Impact of contest placing

[Actingup]

So, I got lucky with a 3rd place in a contest a few weeks ago, which was obviously a nice thing to happen. The over-analyst in me decided to look at two questions:
1) does the infamous score-bombing after a win happen (and how bad is it)?
2) is the extra attention on the story reflected in extra readership overall?

1) The first question is easy to answer: yes (although it's probably not that important in the scheme of things). The graph below shows (x-axis) scores for my published stories as of the day before the contest end, and (y-axis) the difference between the score now and the score then. The contest story (red dot) has been pushed down from 4.89 (at that time) to 4.75. The others are more or less the same or slightly higher. If some of that comes from 1-bombs, then the sweeps will probably pick those bombs up next time anyway, so I think that in this example it's really neither here nor there.



2) The graph below is a time series of total view counts for eight of my stories through the contest period until now (dates in international format). The red line is the contest story. This graph has surprised me. The contest story has virtually doubled its readership and votes (not shown) since the contest end, which is really nice - in fact I'm rapt and I don't want to minimise that. The other stories, however, have not been impacted - they continue to slowly accumulate reads and votes, but there has been no obvious broader impact. Not that I was expecting fame and fortune, but if I had been, I would have been sorely disappointed. Perhaps that would be different for a first placing, but I guess the take-home message for me is that regardless of the success or otherwise of individual stories, overall it's the slow grind of accumulating readers and improving skills that is really important.

Also, for that story, getting extra readers is way more important than the minor effect on the score of any bombing.

I'd be curious to hear about other experiences?

 

[TheLobster]

the take-home message for me is that regardless of the success or otherwise of individual stories, overall it's the slow grind of accumulating readers and improving skills that is really important.

Well, when it comes to accumulating readers it's definitely at least a little bit of a choice...

 

[Actingup]

Well, when it comes to accumulating readers it's definitely at least a little bit of a choice...

View attachment 2556440

How did you know about my next story???

 

[TheLobster]

More seriously, though, this conclusion is surprising to me:

The other stories, however, have not been impacted - they continue to slowly accumulate reads and votes, but there has been no obvious broader impact

I thought that maybe the category of your winning story is an isolated example in your collection, which is why readers who liked had no obvious next story of yours to peruse and be confident they'd like it, too.

But no, this isn't your first Romance work by far; you've got plenty. There's certainly enough for fans of the category to sink their teeth (and other body parts) into.

This tells me that themed contests are very themed: readers are more likely to just read everything that gets submitted under the contest umbrella rather than focusing specifically on the output of winners. That's certainly good news for those of us who look into contests primarily as means of gaining more exposure, and not necessarily to try and win.

 

[Actingup]

More seriously, though, this conclusion is surprising to me:

I thought that maybe the category of your winning story is an isolated example in your collection, which is why readers who liked had no obvious next story of yours to peruse and be confident they'd like it, too.

But no, this isn't your first Romance work by far; you've got plenty. There's certainly enough for fans of the category to sink their teeth (and other body parts) into.

This tells me that themed contests are very themed: readers are more likely to just read everything that gets submitted under the contest umbrella rather than focusing specifically on the output of winners. That's certainly good news for those of us who look into contests primarily as means of gaining more exposure, and not necessarily to try and win.

I think that’s a good and positive interpretation. I don’t really have any data on that, but I know that I’ve previously done that myself - started with the contest winners and then worked through the other entries.

For the comparison stories of mine, I tried to choose similar stories (I should have said).

 

[Kumquatqueen]

I've placed in a competition once, which proves that a story with only 25 votes can place (it had 27 but two were swept just before the results were announced). Other contest entries of mine in less-read categories never achieved enough votes, even when posted on the first day.

Its score went from about 4.93 to about 3.6 over the next day, then up again to 4.3 ish, and has been at 4.62 or so for the last couple years. We can assume that a bunch of people clicked on the story expecting some nice Valentine's stuff, possibly with incest, despite the title "Wheelchair Bound?", and were miffed when they got kinky lesbian sex, even though that's in the first paragraph.

There was a trickle of reads, and some comments from people saying it wasn't what they'd normally read but they'd clicked on the winning stories and been drawn in. Since February 2021 it's had 57k views, which is my top viewed outside my one incest story (173k since Jan 22, 4.56 rating), though just above 50k views for a similar story (Gas Station Guy) which Laurel put in Fetish.

I suspect the readers still finding Wheelchair Bound? are finding it via disability-related tags, which may be why the score has slowly crept up, regaining its red H after a couple years. The ones finding GSG are likely finding it via the interracial-related tags. I imagine most people interested in a British Bangladeshi guy and a white British woman aren't wanting a gay virgin man and a mostly-gay woman who passes as a man in the dark... its score is slowly going downwards.

 

[Actingup]

I've placed in a competition once, which proves that a story with only 25 votes can place (it had 27 but two were swept just before the results were announced). Other contest entries of mine in less-read categories never achieved enough votes, even when posted on the first day.

