Frustrated with my story ratings

[Priscilla_June]

A fair chunk of Mature is old farts like you and me writing older man younger women fantasy content, coz that's in our wheelhouse, and there's a similar aged audience for it. There are also women readers with "the daddy thing" (I surmise this) who don't like incest stories.

The young women in my stories are getting older as I am, generally nowadays in their late twenties early thirties. The only time I've written eighteen year olds are the "young university me" stories, where the male protagonist is the same age.

I've also got a November November story where both protagonists are mature, both reminiscing. That one's semi-autobiographical, and has done well.

I've found the Mature audience to be the most adult on the site, no silly squicks, appreciative comments, higher than elsewhere Vote/View ratios. Adults on an adult erotica site, who knew?

Good info on the category. I’ve been thinking about some stories for this category lately and I’m glad to hear it's a receptive bunch.

 

[Gamblnluck]

As far as those who say 'write for yourself and to Hell with what your readers think... BULLSHIT! Name a single comedian who would tell you he did not gauge his material by the laughs,but rather HE thought he was funny. The same goes for an author. He writes to please his audience.
Now saying that, don't be ready to quit because you failed to get a high score.
My lowest rated story is like 2.6 and I get a comment every day or two. 270 comments in the 8 months since it was submitted. The comments are divided. Many feel my story was well written but that what I said was wrong or did not do justice to the original. I wrote a sequel to a story where the cheating wife was mentally unstable. Her husband threw her out. My sequel was from her point of view after she got on her feet. The comments were all over the map.
A few of my writer friends do not even allow comments, saying they find them disturbing, while at the same time watch the ratings to see how well they resonate with their selected audience.
And that is the key. Discern who you are are writing the story for. Do you think George Lopez (who is funny as Hell) would do well at a white nationalist dinner?

 

[pink_silk_glove]

As far as those who say 'write for yourself and to Hell with what your readers think... BULLSHIT! Name a single comedian who would tell you he did not gauge his material by the laughs,but rather HE thought he was funny.

That's not an accurate take of the general sentiment. Certainly, some people mean it that bluntly, but the sentiment is more like "Write for yourself and your true audience will find you." Obviously we are writing to be read. We want an audience to read it. The question is do we cater to audience expectations and write something disingenuine to ourselves and our tastes, or do we tell the story that is in us to tell?

Speaking for myself, certainly I care about what the reader thinks, or more accurately what the reader feels, but not in the sense of his approval. I am creating a reading experience for the reader, and I can't do this with zero concerns for the readers thoughts or feelings. It's a zen thing and it can be tricky. I am not trying to please the audience, but I am concerned for how they might enjoy the ride, if that makes sense.

For example: In scene A I'm trying to create a rush of adrenaline, so I will ask my beta reader what they thought of the scene, and she will go 'wow that was really exciting!' so I know that I'm on the right track. Then in scene B I'm trying to pull at the heartstrings, so I ask my beta reader what she thought and she says 'meh', so I know that I probably need to do some serious editing. Then in scene C I'm trying to be subtle and so I ask my beta reader what she thinks of it and she says "yea, that was a tacky eyeroll" so I probably overdid it. So I care about the reader, not to please their fantasy but to have them feel what I'm trying to make them feel. And what I want them to feel, what I'm trying to convey, are 100% my decisions, my ideas, not the readers'.

So as you can see, it's not a cut and dried thing. There's a subtle zen to it that is not easy to understand.

 

[StillStunned]

I care what my readers think of what I've written, but it has no bearing on what I write.

 

[RejectReality]

Milf/Cougar always outperforms Dilf stuff for me. Usually by about a quarter again if not more. The only older man younger woman story that really caught lightning in a bottle was Nude Holly Day, and I always said that one was too high-brow for this pen name to begin with. RR got to keep it because I lost the layer file for the cover and changing the byline to LesLumens was too much of a pain in the ass.

