hi i'm new i have a question

[peachesandpears]

Hey all,

I've been a long time lurker of literotica, but I only just made an account and posted my first story a few days ago. I honestly didn't expect anyone to even see it, but when I went to check if it was up, I saw that not only had it posted but it's gathered about 3k views so far. That was super shocking to me, and as there are very few comments and likes I was wondering if maybe the 3k views is an inflated number or something? Or, if that's actually real and people read my story, is that a realistic representation of the ratio of people who actually like and comment? It just felt odd to me, but again I've never done this before.

Trying to figure out how much this should go to my head and how terrified I should be that people read it, if anyone could let me know that would be great =)

Thanks,
Peaches (he/they)

 

[alohadave]

Views just means how many times the story was opened. It doesn't mean that everyone who opened it read through it to the end.

Depending on the category, 3k can be normal for the first few days.

On average, vote counts are around 1-3% of views.

It's pretty normal to obsess about it a little, but try not to take validation from it. There is a definite rush seeing the stats move up, but it's just numbers.

 

[StillStunned]

Views represents how many times someone clicked on your story. It doesn't necessarily mean they read it, of course.

Whether 3k is a high number or not depends on the category. I have a story in Sci-Fi/Fantasy that's on 974 views after nearly three months. In Exhibitionist & Voyeur I have one that's been viewed a little over 2000 times in three months, and two others that soared to 5k in a few days. My one venture into Incest/Taboo is sitting at 67k views after one week - but still only a dozen comments.

What I'm trying to say is that it all depends. The lesson here is to just write, publish, and think of views and ratings the same way as gardening: you can nurture a rosebush for weeks, months, years, and it might never bloom, but if it does, it's a wonderful feeling.

 

[peachesandpears]

Views represents how many times someone clicked on your story. It doesn't necessarily mean they read it, of course.

Whether 3k is a high number or not depends on the category. I have a story in Sci-Fi/Fantasy that's on 974 views after nearly three months. In Exhibitionist & Voyeur I have one that's been viewed a little over 2000 times in three months, and two others that soared to 5k in a few days. My one venture into Incest/Taboo is sitting at 67k views after one week - but still only a dozen comments.

What I'm trying to say is that it all depends. The lesson here is to just write, publish, and think of views and ratings the same way as gardening: you can nurture a rosebush for weeks, months, years, and it might never bloom, but if it does, it's a wonderful feeling.

Okay thank you that's helpful! I just didn't expect anyone to see it at all so it was a little shocking.

 

[StillStunned]

Okay thank you that's helpful! I just didn't expect anyone to see it at all so it was a little shocking.

Isn't that the whole idea of publishing?

 

[peachesandpears]

Isn't that the whole idea of publishing?

I guess so huh =) ive just posted stories on other sites before with limited success. I try to keep my expectations really low so when I have days like this it's exciting!

 

[KeithD]

This is a reader-oriented site. They aren't asked to react in any way to what they read, and most don't here. Your experience is typical. Given the nature of the material on this site, authors should expect readers to read but not leave any indication that they've been here.

 

[Publius68]

I remember my feelings were similar when I started posting my first series here. Would anyone read it?
Like you, I was happy to see that people would, in fact, read it.
Then, like you, I fretted about why no one was commenting.
That first series was also my longest, at 20 chapters. That was two years ago, and several do not have a single comment to this day.
It still pisses me off a little.
I would just say that, in my experience, plentiful comments come from two sources: Dedicated fans of earlier work, and pissed-off readers who don't like your ending or your proofreading...

 

[Jorunn]

Based on my two months of experience, I agree with the comments that have been made. Certain categories have their own following, and you can get several thousand reads in the first few days. Other categories will get you maybe 1000 reads. Your title and the summary line are critical for this, so think those through carefully and make them appealing. "A story about gangsters in Chicago" is bad, "A young woman falls for a 1930's gangster" might be better(?). Until you get your own following, expect the reads and votes to drop off quickly after the first week. At that point, your tags become important (a great Lit feature). Because when Publius, Keith, and Stunned post their wonderful stories, if you match their tags, then readers will see your story come up and may open it.

 

[Stimtheone]

From my decent experience, views will be the vast majority. You will probably get a hundred or a thousand more views than reviews. Favorites will come perhaps every five hundred, but that one's uncertain. Comments are rare unless you are posting something controversial. I usually consider that only a quarter of the views actually "matter" as in they actually read it to the end. Many will just go in a few paragraphs, a page and go away because they don't like something or other.

 

[madelinemasoch]

Many will just go in a few paragraphs, a page and go away because they don't like something or other.

When I think about this, I get depressed.

 

[Publius68]

if you match their tags, then readers will see your story come up and may open it.

This is actually a more thoughtful and strategic use of tags than I had previously considered. And one I may start emulating.

 

[ElectricBlue]

From my decent experience, views will be the vast majority. You will probably get a hundred or a thousand more views than reviews. Favorites will come perhaps every five hundred, but that one's uncertain. Comments are rare unless you are posting something controversial. I usually consider that only a quarter of the views actually "matter" as in they actually read it to the end. Many will just go in a few paragraphs, a page and go away because they don't like something or other.

By "review" I guess you mean votes? My rule of thumb is one vote per hundred views, one comment per thousand. And, from my chaptered stories, I assume maybe one in five who open a story (a View) will actually finish it, tops.

I'd question your observation about comments only coming with controversy. In my experience, you get comments if a story is written really well or strikes a chord, or is poorly written. Controversial, not so much (category dependent, obviously).

But yeah, never think Views = Reads. That's a delusion!

 

[RainyDayPen]

I always think most views are bots crawling around on the internet gathering info for search engines and the like. I'm not sure the percent but I always pictured a LOT!

I also do the habit of opening stories based on tags alone and checking them out that way.

Either way it's really fun to know people might (hopefully) enjoy your writing. I've heard that other sites don't get the kind of attention this site gets - so it's likely anything posted here will get a lot of real readers.

 

[M_K_Babalon]

Don't worry too much about views, as you can see why. If anything mattered, it'd be favorites and votes. Favorites are almost an idea of who's actually read it by minority. Only a small percentage of readers interact with the stories.

My success is questionable on other sites, too.

 

[Duleigh]

Trying to figure out how much this should go to my head and how terrified I should be that people read it, if anyone could let me know that would be great =)

Some people will tell you not to worry about the numbers, others will tell you it's all about the numbers, me, I'm a numbers geek so for me it's the numbers, but you're not me. There's nothing to be terrified of, so relax and let it roll.

Some categories draw more readers than others, I love to write sci-fi and that's so-so. Essays is a wasteland, Loving Wives is very hot for page views. I've had stories that I posted in 2006 just break 28,000 views, and I have stories that I posted this year nearing that number. There's lots of contests and events to enter that will get your nom de plume known, try them for fun, write what you want to write and hang out here in the Authors Hangout, the rest will come with time.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I have twenty-five stories currently posted on this site with the oldest being almost ten-years-old.

Last January, I posted a prequel story and put little effort into the title, description, or the tags since I expected it to only appeal to readers of the other stories in the same universe, which constitutes the majority of my followers. Eleven months later, you can see the results:


The number of views makes it look like the story is hidden somewhere on the site, which the title likely contributes to. Even if every single view resulted in a complete read of the story, the vote/view ratio is off the charts. The story is obviously never going to be a "best-seller", but I'm happy that it resonates with those readers who find it.