Favorites vs. ratings

[luv2custrip]

I have a story published six days ago. It already has twenty-two favorites but is rated at 3.77. My highest rated story out for months is rated 4.78 with only six favorites.
My theory is that favoritors and raters live in alternate universes, and that further studies may be needed.

 

[Djmac1031]

What complicates these numbers is that a Bookmark by a reader saving the story to read later still shows up for us authors as a Favorite.

But that's still some weird numbers for sure.

 

[OverconfidentSarcasm]

What complicates these numbers is that a Bookmark by a reader saving the story to read later still shows up for us authors as a Favorite.

But that's still some weird numbers for sure.

It's not just to read later.

I don't know about the majority of readers, but the few people on here I know personally all have created Reading Lists containing stories that fit a certain topic or specific kink (that there isn't a category for). And I'm fairly certain that, if I place a story in multiple Reading Lists, it'll show up as multiple favorites for the author.

 

[Djmac1031]

It's not just to read later.

I don't know about the majority of readers, but the few people on here I know personally all have created Reading Lists containing stories that fit a certain topic or specific kink (that there isn't a category for). And I'm fairly certain that, if I place a story in multiple Reading Lists, it'll show up as multiple favorites for the author.

Interesting. Was unaware of that.

 

[TheRedChamber]

Favourites are a weird metric because some people never favourite anything and some people always seem to favourite anything. I guess it's nice that someone bothered regardless, but a favourite from someone with say 10 other favourite works means more than a favourite from someone with 1,000. The other day, I appeared to be the first ever favourite from a newly registered user. That felt good, but then I started to worry that they'd hit that button by accident...

The thing about ratings is that, while it's possible to get the high ones from being just really good at writing, it's also often the case that solid stories which don't offend anyone enough to downvote them do well as well. Those stories don't tend to get favourites nearly as much though.

 

[Phantom300]

Category has a lot to do with scores & Favs. The number of votes that go into that score matter too. Your 3.77 story with the higher number of favorites may be in a category with more readers, where your 4.78 (nice job btw!) with just 6 favorites may be in a more niche category which finds fewer readers.
Or, I could be wrong. There's no way to know for sure.

 

[HordHolm]

Category has a lot to do with scores & Favs. The number of votes that go into that score matter too. Your 3.77 story with the higher number of favorites may be in a category with more readers, where your 4.78 (nice job btw!) with just 6 favorites may be in a more niche category which finds fewer readers.
Or, I could be wrong. There's no way to know for sure.

The category may also account for down votes, e.g Loving Wives, and the known 1-bombers who lurk there (I have an LW story at 3.79 which I know would be around 4.3 to 4.6 in another category) or the story might not hit the exact notes that the readership in a particular category demand - so no Happy Ever After in the Romance Category, for example.

 

[luv2custrip]

Category has a lot to do with scores & Favs. The number of votes that go into that score matter too. Your 3.77 story with the higher number of favorites may be in a category with more readers, where your 4.78 (nice job btw!) with just 6 favorites may be in a more niche category which finds fewer readers.
Or, I could be wrong. There's no way to know for sure.

I think you’re right. My 4.78 (was 4.92 for a week or so) is the seminal (!) story in my nude at work series. My low scorer is a nasty piece about trophy wives forced to expose themselves on stage.

 

[AchtungNight]

I just don’t like the rating system here. That’s why I turn it off for my tales. Favorites and positive reviews are welcome.

 

[ronde]

I have a story published six days ago. It already has twenty-two favorites but is rated at 3.77. My highest rated story out for months is rated 4.78 with only six favorites.
My theory is that favoritors and raters live in alternate universes, and that further studies may be needed.

I think the number of favorites and the ratings are two separate and distinct things. Readers can favorite a story for a variety of reasons including where they are when they find the story (during a break at work, at home with the spouse looking to see what the reader is doing) , how long the story is, and who the author is. I think usually they click on the favorite icon so they don't have to go searching through the entire story list to find it again. A story stays on the new story list for maybe a day or a day and a half, so finding it again would take some time.

Ratings are somewhat of a measure of what the reader expected versus what the reader thinks he or she read as much as being an indication of the writer's skill. Authors who write in popular genre and fill the needs of readers who like that genre will generate higher votes. Writers who mis-genre a story might see lower than expected ratings because they haven't given the reader what the reader expected from that genre.

Personally, I put more emphasis on the number of followers and the ratings and comments than the number of favorites. Taken together, those three indicators can tell you a lot about your audience.

 

[HeyAll]

Some people downvote certain topics. Examples including, cheating and anal.

 

[lovecraft68]

The 3.77 story on their page is in non consent and the word forced is in the tag, if the story holds true to that, then the faction of the NCR cat that does not favor 'true non con" will make the author aware of their feelings.

