Motivation

[al55]

How does everyone manage to stay motivated when stories don't get comments? It feels like no one is interested.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

How does everyone manage to stay motivated when stories don't get comments? It feels like no one is interested.

I focus on the long-term success of the story. Feedback over the life of a story is what matters, not just the first few days.

You also need to consider the category that a story gets published in. Many are notoriously famous for their lack of reader feedback.

 

[al55]

I focus on the long-term success of the story. Feedback over the life of a story is what matters, not just the first few days.

You also need to consider the category that a story gets published in. Many are notoriously famous for their lack of reader feedback.

Thank you! I think my stories are just considered garbage at this stage but I do enjoy the process of writing!

 

[Emma_O]

Post a link?

 

[Britva415]

I do enjoy the process of writing

Do you enjoy it enough to just do it for that reason alone? Regardless of how many strokes you get from commenters?

 

[al55]

Post a link?

https://www.literotica.com/authors/al55/works/stories

Thanks Emma hopefully you don't think they are garbage

 

[al55]

Do you enjoy it enough to just do it for that reason alone? Regardless of how many strokes you get from commenters?

I do, but it makes me feel alone

 

[KittyOfSteele]

I actually wrote a piece about this in my Substack; it's linked in my Lit profile. It's obviously fictional in a (Henry) Miller-esque rant, but I broke down a real event from it which was a huge lesson. In university, we had to perform to an audience of zero because the professor in charge forgot to spread the word about our concert. I published it around the time Nightcall was published.

You may ask yourself if when a tree falls in the forest, does it make a sound, but the thing you should be asking is what happens when enough trees fall to make a hole in the forest that's going to make people question some funny business from the aliens.

Perform like no one is watching. Eventually, someone will confuse you for a nymph.

 

[al55]

I actually wrote a piece about this in my Substack; it's linked in my Lit profile. It's obviously fictional in a (Henry) Miller-esque rant, but I broke down a real event from it which was a huge lesson. In university, we had to perform to an audience of zero because the professor in charge forgot to spread the word about our concert. I published it around the time Nightcall was published.

You may ask yourself if when a tree falls in the forest, does it make a sound, but the thing you should be asking is what happens when enough trees fall to make a hole in the forest that's going to make people question some funny business from the aliens.

Perform like no one is watching. Eventually, someone will confuse you for a nymph.

Thank you, Kitty, that actually made me laugh good advice too!

 

[StillStunned]

My first 22 stories got a total of four comments, if I remember correctly. Two were mildly encouraging, two were criticism about the content and length.

Hang in there. For now, write what you'd like to read. Don't be afraid to experiment with different styles, subject matters, kinks, categories. Sooner or later you'll find your audience.

 

[al55]

My first 22 stories got a total of four comments, if I remember correctly. Two were mildly encouraging, two were criticism about the content and length.

Hang in there. For now, write what you'd like to read. Don't be afraid to experiment with different styles, subject matters, kinks, categories. Sooner or later you'll find your audience.

Thank you! That makes me feel better! Do you get more comments now? Is there a certain threshold of stories that "unlock" the comments?

 

[StillStunned]

Thank you! That makes me feel better! Do you get more comments now? Is there a certain threshold of stories that "unlock" the comments?

I really couldn't say. Write something that gets people thinking, or something that gets 100k views so even a small percentage means a handful of comments.

But I've noticed an uptick since I started replying to comments. I always thank the commenter, and often I try to add a bit of "meat" to the comment too. A response to what they've said, or some insight into the writing process. Even if the commenter never sees it, other readers do and they know that I read and appreciate their feedback.

 

[Britva415]

what happens when enough trees fall to make a hole in the forest that's going to make people question

If enough trees fall in the forest and nobody notices, is there a hole?

 

[Britva415]

Thank you! That makes me feel better! Do you get more comments now? Is there a certain threshold of stories that "unlock" the comments?

Just keep publishing. You'll start to get followers, your name will start to look familiar, more people will read your stories, new and old.

 

[Rob_Royale]

Someone said in the past, and I've remembered it and quoted it often, that people comment when stories are really good or really bad. If your work falls in between those two ends of the spectrum, it won't get much in the way of comments. I would say that's mostly accurate and I've used it as motivation to get as good as I can at this writing schtick.

