The Official Authors' Hangout Valentine's Day 2021 Contest Support Thread

[NotWise]

I know there were some comments in this thread about the new list. I have some anecdotal evidence.

My romance story fell off the first page on day two. After two full days I had 5500 reads. On day three I only had about a hundred reads.

The main Valentine listing page didn’t seem to help much.

I'd love to be able to tell whether my readers are coming from the New list, the category hub, the story page, or somewhere else.

I have a simple conceptual model for how views vary over time. Basically, the reading population is sampled without replacement, and there's a different population for each page linked to the story.

My Summer Lovin' contest had an unusual (in my experience) pattern over time, and I was able to use my simple conceptual model to match the pattern very closely.

I could tweak things to get closer, but I don't see the point.

The two doglegs on the curve correspond to when the story fell off the I/T hub and when the contest page was unlinked.

I can't distinguish the effect of the New list from the I/T hub. I think that's because the I/T readership overlaps so much with the general readership. The story dropped off the I/T hub after two days and at that time there was still a lot of interest in the story. Cutting off the readers on the hub before the population was done with the story caused the dog leg.

The second dog leg seems to have a similar cause. The contest page was unlinked on October first when the story was still getting a significant number of reads from the page. Since then, the story has had about 84 views per day from various sources.

My simple model was that the category hub and/or New list gave me a potential viewer population of 45,000, and the probability of them viewing the story was high -- 87% per viewer per day. The potential viewer population for the contest page was 40,000 (almost as high), but the probability of them reading my story was only 3.5% per viewer per day. The last, straight-line leg indicated a large population, but only a very small probability per day that they'd view the story.

So in this case, the contest page seemed to have a big effect. It's only the doglegs that make it possible to take a guess at what's going on, and I don't usually see the doglegs.

 

[SisterJezabel]

I know there were some comments in this thread about the new list. I have some anecdotal evidence.

My romance story fell off the first page on day two. After two full days I had 5500 reads. On day three I only had about a hundred reads.

The main Valentine listing page didn’t seem to help much.

Interesting- mine did the same, but reader numbers have doubled over the weekend.

ETA: I wonder if it has something to do with subscriber numbers? People with more subscribers possibly get more traffic with more alerts going out to their story.

 

[NotWise]

ETA: I wonder if it has something to do with subscriber numbers? People with more subscribers possibly get more traffic with more alerts going out to their story.

Name recognition is a big factor. Your number of subscribers reflects name recognition, but the number of readers who recognize you is probably a lot bigger than the number who a following you.

 

[YDB95]

Second story submitted. That's it, I'm definitely done with this contest now!

 

[RejectReality]

Well, I picked up Violet Valentine again. The original idea for the story is over a decade old, and I've been fiddling with it ever since. The last couple of years, I finally hit a tone that I think is working, but ran out of time.

Last year, I simply didn't feel like writing sex in the last couple of weeks of the submission period. At least, full on text. I did manage to write out a thousand word outline for the scene. Already deviating from it as I work on the story again, but it was heavily detailed, if not full-on prose, so a lot of little details get tweaked as I put it into practice.

We'll see if I can keep it going. This is the time of year when I'm coming off my huge chunk of vacation days between Thanksgiving and New Years. ( I worked a whole 15 days in that time this year LOL ) Having to get back to the grind sucks my energy.

Didn't even have the benefit of the end of year surge this year, because the boy wasn't in school. I went back to bed as soon as I put him on the bus in previous years, and that's where I caught up on my sleep + had full-on quiet time to write. I didn't really start feeling rested and creative until the week between Christmas and New Years this time, where it usually hits the week after Thanksgiving.

I'm finally happy with the whole setup, so the hard part is out of the way. Didn't rewrite anything when I read back through it this year. It's just a matter of getting the sex scene and the coda finished. Despite how much time I have left, that's still iffy.

If nothing else, I'll be even closer next year.

 

[davion2308]

Here we go

I'll get my story in over the next two days. I wonder what direction I should take. I don't have the ending figured out just yet.

Here's what happened:

Eros goes down for the count on Mt. Olympus. Ares, God of War, decides to step up and do the V Day thing in his place. I have some entertaining, good-natured, humorous dialogue, a scene where Ares gets riled up because he feels called out that he can't handle it, and a pair of nymphs take care of his needs to calm to down.

