New Milestones Thread

[Bamagan]

This is my 10,000th post.

View attachment 2569991

"Rarely have we seen a myriad of missives so miserably moribund,
As the ten thousand vapid bleats of the cat named StillStunned."
-Vogon Poet's Society

 

[Bazzle]

I've now got 250 followers. Which I see as an achievement as I write niche fetish stories!

 

[SimonDoom]

I've now got 250 followers. Which I see as an achievement as I write niche fetish stories!

Well, you've had some influence on your fellow authors, too, because you've got me writing a smoking story, and I never imagined that would happen.

 

[BearNextDoor]

It was a slog to get there, the vote ratio is terrible, but:



My first. Which doesn't mean it's good, of course. It's clumsy and silly and has about 5 Hated Tropes. But it was fun to write and at least a few people enjoyed reading it.

 

[old_prof]

My first. Which doesn't mean it's good, of course. It's clumsy and silly and has about 5 Hated Tropes. But it was fun to write and at least a few people enjoyed reading it.

Any trope, even hated ones, can be good when well done.

 

[PennyThompson]

I've been in a bit of a writing slump and haven't published anything in over a month, but I just realized that I broke 400 followers some time over the weekend!

 

[Bazzle]

Well, you've had some influence on your fellow authors, too, because you've got me writing a smoking story, and I never imagined that would happen.

I look forward to reading it when it's published!

 

[Northstar4695]

I cracked 300 followers this week, thanks to a series I have been pushing out new chapters. I've been an inconsistent writer and contributor, but the milestone is inspiring. Thanks for sharing the excitement with me.

 

[NaughteeDragon]

My Halloween story The Kitsune’s Mask, finally hit 10 reviews so I could get the Hot tag on it with a 4.8 rating. Trying to figure out why it’s not getting traction.
Yes, it’s BDSM, which is a lower traffic category, but it should be seeing traffic from the Halloween Contest. My valentines story hit 15k reads in 2 weeks. This one barely cracked 3k in 10 days. Makes me sad because I think this is my best story by far. It’s got nuance, it’s got character development, and it has lots of good sex.

 

[old_prof]

My lone bdsm story is sitting at 20 votes way lower than my second fewest votes. I thought it was a good story and also has a 4.8 It may be that sleepy of a category. My lone contest entry got about average views/votes until it got a prize so I am not convinced they garner as much attention as commonly expected

 

[Bamagan]

My lone bdsm story is sitting at 20 votes way lower than my second fewest votes. I thought it was a good story and also has a 4.8 It may be that sleepy of a category. My lone contest entry got about average views/votes until it got a prize so I am not convinced they garner as much attention as commonly expected

I didn't see any signs of a (significant) boost in traffic from the two contests I entered when I first started posting. I think the expansion of the field is a significant factor. The number of contest entries has gone up dramatically in the past few years, or at least that's my impression compared to my years as only a reader. A fan of Halloween tales might be able to go through at least a good portion of 50 contest stories in a month, but probably not 200 or whatever the current count is*. Whatever boost in traffic the contest gives, I believe it's considerably diluted compared to received wisdom from the more venerable competitors. They might also be getting some benefit from name recognition, I suppose, which might be enough to make up the gap compared to newbies and make their experience with contests look relatively consistent with past experiences. Or they might just be better at titling their stories to attract attention!

*162. I just checked.

 

[SamanthaBehgs]

I didn't see any signs of a (significant) boost in traffic from the two contests I entered when I first started posting. I think the expansion of the field is a significant factor. The number of contest entries has gone up dramatically in the past few years, or at least that's my impression compared to my years as only a reader. A fan of Halloween tales might be able to go through at least a good portion of 50 contest stories in a month, but probably not 200 or whatever the current count is*. Whatever boost in traffic the contest gives, I believe it's considerably diluted compared to received wisdom from the more venerable competitors. They might also be getting some benefit from name recognition, I suppose, which might be enough to make up the gap compared to newbies and make their experience with contests look relatively consistent with past experiences. Or they might just be better at titling their stories to attract attention!

*162. I just checked.

I was just showing my PYL the contest page before considering posting an entry and was surprised as well to see that I cannot filter the contest by tag. I couldn't isolate how many were audio, poems, bdsm, etc. Is the only way to do that to go into the desired category and select the "Halloween" tag? I wonder if that, too, is why we aren't seeing an uptick in readers as a result of the larger contests?