Milf tends to be the winning angle overall from what I see when I look in. It's the age difference rather than the raw ages that matter.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Milf tends to be the winning angle overall from what I see when I look in. It's the age difference rather than the raw ages that matter.

Agree with you there, it's the age gap that matters most, I think.

I've not written any traditional milf, not until their kids have grown up and left home. That's when a woman comes into her stride, from my observation...

 

[lovecraft68]

Good info on the category. I’ve been thinking about some stories for this category lately and I’m glad to hear it's a receptive bunch.

Here's another tip. Mature is a category that enjoys romance with the age gap kink. Sure, like any category, there are readers there who like sex crazed milfs with zero inhibitions and even less plot, but a good romance will bring you much higher numbers and great comments.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

Either gender being older is roughly equally popular. The other axis on the graph is who is the aggressor. Cougar seducing young guy and young girl seducing older man is staggeringly more popular than old man seducing young girl or young guy seducing milf. It's the aggressive woman that makes it popular.

 

[mildlyaroused]

Either gender being older is roughly equally popular. The other axis on the graph is who is the aggressor. Cougar seducing young guy and young girl seducing older man is staggeringly more popular than old man seducing young girl or young guy seducing milf. It's the aggressive woman that makes it popular.

Well yeah, it's way hotter to have a woman force her way onto you than to have to chase her yourself, right?

I think, speaking purely wholesomely (not in terms of kinks), age gaps have a certain attraction to them: two people in different parts of their life, united. For a similar reason I think that interracial couplings can have a visual beauty to them. A stark contrast between two entwined bodies - I think that's pretty. It's visually striking. Age can be similar.

But of course these aren't the reasons most people are into those kinks, lol...

 

[gunhilltrain]

A fair chunk of Mature is old farts like you and me writing older man younger women fantasy content, coz that's in our wheelhouse, and there's a similar aged audience for it. There are also women readers with "the daddy thing" (I surmise this) who don't like incest stories.

The young women in my stories are getting older as I am, generally nowadays in their late twenties early thirties. The only time I've written eighteen year olds are the "young university me" stories, where the male protagonist is the same age.

I've also got a November November story where both protagonists are mature, both reminiscing. That one's semi-autobiographical, and has done well.

I've found the Mature audience to be the most adult on the site, no silly squicks, appreciative comments, higher than elsewhere Vote/View ratios. Adults on an adult erotica site, who knew?

I've usually inverted the theme to be the younger man - older woman concept. At least in my most recent effort on that, the woman is the narrator. Usually the expectation is that such relationships, by there very nature, aren't going to last for the long-haul.

I should consider a November-November story, which I haven't done yet. In my real life, it would be more like December-December!

An adult site? Usually, it seems like the males here, for the most part, are the ones reverting to their adolescent attitudes. Or maybe they never left those in the first place.

 

[Gamblnluck]

For example: In scene A I'm trying to create a rush of adrenaline, so I will ask my beta reader what they thought of the scene, and she will go 'wow that was really exciting!' so I know that I'm on the right track. Then in scene B I'm trying to pull at the heartstrings, so I ask my beta reader what she thought and she says 'meh', so I know that I probably need to do some serious editing. Then in scene C I'm trying to be subtle and so I ask my beta reader what she thinks of it and she says "yea, that was a tacky eyeroll" so I probably overdid it. So I care about the reader, not to please their fantasy but to have them feel what I'm trying to make them feel. And what I want them to feel, what I'm trying to convey, are 100% my decisions, my ideas, not the readers'.

I will agree to all that and I do the same. But so many of the authors here on AH say how they throw their stories out there and if they get low ratings or derogatory comments it is due to TROLLS.

 

[MillieDynamite]

I suppose, if scores were important to me, and checked them very often, I'd get frustrated as well.