It COULD be done there. I even have him missing his target, which he picked two tall, attractive, athletic Americans because they would breed a great warrior, etc. etc.

Do I kill it there, when he misses his mark and suffers the embarrassment of doing it wrong or should I continue on earth. I feel like the couple, hot chick and average dude, falls into a trope and just ... meh. It's a fun idea but it's circling only 3000 words with some hot nymph on god sex.

Is that enough for the purpose of entertaining people on Valentine's Day? I'm curious what say all of you.

 

[PoisonPen33]

I'll get my story in over the next two days. I wonder what direction I should take. I don't have the ending figured out just yet.

Here's what happened:

Eros goes down for the count on Mt. Olympus. Ares, God of War, decides to step up and do the V Day thing in his place. I have some entertaining, good-natured, humorous dialogue, a scene where Ares gets riled up because he feels called out that he can't handle it, and a pair of nymphs take care of his needs to calm to down.

It COULD be done there. I even have him missing his target, which he picked two tall, attractive, athletic Americans because they would breed a great warrior, etc. etc.

Do I kill it there, when he misses his mark and suffers the embarrassment of doing it wrong or should I continue on earth. I feel like the couple, hot chick and average dude, falls into a trope and just ... meh. It's a fun idea but it's circling only 3000 words with some hot nymph on god sex.

Is that enough for the purpose of entertaining people on Valentine's Day? I'm curious what say all of you.

You need to get out of my head - this was my attempted V-Day story.

Eros tempts the Fates who break his shoulder in return, so Zeus tells the twelve Gods of Olympus "each of you has to go out and make ONE mortal experience love."

Ares is a bit of a butt monkey in mine - everyone makes fun of him for being a toxic alpha male even though he has a few good ideas. His thing was going to be helping a high school senior get revenge on her bully so she experiences self-confidence, which to him counts as love. His section was going to end with the student giving him a genuine hug and telling him to stop being so hard on himself.

My point is, think about what Ares might consider "love." The nymph sex is something I'd want to read, but teaching someone to stand up for themselves might fall into his portfolio too!

 

[sirhugs]

Mine is mired in mediocrity, and not even mounting counts.

 

[YDB95]

To the individual who posted this feedback on my story:

Sorry, but this makes no sense, "But she knew the real reason was Mark and Alex. Peggy's longtime crush and his ex of accursed memory."
If the guy is gay, why would she be all googah over him. Or is Peggy a boy?

Alex was a woman. As you'd have known if you'd read beyond the first two paragraphs or so. Geez.

(This user has a long history of comments on my stories that amount to "I don't get it". I really wonder why s/he bothers reading them at this point!)

 

[davion2308]

Still though

To the individual who posted this feedback on my story:



Alex was a woman. As you'd have known if you'd read beyond the first two paragraphs or so. Geez.

(This user has a long history of comments on my stories that amount to "I don't get it". I really wonder why s/he bothers reading them at this point!)

What a compliment that you have someone who follows, half-reads, and posts questions about not getting it! I'm serious. There's someone out there who's trying to keep up with what you're writing and maybe they have some sort of impairment, maybe they're finding real joy in your work, and they only know to express it in questions and confusion.

I'll take ornery followers with bad questions that seem obvious to me over the silence that can follow posting my own stories.

 

[davion2308]

I needed an amusing take

You need to get out of my head - this was my attempted V-Day story.

My point is, think about what Ares might consider "love." The nymph sex is something I'd want to read, but teaching someone to stand up for themselves might fall into his portfolio too!

I needed something different and unique compared to the flowers and candlelight of Valentine's Day. I don't take the actual holiday seriously at all and 10% of the reason I married my wife 15 years ago is that she thinks it's a waste anyway. You get 364 other days to show love and appreciation for your partner, or whomever.

The execution will be different, too. In my story, Ares almost fist-fights Zeus at a board meeting when he (Ares) proclaims he'll step in for Eros. And he has the Spear of Love that hits people a bit differently than Eros's bow-and-arrow set-up.

I'm still torn on having a human component to the story. I'm trying to add it but it feels cheap and tacked on, like a great start to a movie only to have it go back to some plain, already-done story.