 

[Bamagan]

I was just showing my PYL the contest page before considering posting an entry and was surprised as well to see that I cannot filter the contest by tag. I couldn't isolate how many were audio, poems, bdsm, etc. Is the only way to do that to go into the desired category and select the "Halloween" tag? I wonder if that, too, is why we aren't seeing an uptick in readers as a result of the larger contests?

I don't know what PYL stands for in this context, but yes, the lack of any filters on the contest page might be deterring some visitors who prefer a more curated reading experience. I believe the site is trying to help put contest entries on a more even footing by limiting them to title and author from the contest hub, and by re-ordering them any time the page is loaded. It's definitely not my preferred way of finding things to read so I largely ignore the contest hubs, but I don't think I'm particularly representative of the community at large, so perhaps it's perfectly cromulent for most users.

 

[NaughteeDragon]

I will admit that I use the ‘Halloween 2025’ tag to find stories and get a more selective list. It also allows me to find the highest rated and HOT stories because I’m curious what others like.

 

[SamanthaBehgs]

I will admit that I use the ‘Halloween 2025’ tag to find stories and get a more selective list. It also allows me to find the highest rated and HOT stories because I’m curious what others like.

I could only find just play Halloween. Is there one specific for 2025??

 

[SamanthaBehgs]

I don't know what PYL stands for in this context, but yes, the lack of any filters on the contest page might be deterring some visitors who prefer a more curated reading experience. I believe the site is trying to help put contest entries on a more even footing by limiting them to title and author from the contest hub, and by re-ordering them any time the page is loaded. It's definitely not my preferred way of finding things to read so I largely ignore the contest hubs, but I don't think I'm particularly representative of the community at large, so perhaps it's perfectly cromulent for most users.

Sorry, it means "Pick Your Label" for a Dominant partner in a D/s relationship. I saw it on the forums and it just associated in my brain as universal across forums. My bad!

And that makes sense with the even footing - otherwise more trafficked categories would automatically get better ratings/more votes.

 

[old_prof]

And that makes sense with the even footing - otherwise more trafficked categories would automatically get better ratings/more votes.

More votes does not equal better ratings. (See LW) The prizes are awarded based on average rating, not number of votes or views. I assume they use votes as a tie breaker if there was a tie, as they do in the top lists the site puts up.

 

[SamanthaBehgs]

More votes does not equal better ratings. (See LW) The prizes are awarded based on average rating, not number of votes or views. I assume they use votes as a tie breaker if there was a tie, as they do in the top lists the site puts up.

Isn't there a minumum number before you're considered though?

 

[NuclearFairy]

Isn't there a minumum number before you're considered though?

I could be wrong, but I think for contests it's 25, and for the top list it's 100.

 

[old_prof]

I could be wrong, but I think for contests it's 25, and for the top list it's 100.

Absolutely correct.

 

[NaughteeDragon]

I could only find just play Halloween. Is there one specific for 2025??

Yes. If you tag search Halloween 2025, it will give you a good selection of them. Not all of them because some forget, and some (points finger at self) mistype it.

 

[SouthernCrossfire]

Sometime in the last day or so I've hit 1,500 followers and a total of 1.5 million views on my works on Lit! Thank you, readers!

While I had the stats downloaded to check the view count, I also checked and found that I've averaged about 1 rating per 32 views and 1 comment per 761 views across all works, beating the typically quoted estimates of 1:100 and 1:1000 by a decent amount.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

Just a milestone for me, but I got two more stories into my personal Pending folder today. Wit one dropping for the Halloween event tomorrow and another still awaiting laurel's blessing, It's been a productive month.

 

[NaughteeDragon]

My 100th comment posted today.
Hopefully my comments won’t take 3 days to post now.

I also got my first feedback email today. Not sure to feel about a comment like “I dream about this happening to me,” in response to a story about a woman who wakes up to find herself blindfolded and tied to her bed while a stranger says things like, “You know you want this, just let it happen.”

 

[MrPixel]

MY milepost is... awarded a "60!" badge in Wordle yesterday. Will I make it to 100? Stay tuned.