I need to vent

[HappilyM]

I know Romance is lightly read, but I have always had a problem deciding where to place my stories. I am becoming very frustrated. 1000 - 2000 reads and I cannot get the required 10 votes, why? 8 votes on one with over 2200 reads and 6 votes with 1100 reads, why don't people vote and/or comment when they read a story. I do my part, every story I read I at least vote, some of the time I send a PM to the author. I especially am upset because the average is 4.88 and 4.83 respectively. Maybe I have no reason to become upset. I at least feel better now, thanks.



http://www.literotica.com/stories/memberpage.php?uid=762593&page=submissions

 

[Heinz57]

I haven't been looking in the Romance section but will after reading your thread. Being egotistical, self-centered and selfish I rarely, if ever, vote for the stories I read.

Your comments are just what I needed to shake things up. Thanks.

 

[HappilyM]

My bad

 

[HappilyM]

Your comments are just what I needed to shake things up. Thanks.

Actually there are a lot of good stories in Romance. When it is not a cheating story and it involves real feeling - EC or LW just is not the place for it. Thanks for the reply.

 

[curiositykitten]

I know Romance is lightly read, but I have always had a problem deciding where to place my stories... why don't people vote and/or comment when they read a story. I do my part, every story I read I at least vote, some of the time I send a PM to the author.

Read your stories & made comments... and they're well worth the read! Part of my hesitation was that as a new member, I tend to back away from stories that have so many ongoing chapters, afraid I've missed too much - but I learned a lesson here and am eager to go back and pick up what I missed! I'm a romance writer, too, so will probably run into the same problems once my stories come out. At least I know to expect it!

 

[BOSTONFICTIONWRITER]

Persevere. Don't give up. Write what you must write.

My favorite category is Exhibitionism and Voyeurism. I experienced the same frustration that you have experienced, especially when I post a story to the non-erotic or to the humor category. Albeit those stories are better than the ones that I post to the Exhibitionism and Voyeurism, they langish with 2,000 hits and 20 votes.

Then, I posted a story to the incest category and on the first day received more than 800 votes and 80,000 hits.

Now, I understand that if I want to write on this board to receive votes and hits, then I need to write for my audience and the readers who read these stories, unbelievable as it may seem, are not looking for romance (lol).

Still, I write what I must and throw a few stories in to the incest category just to stoke their fire for the benefit of my interest.

Good luck with your stories and keep writing, persevere. Look at J. K. Rowlings when everyone thought she was crazy and it turns out that she was crazy, crazy rich!

 

[WarLordwrites]

I know Romance is lightly read, but I have always had a problem deciding where to place my stories. I am becoming very frustrated. 1000 - 2000 reads and I cannot get the required 10 votes, why? 8 votes on one with over 2200 reads and 6 votes with 1100 reads, why don't people vote and/or comment when they read a story. I do my part, every story I read I at least vote, some of the time I send a PM to the author. I especially am upset because the average is 4.88 and 4.83 respectively. Maybe I have no reason to become upset. I at least feel better now, thanks.



http://www.literotica.com/stories/memberpage.php?uid=762593&page=submissions

Greetings

I enjoyed Alex, it was fun with the horse references. You have a descriptive style that is open and inviting for the reader. To tell the truth I'm not sure the disclaimer was needed and might scare people off who otherwise would enjoy the story.

Its good to vent otherwise I might have missed a fun read.

thanx

Enjoy the journey

WarLord

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

Look, you have 14 stories posted with 10 "H"s. 11 of your stories are chapters. You are lucky to have 5 "H"s. Chapters don't always do well because you wear out the readers. One or two of the non-"H" stories are chapters. Sensuality doesn't rate an "H". The characters are flat, the piece isn't a story at all, but a viginette and totally lacks dialogue. It's entirely discription.

Concider yourself lucky.

 

[starrkers]

I know Romance is lightly read, but I have always had a problem deciding where to place my stories. I am becoming very frustrated. 1000 - 2000 reads and I cannot get the required 10 votes, why? 8 votes on one with over 2200 reads and 6 votes with 1100 reads, why don't people vote and/or comment when they read a story. I do my part, every story I read I at least vote, some of the time I send a PM to the author. I especially am upset because the average is 4.88 and 4.83 respectively. Maybe I have no reason to become upset. I at least feel better now, thanks.



http://www.literotica.com/stories/memberpage.php?uid=762593&page=submissions

Don't sweat it. You are definitely not alone. I've got two stories stuck on 7 and 6 votes, with damn good scores. Don't expect to see the magical H beside them any time soon.