 

[Callum_M]

Comments can be validating, but relying on them for motivation can have an unintended influence on your work. You can end up writing in such a way that limits you, but gets the response you’re seeking. Before you know it, you’re in a loop, unwilling to make changes, take risks, try new things because you don’t want to lose that external validation.

Write for you. You took a risk, you put yourself out there, and if even one person had a positive experience reading your work, it was worth it.

 

[Mastered_again]

How does everyone manage to stay motivated when stories don't get comments? It feels like no one is interested.

I have 26 stories up. 11 have no comments, 2 have less than 10 votes. Sure, it's a little discouraging, but the gratification of writing and seeing it published is greater. "See, I did that!"
The stories may not be that widely read, but I know what I created is at least correct in grammar and spelling (99 percent anyway) and with a decent plots, IMO

 

[BobbyBrandt]

Someone said in the past, and I've remembered it and quoted it often, that people comment when stories are really good or really bad.

I don't see this much myself. For my stories, the category weighs heavier than anything else on the feedback from readers scale.

For example, in Novels/Novella, the stories have been averaging around 36 comments each, while stories in Loving Wives see an average of 71 comments, and FanFic/Celebrity stories average 9 comments.

The scores for the stories averaged in each category are all in the 4 to 4.84 range.

 

[JusticeGrey]

Comments aren't always what they're cracked up to be. Other than being flamed when I posted something in loving wives, it seems like most of the comments I get are suggestions/demands for follow ups, often involving a character getting pregnant for no real reason.

That being said, it does feel good when someone even just leaves a "I really liked your story". I'm all about seeing when someone adds a story to their favorites, though. I immediately check that person out, as well as anyone else they've favorited.

 

[TheLobster]

https://www.literotica.com/authors/al55/works/stories

One pro tip I don't think anyone mentioned: add a link to your story list (i.e., the address above) to your forum signature. It will make it much easier for people here to access it, especially if you post a lot (which you seem to ).

 

[KittyOfSteele]

If enough trees fall in the forest and nobody notices, is there a hole?

The Sahara is growing and people noticed. I'd say it depends on the amount of trees.

 

[anthrodisiac]

Yeah, good advice is just keep plowing ahead. Like me, you're writing niche content, and it can be hard to get that in front of the right eyeballs, and for those eyeballs to grow arms and leave you a comment.

Keep learning how to write is the other piece of advice. There are a ton of threads in AH about different approaches to writing. Self-improvement is the goal of just about every good writer I've ever met, and not the goal of just about every bad writer I've ever met. Try new things, experiment. You don't always have to publish them (God knows I wouldn't dream of publishing some of my experiments ), but they can be helpful in learning new techniques and trying out different approaches to find out what works best for you and suits your style. You could, if you wanted, try writing something less niche, try to get some name ID out there. But as someone who writes in a niche, I know it can be hard to want to write those types of stories. But, if you were ever inclined to give it a shot, it might be helpful to at least start building a bit of an audience.

 

[Stanfield2025]

This is a pretty nuanced conversation. For me, there are certain stories (my AO3 fanfics ) that I publish without really needing reader engagement. However, a few of these fanfics have been left laying around for a long time. It's not on purpose. It's just easier to put other things before those stories. Sometimes I get inspired to write new things instead of finishing old ones.

Almost a year ago, someone who likes reading my AO3 fanfics found me on Reddit then told me to leave erotica alone and go back to those fanfics, as they were waiting for an update on the story I hadn't updated in a while. It turned out that this person had never left a single comment or engagement of any kind on the story. I thought no one cared about that story. But that request on Reddit instantly lit a fire under my ass and I updated the fanfic. That request, for better or worse, was the difference between me letting the story sit versus being motivated enough to work on and update it. I never felt bad that the fanfic received no comments, but engagement still motivated me to work on it.

Nowadays, I'm more focused on the AO3 fanfics, but that one interaction made me think about so many things. For one thing, you never really know how many people are actually engaged with your story. So many people read stories and don't comment. It's certainly hard to build community with an audience on Lit, so that doesn't help. But it's unlikely that absolutely no one is interested in your work just because no one has commented.

