Is it the category or what?

[LucyH]

One of my stories (http://www.literotica.com/s/hot-potato) just got posted in the TS/CD category this morning. In about 12 hours, I've accumulated 3082 views and 38 votes.

My oldest lit story, in the BDSM category (http://www.literotica.com/s/soft-as-glass), has been there for 2 1/2 years, and it's sitting at 10339 views and 32 votes.

Now I know the views do accumulate more quickly when it's new, but I don't think I've ever seen that many that fast. Is it an effect of the category? Or the keywords? Random fluke?

 

[sr71plt]

It's the alignment of the stars today.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

One of my stories (http://www.literotica.com/s/hot-potato) just got posted in the TS/CD category this morning. In about 12 hours, I've accumulated 3082 views and 38 votes.

My oldest lit story, in the BDSM category (http://www.literotica.com/s/soft-as-glass), has been there for 2 1/2 years, and it's sitting at 10339 views and 32 votes.

Now I know the views do accumulate more quickly when it's new, but I don't think I've ever seen that many that fast. Is it an effect of the category? Or the keywords? Random fluke?

People are home not working.

 

[lovecraft68]

Lot of variables. Could be more people are home today as a lot of people are off this week.

Could be category-I am not familiar with CD-but I know BDSM is not a big number category.

But what I would mainly think is you have added a bunch of stories in between so you have a following whereas your first story no one knew you.

 

[JagFarlane]

3000 views and 38 votes in 12 hours sounds about average for a TS/CD story, at least the ones I've submitted.

 

[SecondCircle]

I do think the TS/CD category was a factor. Of course tons of things could have also done so, as others have noted, but I see a lot of stories in that category that pull in views and votes pretty quickly. I think people really come to read over there. Call them devoted.

 

[LucyH]

Thanks for sharing your observations, y'all.

Time to get on to writing a sequel or something.

 

[i_would]

One of my stories (http://www.literotica.com/s/hot-potato) just got posted in the TS/CD category this morning. In about 12 hours, I've accumulated 3082 views and 38 votes.

As long as you're in the "New" list, you collect views fast. And it's Christmas holiday, which may help a lot as well.

Could be category-I am not familiar with CD-but I know BDSM is not a big number category.

I ran some stats before and found that, as these numbers confirm, TS/CD attracts more than twice the number of comments per view and more views. TS/CD has average almost 42k views per story, while BDSM had average just over 25k views (all over a random sample of a couple hundred stories).

But what I would mainly think is you have added a bunch of stories in between so you have a following whereas your first story no one knew you.

And I still really wonder how that works in practice (I've heard this "creating a following" often), as while you can Favourite an author, you will not get notifications if your Fav has published a new story, nor can you easily search new stories of all your Fav authors. So other than recognising their name, and keeping a close eye on the New list, not much chance that you'll notice a new story by one of your Favs.

 

[sr71plt]

So other than recognising their name, and keeping a close eye on the New list, not much chance that you'll notice a new story by one of your Favs.

I think this, largely, is how it's done. The user list at Literotica is huge and I'm sure there are folks who check the new lists almost daily for a regular "fix"--I've had commenters say as much to me. I loosely follow a schedule of story release, and commenters have said they know when to look for a story from me--which must mean that they are looking for stories by authors they follow.

 

[StrangeLife]

I think this, largely, is how it's done. The user list at Literotica is huge and I'm sure there are folks who check the new lists almost daily for a regular "fix"....

A feature that would be awesome - for readers as well as writers - is an e-mail alert service every time one of your favorite authors publish a new story. It can't be that difficult to implement either. I'm surprised it hasn't been already...

 

[sr71plt]

I would find that too intrusive on the receiving end. The few times I've signed up for such a thing, I've turned it off, as I found it too disruptive. But it would nice for those who wanted it, yes.

I'm not a fan of push promotion.

 

[StrangeLife]

I would find that too intrusive on the receiving end. The few times I've signed up for such a thing, I've turned it off, as I found it too disruptive. But it would nice for those who wanted it, yes.

I'm not a fan of push promotion.

Well, most Lit-writers aren't very prolific. Unless you check off a lot of names it shouldn't generate many e-mail on a monthly basis. But an alternative implementation could be the inclusion of your preferred story in a personal reading-queue... kinda like your own customized "New Stories" list...