 

[kandie]

I must say for that many "H's" you do an awful lot of whining! If I had one third of my stories with "H" I do cartwheels. I loved reading Alex. TTFN

 

[elfin_odalisque]

[ Part of my hesitation was that as a new member, I tend to back away from stories that have so many ongoing chapters, afraid I've missed too much - but I learned a lesson here and am eager to go back and pick up what I missed! I'm a romance writer, too, so will probably run into the same problems once my stories come out. At least I know to expect it!

Don't back away from chapters - either reading or writing. A good paperback romance is about ten chapters and around three hundred pages - that would translate into about forty lit pages - say 15 or 16 'chapters'. If you follow the motto of 'leaving 'em wanting more'each time you should be fine.

Go check out Danielle Kitten, SweetWitch, Brightyiburn or Madam Butterfly to read lit romance at its most popular. They always write in chapters - lots usually.

 

[curiositykitten]

Don't back away from chapters - either reading or writing. A good paperback romance is about ten chapters and around three hundred pages - that would translate into about forty lit pages - say 15 or 16 'chapters'. If you follow the motto of 'leaving 'em wanting more'each time you should be fine.

Go check out Danielle Kitten, SweetWitch, Brightyiburn or Madam Butterfly to read lit romance at its most popular. They always write in chapters - lots usually.

Thanks for the advice - and I'm BORED out of my mind, so I'm starting right now - nobody to talk to today! My kid goes to bored.com & I come to Lit - lots more fun! I appreciate the tips on some good authors to look for! It will help my writing as well!

 

[HappilyM]

Thnak you all

I was not trying to whine. I was upset that so many people can read something, and taking 3seconds to vote is too much of an effort.

For Jenny - my Sensuality Story, is crap and I always thought it was. Thanks for the reality check. I wrote it to prove to myself that I can write in 2nd person, which I will never do again.

As far as chapters go, the Alex story, when finally finished (around 80k words), I am going to re-edit and send it on to a publisher. I am looking for the critics now so I can improve myself. Yes, I seek the votes, but in all honesty doesn't everyone?? Or am I alone here? Thank you all again.

 

[elfin_odalisque]

Thanks for the advice - and I'm BORED out of my mind, so I'm starting right now - nobody to talk to today! My kid goes to bored.com & I come to Lit - lots more fun! I appreciate the tips on some good authors to look for! It will help my writing as well!

And when your stories start appearing - make a post here so we can go and read and make unhelpful comments and give you the oxygen of publicity so you can get more readers.

If you write your fantasy, and it's vaguely mainstream and the characters are 3-dimensional, you'll do real well.

Eyes down to the keypad.

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

I was not trying to whine. I was upset that so many people can read something, and taking 3seconds to vote is too much of an effort.

For Jenny - my Sensuality Story, is crap and I always thought it was. Thanks for the reality check. I wrote it to prove to myself that I can write in 2nd person, which I will never do again.

As far as chapters go, the Alex story, when finally finished (around 80k words), I am going to re-edit and send it on to a publisher. I am looking for the critics now so I can improve myself. Yes, I seek the votes, but in all honesty doesn't everyone?? Or am I alone here? Thank you all again.

M, there's been a lot of discussion of reads versus votes in the AH over the years. There doesn't seem to be any real relationship between them. The problem is not the votes, it's the hits. It works this way -

Everytime someone opens your story you get a hit. Most (all?) your stories are more than one page long, so they open page 2 - you get another hit. The reader doesn't finish page 2, then comes back later to finish it - you get two more hits. Now that one person has given your 4 hits and you may get 1 vote.

A lot of people open stories and begin to read, decide it's not what they are looking for and hit the back button. You still get a hit, even though the story wasn't really read and voted on. So don't worry about hits. They don't really mean anything.

Elfin is right. All you can do is some self promotion. Get your name out there, link your stories and so on. You're a good writer so you'll gather a following and the votes will come along with them.

 

[Sapphire_O]

Being new to Lit, I've been reading lots of older stories. I like scanning through the list and finding ones with high votes that still don't have an "H", that way I know my vote is helping. I don't understand why nobody votes -- it's selfish, since Lit writers aren't paid for their labours!!

Question: When you leave a public comment and pick a thermometer rating, is that a vote? Because I've been assuming it is and not voting when I leave a comment.

 

[HappilyM]

Question: When you leave a public comment and pick a thermometer rating, is that a vote? Because I've been assuming it is and not voting when I leave a comment.

As far as I know, No it is not voting. I could be wrong.

Jenny - Thanks for the encouragement. I have taken the time to read and vote on few of your stories. You really are a good writer.

