General Advice

[Intercontinental]

Hi, I'm a new author, and have been intrigued by the disparity in views and votes I have received for my first four simultaneously "accepted" submissions.

The results to date after eight days for views are by category, Anal, 15,741,Non-consent,7716,Mature,7033, and BDSM 3400.

However the categories in order of popularity of submissions overall are BDSM, 13,068,Non-consent 7444, Mature 4938 and Anal, 2254.

So although in terms of submissions, the BDSM category is almost 7 times as popular as Anal, my views for my Anal story are almost five times greater than the BDSM one.

Can any veterans explain this anomaly to me? Clearly some categories are more popular than others for submissions, but are they more read ? Do some categories elicit more votes than others?

How important is the title and "teaser line" to views and votes? Mine were as follows

Backdoor Delivery "A torrid affair leads to first time anal." Anal 07/09/08

Entertaining Colin "Amanda's "conquest" takes control." Mature 07/09/08

Lady Charlotte's Submission "The Lady of the Manor gets dirty with the gardener." NonConsent/Reluctance 07/09/08

New Pleasures "Discovering submission." BDSM 07/10/08

All comments appreciated!

 

[ellynei]

Have you heard of a thing called: New! list?

Amount of views, in the first days depends a whole lot on your placement on the New!- list.

More comments to follow soon, got nicotine hunger chewing me up from the inside

 

[Intercontinental]

New list

Of course i am familiar with the new list. i hadnt realised that where you were on that list had such an impact .isnt every story "top" of the new list for a moment?

 

[The_Fractal_King]

Hi, I'm a new author, and have been intrigued by the disparity in views and votes I have received for my first four simultaneously "accepted" submissions.

The results to date after eight days for views are by category, Anal, 15,741,Non-consent,7716,Mature,7033, and BDSM 3400.

However the categories in order of popularity of submissions overall are BDSM, 13,068,Non-consent 7444, Mature 4938 and Anal, 2254.

So although in terms of submissions, the BDSM category is almost 7 times as popular as Anal, my views for my Anal story are almost five times greater than the BDSM one.

Can any veterans explain this anomaly to me? Clearly some categories are more popular than others for submissions, but are they more read ? Do some categories elicit more votes than others?

Which is more fun to write? Which would more people be caught dead reading?

Just kidding (sorta).

BDSM doesn't have a problem producing content on Lit but, as many writers will attest, the readers are very picky. In the case of New Pleasures the title and tagline are quite literally the most generic you could have chosen. People will skip it because there are a scores of stories about a young woman (I'm guessing) who gets involved in BDSM for the first time and discovers that she really likes it but one part isn't what she expected.

 

[Darkniciad]

The number of stories in a category doesn't correlate with the number of people reading the stories. Sci-Fi/Fantasy has around 1600 more submissions than Anal, but you'll get 5-10x the views on an Anal story.

The number of stories in a category tells you what authors like writing about - not what readers like reading about

 

[ellynei]

By the dates you specify that aint 8 days, its around 3 (9th and 10th to 12-13th depending on your time zone)

btw how did you get 7k views on a non-con after only 8 days (that's just me being green with envy) Ch. 01 of my most popular non-con only has 11k views after 3 months (Unwanted Obsession Ch. 01 -- Nonconsensual fantasy enthusiast meets serial-rapist).... And I have two chapters of it up... (Don't go there btw peeps, that story is only for non-con-genre enthusiasts no genre crossing there).

In my experience lucky new list placement can up the views of first few days by more than 5 times. I've got a series where every chapter has the same description line, and titles vary only by chapter number. One of them was by chance at very top of a slow moving new list, WHAM 5 times as many views in first days.

So before speculating on numbers, you need to check new list. Otherwise take note of amount of views after your stories are off New! list, and count how many views you get after that point. (to see the not New! list affected view amount.)

Cheers^^.

 

[sr71plt]

There are too many variables revolving around submissions to make any half-way scientific predictions of views/votes/comments or how often you'll have to go to the hairdresser. There are some very gross probabilities--that an incest story will receive more views than a mature story will. But refining too much more than that is just an exercise in spinning wheels.

(And I don't see much of a correlation in "popularity" terms between stories submitted and stories read. A lot of writers submit what they like to write without caring who the readers are and a lot of readers don't give two figs for what's posted here other than what they like to read.)

 

[Intercontinental]

Which is more fun to write? Which would more people be caught dead reading?

BDSM doesn't have a problem producing content on Lit but, as many writers will attest, the readers are very picky. In the case of New Pleasures the title and tagline are quite literally the most generic you could have chosen. People will skip it because there are a scores of stories about a young woman (I'm guessing) who gets involved in BDSM for the first time and discovers that she really likes it but one part isn't what she expected.

Ouch ! You're right.Thanks for that, I am just learning and won't make that mistake again.

 

[meg1]

Intercontinental,

I wouldn't worry about views/votes yet, if were you. There really are many things that affect how many any story gets. The day of the week it comes out, where it ends up on the 'new' list, how many stories come out the day of yours, and yes, the teaser/tag line, title and category. You could go crazy chasing the numbers.

If I were you, I would pay more attention to how many people were moved to comment on your story and what their comments were. That will give you a better feeling of how your story is being received. Find your niche and enjoy t. Then people who read your work will tell others and new people will read the older stories.

Good luck with your writing.