Its score went from about 4.93 to about 3.6 over the next day, then up again to 4.3 ish, and has been at 4.62 or so for the last couple years. We can assume that a bunch of people clicked on the story expecting some nice Valentine's stuff, possibly with incest, despite the title "Wheelchair Bound?", and were miffed when they got kinky lesbian sex, even though that's in the first paragraph.

There was a trickle of reads, and some comments from people saying it wasn't what they'd normally read but they'd clicked on the winning stories and been drawn in. Since February 2021 it's had 57k views, which is my top viewed outside my one incest story (173k since Jan 22, 4.56 rating), though just above 50k views for a similar story (Gas Station Guy) which Laurel put in Fetish.

I suspect the readers still finding Wheelchair Bound? are finding it via disability-related tags, which may be why the score has slowly crept up, regaining its red H after a couple years. The ones finding GSG are likely finding it via the interracial-related tags. I imagine most people interested in a British Bangladeshi guy and a white British woman aren't wanting a gay virgin man and a mostly-gay woman who passes as a man in the dark... its score is slowly going downwards.

Thanks KQQ - that's really interesting to hear about the long-term views. May I ask how many votes it's had now? I guess the score volatility at the start reflected that it was vulnerable to bombs as well as reaction to the subject matter, but 57k views since is really wonderful!

 

[ElectricBlue]

I'd be curious to hear about other experiences?

Aside from being disinterested in the Contest topics (being in Oz, most are ass about face, seasons-wise), the few times I did enter - years ago - I found there was maybe a 10% kick up in Views as the story went off the Category front page but remained live for another few weeks in the Contest list. But the corresponding down-kick in score during that tail was about a third of a point (from say 4.80 to 4.50). I figured that was folk wandering in from the contest lists, but wandering out of their favourite category, and saying, "Ooo, I don't like that," and down-voting.

It got to the point that Contests were running down the overall scores with no real increase in followers or views, so I stopped bothering.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I do wonder how much of the score dip is intentional bombing vs. contests putting stories in front of people who wouldn't otherwise have seen them and might not be as well disposed to them as the ones who find them by the regular ways. I'd guess a little of the former but mostly the latter.

 

[SimonDoom]

My experience: About two years ago I had a story place in the Halloween contest. After sweeps it had a score of 4.92 with only around 27 votes or something like that. The score immediately took a nose dive after that. Now, two years later, its score is 4.49 with 185 votes. I can't really complain about bombing, because presumably 185 votes offers a more accurate assessment of reader appraisal than 27 or whatever. It's in Erotic Horror, so it doesn't get that many views, unlike some other stories I've published.

But I also had a very positive experience with contests previously. My second story was published in December 2016. It was a BDSM story. It had a high score, but few views. Then, in the summer of 2017, it was suddenly getting a lot more views. The reason was that because of its score it was nominated in the top BDSM story of 2016 contest. I think I ended up in second place. The contest had a huge impact on the views the story was getting, and this was 7 months or so after the story was published. That story now has well over 100,000 views, and it's still my highest rated story (tied with one other). So, contests do matter. They can have a big impact.

 

[TheLobster]

I do wonder how much of the score dip is intentional bombing vs. contests putting stories in front of people who wouldn't otherwise have seen them and might not be as well disposed to them as the ones who find them by the regular ways. I'd guess a little of the former but mostly the latter.

It's really quite careless, honestly, to publish the lists of contest stories and only include the titles and authors. At the very least we should also see the category, which would help protect vulnerable entries that fall into buckets with large negative audiences (mostly Gay and Lesbian, maybe Transgender, and to lesser extent T/I and R/NC).

Right now, some readers might feel duped into "reading" something they totally don't jive with or outright hate, and let the author know by leaving a 1-bomb. It's not rational, it's trollish, but I'm sure it happens and it could easily be prevented.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Right now, some readers might feel duped into "reading" something they totally don't jive with or outright hate, and let the author know by leaving a 1-bomb. It's not rational, it's trollish, but I'm sure it happens and it could easily be prevented.

Yes, we get the occasional post where people say they were "tricked" into reading a story, which is a pretty dumb thing to say. Be an adult, back click!

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

I do wonder how much of the score dip is intentional bombing vs. contests putting stories in front of people who wouldn't otherwise have seen them and might not be as well disposed to them as the ones who find them by the regular ways. I'd guess a little of the former but mostly the latter.

More eyes, more votes.

End result could be higher or lower based on volume, not intentional up or downvoting.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

(being in Oz, most are ass about face, seasons-wise)

There is no winter there, it's always summer. ; )

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Thanks KQQ - that's really interesting to hear about the long-term views. May I ask how many votes it's had now? I guess the score volatility at the start reflected that it was vulnerable to bombs as well as reaction to the subject matter, but 57k views since is really wonderful!

157 votes total now, 4.5 years later. The 57k views is total - it probably had 15k during the contest. But other stories have had similar slow trickles of views over the years.

