Musings on story stats of two similar stories

[8letters]

I posted two stories in August six days apart, My Sister Set Me Up on a Blind Date and My European Summer Vacation. Both are sibling incest stories. Both are about the same size - "Blind Date" is seven pages, "Vacation" is nine pages. "Blind Date" dropped three days before the start of the Summer Lovin' contest and "Vacation" dropped on Day 3 of the Summer Lovin' contest. Score wise, they are very close - 4.82 vs 4.84.

Here are the stats for "Blind Date" by day:
Day Date - Score / Votes / Views / Comments / Favorites
01 08/18 - 4.78 / 1162 / 55269 / 37 / 104
02 08/19 - 4.79 / 1597 / 73858 / 50 / 165
03 08/20 - 4.80 / 1917 / 86846 / 58 / 196
04 08/21 - 4.80 / 2041 / 91132 / 61 / 217
05 08/22 - 4.80 / 2127 / 94860 / 63 / 230
12 08/29 - 4.80 / 2418 / 112631 / 70 / 262
19 09/05 - 4.80 / 2575 / 123059 / 75 / 279
26 09/12 - 4.81 / 2678 / 131905 / 77 / 295
33 09/19 - 4.82 / 2770 / 138948 / 78 / 315
40 09/26 - 4.82 / 2860 / 143862 / 80 / 328
47 10/03 - 4.82 / 2923 / 148052 / 89 / 340
54 10/10 - 4.82 / 2970 / 151545 / 91 / 347
61 10/17 - 4.82 / 3025 / 154934 / 94 / 355
68 10/24 - 4.82 / 3077 / 157788 / 94 / 362

Here are the stats for "Vacation" by day:
Day Date - Score / Votes / Views / Comments / Favorites
01 08/24 - 4.83 / 668 / 41540 / 19 / 63
02 08/25 - 4.84 / 1002 / 57922 / 29 / 84
06 08/29 - 4.84 / 1329 / 75008 / 41 / 117
13 09/05 - 4.83 / 1476 / 87756 / 46 / 143
20 09/12 - 4.84 / 1524 / 97786 / 51 / 150
27 09/19 - 4.86 / 1642 / 117854 / 54 / 177
34 09/26 - 4.85 / 1764 / 134603 / 59 / 191
41 10/03 - 4.85 / 1858 / 147320 / 63 / 210
48 10/10 - 4.85 / 1913 / 158064 / 63 / 224
55 10/17 - 4.85 / 1955 / 166778 / 67 / 229
62 10/24 - 4.84 / 2014 / 175320 / 69 / 236

Initially, "Blind Date" got more views than "Vacation" even though it was the story that wasn't in a contest. I think that initial advantage in views was because prior to the contest, I/T was in a dry spell with few high-scoring stories. Once the contest started, there were several high-scoring stories to choose from.

After the contest sweeps, "Vacation" made it to the I/T Hall of Fame. It has continued to get a significant number of new reads every week compared to "Blind Date", which I credit to hanging out in the HoF.

I have no idea why the lower scoring story has 50% more votes, 50% more favorites and a third more comments on fewer views. Any thoughts?

 

[sr71plt]

The randomness of having millions of site users who lead only loosely patterned lives?

 

[oggbashan]

...

I have no idea why the lower scoring story has 50% more votes, 50% more favorites and a third more comments on fewer views. Any thoughts?

The difference in ratings is miniscule. Both are far better than the majority of stories on Literotica.

The difference could simply be due to the titles.

 

[sr71plt]

The difference in ratings is miniscule. Both are far better than the majority of stories on Literotica.

Which, unfortunately, means, having been cited on the forum, that they will be going down real fast.

 

[oggbashan]

Which, unfortunately, means, having been cited on the forum, that they will be going down real fast.

Unlikely to be fast with those numbers of votes.

I wonder whether it would work the other way around if I quoted my stories rated below 4.00?

Most of them are Femdom which annoys some readers.

I won't. I have too many rated below 4.00 to list but they can be seen in the link in my signature to my stories.

 

[sr71plt]

I wonder whether it would work the other way around if I quoted my stories rated below 4.00?

It probably does. You're popular on the forum. Overall, you'd get a "let's go support him" response from here. I've probably done it a time or two myself. Someone coming here and pointing out they are getting 4.84s (and especially if they are complaining about it a bit)? Not so much.

