Average, Good, or What?

[CMatthews]

Literotica posted one of my stories on 12/29/09 and after four days it has these statistics:

42,973 views
294 votes
3.43 average rating

Is this average, good, or what?

Please don't reply with a sarcastic comment or anything else of that nature. I am just
beginning here and don't know if these statistics really mean anything.

I used to be "SapphicOne" here at Literotica about a year ago, then switched to
"Susan Walker", then to "Carolyn Matthews"

I am in the process of rewriting Susan's stories and submit them as:
Susan Walker aka Carolyn Matthews.

If you have ever read a story on the internet that says the author is "Susan Walker",
then that story came from my hands and my mind.

I have learned what to do, and what not to do under the Literotica guidelines.

God Bless Literotica and my fellow authors.

From "Anonymous" to "CMatthews": "You write like a sixth grader!"

Okay Honey, thanks for your input! God Bless You!

Anyway, where was I?

Oh, yeah, Is this average, good, or what?

 

[Handley_Page]

'Twould seem that a great many folk read it.
Be glad. At least they did read it!

 

[CMatthews]

We Choose

We choose to go to the moon in this decade and do the other things, not because they are easy, but because they are hard, because that goal will serve to organize and measure the best of our energies and skills, because that challenge is one that we are willing to accept, one we are unwilling to postpone, and one which we intend to win, and the others, too.

- John F. Kennedy

 

[oggbashan]

I also had a story posted on 29 December.

Sari Bound is rated at 3.90 with 10 votes and 2009 views.

Wedding Bondage Ch.01 posted 30 December is rated at 4.00 with 18 votes and 3547 views.

Fiona Ch.01 posted 31 December is rated at 3.75 with 4 votes and 548 views.

Conclusions?

You have had far more readers and votes than I have.

With the revised voting system it is much harder to get an H (more than 10 votes and a rating above 4.50) than it used to be.

The category might be a factor. All three of mine were in the Fetish category. The readers of Fetish aren't as vindictive as those for Loving Wives but they are choosy. They either like the particular fetish or they don't.

Og

 

[VeritasMaximus]

I'm still new here, but it's very difficult to get a real sense of what the votes and scores mean. I had a lot of votes on all of my submissions and decent enough scores, I reckon. But, I still have no idea whether that means my stuff is any good.

 

[driphoney]

Literotica posted one of my stories on 12/29/09 and after four days it has these statistics:

42,973 views
294 votes
3.43 average rating

Is this average, good, or what?


From "Anonymous" to "CMatthews": "You write like a sixth grader!"

Okay Honey, thanks for your input! God Bless You!

First, I want to say that wasn't me!

Second, what genre? It seems to make a difference.

Nothing I have posted has a vote total that comes close. My very first thing has more views, but it took a while and doesn't have anywhere near your votes.

 

[jomar]

Scores here means readers liked it. It doesn't necessarily mean it's any good. That being said, these days, with the new rating system, anything above a four is probably pretty decent.

Also, different categories are more forgiving than others, often having nothing to do with the writing itself. Romance is pretty forgiving of writing. But you could be the greatest writer in the history of humankind and if the cheating bitch doesn't get what's coming to her in Loving Wives your story is going to get hammered - they have rigid thinking there.

 

[deevo]

Almost 43,000 views in four days?

Wow - I've got a story that's been up for three years and it doesn't have a quarter of that amount.

The voting system is subjective, of course - everyone likes different things, and what appeals to one person in a story may not appeal to another - but of the 294 people who have voted, the general consensus seems to be that you wrote a pretty good story. 3.43 puts it between "Good" and "Great" territory, so it seems you're on the right track!

 

[CMatthews]

Almost 43,000 views in four days?

Wow - I've got a story that's been up for three years and it doesn't have a quarter of that amount.

The voting system is subjective, of course - everyone likes different things, and what appeals to one person in a story may not appeal to another - but of the 294 people who have voted, the general consensus seems to be that you wrote a pretty good story. 3.43 puts it between "Good" and "Great" territory, so it seems you're on the right track!

It went from 42,973 to 43,498 in just a couple of hours.

God Bless Literotica dot com.

 

[JackLuis]

Somewhere in the archives is an analysis of the scores, number of stories by author, and how the categories are spread.

As I remember it, the average score has changed over the life of Lit. It appears that an "average-good" is about 4.38 now.

I just write in Novels and my first chapter has been up a little over a year, only has 20,137 reads and a 4.38 on 76 votes.

The other 37 chapters only have between 2,000 and 8,000 reads, 10-25 votes and 14 have red H's. I seem to have lost a couple, Drat! Used to have 16.

The article was very interesting and I wish I could find it again.

 

[driphoney]

It went from 42,973 to 43,498 in just a couple of hours.

God Bless Literotica dot com.

Which one is it? I see you have one exhibitionist and two incest/taboo stories up.

This is one of the few sites that allow incest stories, so it's a pretty popular cat from what I hear.

 

[driphoney]

Somewhere in the archives is an analysis of the scores, number of stories by author, and how the categories are spread.

As I remember it, the average score has changed over the life of Lit. It appears that an "average-good" is about 4.38 now.

I just write in Novels and my first chapter has been up a little over a year, only has 20,137 reads and a 4.38 on 76 votes.

The other 37 chapters only have between 2,000 and 8,000 reads, 10-25 votes and 14 have red H's. I seem to have lost a couple, Drat! Used to have 16.

The article was very interesting and I wish I could find it again.

Is this the article you were thinking about? Literotica Numbers 02 Thought I'd try to help even though you want to erase Texans from the earth!

