The Golden Ratio!

[Chaste_Down]

If you consider which of your stories have got the best feedback/rating, is it stories with a higher or lower story-to-sex ratio?

I.e. do the readers seem to like it best when you jump into the sex acts with minimal build up, or do they like a lot of character and setting build up first?

Obviously, there are different audiences, and everyone has a different opinion on what counts as a lot of character work. But, I'm interested in your experiences and general take on the issue.

 

[SamScribble]

My highest scoring stories tend to be the ones with little or no overt sex. Go figure.

 

[oggbashan]

My highest scoring stories tend to be the ones with little or no overt sex. Go figure.

So are mine.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I considered myself at one point a slow burn and character build up writer, and folk like those stories a lot. But then the stories I think of as quicker stroke do well too.

So far as I can figure it out, the only rule is, there are no rules (but don't write what the other guy writes, because that won't work for you). I guess that's two rules .

 

[Dingo_Triplesix]

Depends on the category. I have several top rated stories consisting mainly of erotic action, and other with much less. I think the story itself has to be convincing, the sex is one mean to achieve this, but there are others.

 

[TadOverdon]

The perviest chapters that don't include humiliating a guy.

 

[PeytonMirabelle]

No correlation for me. My second-highest-rated story and lowest-rated story both have zero sex in them.

 

[LAHomedog]

Seems to swing both way for me

A few high in sex stories and a couple of less sex stories. The two consistencies seem to be, which category, and when the story is fully realized and compelling with 3-dimensional characters who are authentic.

In other words, when I nailed it.

 

[JuanaSalsa]

Looking at my stories, it seems that my highest rated stories are the longer ones (15k+ words), and after that there's no trend related to topic or frequency or first appearance of sex. Not every story is on the linear trend line, but the trend is there.

 

[yukonnights]

I had to go take a look, but it appears that my longer and more developed stories are the ones with the better ratings. However, there's some other factors; Some of the longer stories are series — which means the later chapters are read by those who like the story and stuck with it. The second influence is that some of the longer stories are in the Romance category — the readers there are generous when they like a story.

I prefer an appreciative audience over a high view/read count. So I try to give them something worth reading. I also enjoy writing the longer stories — probably because I'm too 'wordy'

 

[Demiurging]

Most of mine are fairly short, aiming for ten thousand in a one shot short story, and I usually have two to three sex scenes in those. So it would be something like two to one story to sex.

Trying to get away from that as I go on, but I still like to put in a sex scene right away so that a reader has something to quickly fap to if that's what they're in for without having to get into the narrative. But yeah, the first story I posted here is around twenty thousand words and has, I had to stop and think for a while, between six and eight sex scenes depending how they're counted.

 

[lovecraft68]

My highest scoring stories tend to be the ones with little or no overt sex. Go figure.

I think part of that is those stories-in general-get less votes, so maybe there's less trolling on them, and the votes they get are from the better class of reader?

 

[Dingo_Triplesix]

If you are striving for a good rating, a reeeally extended sex scene, covering virtually all of the story, may be the easiest way, provided the sex is described colorful and touching. After all, most readers are here for that. If you weave in some emotions and a little drama, this is sufficient. The characters and the plot don´t need to be craftet too fine-grained.

Other important factors for a good rating are:
- not too short (> 8000 words)
- a happy end or similar
- likeable characters
- in most categories they should do everything out of love or fun or excitement, be careful with darker motifs

Love
Dingo

 

[NotWise]

Obviously, there are different audiences, and everyone has a different opinion on what counts as a lot of character work. But, I'm interested in your experiences and general take on the issue.

If you took your first sentence above seriously, then there wouldn't be any reason to think you could find a reasonable consensus.

There are a lot of things that go into making a story more or less rewarding to readers. I've never ventured very far into really sex-laden stories, but within the range my stories do reach, the amount of sex doesn't appear to be a factor in how much my readers like it.

I've seen highly-rated stories with great comments that were little more than sex scenes. I've seen (and written) stories that were well-accepted with little or no sex in them.