 

[gunhilltrain]

As far as those who say 'write for yourself and to Hell with what your readers think... BULLSHIT! Name a single comedian who would tell you he did not gauge his material by the laughs,but rather HE thought he was funny. The same goes for an author. He writes to please his audience.
Now saying that, don't be ready to quit because you failed to get a high score.
My lowest rated story is like 2.6 and I get a comment every day or two. 270 comments in the 8 months since it was submitted. The comments are divided. Many feel my story was well written but that what I said was wrong or did not do justice to the original. I wrote a sequel to a story where the cheating wife was mentally unstable. Her husband threw her out. My sequel was from her point of view after she got on her feet. The comments were all over the map.
A few of my writer friends do not even allow comments, saying they find them disturbing, while at the same time watch the ratings to see how well they resonate with their selected audience.
And that is the key. Discern who you are are writing the story for. Do you think George Lopez (who is funny as Hell) would do well at a white nationalist dinner?

Stand-up comedy is an imperfect analogy for writing. The comic is standing there in front of his audience, getting the feedback immediately. However, I admit that if most of my scores were like 3.2 and lower, I would be rather discouraged by now.

I saw this in a Manhattan theater. I was the only one laughing at the Clifton-Passaic jokes, because I had lived in Clifton for a couple of years.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Of course, I love to have good scores. But I don't stress out over scores. They have nothing to do with whether a story is good or not. They have everything to do with whether or not the individuals liked or didn't like what you wrote. As I write to get an emotional reaction, hate is as valid as love. I don't want to piss anyone off, but if I do, they reacted to my story, mission accomplished. I write for those who like what I write and those who don't, well I can't prevent them from reading, even though they are often warned not to read it. If they do, okay, I pissed them off again.

As far as those who say 'write for yourself and to Hell with what your readers think... BULLSHIT! Name a single comedian who would tell you he did not gauge his material by the laughs,but rather HE thought he was funny. The same goes for an author. He writes to please his audience.
Now saying that, don't be ready to quit because you failed to get a high score.
My lowest rated story is like 2.6 and I get a comment every day or two. 270 comments in the 8 months since it was submitted. The comments are divided. Many feel my story was well written but that what I said was wrong or did not do justice to the original. I wrote a sequel to a story where the cheating wife was mentally unstable. Her husband threw her out. My sequel was from her point of view after she got on her feet. The comments were all over the map.
A few of my writer friends do not even allow comments, saying they find them disturbing, while at the same time watch the ratings to see how well they resonate with their selected audience.
And that is the key. Discern who you are are writing the story for. Do you think George Lopez (who is funny as Hell) would do well at a white nationalist dinner?

 

[RejectReality]

Either gender being older is roughly equally popular. The other axis on the graph is who is the aggressor. Cougar seducing young guy and young girl seducing older man is staggeringly more popular than old man seducing young girl or young guy seducing milf. It's the aggressive woman that makes it popular.

Hasn't been my experience. My Milf being pursued stories tend to outperform the opposite.

 

[Whanmore]

Whanmore has admirable scores in his first years here. I only noted two that were below 4.00. What more could anyone ask for?

I appreciated that! You're right I love my voters so much. My Loving Wives had the lowest and I expected that. I figured anyone willing to real multiple chapters of sporadic Non-con would certainly rate my stories high, I just would love for more readers but I'm not longer counting. The consistent readers give great feedback and vote favorably, which always makes me beam with pride.

 

[Boobytrap73]

I had a new story published today and when I looked this morning for the first time it had a 5.0 with ten ratings. It's back down to earth now although still holding above 4.5. I guess I can't be too sad since it still has the "hot" symbol. but the perfect score was nice while it lasted.

~BT73

 

[Britva415]

Name a single comedian who would tell you he did not gauge his material by the laughs,but rather HE thought he was funny.

This is different. Firstly, handling bombing material and hostile audiences is a skill comedians have to master. Not so, Lit authors. There's nothing wrong with just ignoring negative feedback. Second, any comedian on a stage whose name we would know are professionals. You're comparing Lit writers to professional comedians, when the better comparison would be professional fiction writers and comedians.

