The Official Authors' Hangout Summer Lovin' 2024 Contest Support Thread

[Inkent]

Big pat on the back to the winners, thoroughly deserved. There are no losers at the end, I've been introduced to author who's work has somehow slipped though my net, so having some great material to read has been a big win. The competition entries also allow me to read stories from genres I don't normally poke around in too!

As for my own entry, it's in the LW niche , quite pleased with the overall score it finally topped out at. It always feels like each story I publish there is no more than another Christian being tossed to the lions in a Roman arena!

Looking forward to meeting you all later for the next competition

 

[ChasBozwell30]

Congratulations to the winners, some great stories this competition!

 

[gordo12]

LOL, it took about two minutes on the front page to get my first "you suck" message! Gotta love those mouth-breathing basement dwellers on the politics and general boards.

 

[gordo12]

Right. Kind of defeats the object for me though, if I have no idea how I did. My own dashboard says my story is on 4.9, the competiton says 4.86, which should have been quite competitive. I'm sure there's factors I'm not aware of, just wondering what they are!

That's a great ending score if it's your first story. Congrats. But as someone said, the end of the contest is like trying to make a decision in the middle of a horse race. How they end it, nobody knows, but I would assume they take a snapshot at a specific planned time.
For instance my story read 4.85 when the announcement came it was reading 4.92. I'm not even sure it that was the final because I wasn't on top of it instantly. As far as I know, voting, favs and comments are not shut off during the decision. I could be wrong.

Screenshot:
4.92 13239 676 42 53 107

 

[Infernalcock]

That's a great ending score if it's your first story. Congrats. But as someone said, the end of the contest is like trying to make a decision in the middle of a horse race. How they end it, nobody knows, but I would assume they take a snapshot at a specific planned time.
For instance my story read 4.85 when the announcement came it was reading 4.92. I'm not even sure it that was the final because I wasn't on top of it instantly. As far as I know, voting, favs and comments are not shut off during the decision. I could be wrong.

Screenshot:
4.92 13239 676 42 53 107

First competition entry, not first story . I've no doubt all is above board, apologies if I sounded a little whiney yesterday. The whole thing was a bit of a rollercoaster for my poor ego - the week prior I'd watched my score dive from 4.85 down to 4.5 within five refreshes as I was one-bombed. So when I was suddenly 'back' after a sweep I was dreaming of glory.

Great work and congrats again to you, and all the participants. Think I'll have a long break before having another go myself

 

[Nellymcboatface]

That's a great ending score if it's your first story. Congrats. But as someone said, the end of the contest is like trying to make a decision in the middle of a horse race. How they end it, nobody knows, but I would assume they take a snapshot at a specific planned time.
For instance my story read 4.85 when the announcement came it was reading 4.92. I'm not even sure it that was the final because I wasn't on top of it instantly. As far as I know, voting, favs and comments are not shut off during the decision. I could be wrong.

Screenshot:
4.92 13239 676 42 53 107

we must have been level pegging (no pun intended) as I floated 4.84 / 4.85 getting then 4 votes took me down to 4.82...
then as the announcement came 4.92...
and I lost 6 votes (9 overall in sweeps)...
Kudos to you as you had the views and votes.
well done...

I echo your sentiments, another great competition with some great authors coming through.
well done everyone.

May everyone's share of being on the list continue over the next months.

Nelly.

 

[Wineandcheese]

Ok, I’m sorry, but I have to brag just a little. No, I didn’t win, not even close. My current rating for Camping With Courtney is 4.68, well out of the running for the Blue W. However, with 90.6K views and 153 Favorites, I’m at the top of those stats.

Gotta love the I/T category.

 

[Morevinila]

Congrats to the winners and to all those participating. I was happy I could submit a story I started to write when I saw the competition was coming and I want to again thank my editor Small Island for his quick editing work and his help in getting the story accepted after it was initially sent back because of some confusion over underaged sex (which was not the case). I'm happy also with the rating (4.62) though it probably doesn't mean much since I didn't get many votes except that those who did vote liked it.
Hoping to be posting again soon - working presently on an old story with too many 'impossible' things that I need to sort out. Only thing if I just post it like that and not in a contest, it probably won't get many reads.

 

[gordo12]

Ok, I’m sorry, but I have to brag just a little. No, I didn’t win, not even close. My current rating for Camping With Courtney is 4.68, well out of the running for the Blue W. However, with 90.6K views and 153 Favorites, I’m at the top of those stats.

Gotta love the I/T category.

Freakn awesome stats! Readership is the name of the game and you got that in spades! Congrats.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Congratulations to the winners.
My ramblings suddenly jumped 0.2 at the end, not hugely deserved, but 16 new Followers is an achievement for me - and hopefully they won't run away when I next post something queer or kinky, as they'll have seen my Crime story. (When I tried I/T, i got 70 new followers, over 50 of whom disappeared over the next few stories - took over a year to make the number rise back to that level again!)

 

[nicksouth]

Congratulations to the winners.
My ramblings suddenly jumped 0.2 at the end, not hugely deserved, but 16 new Followers is an achievement for me - and hopefully they won't run away when I next post something queer or kinky, as they'll have seen my Crime story. (When I tried I/T, i got 70 new followers, over 50 of whom disappeared over the next few stories - took over a year to make the number rise back to that level again!)