 

[SimonDoom]

I don't believe there's such a thing as a universal golden ratio for erotic stories, and I don't think it's helpful to try to figure one out.

A lot of it depends on the kind of story you are trying to write. Some people write stories with sex in them, and some of them (including me, mostly) write stories where the sexual/erotic experience is the focus of the story. In stories of the latter sort it makes no sense to try to separate the story from the sex. The story IS the sex. I regard the setup, the seduction, and the buildup as part of the "sex" in my stories.

The variety of reader tastes is almost infinite here. There's no such thing as a universal reader.

Also, there's no universal metric for success. Some authors want high scores. Others wants views, or favorites.

I've observed two things about how stories do at Literotica germane to this question:

1. Longer stories tend to have higher scores. If it's a high score you are after, then you maximize your chance by writing a story that is MORE than 11,000 words.

2. A high score doesn't necessarily correlate with high views and numerous favorites.

I think it's hard to make a recommendation on this issue, but I'll make one: instead of focusing on a ratio, focus on making the characters interesting, so the reader is hooked on wanting to read about the characters get involved in whatever the sexual experience is. Whatever number of words is needed to do that is the right number of words. A story that features sex without context probably isn't going to be as interesting or successful.

 

[KeithD]

I don't believe there's such a thing as a universal golden ratio for erotic stories.

This is my view as well.

 

[Comshaw]

I don't pay attention as to how much sex is in the story. And it really doesn't seem to matter, at least to those who read my work. The highest rated story I have was written for a contest. It has some sex, but the story isn't overly ladened with it. One of (there are four with exactly the same score) my second-highest rated is just the opposite. It's all about a guy fucking anything that comes his way, a total and utter fuck fest. Those two are separated by.06 in the vote.

I don't think it matters here. If it hits the right note with the reader, they will enjoy it and vote appropriately. All except the trolls. Of course, if you look at the troll vote from another angle, they too enjoyed it, in a perverted backasswards way because it pissed them off and made them feel miserable.

My problem is I haven't figured out exactly what the note is I need to hit. To be honest, some I thought were pretty good stories didn't score as well as other's that I thought weren't as good. I guess I'll just keep plugging along, throwing up stories to see how they fare.

Comshaw

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Assuming you can write coherently and have edited your work, and it's got a beginning, middle and end so it's a story not just a scene, then the rating mostly depends on whether you provide what people were expecting.

So if you post something that isn't a straightfirward fit for a category, deterring people who won't like it is crucial. Sex hardly matters in comparison.

I have a series where one chapter has a perfect 5 rating after 18 months (don't all one-bomb it at once!) - but only 10 votes and a few 1000 views. It has no sex beyond kissing.

A previous chapter has 4.93 and has two detailed sex scenes, so about 40% sex.

I don't get many readers but the ones I have like my stuff, so I'll keep writing more.

 

[LexxRuthless]

If you consider which of your stories have got the best feedback/rating, is it stories with a higher or lower story-to-sex ratio?

I.e. do the readers seem to like it best when you jump into the sex acts with minimal build up, or do they like a lot of character and setting build up first?

Obviously, there are different audiences, and everyone has a different opinion on what counts as a lot of character work. But, I'm interested in your experiences and general take on the issue.

There are separate indicators of success, and you've listed basically two of the four most of us consider. In addition to feedback and rating, there are views and favorites. It's a real accomplishment to do well in all four of those areas on a single story, but it can be done. I don't think it has as much to do with a "Golden Ratio" of story-to-sex, so much as writing a story that features what you do best as a writer.

From the feedback I've received, my greatest strength as an author is my ability to write dialogue. Not surprisingly, then, my highest-rated submission is the eighth chapter of my first series, which has a really, really long piece of dialogue punctuated with little sexy bits.

