Do readers usually look at the author's profile before reading that author's story?

[HopelessDreams]

On Literotica, I always read the author's profile before reading any of their stories, because many authors give useful info there about what to expect from their stories. What do you do? And what do your readers mostly seem to do?

 

[SimonDoom]

Sometimes but not usually. I do read many author profiles at one time or another, but I often start reading a story without doing so. I read the title and tag line and tags and I can usually get a pretty good idea if I'm going to like it within a few paragraphs.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Occasionally. I don't need an author to steer me through a story, though. It should stand on its own.

If it's not caught me in the first two or three hundred words, it won't. As soon as I see the glimmerings of a back story in the first few paragraphs, I'm usually gone. Who cares what happened before the story starts?

 

[Trionyx]

Sometimes I’ll glance at a writer’s story list to get a sense of their preferred categories and how well their stories have done. Usually, however, I just plunge right in like SD without looking at writer profiles.

 

[Mal_Bey]

I find I will read their profile after a story. There are a couple of reasons. I play a game where I see how much reality an author reveals about themselves in their stories. Another reason is if I liked one of their stories, I might like another, or a story by one of the authors they like. But none of that applies before I have read the story.

 

[MillieDynamite]

I read the story first, and if I like the work, I'll read their profile. If I don't, I won't. Exception, if I hate the story, I mean really hate the story, I'll take a gander at the profile. If only to figure out, if possible, what made them write what the crap they wrote.

 

[YDB95]

The only time I look at other people's profiles here is when they add me as a favorite. I want to see just who it is that likes my stories, after all. I can't recall ever looking at an author's profile before I read their story.

 

[Smuttyandfun]

I don't usually read another author's profile, unless they've added me as a favorite. If I like what I've read, I'll check out what else they've written. I might also look to see what other stories they've enjoyed.

 

[EarlyMorningLight]

My main method of finding new things to read on Lit is to look at the favorites of writers I like, so I do end up reading a lot of profiles.

 

[tenyari]

I only tend to look after I've found something I liked reading.

 

[PennameWombat]

I cannot make any statement about what my readers “usually do.” None of them have ever sent me a message or left a comment to the effect “read your profile, made me read all your stories.” As my profile does lay out how various of my stories are interconnected and offers a suggested reading order, I have the indirect impression one or two of them checked it out and followed it to some degree, but that was due to comments left on stories that didn’t say that, so it’s a guess. There is no stat here (of which I’m aware) that indicates when anyone’s looked at our profiles.

I don’t make it a habit of reading profiles up front before reading a story. I sometimes check out profiles for folks who favorite my stories or follow me, but that’s inconsistent.

 

[thomas1965]

I only look at their profile if I liked their story, so I might read their other stories.

 

[Defluer]

Usually I just read the story first. Once and a while my fellow author jealousy will rise up if I see the story has crazy amount of comments/views/favorites. Then I have to go look to see if they have a ton of stories published or whatever. If I liked the story or there is multiple parts, I'll go through the author link. Read their profile, usually lack of profile except for something about a Patreon, then go onto other stories or other chapters of the story.

 

[Princess_VioletXxx]

Occasionally I will. Usually when browsing transgender stories. Typically I'll look for stories written by actual trans people as they are more authentic generally.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

I've almost never read a profile. I find stories by tags or by 'similar', possibly by category, or when someone I Follow has posted a new story.

If I like a story I'll look at what else they've written, but rarely click through to a profile - most of them are effectively blank anyway. If someone follows me I'll look at what they've written (usually nothing) but if they have written something I may check the profile, too.

 

[stickygirl]

It may depend where they've found the story. If they've come via the forums then they probably read the profile, less likely if they've simply browsed a category.
I read profiles to weed out ones I don't think I'll enjoy reading, but I don't read much at Lit in any case... too much sex

 

[TadOverdon]

No.

 

[Emotional]

I read the story first, and if I like the work, I'll read their profile. If I don't, I won't. Exception, if I hate the story, I mean really hate the story, I'll take a gander at the profile. If only to figure out, if possible, what made them write what the crap they wrote.

Me too!

 

[Lady2020]

Yes. But it's been a while since I've read a Lit story.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Before, no, certainly not. I don't check how many stories they have published here, how many followers they have, nor do I worry if they have a plethora of red Hs. I just read their story. If I like the story, I put Jo on following them since I read from her account, not mine. I don't share stories in my account, but I sometimes write comments. Even that is rare under my pen name. I'm odd that way.

 

[shakna]

I've had quite a number of readers tell me that they've discovered something that's front and centre on my profile page, six, twelve months after they've been avid fans who read absolutely everything I write - so I'd feel confident saying a visit to the profile page is rare.

 

[other2other1]

Sometimes, I tend to look at the tags on a story before I commit to reading it, in particular a longer story. I love reading longer stories but the tags help me to determine if I want to take the time to get involved

I tend to go the other way. If I read a few stories that I like from an author, I will then go and look at their profile.

 

[Duleigh]

Never before, I want the story to stand by itself. I'll look after if I have a strong reaction to the story, either positive or negative. Most authors I read don't put much out there so a lot of the time it's a wasted effort.

 

[LdyHoneybee]

No although I do if I find something I like to see what else that author has written. I don’t know what readers do, whatever they like I expect.

 

[lc69hunter]

In the Loving wives genre, I will quite often look at the author's profile, and some of the other stories they have written, then look at the tags. If I don't like the smell, I will not read the story. However, if I got tricked into reading it because the author didn't tag it properly, I will then be the asshole that I hate, and rip the author a new asshole, but not anonymously. Please tag your stories properly. I will not read your story and trash it if you tag it properly.