 

[darkride]

For ages I had a number of stories sitting under 4.5... and then I had 2 of them tick over to get the elusive for most of us "H". Yay. One of them in particular ended up at about 4.7, the other was just over 4.5.

It's been about 3 months since I last posted a new chapter on my main story here, and I've been getting flammed in the comments for not posting a new chapter. A while back I did write a post saying I was working on the next chapter... I then had a stint in hospital, I've had issues with my kids, yadda yadda...

Over the past week, it feels like someone/s have gone through all 12 chapters and been downvoting them, because they've all dropped considerably, not just a little bit. When you've got chapters with over 20k views, and it rapidly drops in its ranking that has been solid for more than 6 months.. it feels personal and it feels deliberate...

Maybe it's just swings and roundabouts... and I'm just a human seeing patterns in things that aren't there... (and I'd love anyone who understands that quote to PM me! )

 

[StillStunned]

Over the past week, it feels like someone/s have gone through all 12 chapters and been downvoting them, because they've all dropped considerably, not just a little bit. When you've got chapters with over 20k views, and it rapidly drops in its ranking that has been solid for more than 6 months.. it feels personal and it feels deliberate...

Congratulations on your first hate-fan! We all get them from time to time, and it's hurtful and frustrating because someone's tearing down your achievement and there's nothing you can do to stop them.

You could try requesting a sweep (see the FAQ on the story side), but that doesn't nearly always get rid of the hate votes.

Otherwise you just have to accept them as someone's opinion on your work, painful as it is.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

We all get them from time to time, and it's hurtful and frustrating because someone's tearing down your achievement and there's nothing you can do to stop them.

I've had plenty pf downvotes, but no one has ever damaged any of my achievements. So far, no hater has ever figured out how to change a comma in any of my stories.

 

[StillStunned]

I've had plenty pf downvotes, but no one has ever damaged any of my achievements. So far, no hater has ever figured out how to change a comma in any of my stories.

That's a rather glib comment, isn't it? Particularly given that I was replying to someone who's just experiencing the joys of having their stories bombed.

Like it or not, writing is only part of the achievement. We publish our stories here for people to read and enjoy. The response we get from readers might not be an indication of quality, but it undeniably tells us whether they liked the story - regardless of what it is that they liked. A high rating indicates that we succeeded in writing and publishing something that readers enjoyed.

When someone bombs a story for tactical reasons, or because they dislike the author on a personal level, or as punishment for not writing new stories, or because they hate everyone who publishes in a particular category, it interferes with the measurement of other readers' enjoyment. The score isn't a reflection anymore of what the author has achieved.

 

[Sappho_CGN]

Oh ... I react with a mixture of self-criticism and "kiss my ass".

I got on my first story an extreme harsh comment. Thats life, hard but unfair. Simply live with it. You cannot be everybodies darling.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

That's a rather glib comment, isn't it?

Just because I don't judge my abilities by the votes of people who either a) barely know or care about the finer points of prose or b) have an axe to grind, and you admittedly do, does not make my comment glib in the slightest.

 

[StillStunned]

Just because I don't judge my abilities by the votes of people who either a) barely know or care about the finer points of prose or b) have an axe to grind, and you admittedly do, does not make my comment glib in the slightest.

I judge my ability to entertain readers by their feedback. And why publish our stories at all, if not to entertain readers? Like I said, writing is only part of the achievement. If you don't care whether or not people enjoy your stories, just leave them on your computer when you've finished writing.

I also think you're doing the readers here a disservice by claiming that they "barely know or care about the finer points of prose". There are plenty who appreciate good writing, and who aren't afraid to highlight poor writing. Not everyone who reads stories and leaves a rating is a stereotypical basement dweller who only cares whether the mother's pussy is hairy.