That said, some of my most-viewed stories are also among my lowest-rated. There are a lot of factors that go into how people rate your story, and not all of them are under your control. Check some of the earlier threads in this forum regarding tags, choosing a good title, and writing an enticing description. When it comes to "success" on Literotica -- getting people to read your story and give it good reviews -- those are every bit as important as writing a good story.

 

[dmallord]

Insufficient Data for Assessment!

If you consider which of your stories have got the best feedback/rating, is it stories with a higher or lower story-to-sex ratio?

I.e. do the readers seem to like it best when you jump into the sex acts with minimal build up, or do they like a lot of character and setting build up first?

Obviously, there are different audiences, and everyone has a different opinion on what counts as a lot of character work. But, I'm interested in your experiences and general take on the issue.

+++

I find no story-to-sex ratio data in my writings that supports a correlation between best feedback and/or ratings. My feedback responses seem marginal.

My stories have over a combined 270K views; about 2% of viewers, around 6K, take the time to rate my stories; and my commenters are about 0.04% of the viewers. Sparse information to be able to draw a valid conclusion regarding your quest for general intake on the issue you are studying.

My writings focus on a believable plot with good character development, hoping that holds readers' attention well enough for them to give me a good rating. Well, it is also Lit, so I do manage to intersperse some sex periodically in the storyline, except for one character development piece I wrote, 'Alina is Missing - Help Find Her!' There was some grumbling about that story in the comments ... too short, didn't tell a story ... were among them. Still it rates 4.21 at the moment and didn't even mention sex.

My other works are replete with sexual encounters and have been well received by most commenters [the snarks/trolls did appear in a couple of comments] and range from 4.5 to 4.8 for nearly all of them. Not much to note regarding scores to sex ratio among those stories.

One lesson I would note: not wise to off your main characters - readers were really distraught at that noir aspect in one of my stories. It has been out a month now with twelve votes and just comes in with a rating of 4.1 at the moment. I thought it was one of my better stories! It was filled with incest sex scenes, threesome, bi-sexual, and other forms but seemingly the twisted plot was 'gut wrenching' for some readers.

So, no data in my works to support your inquiry.

 

[BrokenSpokes]

Series vs Stand-alone

I've written two long series, with a third currently eighty percent complete. I've also written a number of stand-alone stories, and one with only two chapters.

The point of my writing the series was to tell a narrative story, and in much of them the sex was incidental to the plot, so there wasn't that much of it per word count as my stand-alone works. My stand-alone works, by and large are all about the sex.

That said, my series are, by and large, much higher rated than my stand-alones.

Even my short, two-chapter series, the first chapter was mostly sex, the second was a story of how the two characters went from a one-night stand to a relationship, so there was less sex per word count. The second chapter is tied for my highest rated story.

 

[oggbashan]

Answer: There are too many readers with different tastes to produce a fail-proof formula for success. What might appeal to a small minority might upset a larger group (or the other way around).

All an author can do is write a story, submit it, and wait for the response.

I have been surprised how well some of mine have done that I expected to tank, and how badly some have done that I was very pleased with when I finished it.

 

[Trionyx]

I have been surprised how well some of mine have done that I expected to tank, and how badly some have done that I was very pleased with when I finished it.

I too am amazed at how a story that I believe is interesting, sexy and fun can do so poorly yet another story that I think is only “OK” turns out to do very well. However, I will continue to write what I want and let the votes fall where they may.

 

[HeyAll]

It's a matter of finding the right audience. If you advertise a long romance story, and the romance readers (of any catagory) find it, then it hits the right spot.

If you advertise a quick sex story, and the readers looking for something straight to sex, then that hits the spot.

The problem is when the content and the readers it attract don't match. If you advertise something for an erotic-literature-romance audience and the story is short and there's a 12 inch cock and DD breasts, then that could lead to lower scores because those readers won't like it.


Anyway, for me, my ratio is almost always the same. I write between 3,500 - 6,700 words. Mostly build-up. That always does the trick, but some themes get higher reactions than others for whatever reason.

 

[gordo12]

My highest scoring stories tend to be the ones with little or no overt sex. Go figure.

Ditto!