The Official Author's Hangout 2015 Summer Lovin' Contest Support Thread

[YDB95]

It could go in either. Your call.

I don't see the contest notification on the home page, but my two entries are up.

 

[Blind_Justice]

That was quick, for my standards. Started the story in May, had to stop because I fractured my shoulder and powered through it in less than a month and submitted it five minutes ago. Considering most of my other submissions take at least a year to be considered publishing-worthy, it's quite a feat.

 

[PennLady]

The contest is officially on.

Also, if anyone would like to review, here are the rules.

 

[Kethandra]

Dudes and ladies, I have a question.

My story has elements of First Time sex as well as Romance. I would've put it in Romance because this is the main focus rather than the first time sex, but the characters involved are eighteen year olds (in High School).

Where should I put it -- First Time or Romance?

From my experience, most commentators in Romance prefer mature people doing the mushy-wushy stuff. Eighteen year olds could raise a few eyebrows. But then, the theme is quite dark and the focus not on losing virginities. Hence, this one's not really fit for First Time either.

Any help?

Odds-wise, Romance has won a lot more contests than First Time, and generally has more readers. But a "quite dark" theme might not play well with either readership, who seem to like things not so dark generally. It might also go in Erotic Coupling as the catch all category where dark themes are more common and appreciated.

Good luck to all. I still hope to have one in before the procrastination end-date.

 

[Blind_Justice]

As a contest virgin, I wonder over which period the vote tallying happens. Is it right from the moment the story goes live or just the votes between Sept. 6 and Sept. 13? Somebody please enlighten me.

 

[Sammael Bard]

Odds-wise, Romance has won a lot more contests than First Time, and generally has more readers. But a "quite dark" theme might not play well with either readership, who seem to like things not so dark generally. It might also go in Erotic Coupling as the catch all category where dark themes are more common and appreciated.

Good luck to all. I still hope to have one in before the procrastination end-date.

Sorry. I meant "dark" as in "morbid thoughts of my protagonist". The plot doesn't really qualify as dark story material.

If people don't mind the age, should I post it in Romance, then?

 

[Sammael Bard]

As a contest virgin, I wonder over which period the vote tallying happens. Is it right from the moment the story goes live or just the votes between Sept. 6 and Sept. 13? Somebody please enlighten me.

votes are counted right from the moment your story is posted, I think.

 

[Learin]

Bump. That a-hole's threads are creating nuisance on the forum top.

Dudes and ladies, I have a question.

My story has elements of First Time sex as well as Romance. I would've put it in Romance because this is the main focus rather than the first time sex, but the characters involved are eighteen year olds (in High School).

Where should I put it -- First Time or Romance?

From my experience, most commentators in Romance prefer mature people doing the mushy-wushy stuff. Eighteen year olds could raise a few eyebrows. But then, the theme is quite dark and the focus not on losing virginities. Hence, this one's not really fit for First Time either.

Any help?

Toss a coin. Heads for Romance. Tails for First Time.

Me kidding.

I think Romance would do well for your story. The age, as long as it's 18 and over, doesn't really matter to me. If it's good, I'm sure readers won't "bitch" about it either.

 

[TxRad]

Yeah, it's up and running.

Oh yeah, and that's A-holes point in life. To be a nuisance.

 

[Kethandra]

Sorry. I meant "dark" as in "morbid thoughts of my protagonist". The plot doesn't really qualify as dark story material.

If people don't mind the age, should I post it in Romance, then?

I'm partial to First Time after my recent first submission in the category was so damn well received, but your description sounds more like Romance: the focus not being on the first time elements being key.

Now submit it. A summertime romantic tale of a morbid-thinking protagonist with viginity-losing elements sounds like a fun read.

 

[Kethandra]

votes are counted right from the moment your story is posted, I think.

Yes. All votes count from the moment the contest entry is posted to be read except for those votes that suddenly vanish from the tally in occasional 'sweeps.'
The votes stop counting some unannounced time before the day and moment of announcement. Presumably the time is not announced so that it's more difficult to orchestrate last-minute voting shenanigans.

 

[Sammael Bard]

Toss a coin. Heads for Romance. Tails for First Time.

Me kidding.

I think Romance would do well for your story. The age, as long as it's 18 and over, doesn't really matter to me. If it's good, I'm sure readers won't "bitch" about it either.

I'm partial to First Time after my recent first submission in the category was so damn well received, but your description sounds more like Romance: the focus not being on the first time elements being key.