 

[8letters]

It probably does. You're popular on the forum. Overall, you'd get a "let's go support him" response from here. I've probably done it a time or two myself. Someone coming here and pointing out they are getting 4.84s (and especially if they are complaining about it a bit)? Not so much.

Part of the reason I posted this was to combat "contest stories are getting the LW treatment" bullshit that some people are spewing. Tossing out some facts that hopefully someone will find interesting.

 

[ElectricBlue]

On the basis of two stories, no sensible conclusions can be made. This is evidence that both stories went down well with your readers, but in terms of conspiracy theory, this is evidence of nothing at all.

Well done for shameless self promotion* though, that's excellent work. You'll need pics across the bottom of your Sig block next....

* I do it myself, no shame in that. Not sure I'd post an entire score history though - I look at my stats and check my trends twice a year, not twice a day.

 

[sr71plt]

Other than eyeballing a couple of times a day how the more recent ones are doing, I keep no stats. What will be will be. I'm just amazed at (A) how fast any voting at all closes down once the zappers and counterzappers have gotten tired, even though the view count keeps mounting, and (B) how often readers will favorite stories from years ago--especially stories I wasn't comparatively all that wild about myself.

 

[EverLux]

I am so going to regret asking this*, but...

Is there a way to generate stats, or is meticulous record-keeping just a thing some people do for the seemingly sole purpose of making passive-aggressive points?

*Edit: Yep. Already do.

 

[lovecraft68]

I am so going to regret asking this*, but...

Is there a way to generate stats, or is meticulous record-keeping just a thing some people do for the seemingly sole purpose of making passive-aggressive points?

*Edit: Yep. Already do.

Daily stats would make my head hurt.

I don't check my story page out that often, except maybe the first couple days of a new one. I tend to forget how far along some of them have gotten.

That's What Friends Are For Justin's best friend Samantha will do anything for him.
4.81 9736 859205 First Time (English) 03/29/14 approved
Public Comments: 324 and 1545 favorites

That's not bad for a two year old non incest story-maybe the blue W next to it helps.

 

[EverLux]

Daily stats would make my head hurt.

I don't check my story page out that often, except maybe the first couple days of a new one. I tend to forget how far along some of them have gotten.

That's What Friends Are For Justin's best friend Samantha will do anything for him.
4.81 9736 859205 First Time (English) 03/29/14 approved
Public Comments: 324 and 1545 favorites

That's not bad for a two year old non incest story-maybe the blue W next to it helps.

LOL Daily stats on 134 stories would make anyone's head hurt. Actually, self-combust is more like it.

 

[lovecraft68]

LOL Daily stats on 134 stories would make anyone's head hurt. Actually, self-combust is more like it.

Samuel X has well over 2k stories...

I've pulled a few, but would still be under 150 I think.

 

[TxRad]

LOL Daily stats on 134 stories would make anyone's head hurt. Actually, self-combust is more like it.

228 is even worse.

To tell the truth, i don't see what the point of the example he gave actually shows. A whole lot of data that doesn't show much of anything. Readers are going to read what they are going to read. There is no way to predicate that. Something as simple as the description line could make a world of difference.

 

[jsmiam]

I I have no idea why the lower scoring story has 50% more votes, 50% more favorites and a third more comments on fewer views. Any thoughts?

I think it's the catchy title. Like a great piece of cover art, the title helps too. One reaches out and describes the plotline in a nutshell, while one is a far more general topic... possibly featuring Chevy chase... ;-)

 

[8letters]

I am so going to regret asking this*, but...

Is there a way to generate stats, or is meticulous record-keeping just a thing some people do for the seemingly sole purpose of making passive-aggressive points?

*Edit: Yep. Already do.

I have a spreadsheet and on Mondays, I type the numbers into it. If I haven't published a story in a while, I'll go a few weeks before recording the latest stats.

 

[EverLux]

I have a spreadsheet and on Mondays, I type the numbers into it. If I haven't published a story in a while, I'll go a few weeks before recording the latest stats.

Hell, I have trouble keeping current on the spreadsheets I'm paid to maintain. I've got to admit, a part of me is a little jealous of your dedication.

