Publishing around a big contest

[lovemegood]

Hi, I have a story planned for end of March. But I now realise it’s close to a contest. Would it be better to wait after april 1st? Or is after 24th also okay?

I don’t want my story to get lost in between or get downvoted

 

[NotWise]

The April Fools contest is one of the smallest special contests. It may not be a problem for you at all. If you want to be sure, then you can publish after the 24th.

 

[lovemegood]

The April Fools contest is one of the smallest special contests. It may not be a problem for you at all. If you want to be sure, then you can publish after the 24th.

Thank you!!

 

[CalBishForNow]

There are six official annual contests, with roughly three-week submission windows, followed by roughly a week for all readers to read and vote on them. That adds up to roughly half the year and isn't counting unofficial contests. Non-contest stories get published and do fine all the time.

 

[RocketGrunt]

The erotic couplings category gets over 20 submissions on an average day. During the height of a contest, there will be at most like two or three contest stories in any particular category on any particular day.

Is there a chance that a contest entry knocks your story from one of the 10 "new" stories for the day that go on the front page to be one of the stories that gets less views because it's behind the "more new stories" button? Yes. But the difference in traffic between Sunday and Thursday is a bigger concern, and low submission categories are never going to have the issue anyway.

It's just not worth worrying about.

 

[lovemegood]

But the difference in traffic between Sunday and Thursday is a bigger concern, and low submission categories are never going to have the issue anyway.

Do you mean Thursday is not a good day to publish on? I kinda wanted to aim for Thursday (requesting in the admin notes)

 

[RocketGrunt]

Do you mean Thursday is not a good day to publish on? I kinda wanted to aim for Thursday (requesting in the admin notes)

You are overthinking it. Traffic varies by day, but the viewership differences from one category to another are huge. And the total number of viewers is very large. So even on a "low traffic" category, a snazzy title and a click bait description can get you a lot of views. Just put it in an appropriate category and label it something that will encourage people to click on it. That's it.

 

[Writer61]

I have a story planned for end of March.

That is oddly specific, why then?

Would the story be compromised by publishing earlier or later?

 

[EmilyMiller]

Publishing around a big contest​

I doubt April Fool’s will top 100 stories. It’s a really tricky one to write for (I constantly failed at it). And those are spread over what? Three or four weeks maybe.

Given 200 - 300 stories get posted each day, I don’t think the comps are as big a problem as you may fear.