I noticed that the Anal viewers are fairly numerous (someone suggested I write there if I wanted views but not incest), but they vote 4x as often as others even though they're fussy and often insult the content, while Gay Male views rarely bother to vote, but when they do are as generous as Romance.

 

[iwatchus]

I was another one of the lucky trio with ActingUp. I had decided to enter the contest kind f at the last minute because someone had said that entering the contest was a way to gain views and followers. My story initially publishing went along with a dip in my slow growth in followers, which only bounced back when my next story appeared. And those followers clearly came from the next story because they would favorite that newer story, then follow me.

But after the W, I had a different experience than AU did. I started gaining followers at a faster rate, still about twice the rate I had before the W. And my entire catalogue has been getting noticed much more. Of course the sweeps had a much more notable change on the ratings in my original series than it did on my entry, without the whiplash it took, so maybe that was actually the factor.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

Not even close to a win, but I got a surge of followers during it, or maybe not even related to it. My surge may have come from a different story.

 

[ElectricBlue]

There is no winter there, it's always summer. ; )

Not right now it's not! Log fire lit every evening, snow as far north as the NSW / Queensland border (in my old town, the most snow ever seen in living memory). And they say it's all coz of global warming!

 

[pink_silk_glove]

Not right now it's not! Log fire lit every evening, snow as far north as the NSW / Queensland border (in my old town, the most snow ever seen in living memory). And they say it's all coz of global warming!

-25 C for weeks on end. Only a handful of days above -10 C from mid Nov to mid March. 3 feet of snow dumped in November and it doesn't melt until the end of April. Wrap up well to go shovel the driveway at -20 or you won't be able to get to work. Always make sure that you have a week's worth of food in the pantry because if you get snowed in for 3 days (which happens every 4 or 5 years) you will get hungry.

My cousin moved from here to Queensland. His house does not have a furnace, as do the vast majority of houses in his neighborhood. Do you know what people do here when their house does not have a furnace? They DIE!

Don't try to talk about winter when you don't know what it is. I repeat, it is always summer in Australia. ; )

 

[NotWise]

I'm a little surprised that the views show such a subdued response to your win. If I project the rates/day from before the contest announcement to now, it looks like the win produced 2k-3k views.

The Nude Day contest never appeared on the Category page (the April Fools Day contest is still shown there), so I wonder if that explains it.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

The Nude Day contest never appeared on the Category page (the April Fools Day contest is still shown there), so I wonder if that explains it.

This is why these threads are so meaningless. There is no consistency in which stories hit which lists or when. We have no idea how readers find the stories they view and rate.

The people that see your stories may find them a different way than those that find anyone elses.


We've asked before on the contest threads if readers even know about the Entry lists. Yes, the link appears ion the front page ... sometimes. But even when it does, the list of stories on it isn't aways complete, or up to date. If you didn't include the Note To Admin clause, your story won't be in the list, but if it gets enough votes, it will be in the running. If it's on the winner's list, how many readers see that?

 

[Voyeurkenneth]

It's really quite careless, honestly, to publish the lists of contest stories and only include the titles and authors.

Fair point. To that end, I've been lining up a T/I story for the Halloween contest and trying to figure out its title. Asking myself: Do I mention the familial relation or not in the title? Would I rope more or fewer views?

 

[Nynah]

This is why these threads are so meaningless.

I disagree.

Would it be nice if there were a little bit more consistency and/or transparency with regards to contests and their stats? Yes, for sure. But we don't really get much from Laurel in that regard and that's her prerogative as the person running the site. Thus we're left to speculate and threads like these give the authors who frequent AH an opportunity to discuss and share data so that we can glean maybe a morsel of understanding as to how the contests work. After all, aside from the monetary prize for the official contests, the only currency we as writers get are the trackable metrics of views, ratings, favorites and follower counts. Stands to reason we'd at least want to compare and contrast, so I always find these threads fascinating, especially when it has such neatly presented data.

 

[Voboy]

When I got my first contest win, the biggest impact was in followers: I got SEVERAL the few days after the result was announced, though I can't quantify it. The effect was less for subsequent wins.

Two of my series chapters won monthly contests, and that had a massive impact on views for those chapters (but not for the piece overall).

 

[Bamagan]

I entered contests twice, but did not see any meaningful impact in terms of views. But there are a lot of potentially confounding factors.
The first contest was the Summer Lovin' shortly after I started posting here, and my entry was released in the midst of a long-running series I was posting; a 5K standalone that got placed in a different category (Lesbian, even though it was fetishy) was probably not a useful advertisement for the 20th chapter (or whatever) of something else, even if the content might have been appealing to people who enjoyed the contest entry.
The following year I had an entry in the April Fools contest. I had a more diverse catalog by that point, but still saw no bumps that were clearly attributable to the contest, possibly for similar reasons.
I don't necessarily think that the benefits of contests are being overblown by the people who have positive things to say, but I do hypothesize that those benefits are more likely to be realized if one's catalog includes mostly other stand-alone works in the same or similar categories as the contest entry.
I haven't bothered with any other contests and don't download my stats very often anymore.