Comments Please?

[Audrey07]

I'm very new and very novice at writing this sort of thing. Oh, I mean, ask me for 50 pages on international trademark infringement, and I can blurt that out before my morning coffee. But write about all the dirty stuff that circles around my mind? Not quite the same thing. Anyway, I LOVE comments from my readers because it helps me make my writing better. Sadly, I barely get any comments, even for stories that people are giving high ratings to. Is there a way to generate more comments???

 

[geronimo_appleby]

post a link to your submission here:

click

also, a link to your story page in your sig line might help, too.

 

[NOIRTRASH]

I glanced at several of your stories.

I grade stories about like St,Peter grades sinners at the Pearly Gates.

There are excellent lesbian writers out there, I fell over one yesterday and bought her book, but 2 other books suck. The book I bought is wonderful for 3 chapters then leaps into hell.

If you want a punch in the stomach let me know.

 

[NotWise]

I'm very new and very novice at writing this sort of thing. Oh, I mean, ask me for 50 pages on international trademark infringement, and I can blurt that out before my morning coffee. But write about all the dirty stuff that circles around my mind? Not quite the same thing. Anyway, I LOVE comments from my readers because it helps me make my writing better. Sadly, I barely get any comments, even for stories that people are giving high ratings to. Is there a way to generate more comments???

If feel that emptiness myself. I get few comments that I don't solicit.

You can go to the Story Feedback forum and ask for input. That tends to produce somewhat writerly comments that aren't much like readers' responses, but are sometimes helpful.

You can write cumbersome passages and/or make glaring mistakes. That usually earns some comments. NOT getting those comments may mean that you're doing pretty well.

You can post stories to certain categories (Romance, Sci-Fi, others) where readers are more engaged than usual.

You can foster a group of cooperative folks who will comment on your stories, and you will comment on theirs. This rings a little hollow after a while.

Eventually you'll probably have to take your input where you can get it. Comments are not common.

 

[HandsInTheDark]

You can beg for comments as mentioned above, but the only real solution is to keep posting stories. Eventually you build up a little circle of pervs who think like you do, and then you'll get more feedback.

You'll never get a lot. People have estimated that you get a rating for perhaps 1 in 100 readers; it varies. Comments are perhaps ten times rarer, or worse. It's fairly thankless. But once in a great while you'll hear that you got someone thinking in new way, or even meet someone perfect where you didn't expect to. So I'd persevere.

Oh, and welcome. I'd recommend hitting the Everything FAQ at the top of this forum.

 

[Audrey07]

If feel that emptiness myself. I get few comments that I don't solicit.

You can go to the Story Feedback forum and ask for input. That tends to produce somewhat writerly comments that aren't much like readers' responses, but are sometimes helpful.

Yes, that. I'm not looking for input from professional writers and editors. I don't need anyone to point out that I'm a novice writer and I'm not looking to make a career of this. This is just for giggles and a little stress outlet.

But it would be nice if readers told me what they liked or didn't like, or even suggestions. Sometimes, I'll start a series with great ambition, only to have it stall out on me. Having someone who likes the story give me ideas would be awesome.

 

[NotWise]

But it would be nice if readers told me what they liked or didn't like, or even suggestions. Sometimes, I'll start a series with great ambition, only to have it stall out on me. Having someone who likes the story give me ideas would be awesome.

Readers' reactions (if you can get them) tend to be visceral and non-specific. I love those comments, but I find them hard to get--and sometimes a little icky when you get them.

My best comments come from my ballerina story for the 2017 Valentines Day contest. There are a lot of people with experience in and/or thoughts about ballet and some responded. The comments weren't about improving the story, but about what they felt and thought and that was (is) great.

I once took a readers' comment about the direction of a story and it became my lowest-rated story, but that may not be a common experience. Personally, I think you need to keep your creative output true to what you want to do. Readers' comments may not be helpful that way.

 

[ChloeTzang]

....Anyway, I LOVE comments from my readers because it helps me make my writing better. Sadly, I barely get any comments, even for stories that people are giving high ratings to. Is there a way to generate more comments???

The best suggestions I have are to ask for comments and feedback at the end of every story and to

(1) respond to comments on your stories consistently so that as you pick up readers they know that if they comment, you'll respond now and then, and

(2) when you get feedback, email back and engage your readers. I get far more feedback and comments off of LIT by email now than I do in the comments on the stories themselves and some of it is really useful. Almost all of it is fun and you know you have a hardcore of readers....

and more often than not now I do a chatty little intro where I just brain dump whatever comments and thoughts I feel like making. I didn't do that to start with but as you build up readers and followers it helps to keep them up with whatever you're working on and doing.

And yes. 1 rating per 100 views and about 1 comment per 1,000 views. Very rough coz it fluctuates but that's about my average overall.

 

[ElectricBlue]

And yes. 1 rating per 100 views and about 1 comment per 1,000 views. Very rough coz it fluctuates but that's about my average overall.

Yes, that's pretty much what I see, one or two stories maybe 1:80

 

[NOIRTRASH]

Readers are inartivulate and after their next Big O. Few comments from them. Serve up the O with fries and get a 5.

I read for more than the O.

Two examples: I toss most books after a boring opening. Yesterday I bought two books. One is a lesbian rom,ance, one is a BBW-muscle man romance. Both are excellent for 3 chapters then go to hell. They go to hell because the writers are inexperienced in real world love. Their books start well but then the writers don't know where to take the story.

Readers some to LIT for the O, writers should be here to improve.

 

[sr71plt]

Readers are inartivulate

Don't ya just hate it when readers are "inartivulate"?

 

[49greg]

I have the same problem, if it is a problem. However there are ways of getting lots of comments, and the suggestions already made by others are probably the best way to do that.

However if you only want numbers of comments and aren't concerned with content ... (big evil grin here), write about Dominant Women. Not so much dominating each other, but dominating men (the worms!). Even more comments will happen when you write about Cheating wives. I guess you could max out on them if you wrote about a Dominant Cheating Wife who makes her husband watch as she has sex with other men. And humiliates him while she does it.

Like I said, they aren't the comments you want, I've only written a very very few stories in the Loving Wife category, and have had a couple of death threats.

So all in all, consider yourself lucky if you only get a few comments but they are nice.

 

[NOIRTRASH]

I have the same problem, if it is a problem. However there are ways of getting lots of comments, and the suggestions already made by others are probably the best way to do that.

However if you only want numbers of comments and aren't concerned with content ... (big evil grin here), write about Dominant Women. Not so much dominating each other, but dominating men (the worms!). Even more comments will happen when you write about Cheating wives. I guess you could max out on them if you wrote about a Dominant Cheating Wife who makes her husband watch as she has sex with other men. And humiliates him while she does it.

Like I said, they aren't the comments you want, I've only written a very very few stories in the Loving Wife category, and have had a couple of death threats.

So all in all, consider yourself lucky if you only get a few comments but they are nice.

Jesus is proof that nice people will hang your assand let killers slide.

 

[SimonDoom]

After having published stories here for nearly 8 months, I see about 1 vote for every 83 views, and roughly 1 comment for every 51 votes. So about 1 comment for every 4200 views. The surest way to get comments is to keep writing stories that people are willing to read. The more readers, the more comments. But you still won't get that many. You're better off waiting for Godot than waiting for a lot of interesting and helpful comments. You will get them once in a while, but you can't count on them.

 

[Audrey07]

Wow

Like I said, they aren't the comments you want, I've only written a very very few stories in the Loving Wife category, and have had a couple of death threats.

So all in all, consider yourself lucky if you only get a few comments but they are nice.

Wow. So, yeah, not really what I'm going for.