I was fortunate to get 69 new followers (up from 1!) 285 votes and a 4.75 score. Far above what I expected

 

[Actingup]

I was fortunate to get 69 new followers (up from 1!) 285 votes and a 4.75 score. Far above what I expected

I enjoyed your story @nicksouth and many of the others - I'm still working through them. I was more than happy with my first author experience and with using a competition to do that, even though it was terrifying. My first two stories and I expected to be torn to shreds, but got 600+ votes, lots of helpful comments and scores of 4.73/4.8. From which I concluded that the Literotica readership are generally really nice and encouraging people despite some obvious 1 bombs (why do people do that?). I also have hopefully learned to punctuate dialogue better, and was grateful to the editors for picking up on that as I've spent years doing technical writing but that doesn't include much dialogue!! Entries here and here.

 

[nicksouth]

I enjoyed your story @nicksouth and many of the others - I'm still working through them. I was more than happy with my first author experience and with using a competition to do that, even though it was terrifying. My first two stories and I expected to be torn to shreds, but got 600+ votes, lots of helpful comments and scores of 4.73/4.8. From which I concluded that the Literotica readership are generally really nice and encouraging people despite some obvious 1 bombs (why do people do that?). I also have hopefully learned to punctuate dialogue better, and was grateful to the editors for picking up on that as I've spent years doing technical writing but that doesn't include much dialogue!! Entries here and here.

That is fantastic! On to the next one

 

[gordo12]

Is anybody else having trouble getting paid? Multiple enquiries have brought promises but not the $$$$.

"
Oct 3, 2024
Thank you for your reply! You should receive the e-certificate within the next 12 hours. If you don't see it by then, please let me know.

Congratulations again, and we look forward to reading more from you!"

 

[MelissaBaby]

Is anybody else having trouble getting paid? Multiple enquiries have brought promises but not the $$$$.

"
Oct 3, 2024
Thank you for your reply! You should receive the e-certificate within the next 12 hours. If you don't see it by then, please let me know.

Congratulations again, and we look forward to reading more from you!"

I've never had any trouble collecting prizes, but I have always taken them as Amazon gift certificates, so that may be an easier process.

 

[gordo12]

Have to take them as Amazon certs in Canada. Last time, I had no problem either. But this has been going on for weeks. Back almost since the original announcement. If they can't pay, I have no problem walking away. I've certainly gotten that and more in entertainment over the years, never mind the writing education. But I wondered about the other winners.

 

[Rustyoznail]

Not sure if it's related, but I've been trying to get hold of Laurel about a Halloween question. The silence has been unusual.

 

[gordo12]

Not sure if it's related, but I've been trying to get hold of Laurel about a Halloween question. The silence has been unusual.

I hope everything is OK. This site is my favourite place on the internet and has been for years. I'd hate for anything to happen to it.

 

[Actingup]

I hope everything is OK. This site is my favourite place on the internet and has been for years. I'd hate for anything to happen to it.

Serious comment/question... I'm a newbie in terms of authorship and in knowing any back history. But am I right that it's Laurel and Manu running it without any structured governance support other than volunteers taking up various roles (like @Rustyoznail here for the Halloween comp)? If so, it's a really vulnerable situation from a governance perspective, and it would be important to have an organised committee of volunteers to feed questions through and offer real support if things are bad. You wouldn't want the first formal notification of a crisis to be a notice of site closure.

 

[gordo12]

Serious comment/question... I'm a newbie in terms of authorship and in knowing any back history. But am I right that it's Laurel and Manu running it without any structured governance support other than volunteers taking up various roles (like @Rustyoznail here for this comp)? If so, it's a really vulnerable situation from a governance perspective, and it would be important to have an organised committee of volunteers to feed questions through and offer real support if things are bad. You wouldn't want the first formal notification of a crisis to be a notice of site closure.

I wouldn't worry. It's been run in this fashion for 25 years now and survived. Laurel and Manu used to respond on threads many, many years ago, but beyond the support thread, I haven't seen a post by them for years.

 

[Morevinila]

Hi all. Deadline approaching. Just managed to finish my story. Unfortunately my editor is not available this time to help me so I'm having a final run-through before proposing it to the Team. Hope it gets accepted.
I have a question about tags, one especially: what comes under 'mature'? Wanted to know if I could add it to my story because one of the main characters is past 50 and she gets to interact with younger people. So is the tag appropriate? As from what age does the term 'mature' apply?
If anybody can help.

 

[Voboy]

Hi all. Deadline approaching. Just managed to finish my story. Unfortunately my editor is not available this time to help me so I'm having a final run-through before proposing it to the Team. Hope it gets accepted.
I have a question about tags, one especially: what comes under 'mature'? Wanted to know if I could add it to my story because one of the main characters is past 50 and she gets to interact with younger people. So is the tag appropriate? As from what age does the term 'mature' apply?
If anybody can help.

Mature is very appropriate for that. It deals with any age disparity (older/younger) as well as aged couples, and over 50 is just fine (especially if you include one or two tropes about being older; arthritis, say, or grey hair). Submit there with confidence.

 

[Rustyoznail]

Hi all. Deadline approaching. Just managed to finish my story. Unfortunately my editor is not available this time to help me so I'm having a final run-through before proposing it to the Team. Hope it gets accepted.
I have a question about tags, one especially: what comes under 'mature'? Wanted to know if I could add it to my story because one of the main characters is past 50 and she gets to interact with younger people. So is the tag appropriate? As from what age does the term 'mature' apply?
If anybody can help.

@Morevinila , are you posting in the right thread? The summer comp finished a month ago. Halloween is on now.

 

[Morevinila]

@Morevinila , are you posting in the right thread? The summer comp finished a month ago. Halloween is on now.

Story is about Halloween - a masked Halloween party where unexpected things happen. Thank you for querying. What made you think my story was about Summer?

 

[gordo12]

You posted on the Summer Lovin support thread. The contest finished back in Sept. You might want to go look for the proper Halloween support thread.