 

[Omenainen]

I needed something different and unique compared to the flowers and candlelight of Valentine's Day. I don't take the actual holiday seriously at all and 10% of the reason I married my wife 15 years ago is that she thinks it's a waste anyway. You get 364 other days to show love and appreciation for your partner, or whomever.

This is more or less my stance, with addition that we don’t really do Valentine’s Day around here. So I wrote about...masturbation

Hey, you know what they say, you gotta love yourself first.

 

[Rustyoznail]

This is more or less my stance, with addition that we don’t really do Valentine’s Day around here. So I wrote about...masturbation

Hey, you know what they say, you gotta love yourself first.

Huff puff huff wheeze... Trying to get my story finished. V Day is pushed really hard by the sales community and unfortunately it’s gaining traction. My story makes mention of a Valentines Day sale, and that’s about it. It’s a romance though, which can happen any other day of the year.

 

[UtherVierDragon]

This is more or less my stance, with addition that we don’t really do Valentine’s Day around here. So I wrote about...masturbation

Went for cosmic horror. Reader interest so far is about what you'd expect.

 

[Voboy]

Votes are doing extra-funny things this time around. Lol.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

Way to go everyone!

When I checked a few minutes ago, there were already 45 entries.

Good luck to everyone who entered. I'm looking forward to reading and voting on all the submissions. I encourage all other authors to do the same.

 

[SouthernCrossfire]

I just broke 30K words on mine and still have one more scene to edit. I'm hoping that, between that scene and the final read, I can trim a few hundred words down to maybe 29.5K and submit tomorrow.

I'm second guessing the title now, too, since it gives too much away. Simpler may be better.

Good luck to everyone who entered. I'm looking forward to reading and voting on all the submissions. I encourage all other authors to do the same.

I've enjoyed reading three or four so far, but am looking forward to having more time next week after I finish mine.

 

[RejectReality]

I'm thinking mine will clock in at about 7500 words if I finish it. Having the same problem I had last year. I just don't feel like writing naughty bits right now. Well, I do every once in a while, but the boy isn't letting me get enough sleep. Every time I close my eyes to visualize, I end up drifting off.

I've got half a dozen stories sitting somewhere in a sex scene, most of which will finish the story off. ( beyond a final coda ) Can't get any of them going. Writing on other things, but I'll eventually hit sex scenes on those and end up dead in the water most likely. LOL

Not as if there isn't variety either. Lesbian, FFM threesome, straight, weird monster sex, detached prostitute sex ( soon enough. Haven't hit that scene yet. It's the story I'm working on now ) I've got options, but can't get any of them moving.

Only thing I've managed to finish is a 2500 word handjob quickie for somewhere else ( stuff that short doesn't meet my effort/reward calculation here most of the time ) and a couple of microfiction stories.

I've probably got 100k words worth of in-progress stuff going right now, and can't finish anything.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

My mojo’s back! I dropped my other story and bashed off a completely new one in two days. Just hit -30- (force of habit) and now start editing and polishing.

 

[SouthernCrossfire]

I finally finished mine. I like it, but I completely understand that some may have good reason to hate it. Perspective matters.

 

[gordo12]

!/2 way through mine. Events conspired to drag me away for the last week. I'm hoping next week will allow me the time to finish.

 

[KeithD]

Methinks there's been a rating purge overnight. I haven't been keeping track, but all of mine have now moved into the red.

 

[Omenainen]

Methinks there's been a rating purge overnight. I haven't been keeping track, but all of mine have now moved into the red.

Well, not in my story. The voting is so slow I think vote count would’ve gone down if that happened. And the score would presumably go up, and that hasn’t happened either.

 

[NotWise]

Methinks there's been a rating purge overnight. I haven't been keeping track, but all of mine have now moved into the red.

I didn't see anything change overnight, but I'm not in the contest. I did have votes removed this afternoon from three or four stories.

If the contest entries have been swept, then I might see the effect tomorrow after the profile scores are updated. The median rating has been pretty solid at just under 4.5 for several days, and that's pretty normal.

 

[KeithD]

All three of my current entries went up significantly in rating overnight. I haven't asked for a sweep. I hadn't been checking the number of votes, though, so I don't know what's been trimmed. It would have taken several new 5 votes to lift the scores that much and I haven't been getting a lot of reads.