The Official Authors' Hangout April Fool's 2019 Contest Support Thread.

[NotWise]

Congratulations to rubysubrosa, HuckPilgrim, and lovecraft68.

Wow rubysubrosa! Coming late out of nowhere!

 

[gordo12]

Apparently here we go. My entry has leaped up from 4.45 to 4.81, with 12 votes shaved off it.

Congrats to the winners.

I was pleased to see my final scores at 4.47, 4.46 and 3.92. All 3 were in Loving Wives. The most important to me was the highest. I liked that story best of all of them and it had languished behind the number two score the whole time. The sweep put it on top where I wanted to see it.

Unfortunately while LW gives plenty of action the scores reflect the varied attitudes (polite expression ) of the people there. Call it a category penalty but it's worth it for the feedback when you're just starting out.

I read and enjoyed many of your stories and you're all to be congratulated for your efforts.

 

[ChloeTzang]

Wooo hooooo. Congratulations to rubysubrosa, HuckPilgrim, and lovecraft68.

Well done.

 

[HuckPilgrim]

Oh, wow. That's never happened before. Thanks everyone. I'm really thrilled to finally place in one of these. Congrats to everyone who entered. Special congrats to rubysubrosa and lovecraft68. Well done!

 

[rubysubrosa]

Thank you so much for the congratulations. everyone! I'm shocked to have placed, let alone placed first. I feel undeserving but honored.

The other day, my score looked so much lower than it does now. What is the sweep people are referring to?

 

[NotWise]

The other day, my score looked so much lower than it does now. What is the sweep people are referring to?

Because of a long history of nasty behavior among some authors and their fans, Literotica has a system for removing votes that they deem to be invalid. Those are often 1* votes, but not always. It's a "sweep" when they use that system, and they do it at odd times, and especially for contests.

But really. Congratulations, and may you have many more.

 

[rubysubrosa]

Because of a long history of nasty behavior among some authors and their fans, Literotica has a system for removing votes that they deem to be invalid. Those are often 1* votes, but not always. It's a "sweep" when they use that system, and they do it at odd times, and especially for contests.

But really. Congratulations, and may you have many more.

I see. Thank you, NW!

And earlier, in my state of being overwhelmed, I forgot a most important thing: Congratulations to HuckPilgrim and lovecraft68!

 

[ChloeTzang]

D'oh. I wouldn't get discouraged, though. There are some writers that hit a win early on but most of us have tried and tried again, falling short many times until the stars finally align. If you keep at it, it'll happen eventually!

And it’s fun just writing for the contests. Maybe it’s obvious, maybe it’s not but but I have a competitive streak and I find the contests push me to try and write better or more reader-focused stories than I normally do. The other thing I like about them is that between the contests and the story events they push me to think outside of my usual box. So it’s always fun and the deadline pushes me to finish.

Anyhow, guess what I’m trying to say is don’t get discouraged. If you really want to win, focus on writing to push reader buttons which are proven to work while writing something you want to write. Its a balancing act if you take that approach. But in the end it boils down to did you appeal to the reader enough.

 

[HuckPilgrim]

Hey, how do they handle paying prize money? Am I supposed to do something?

 

[KeithD]

Hey, how do they handle paying prize money? Am I supposed to do something?

You need to PM Laurel to get it established.

 

[HuckPilgrim]

You need to PM Laurel to get it established.

Oh, thank you! I didn't realize.

 

[ChloeTzang]

Hey, how do they handle paying prize money? Am I supposed to do something?

You should have received an email to the email address you specified for your Literotica account that tells you what to do. But yes, pm Laurel and make sure the header mentions the competition prize

 

[HuckPilgrim]

I sent a PM that said April Fools! (which I am)



I never got an email, but that's what I would have expected. It might have been something to do with how I had my options set. I kept getting spammed for dates and so forth so I turned all comms to nope.

 

[KeithD]

You should have received an email to the email address you specified for your Literotica account that tells you what to do. But yes, pm Laurel and make sure the header mentions the competition prize

Anyone else receive this? I never did on my wins.

 

[SolarRay]

Anyone else receive this? I never did on my wins.

Yes, I have. It comes from the Lit Support address ("Congratulations! Your story was a winner in a recent contest", etc.) It instructs the recipient to not reply to the email but instead PM Laurel some information.

 

[KeithD]

Yes, I have. It comes from the Lit Support address ("Congratulations! Your story was a winner in a recent contest", etc.) It instructs the recipient to not reply to the email but instead PM Laurel some information.

Thanks. Good to hear. That once was a sticking point.

 

[HuckPilgrim]

Oof, did the other prize winners get their prizes yet?

Maybe my finish was just an April Fools joke? Oh, gosh, wouldn't that be so terrible!

 

[ChloeTzang]

Oof, did the other prize winners get their prizes yet?

Maybe my finish was just an April Fools joke? Oh, gosh, wouldn't that be so terrible!

Laurel is usually really quick to respond. I think it might be the PM you sent her wasn’t clear. PM me with your email address and I’ll see if I can help.

 

[HuckPilgrim]

No, it was clear. She responded and said they don't do paypal, so I went with Amazon, but that was a few days ago.