 

[Lisa Summers]

To me, that's an astounding number of views and votes. After 4 days, I'm lucky to have 5,000 and 30 (lesbian board)

 

[JackLuis]

Is this the article you were thinking about? Literotica Numbers 02 Thought I'd try to help even though you want to erase Texans from the earth!

Thanks for the reference. I like most Texans, my mother's people came from Texas.

Owlwhisper sent me a link to his stories and so I put it here so you can see both Lit 1 and 2.

Very interesting analysis.

 

[TE999]

Is this the article you were thinking about? Literotica Numbers 02 Thought I'd try to help even though you want to erase Texans from the earth!

Thanks for scaring those articles up, honey. They're really interesting and further reinforce my credo that you should write to please yourself, not the readers. They have the acuity to determine what they enjoy and overt pandering to them is both denigrating to the writer and insulting to the reader. I am not including authors writing multiple stories in a given category, rather the stories with a threadbare plot and no character development that merely string together a series of elaborately described sexual encounters.

 

[driphoney]

Thanks for the reference. I like most Texans, my mother's people came from Texas.

Owlwhisper sent me a link to his stories and so I put it here so you can see both Lit 1 and 2.

Very interesting analysis.

Thanks for scaring those articles up, honey. They're really interesting and further reinforce my credo that you should write to please yourself, not the readers. They have the acuity to determine what they enjoy and overt pandering to them is both denigrating to the writer and insulting to the reader. I am not including authors writing multiple stories in a given category, rather the stories with a threadbare plot and no character development that merely string together a series of elaborately described sexual encounters.

I got tired of having to dig for the second one so many times here, that I finally favorited it so I could easily get it for just this situation, but I didn't do the first one.

It's very interesting reading. In spite of his well laid out stats you still see writers here stating perceptions that don't seem to be borne out by the numbers. Well, we creative types are allowed our proclivities, right?

As for writing to please yourself, I think you're right, at least I have to do it that way, but many writers who write professionally have to meet a target market in order to be paid, so that has its merit. Also, as long as the person writing the threadbare-plot-string-of-sex story enjoys writing that, I see no problem with it. Maybe that's because Plot and I have an uneasy relationship!

 

[O2]

Carolyn,

I think that's not a bad score. I've had stories on here for five years that don't have that exposure.

I tend to write about what I like and what I find enjoyable to read. Loving wives can be brutal in their responses. I took one story off and rewrote it I was so mad. Keep doing what you enjoy.

 

[CMatthews]

I love Literotica

As of 01/01/2010 02:14am EST

45,140 views to this story after 5 days:
http://www.literotica.com/stories/showstory.php?id=456322

 

[JackLuis]

I love Literotica

As of 01/01/2010 02:14am EST

45,140 views to this story after 5 days:
http://www.literotica.com/stories/showstory.php?id=456322

Congratulations!

 

[hoo_hoo_boo]

I think that to do well on this or any other site one has to work the boards. After a time one develops a following and they are more inclined to vote and they vote generously. In working the boards its helpful to be generous and flattering.

I think that it also helps to be female until a point where the author is well known and has a following- then I suspect that it helps to be male. (I don't know why!)
Age also is a big determinant- the younger the better I suspect.

An interesting profile helps too- especially if it has a sexy pic of the author and offers the reader some prospect of contact.

Votes don't necessarily mean anything and what is important is that you are happy with your writing. In a sense I sometimes feel that its a little immature to expect adulation for every thing we do, but then I too like the confirmation that what I've written is ok. With more reward its more likely that the author will be more committed to writing more. Sometimes that is a good thing!lol.

I often find myself enjoying very poorly written stories- they are very human and without the glossand artifice seem so real. I often find authors who obviously have a big following to be lacking in so many things- like credibility and humanity.

I think its so difficult to know from the numbers whether one has a good story or not. The best indicator for me is the comments but so few are given that they are too small as a sample to be really useful.

If something goes wrong though then one gets heaps of comments- like when I put one story on to Lit and it was repeated- not my doing but it was commented on mercilessly. (I have found that when ever I put a story on Lit there is a problem in its transmission.)

I find that the best place to put stories is in competitions- the exposure then is significantly greater and I learn more. People do vote savagely though in competitions because they want your vote in return and hope that instead of the one or two they've given you'll give more! Its a very strange world!

Happy New Year everyone!

 

[Loring2]

Scores

Scores here means readers liked it. It doesn't necessarily mean it's any good. That being said, these days, with the new rating system, anything above a four is probably pretty decent.

 

[Loring2]

Scores

Scores here means readers liked it. It doesn't necessarily mean it's any good. That being said, these days, with the new rating system, anything above a four is probably pretty decent.

If readers like it then it's good. There is no other criteria. This isn't a high school english exercize. Or is it?

 

[jomar]

If readers like it then it's good. There is no other criteria. This isn't a high school english exercize. Or is it?

Hello Loring...read hoo_hoo_boo's post preceding yours. He/she said he/she often enjoys poorly written stories. So the story could be good while the writing is awful. Or vice versa. You can submit to a category that has a very forgiving readership (e.g., incest, romance) and get decent scores for a mediocre story and writing. Or you can submit to an unforgiving category (e.g., loving wives), write well and have a good story and if the plot doesn't flow according to the prevailing formula there you'll get low votes.

That's why I say if a story gets a good score or red H, it means it was popular and certain people liked it, not that it was necessarily "good," though it could be.

Also, many authors vote when we like a story but don't vote if it sucks, which can skew things some. Another thing - until you have a robust number of votes a one-bomb from a troll can be hard to overcome. I had one guy one-bomb me because I didn't have "chapter 1" in the title, NOT because of the story or the writing (which could have sucked or not).