 

[StrangeLife]

I have a spreadsheet and on Mondays, I type the numbers into it. If I haven't published a story in a while, I'll go a few weeks before recording the latest stats.

That's... dedication.

I am impressed. Had no idea that anybody did something like this. Literotica should consider coding a stats-export function for those who like to monitor things in this manner. That shouldn't be too hard to do, and it would make your life a lot easier I'd wager.

Personally I couldn't imagine caring that much about scores... but then again most of my stories are in the 3's so they aren't much to look at anyway. I enjoy screwing around with the readers too much, and such actions come with a price...

 

[NotWise]

I'm not sure what the question is in the OP. Two stories with GREAT ratings, and the problem is...what?

I actually track views on all my stories, five days a week. I don't imagine I'll do that much longer because the results are boring. Tracking votes for 3 days to a week after a new post (maybe longer in a contest) can be interesting, but once you have 100 votes or so then the only interest comes from a gradual drift, or from sweeps. I think it's the sweeps that catch my interest.

That said, the last two chapters of my one chapter series were bookends as far as I was concerned. I was surprised that the initial voting yielded a fairly large difference in the scores for the two chapters, then the sweeps wiped out the difference. After that the last chapter (which was actually a resident fantasy for me for several years) gained in the scoring and it's now my highest-rated story or chapter.

 

[8letters]

I think it's the catchy title. Like a great piece of cover art, the title helps too. One reaches out and describes the plotline in a nutshell, while one is a far more general topic... possibly featuring Chevy chase... ;-)

I think a catchy title gets you more reads, but doesn't explain difference in behavior once a reader has read a story.

Thinking more on it, "Vacation" has four full sex scenes spread evenly through the story while "Blind Date" has just one long sex scene that ends the story. So a reader of "Vacation" is likely to get off well before the end of the story. If he/she then decides it's not worth to scroll to the end of the story to vote or make a comment, no vote or comment.

Daily stats would make my head hurt.

I don't check my story page out that often, except maybe the first couple days of a new one. I tend to forget how far along some of them have gotten.

Really? I've got 9 stories and I look at the numbers to try to figure out trends and how better to get the results I want. You've got 138 stories and you don't try to figure out from the stats what works and what doesn't?

228 is even worse.

This has prompted me to change the way I pull the story stats. The new method takes about a minute regardless of the number of stories. I'll write it up and post it when I have time.

 

[lovecraft68]

Really? I've got 9 stories and I look at the numbers to try to figure out trends and how better to get the results I want. You've got 138 stories and you don't try to figure out from the stats what works and what doesn't?

Writing the story I want is preferable than spending time concocting the perfect formula to get max scores every time. Good numbers are nice, don't get me wrong I like to see a 4.8 better than a 4.4, but I'm not going to bend my writing towards it.

Speaking only for myself after six years and having a fair amount of successful stories and getting a few W's etc...the shine wears off. When I post a story now, all that interests me are the comments, I'll look at the score, but I don't get excited over high ones or bummed at low ones.

I've been selling erotica for five years now as well and if we're talking sales? I keep very detailed records because that's dollars and they're worth more than votes, so simply put I no longer care that much.

Having said that I have learned what works and does not, I put some of that into a how to. But in it I also mentioned that although you want to max your score still tell your story your way, and the rest is gravy.

 

[HandsInTheDark]

I am so going to regret asking this*, but...

Is there a way to generate stats...:

There's no easy way. I started to write code to automate it, and then realized I would essentially be collecting random numbers. The scores are compressed, there's too much noise in them, and that's before you get into authors with agendas. If you're trending above 4.5 you're doing fine. Below 4 and you're not doing great. That's about all the numbers can say and only after a few dozen votes.

If you want to know how you're doing, watch favorites and emails.

 

[Bramblethorn]

The randomness of having millions of site users who lead only loosely patterned lives?

Yep, a difference of 0.02 is small enough that it could be just sampling error (i.e. scores not completely stabilised to a long-run average).

Rough formula: margin of error on a story score is approximately 2 * sqrt((5-s)(s-4)/N) where s is score, n = number of votes.

Caveats: only valid for stories in the high 4s with 30+ votes, ignores multi-voting and rounding, both of which would increase that margin slightly.