A side effect of winning a contest

[SandraMustard]

I don't recall any mention of this from previous contest winners so I thought I would share something I noticed. Perhaps because my husband tracks the numbers of all my submissions on a spreadsheet, I'm the first to be aware of this side affect.

Everybody learns the voting patterns here at Literotica. The highest number of votes happen in the first couple of days after posting, then they fall off to a trickle. This is true of both regular and contest stories but initial contest vote counts are usually greater and the bubble lasts a little longer.

My contest story is typical. I had 124 votes the first day. Three days later, it had 177. By the end of the contest, I was only getting 2 or 3 votes a day, ending the contest period with 229 votes (after sweeps removed about 10).

In previous contests I noticed that the post-contest trickle stays stronger than regular stories because the entries don't fall off the contest list and readership remains higher while the link on the story index page draws them.

Once the contest winners were announced on the contest link, I've seen a remarkable surge in votes. They started about noon on Friday. In the day and a half since then, 56 new votes have been cast. That is more than a 25% increase! Better than any day except the first.

I infer from this that some readers who didn't pick my story to read during the contest, now wanted to see what earned first place for me. They didn't just read, they voted.

The first few votes all seemed to knock my score down by .01 so I attributed the votes to trolls and fans of the writer that holds all of the category's hall of fame top slots. (My story had just appeared in the HOF list that morning). While that may be true, what happens to the score now doesn't concern me; I'm not a numbers worshipper. I just thought the surge was worth sharing.

Now that I have a Blue-W in my story list, I can scratch that off my bucket list. I wonder if I can earn a Green-E.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

it has been mentioned before...

Blue W's, Green E's and even the Red H's will attract the trolls.

 

[lovecraft68]

The announcement on the home page might cause some of that, although a lot of people don't come through that way.

The blue W on your page will get interest, but mostly your still high on the 30 day top list. And contest entrants as you said who want to check it out.

You're not mentioning score. Part of me thinks some of your surge are crap votes by pissed off readers/authors who's story they wanted didn't win.

I've dropped anywhere from .03-.10 right after each W I"ve gotten.

 

[oggbashan]

it has been mentioned before...

Blue W's, Green E's and even the Red H's will attract the trolls.

From some of the comments I have had on my Blue W's, there is evidence that some readers express disappointment after reading a winning story and not finding it as good as they expected a winner to be.

They could leave a 4 vote.

But I have also found after being a winner of a themed contest that the views and votes on many of my other stories increase over the next week or two.

A few years ago, the trolls' response to a winner was to plaster it with one bombs. A winning story could lose its Red H within hours and end up below 4.xx

 

[SandraMustard]

it has been mentioned before...

Blue W's, Green E's and even the Red H's will attract the trolls.

I wasn't lamenting the trolling. I was noting the LARGE surge in voting readers - a nice side effect.

 

[SandraMustard]

The announcement on the home page might cause some of that, although a lot of people don't come through that way.

The blue W on your page will get interest, but mostly your still high on the 30 day top list. And contest entrants as you said who want to check it out.

You're not mentioning score. Part of me thinks some of your surge are crap votes by pissed off readers/authors who's story they wanted didn't win.

I've dropped anywhere from .03-.10 right after each W I"ve gotten.

I think it IS the contest list, regardless of how they find it. I've never seen a surge like this before so it has to be from readers checking my winning story.

I stated in the forum's contest thread that I hovered just under 4.8 most of the contest. The final two sweeps jumped me to 4.81 then 4.90 (lasted just an hour but that was the score they probably used to determine the winner. It happened at 4am.)

ETA: I am on the 30 day Top Story list for Erotic Couplings category but I was referring to the third tier of the Erotic Coupling hub that lists "Hall of Fame" stories (probably all time). The same guy owns the top four spots with 4.9 and 4.89s. I'm down to 4.83 already. Like I said, I don't care where my score goes now. Whether sour grapes, fans of others, or trolls doesn't matter and is not my purpose in this thread.