Going to gamble on that being the answer as far as score goes.

 

[luv2custrip]

I think the number of favorites and the ratings are two separate and distinct things. Readers can favorite a story for a variety of reasons including where they are when they find the story (during a break at work, at home with the spouse looking to see what the reader is doing) , how long the story is, and who the author is. I think usually they click on the favorite icon so they don't have to go searching through the entire story list to find it again. A story stays on the new story list for maybe a day or a day and a half, so finding it again would take some time.

Ratings are somewhat of a measure of what the reader expected versus what the reader thinks he or she read as much as being an indication of the writer's skill. Authors who write in popular genre and fill the needs of readers who like that genre will generate higher votes. Writers who mis-genre a story might see lower than expected ratings because they haven't given the reader what the reader expected from that genre.

Personally, I put more emphasis on the number of followers and the ratings and comments than the number of favorites. Taken together, those three indicators can tell you a lot about your audience.

Yes, my loyal readers are E&V. When I go off the reservation my ratings drop. Those stories tend to be naughtier (Incest; Non-Consent) so they generate a lot of favorites to read later.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

Favourites are a weird metric because some people never favourite anything and some people always seem to favourite anything. I guess it's nice that someone bothered regardless, but a favourite from someone with say 10 other favourite works means more than a favourite from someone with 1,000. The other day, I appeared to be the first ever favourite from a newly registered user. That felt good, but then I started to worry that they'd hit that button by accident...

Most of my faves happen in the first day or two that my stories are up and pretty much all of those are faved by readers with virtually endless lists of faves. Obviously they are just bookmarking to a list that they can't possibly finish reading before they die and I highly doubt that any of these readers have even read or ever will read my story.

If your story has been up for four months and someone faves it, there's a much better chance that it's legit, but there are readers out there who plow through the fresh titles on the daily new lists to pad their bookmarks with fodder for whatever reason. There's nothing that you can do about it except check their fave list to see if it might look legit or if it's just some ludicrous eye-rolling collection that does nothing but bog down the server.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I have a story published six days ago. It already has twenty-two favorites but is rated at 3.77. My highest rated story out for months is rated 4.78 with only six favorites
My theory is that favoritors and raters live in alternate universes, and that further studies may be needed.

I perceive "Favorites" as someone putting my story on their bookshelf so that they can find it and read it again when they want to. This perception is based upon reader feedback from several who claim to read the stories multiple times.

Of course, there is likely also a number of readers who see my longer stories and favor them as a form of "bookmark", allowing them to easily find it for continued reading at a later time. I don't see this as common since I would think that the "favorite" would be taken away once they finished the story. My oldest story here had 330 favorites on 7/22/2022 with a rating of 4.87. It has 394 favorites today with a rating of 4.86.

In the end, it is the long-haul that determines success. Give things time to stabilize with the readers.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

I don't see this as common since I would think that the "favorite" would be taken away once they finished the story.

I'm sure that there are a handful of readers who do that but by and large the readers are far too lazy to delete bookmarks.

 

[luv2custrip]

I'm sure that there are a handful of readers who do that but by and large the readers are far too lazy to delete bookmarks.

Right. Ratings rise and fall, but few go to the trouble of “un-favoriting.”

 

[Cagivagurl]

I have a story published six days ago. It already has twenty-two favorites but is rated at 3.77. My highest rated story out for months is rated 4.78 with only six favorites.
My theory is that favoritors and raters live in alternate universes, and that further studies may be needed.

Not sure which category your story was posted in, but.
I have noticed that the score and favourites don't align in certain categories.
I think in some categories, readers just don't vote, whereas, if they enjoyed it. They will save to read again later.

Cagivagurl

 

[ronde]

I'm sure that there are a handful of readers who do that but by and large the readers are far too lazy to delete bookmarks.

Check on a couple of readers who favorite your story and you'll see the truth in this. Some have hundreds of favorite stories.

 

[ronde]

Not sure which category your story was posted in, but.
I have noticed that the score and favourites don't align in certain categories.
I think in some categories, readers just don't vote, whereas, if they enjoyed it. They will save to read again later.

Cagivagurl

I've gotten comments that are, "Third time I've read this and I still like it."

 

[luv2custrip]

Check on a couple of readers who favorite your story and you'll see the truth in this. Some have hundreds of favorite stories.

Yes. I’m trying to cut back my favorites. I don’t want to be one of those folks.

 

[lovecraft68]

Right. Ratings rise and fall, but few go to the trouble of “un-favoriting.”

years ago, Lit had a limit to how many favs a reader could have, both for author and story. At that time a favorite meant something because people had to pick and choose. Now its unlimited and some people's lists are insanely long.