Now submit it. A summertime romantic tale of a morbid-thinking protagonist with viginity-losing elements sounds like a fun read.

I tossed a coin.

First-Time it is.

Sorry, I chickened out at the thought of having my story pulverised by Romance critics. Better have it pulverised at some place mushy like First Time.

Yes. All votes count from the moment the contest entry is posted to be read except for those votes that suddenly vanish from the tally in occasional 'sweeps.'
The votes stop counting some unannounced time before the day and moment of announcement. Presumably the time is not announced so that it's more difficult to orchestrate last-minute voting shenanigans.

They stop vote intake before the tally, run all kinds of sweep on it and then calculate the scores. AFAIK, it doesn't matter when the shenanigans are orchestrated. Most of them get swept either way.

 

[Learin]

Is it me or is the contest page link missing from the Lit main page?

https://literotica.com/stories/

It definitely appeared yesterday.

I tossed a coin.

First-Time it is.

See? My solutions never fail the confused soul.

 

[TxRad]

Is it me or is the contest page link missing from the Lit main page?

https://literotica.com/stories/

It definitely appeared yesterday.

If I remember correctly, there was a problem with it appearing and disappearing during the first of the last contest.

 

[SikFuk]

One of my entries this year was started back in 1997.

Mine is from 2007, with lots of intermittent fiddling until today, when I finally figured out how to finesse the ending.

 

[Learin]

If I remember correctly, there was a problem with it appearing and disappearing during the first of the last contest.

I wasn't here during the last contest, so I didn't notice it until today.

Contest stories need more exposure due to the limited time. This is pretty bad for those who have already submitted in the hopes of getting higher views.

 

[RejectReality]

The primary booster of views is top-billing on the new story list.

The contest page has never contributed more than a longer trickle after the "honeymoon" period when every story gets most of its activity anyway.

 

[Kethandra]

Is it me or is the contest page link missing from the Lit main page?

https://literotica.com/stories/

It definitely appeared yesterday.

It was happening last contest on both the main page and the story page, and it is known issue with the powers that be.
At least with Safari, refreshing brought the links up within a couple tries. More refreshing and the links vanish again. I see the main page contest link this morning, so others will too.

 

[Seanathon]

I couldn't seem to find a link to the contest on any of the main pages, so here it is:

https://www.literotica.com/stories/contest.php/summer-lovin-2015

I know I'm one of many still struggling to finish their entry on time, but does only sixteen stories so far (with four authors making multiple submissions) seem slow for Summer Lovin'?

 

[Kethandra]

Contests more of boost to the newer author

The primary booster of views is top-billing on the new story list.

The contest page has never contributed more than a longer trickle after the "honeymoon" period when every story gets most of its activity anyway.

I think the contest pages contribute more than a trickle to the lower-read category entries and especially to authors with less fans or name recognition. Halloween last year was my first LitE submission, zero fan base, and I can see that my most read/most voted stories are almost all contest entries. The lone exception is the first chapter in my only attempt at a multi-chapter story.
I know when I was a reader only and not a contributor here, the theme contest lists were the first place I looked for good, creative reads.

 

[RejectReality]

I've been "new" three times I've also posted plenty of low-read category stories -- most notably Sci-Fi&Fantasy. I've never seen more than a slight extension of the time a story is getting regular votes after the "honeymoon" period, regardless of circumstance.

A lot of that can probably be chalked up to gamesmanship as much as readership, too. Especially the flurry of 11th hour votes everyone gets.

I've even been on the contest page before ever appearing on the new story list, and saw virtually no activity on the story for the time it was only on the contest page. It didn't break 100 views with no votes in 45 minutes, and then broke 2000 views and a dozen votes in fifteen minutes after appearing on the new story list.

That's all telling me that the contest page is a very minor player in the grand scheme of things.

 

[MatthewVett]

Not sure whether it's the contest or what, but I'm getting an excellent ratio of reads to votes: 35.5 or so. My overall average is around 170, so I'm getting about 5X more votes than expected. Is anyone else getting a lot more votes than usual?

 

[redzinger]

Having second thoughts about entering my exceedingly niche Humour/Satirical piece. Hmmm.

 

[TxRad]

Having second thoughts about entering my exceedingly niche Humour/Satirical piece. Hmmm.

Nothing ventured, nothing gained.

 

[redzinger]

Bollocks. Went to submit & I'm getting an error message:

'DB is not available. Please retry later.'