I am entirely happy with my votes, feedback, slap in the goolies etc. Thank you.

[MaxSebastian]

You know, there are so many people around here always complaining they aren't getting any votes or feedback or 5s or 4s or Academy Awards (TM) for their stories.

Get a grip!

I don't think I'm part of a clique, and I can't for the life of me remember whether I've ever been 'bombed' with 1s.

Oh, but then I don't sit there calculating each and every vote I get. Come on! Stop sitting there adding up scores and write some more, amigos! The more you write, the better you get, and the more stories you have the more attention you get.

I'd just like to say that generally, I think the voting system works well enough. Sure, if you piss someone off on the boards, they may slip you a 1, but really, if that's going to affect your score you aren't getting enough votes. If you aren't getting enough votes, going on to the boards isn't going to boost it enough - you need to write more stories. You need to write a few stories that get votes, you need to look at other stories that are getting votes and work out why they are, then try and use the lessons to make your own stories more popular.

If you are truly bothered about votes, do what journalists do: write for the audience.

If you want to write for yourself, for artistic reasons, then there's no reason to even worry about a lack of votes.

I'm happy enough with what I have: the stories I write with a more populist theme have more votes by a long way. The ones I write for artistic reasons are only looked at by a select bunch. They're a good select bunch, mind you, and it's good to have them there to share your ideas with, but I get people expecting to read my populist stuff reading my artistic stuff and being disappointed - so I get lower scores and sometimes they write to me and say "what the hell is this? why aren't you writing about group sex like your decent stories?" and so on. But I let it go.

Maybe I should have a pseudonym for my 'artistic' stuff, but really, who cares? I can deal with it. I write some more populist stuff and people are happy.

Okay, rant over. Sorry for taking your time.


Max.

 

[jfinn]

Well said Max!

Jayne

 

[MissTaken]

I guess I was trying to say the same thing in another thread.

I like writing and the votes and feedback are encouraging as well as being good lessons for development.

 

[English Lady]

I completely agree! First and foremost I write for my own gratification,if people respond well to it and vote well for me or send me some nice feedback then all the better!

 

[christo]

I think folks forget two things. One, many readers come to Lit to read a sexy story, take care of business, and go about their lives. They're interested far more in their own gratification than in voting or sending feedback.

Two, Literotica is BIG. Really, really BIG. There are like 50 stories or so published every day. Most literary magazines don't publish that in a YEAR. If you write a story you not only have to compete with the other stories published that day, but with all the stories in your category. It's tough to get noticed.

You have to come up with a good title, and then the descrption has to be interesting enough to lure the reader in. If there was one thing I could change about Lit, it would be to give writers a bit more space to describe what the story is about. You only get about 10 words, and that's tough. But it's a challenge you have to accept. If you title a story. "Summer Love" and describe it as, "Guy and girl get together", well, I'm not gonna read it, because if that's as creative as you can get with such an important part of the story, well, it probably isn't worth my time.

Since I've been writing on Lit, my stories have been viewed by over a million people. Let me repeat that. A MILLION PEOPLE. That's mind-boggling. Out of those million views, I've recieved about 9000 votes. It works about to about 1 vote for every 120 views. I've gotten about eight hundred e-mails. That's 1 piece of feedback for every 1250 views. As you can see, for most readers, voting and feedback aren't high on the agenda.

I get frustrated too, when the story I've crafted so meticulously posts and gets only about 30 votes before fading into oblivion. But thems the breaks. I've written stories I knew wouldn't score well, just becaue I've wanted to write them. I've written stories specifically targeted at those good folks who come to Lit for a little self-help. If your stories aren't garnering many votes, then sell out for a story and try to write someting the masses would probably like. Do your best at it, maybe take a familiar plot and do something original with it, but try to write from the one-handed readers point of view. I'm always pleased when I get feedback that says, "I read your story wanting a quick fix, but I ended up reading the whole series." A good story will hold any reader, even one who is holding himself.

Keep plugging away, keep posting, and get your name out there, so readers will see your name when you post and will click on the story regardless of what it's about. I'm sure that's why writers like Max and The Sandman and other top scores get so many votes, they've developed a following and readers always check out their latest stuff. Happens to me too. And it can happen to you.

OK, pep talk over. I'm going to Max's story list and start dropping the 1-bombs. Heh heh heh.

 

[deliciously_naughty]

I agree with almost everything you have all said, with one further comment....

If voting bothers you turn off the voting, but allow feedback. It's that simple.

 

[TheEarl]

Hear hear.

The Earl

 

[MaxSebastian]

OK, pep talk over. I'm going to Max's story list and start dropping the 1-bombs. Heh heh heh.

Bring it on!

 

[kiwiwolf]

I've just been trolling through your site Max. I love The New Playmate.

Your point was well made. I'm brand new to all this and I find the concept of receiving votes rather than giving them to be both novel, and un nerving. When it comes down to it though, I'm happy with what I wrote so in the end do a few votes really matter? More important than votes is feedback. Only through feedback will I ever learn if I am doing it right.

One thing I do know is that no matter what happens vote wise to my story, I'm going to be busy writing more. I got a huge kick out of seeing my creation actually published.

Christo... you have your own file on my hard drive. I have your stories downloaded and regularly read them and search out your writing on a regular basis.

There are so many amazing authors on Lit. Different styles, different abilities, different outcomes in the voting. There is room for everyone, because of the diversity of the readers. I love this place.