I did wonder if authors like yourself with large fan bases see different numbers and closer scoring habits between contest and regular submissions.

 

[SandraMustard]

From some of the comments I have had on my Blue W's, there is evidence that some readers express disappointment after reading a winning story and not finding it as good as they expected a winner to be.

They could leave a 4 vote.

But I have also found after being a winner of a themed contest that the views and votes on many of my other stories increase over the next week or two.

A few years ago, the trolls' response to a winner was to plaster it with one bombs. A winning story could lose its Red H within hours and end up below 4.xx

We calculated the first two votes (after I won) were both 3s - a savvy way to make them stick. But with an average that close to 5, even 4s will drop the average with totals in the 200 range as you noted.

 

[legerdemer]

Congrats again, Sandra. I'm working my way through your story now. (Not that it's hard; I'm just ADD.)

I have never gotten the blue W, but my Halloween story last year did well enough to make it to the top list and HoF of its category, and it's definitely getting the benefit of being there - it has more views, more scores and more faves by far than any of my others. There's a tad of a trickle down effect to other stories but not much. It also had some troll action, and still does once in a while. But, as you said, who cares? It's nice it had its time in the sun.

 

[NotWise]

We calculated the first two votes (after I won) were both 3s - a savvy way to make them stick. But with an average that close to 5, even 4s will drop the average with totals in the 200 range as you noted.

I'll take the opportunity to congratulate you, as well.

I guess that part of the sweep formula may have something to do with how long the story is open before the vote is cast. As a result, sweeps can remove 3's and even higher scores. I have a story that reached a stunning 24 votes. Since then it's received 7 more votes and 6 votes have been swept. The swept votes were two 1*'s, two 3*'s, a 4* and a 5*. I don't think that anyone has voted a 2* on that story.

Just entering the contest has a nice effect on other stories. People who liked my contest entry went on to read some of my other stories. In the case of my one multi-part story the views temporarily tripled or quadrupled and the scores went up a little after being stagnant for months.

 

[Asbel]

I think in general, the ratings go up when you have one of those coveted little letters next to a story. Out of the eighteen chapters I've put up so far, only three are without a little red H next to them, which is pretty darn cool, I think. I don't check exactly what kind of ratings come up because of the Hot rating, but they average around 4.6-4.65.

Whether or not I'll ever enter a contest, I have no idea. Right now I'm just determined to finish a book.

 

[NaokoSmith]

Congratulations!


Hope to read your story soon, too - and vote, adding to your surge

 

[AirRichard101]

Still surging

The winning affect is still going with double digit voting and comments added everyday. I know some categories routinely get thousands of votes per story (for established authors) but Sandy's top voted stories are still under 300 votes - until this one. It's a category thing but I would guess the winning affect would be proportional to the base vote count.

When she was announced as the winner, her contest story had 229 votes (over 17 days of contest). It now needs one to reach 400, an increase of 170 in 7 days. She has picked up some new fans who are voting all her stories.

Those who enter contests know the similar affects doing so brings on all stories in their collection. We tell the noobs to get on the gravy train for that reason. Should you manage to write a winning entry, you'll feel like a rock star on tour.

 

[SlightlyGone]

Now that I have a Blue-W in my story list, I can scratch that off my bucket list. I wonder if I can earn a Green-E.

I want a purple horseshoe.

 

[AirRichard101]

I want a purple horseshoe.

I'm sure if you got one, it would fit you.

http://i.istockimg.com/file_thumbview_approve/15042712/6/stock-photo-15042712-horse-rear-view-large-butt-back-end.jpg

 

[SlightlyGone]

I'm sure if you got one, it would fit you.

http://i.istockimg.com/file_thumbview_approve/15042712/6/stock-photo-15042712-horse-rear-view-large-butt-back-end.jpg

I don't think you know where a shoe is suppose to go. You're going to feel silly when you learn how to put one on.

 

[SirGallantHead]

Well played, AR. I don't think the troll understood your insult.