The other thing it made me think about is this idea that if you care about feedback then it makes you a slave to external validation. It's an idea I've seen pushed by various authors on YouTube. It's also an idea I find to be devoid of nuance. Feedback is connection. In general, we publish our stories to connect with other people. If we get that connection, it's natural to be more motivated to write. It's natural to prioritize the story over scrolling on Twitter or whatever if we see that people are connecting with the story. Even recently, I was motivated to work on an AO3 fanfic because of a new comment I received on it. And it's a fanfic I care deeply about. You don't want to entirely rely on feedback to steer you as a writer, but it's not wrong to be motivated by feedback.

Things were a little different for my series on Literotica. For whatever reason, I was fully desperate for this one to get feedback. The thought of it just not being cared about by anyone genuinely scared me. Being that desperate is not a good way to approach publishing, and it's not a position I intend to put myself in ever again, but I was in that position. Luckily, I got a loyal reader who commented on every single chapter. Every. Single. One. And I only got this loyal reader by promoting the story on Reddit. The reader even reached out to me in Reddit DMs and I was lucky enough to carry on a discussion about the story there. Heck, I still promote the story on Reddit every now and again and it occasionally gets me a favorite or two. Promotion of your stories outside of Lit isn't guaranteed to get you feedback, but you should consider doing it if you haven't done it already.

 

[forgotmyantidepressants]

I might not get many comments or favorites, but Lit is the only place I can post stories where someone will actually read them. That's enough for me.

 

[al55]

This is a pretty nuanced conversation. For me, there are certain stories (my AO3 fanfics ) that I publish without really needing reader engagement. However, a few of these fanfics have been left laying around for a long time. It's not on purpose. It's just easier to put other things before those stories. Sometimes I get inspired to write new things instead of finishing old ones.

Almost a year ago, someone who likes reading my AO3 fanfics found me on Reddit then told me to leave erotica alone and go back to those fanfics, as they were waiting for an update on the story I hadn't updated in a while. It turned out that this person had never left a single comment or engagement of any kind on the story. I thought no one cared about that story. But that request on Reddit instantly lit a fire under my ass and I updated the fanfic. That request, for better or worse, was the difference between me letting the story sit versus being motivated enough to work on and update it. I never felt bad that the fanfic received no comments, but engagement still motivated me to work on it.

Nowadays, I'm more focused on the AO3 fanfics, but that one interaction made me think about so many things. For one thing, you never really know how many people are actually engaged with your story. So many people read stories and don't comment. It's certainly hard to build community with an audience on Lit, so that doesn't help. But it's unlikely that absolutely no one is interested in your work just because no one has commented.

The other thing it made me think about is this idea that if you care about feedback then it makes you a slave to external validation. It's an idea I've seen pushed by various authors on YouTube. It's also an idea I find to be devoid of nuance. Feedback is connection. In general, we publish our stories to connect with other people. If we get that connection, it's natural to be more motivated to write. It's natural to prioritize the story over scrolling on Twitter or whatever if we see that people are connecting with the story. Even recently, I was motivated to work on an AO3 fanfic because of a new comment I received on it. And it's a fanfic I care deeply about. You don't want to entirely rely on feedback to steer you as a writer, but it's not wrong to be motivated by feedback.

Things were a little different for my series on Literotica. For whatever reason, I was fully desperate for this one to get feedback. The thought of it just not being cared about by anyone genuinely scared me. Being that desperate is not a good way to approach publishing, and it's not a position I intend to put myself in ever again, but I was in that position. Luckily, I got a loyal reader who commented on every single chapter. Every. Single. One. And I only got this loyal reader by promoting the story on Reddit. The reader even reached out to me in Reddit DMs and I was lucky enough to carry on a discussion about the story there. Heck, I still promote the story on Reddit every now and again and it occasionally gets me a favorite or two. Promotion of your stories outside of Lit isn't guaranteed to get you feedback, but you should consider doing it if you haven't done it already.

Hi Stanfield2025, thank you for taking the time to reply and for this in-depth response. It was a really insightful read and I enjoyed reading it! Did you stay in contact with any readers?