 

[elfin_odalisque]

Being new to Lit, I've been reading lots of older stories. I like scanning through the list and finding ones with high votes that still don't have an "H", that way I know my vote is helping. I don't understand why nobody votes -- it's selfish, since Lit writers aren't paid for their labours!!

Question: When you leave a public comment and pick a thermometer rating, is that a vote? Because I've been assuming it is and not voting when I leave a comment.

No, it's a bit confusing but the thermometer is NOT a vote - just a sign of your opinion. The only way you can vote is by clicking on the little circles 1 thru 5 that appear BEFORE public comments. You get a little message back saying ' Thank you for voting on this story.'

You can make more than one public comment and click 100 each time, but you can only vote once.

Don't know about you, but I don't vote if I can't give a story at least a 4.

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

No, it's a bit confusing but the thermometer is NOT a vote - just a sign of your opinion. The only way you can vote is by clicking on the little circles 1 thru 5 that appear BEFORE public comments. You get a little message back saying ' Thank you for voting on this story.'

You can make more than one public comment and click 100 each time, but you can only vote once.

Don't know about you, but I don't vote if I can't give a story at least a 4.

That's not quite right, Elfin. If you vote then leave a comment, the thermometer isn't anything but a reflection of your opinion. If you leave a comment before voting the termometer counts as a vote.

It's crazy but that's the way Harold explained it to me.

 

[Sapphire_O]

That's not quite right, Elfin. If you vote then leave a comment, the thermometer isn't anything but a reflection of your opinion. If you leave a comment before voting the termometer counts as a vote.

It's crazy but that's the way Harold explained it to me.

That's confusing. I looked for an explanation of the thermometer, but there's no info about the ratings in the FAQ. Is Harold an admin?

Is Lit still doing monthly contests based on these ratings? All the stuff about winners seems to stop in December 2006.

 

[elfin_odalisque]

That's not quite right, Elfin. If you vote then leave a comment, the thermometer isn't anything but a reflection of your opinion. If you leave a comment before voting the termometer counts as a vote.

It's crazy but that's the way Harold explained it to me.

Got the Kevlar vest on. I think you and Harold are wrong.

Votes were votes before PCs were invented and if you don't click a level on the thermometer, the comment comes out as 50% - average - or '3' on the voting scale. I can't believe the powers that be here are going to ascribe a low vote to someone who hasn't expressed an opinion.

Also, the programming would be a nightmare - how would you keep track of all those IPs?

Logic is against this theory, anyway. If you comment BEFORE leaving a vote, what happens then? Does the computer ignore my 1 troll on your story and give you 5 because I gave you a sychophantic Anon PC with a 100% reading a moment before?

Who can we ask?

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

Got the Kevlar vest on. I think you and Harold are wrong.

Votes were votes before PCs were invented and if you don't click a level on the thermometer, the comment comes out as 50% - average - or '3' on the voting scale. I can't believe the powers that be here are going to ascribe a low vote to someone who hasn't expressed an opinion.

Also, the programming would be a nightmare - how would you keep track of all those IPs?

Logic is against this theory, anyway. If you comment BEFORE leaving a vote, what happens then? Does the computer ignore my 1 troll on your story and give you 5 because I gave you a sychophantic Anon PC with a 100% reading a moment before?

Who can we ask?

We could ask Laural, but this was discussed in the AH a few months ago. The system only allows you to vote once, either as a vote or by selecting the thermometer on a comment. Then if you leave the story and return, you can vote again, but it will be swept just like any other time. I'll see if I can find the thread

Edit: Look here --> https://forum.literotica.com/showthread.php?t=434364&highlight=Thermometer

 

[elfin_odalisque]

We could ask Laural, but this was discussed in the AH a few months ago. The system only allows you to vote once, either as a vote or by selecting the thermometer on a comment. Then if you leave the story and return, you can vote again, but it will be swept just like any other time. I'll see if I can find the thread

Must be my anally retentive mind from analyzing what's been said.

When PCs were launched, nothing was ever said about them having any effect on voting. The way the site deals with PCs is just a good way of generating a bit of interest.

I am open to persuasion, but every bit of evidence I see shows that votes and comments (thermometers included) are kept as far apart as apartheid.

In any case, it wouldn't be fair unless there was a clear message to that effect.

If this were the case, I would like to start a campaign to abolish the thermometer cos I would wager that most readers here are not aware their votes are being ignored.

Sorry, getting heated.

 

[rydia57]

5 H's! I don't have any.... consider yourself very lucky! Write what makes you feel good and be proud about it!

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

I've read your stories, Rydia. They aren't half bad, but there are some things you can do to improve them.

I'm here to help on your next story if you want. You can make it great.