Is this normal?

[Carl East]

Somethings happening to one of my stories, that quite frankly baffles me. The rating for this tale seems to be holding steady at 4.16 to 4.25 and it's been voted 134 times, yet here's the thing it's been viewed 34,982 times.

Is someone going to actually tell me, that 34,848 people didn't vote. It just seems an awful lot of people not voting to me, is this normal?

Carl

In case anyone's interested, the story in question is an incest one entitled Exploring My Sexuallity.

http://www.literotica.com/stories/showstory.php?id=52134

 

[Weird Harold]

...it's been voted 134 times, yet here's the thing it's been viewed 34,982 times.

Views <> Reads

What you're seeing is basically normal. The actual ratios vary, but there are usually several thousand views for each vote.

That's because not every view means someone read the story. In my case, I generate at least two views for every story I read, and three for those I vote on. (One view to download the story with "save target as", and one to check for more than one page, plus one to go back and vote after reading the story offline.)

Many people open a story and then decide it's not what they want to read just then. Some come back later to read the story, and others don't.

Some people can't remember if they've read a story, or go back to re-read stories thay've already voted on -- generating multiple views in the process.

Then there are those that just don't vote on stories.

Is someone going to actually tell me, that 34,848 people didn't vote.

Yeah, I guess I am saying that 38K+ people viewed your story without voting.

 

[DVS]

Yes, it seems to be the way mine are. I have several stories (some chapters) posted and all have at least 5-6,000 views, but none are over 60 votes, and some are less votes than that. My latest story has been up for about one day. It as 40 votes and nearly 3,000 views.

I guess there could also be other factors involved. It is possible your title could be similar to someone else's and after reading a bit of yours, they see they are on the wrong story. OK, I may be reaching a bit on that one, but I have a story that is similar to one already posted about a year ago. I wondered about that for a while.

Also, I think just 'landing' on a story will rack up a view, when we assume they actually read it.
But, voting doesn't seem much like a favorite of the Lit readers. The ratio of voting/viewing is sometimes mind blowing, for sure.

I don't get much in the way of feedback, either. I hear of other authors almost complaining about so much feedback, but not me.

It has been said to put a small note at the bottom of your story asking for votes and/or feedback. I have done that on my last 4, but it doesn't seem to make much difference, at least in my case.

I am sure that because I am a new writer, as far as Lit readers are concerned, I don't have much of a following. This may be part of the reason, and might change down the road.

After all of the above jibberish is said, I guess it all boils down to yes, I agree with you that it seems strange so many people don't care to vote or send feedback. I just went the long way around with it.

 

[KillerMuffin]

One of my audio stories has 78,000ish views. 138 votes.

*shrugs*

Seems normal.

Someday, I hope to break the 3.00 barrier. My goal in life.

 

[JerseyBoy]

I wouldn't ever expect more than .5% - 1% of 'viewers' to vote.

It's just a fact of lit life...

-ws

 

[SexyChele]

As Harold basically stated - the views are just that. It's how many times the story was clicked on. Unfortunately, there is no way of determining if the story was actually read, or if the reader backed out of it for some reason. I know there are times when I will go into a story, download it to read it, as I hate reading from a computer screen, then go back and vote on it. In that case, I've just given the story 2 views, but I'm only one reader.

Also, not all readers vote, plain and simple. When I first started visiting Lit, I would read the stories and never vote. I didn't realize what it meant to the author. Once I submitted my first story, I understood what it meant to vote, and now I do. But many out there are looking for a story to get off on. They may start to read it, like it, print it out, get off, and think nothing more about it. Sad, but true.

I still think that's why it's more important to do this because you liked to. Views and votes actually mean very little in the actual world. Love of writing, and feedback are the things that, for me, truly count.

 

[KinkyKiki]

I personally try to vote on every story because I know how much it means to the author to have votes and feedback. I experience the same thing though.......thousands and thousands of views but only a few hundred votes. My guess is it's the authors who vote on stories because they know how important it is. The most votes I have right now of all my posted stories is 697. Seems like a lot, but not when it's been viewed 87,434 times. I try to look at the positive side though, the fewer votes there are means if someone votes with a high number means your rating will go up even higher than if you had a whole lot of votes.

Keep posting and good luck with your votes.

"KinkyKiki"

 

[abashed-dreamer]

I agree with Wife Seducer (and other figures cited are consistent).

1/2 to 1 percent of 'reads' seem to be the 'votes.

It somewhat varies by category. The more elaborate stories in friendlier forums might get up to 2%. The more routine 'porn', less than 1/2 % [.5%], maybe 1/4 % [.25%].

It's worth stating, as W. H. says, that 'reads' is a fuzzy category.
I've asked Laurel, but gotten no answer to a proposal that a person must at least click on each page of a story to generate a 'read'. So a 'read' may be no more than a look at the first page for two seconds.

A further figure of interest is letters, and I'd say maybe 5% of the votes, max., will write letters. Probably more like 2%.

Jack.

 

[Coolville]

I dare say that the vast majority of readers, both members and passersby, read to get a thrill and only a few of us appreciate the lit in the erotica - AND read to get a thrill...
However, I have been know to abstain from voting if ths story really is a load of bollocks. A protest against bad spelling and grammar, usually.

 

[Guest]

hehe those are the stories I give a 1 too

 

[wildsweetone]

is there a difference between a 'downloads' counter and a 'views' counter?