There are many ways it could be done and it would enhance the user experience, I think.

 

[sr71plt]

Well, most Lit-writers aren't very prolific. Unless you check off a lot of names it shouldn't generate many e-mail on a monthly basis. But an alternative implementation could be the inclusion of your preferred story in a personal reading-queue... kinda like your own customized "New Stories" list...

There are many ways it could be done and it would enhance the user experience, I think.

There already are separate author reading queues, with newly posted stories marked and dates of posting marked on them all. I think people get to expecting too much babysetting and too little taking care of themselves.

 

[StrangeLife]

There already are separate author reading queues, with newly posted stories marked and dates of posting marked on them all. I think people get to expecting too much babysetting and too little taking care of themselves.

That might be true, but I'm always looking for an easier way. It's in my nature to want it all.

 

[sr71plt]

Easier for you, I take it, rather than for the Web site that doesn't even seem to be able to maintain what it has or to activate some of what it's already promised--of more fundamental functions than that one.

 

[StrangeLife]

Easier for you, I take it, rather than for the Web site that doesn't even seem to be able to maintain what it has or to activate some of what it's already promised--of more fundamental functions than that one.

Easier for me - easy for the website - easier for most users. A win-win-win strategy. Whats there not to like?

 

[lovecraft68]

As long as you're in the "New" list, you collect views fast. And it's Christmas holiday, which may help a lot as well.



I ran some stats before and found that, as these numbers confirm, TS/CD attracts more than twice the number of comments per view and more views. TS/CD has average almost 42k views per story, while BDSM had average just over 25k views (all over a random sample of a couple hundred stories).



And I still really wonder how that works in practice (I've heard this "creating a following" often), as while you can Favourite an author, you will not get notifications if your Fav has published a new story, nor can you easily search new stories of all your Fav authors. So other than recognising their name, and keeping a close eye on the New list, not much chance that you'll notice a new story by one of your Favs.

I think-no way to know for sure-is that many people bookmark an author's page and check it from time to time to look for new stories. Also once you've started 'making a name' for yourself it seems that your stories will get top billing on the new list of each category.

Also some authors collect e-mail addresses and send out an e-mail themselves saying they have a new story.

But its all guess work here as to how. What I know is I've been around awhile and my votes and views totals are far higher than they were when I first started.

 

[lovecraft68]

Easier for me - easy for the website - easier for most users. A win-win-win strategy. Whats there not to like?

I believe that Laurel mentioned recently that they are working on some type of notification when an author releases a story.

But...they have also talked about adding a bi-sexual category for two years now and keep saying they will look into the broken top lists

 

[sr71plt]

Easier for me - easy for the website - easier for most users. A win-win-win strategy. Whats there not to like?

It has to be programed. Want to look around and see all that's already waiting to be cleaned up around here? I don't think the Web site would see the effort as easy.

 

[StrangeLife]

...they have also talked about adding a bi-sexual category for two years now...

The problem with bi-sexuals is, that they often take an extraordinary long time making up their minds...

 

[sr71plt]

The problem with bi-sexuals is, that they often take an extraordinary long time making up their minds...

That's sort of nonsensical, since it's the bisexuals here who have been asking for the change for years without response from the Web site. Which, I must say, probably relates to how soon you can expect the change you seek--and quite possibly reflects how "easy" the Web site considers it is to provide the change you think is easy (since you wouldn't be the one doing it).

 

[i_would]

I think-no way to know for sure-is that many people bookmark an author's page and check it from time to time to look for new stories. Also once you've started 'making a name' for yourself it seems that your stories will get top billing on the new list of each category.

Also some authors collect e-mail addresses and send out an e-mail themselves saying they have a new story.

But its all guess work here as to how. What I know is I've been around awhile and my votes and views totals are far higher than they were when I first started.

Votes increasing may very well be to you getting more experienced in writing, making your new stories better than your old ones.

Numbers increase over time, always do - people like a story you wrote, may check out more.

E-mail addresses and so, don't make much of a difference I think. We're talking of thousands if not tens of thousands of views. That's quite a long e-mail list, and way more than the number of times most authors have been favourited.