. Thus the higher rated stories tend to be the uncontroversial ones - the ones which don't hit anybody's squicks or political prejudices. The average scores and the expectations vary between categories, of course.

I've been fairly successful with a recent series of stories about a young nerd couple - they follow a basic pattern - she surpises the male MC with some sexually adventurous stuff (roleplay, bondage, dogging), he goes a long with it, and then there's a cute little twist at the end. These have all easily gotten H's - there's nothing really to object in them - she is a fantasy with no rough edges, they stay monogamous and the stories end strongly (IMHO).

My Gay stories have also been very well recieved - but it seems like practically everything in that category gets an H so...On the other hand, near to nothing in Loving Wives gets an H so I was happy with 3.33 for my one story there.

On the other hand, my recent story in Transexual was designed as 'transition by acid trip' and could be described as 'Rocky Horror meets Hotel California'. It's recieved some very nice comments, but I'm not entirely surprised it whiffed an H at 4.47, although it certainly could have been lower.

Happy endings are uncontroversial. Sad or bittersweet endings are not for everyone. I wrote two Lesbian stories this year and the happy one did much better than the sad one. Making your characters unlikable in someway can also cost you.

 

[KeithD]

You may be one of those lucky people who write best when you do it quickly and spontaneously--that you have a writing voice that supports this. If so, minimize the editing/review time. Your first effort might be your best.

 

[Voboy]

You may be one of those lucky people who write best when you do it quickly and spontaneously--that you have a writing voice that supports this. If so, minimize the editing/review time. Your first effort might be your best.

This.

The more I tweak something, the weaker I think it gets.

But to answer your question, OP, there are a number of replies here from posters with dozens of stories. If there was a way to "solve" for rating expectations, one of us would have figured it out by now. It's a constantly moving target, and that's a good thing: writing a paint-by-numbers story to a specific recipe strikes me as mind-numbing.

Keep pushing.

 

[ronde]

I’ve been writing here for over a year and a half and I admit to being somewhat baffled by my inability to predict what rating my stories might receive.

A recent story I wrote too quickly and submitted for the winter contest received my highest score to date (first time over 4.8) while my most recent was just under 4.3 after 100 votes. In both instances I was somewhat surprised.

I know the ratings are problematic for multiple reasons, but I am curious whether or not other writers feel like they have a sense of where their stories will land, and whether that sense turns out to be accurate.

Ratings are kind of a crap-shoot depending upon the genre. Most of us also think whatever we have published is really great. There are some ways to help those ratings along though.

1. I would suspect the story you wrote quickly was about something you have a fair knowledge about. If you didn't, you wouldn't have been able to write it so quickly. That just follows the first rule of writing that I learned long ago - write what you know or at least do enough research to sound like you do. Writing what you know lends authenticity to the story.

2. Write a lot of stories in the genre that interest you. That will let you see where you fit in Literotica. Once you find that out, mostly stay in those genre unless you develop a new interest. You'll develop a following of readers who will rate your stories higher than the average reader who just stumbles onto your story.

3. Pay more attention to the number and content of the comments than to the ratings. The few readers who leave a comment feel pretty strongly one way or the other about the story and can be a real help. Lots of comments mean you made an impression on lots of readers.

By the way, a rating of 4.3 isn't anything to be concerned about. There are a lot of stories on Literotica that never made it all the way to 4.0.

 

[Imstillfun]

I think the new categories format limits the amount of reads you get. It pushes your stories off the front page in less than a day. My stories have gone from over 100k views to under 50k. I think that affects voting and comments.

 

[MillieDynamite]

The amount of content posted pushes you off the page. If the genre is especially a busy one, it happens quicker than if it is one that fewer writers publish in.

 

[SimonDoom]

Sometimes it just doesn't make sense. I threw together a story in a couple of hours for the Halloween contest, thinking it was just ok. It's holding strong at 4.88/303. hey, I'll take it.

Interesting. I took about 4 years writing my Halloween contest story (not continuously, obviously--I abandoned it for long stretches). I thought it was pretty good but its initial score was disappointing. Then a late sweep shot it up to 4.93 and I placed in the contest. Immediately after I got my W the score nose-dived and now it's holding around 4.65.

You can drive yourself crazy trying to expect what the score will be. Better to just keep writing and looking forward.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

Interesting. I took about 4 years writing my Halloween contest story (not continuously, obviously--I abandoned it for long stretches). I thought it was pretty good but its initial score was disappointing. Then a late sweep shot it up to 4.93 and I placed in the contest. Immediately after I got my W the score nose-dived and now it's holding around 4.65.

You can drive yourself crazy trying to expect what the score will be. Better to just keep writing and looking forward.

I have decided there are some very targeted hates(uno-bombers) out there. My stories started getting hit after I got a blue W. Sad, but I think some other authors do it intentionally to improver their chances at winning.

 

[SimonDoom]

Sad, but I think some other authors do it intentionally to improver their chances at winning.

That just strikes me as so pathetic as to leave me gobsmacked. What would it mean to win a silly contest if you're cheating to win it? It's not like there are any meaningful stakes involved.

 

[MillieDynamite]

I never hold preconceptions about my scores. I do spend a lot of time tweaking at times, and other times, I don't. As far as scores, when I tweak or tweak not, I can't tell any real difference in whether they do well or not here.