Satisfaction is ...

[Writer61]

When your new story received 9 fives and one 4 in the first ten ratings (that's a 4.9 average) and reached twenty ratings with an average of 4.75. Especially good since the previous story in the series did not hit H.

 

[NotWise]

When your new story received 9 fives and one 4 in the first ten ratings (that's a 4.9 average) and reached twenty ratings with an average of 4.75. Especially good since the previous story in the series did not hit H.

What did you do differently?

 

[qidniz]

new story received 9 fives and one 4 in the first ten ratings (that's a 4.9 average) and reached twenty ratings with an average of 4.75

That's very good going. Touch wood.

One of my stories has 25 5's, 6 4's, and a 1. It made no lists, as the one-bomb was the third vote. Interestingly enough, the one-bomb was almost the same time as another one-bomb crashed another story of mine off a list (it had a 4.9 rating after 41 votes, which made it a very juicy target.) Coinkidink? Maybe.

 

[Writer61]

That's very good going. Touch wood.

One of my stories has 25 5's, 6 4's, and a 1. It made no lists, as the one-bomb was the third vote. Interestingly enough, the one-bomb was almost the same time as another one-bomb crashed another story of mine off a list (it had a 4.9 rating after 41 votes, which made it a very juicy target.) Coinkidink? Maybe.

A 1* in the first ten ratings is a killer.

 

[Writer61]

What did you do differently?

#3 was a better story, but I don't think #2 deserved a 1*.

 

[NotWise]

#3 was a better story, but I don't think #2 deserved a 1*.

I don't think voters usually give 1* votes because they think the story is bad. Some are manipulative, but I think most are punitive. The voter gives you a 1* vote to punish you for some aspect of the story (possibly very minor) that they didn't like--or did like and can't admit.

 

[qidniz]

A 1* in the first ten ratings is a killer.

Indeed. It badly impacts the prospects for the story while it's new and thus most liable to be viewed.

My story that was one-bombed early has the fewest votes (but is not the latest) and has by far the worst votes to views ratio among all of my stories (over 1 to 150). Which leads me to suspect that view counts may be skewed by page views (i.e. the view count gets bumped any time the page simply listing the story is loaded by a browser.)

 

[ElectricBlue]

Which leads me to suspect that view counts may be skewed by page views (i.e. the view count gets bumped any time the page simply listing the story is loaded by a browser.)

View counts are based on someone opening the first page. I've never seen any other view count mechanism.

 

[Seurat]

My most recent... mostly fives with a couple of fours... then a two whenever it breaks 4.1. Systematic.

 

[qidniz]

View counts are based on someone opening the first page.

So one would hope.

I've never seen any other view count mechanism.

It's the way ad views (as opposed to click-throughs) are counted. The mechanism is pretty straightforward. I don't think it's a good idea, though.

 

[qidniz]

mostly fives with a couple of fours... then a two whenever it breaks 4.1. Systematic.

Oops. Sounds like you have a dedicated "fan".

 

[ElectricBlue]

So one would hope.

It's the way ad views (as opposed to click-throughs) are counted. The mechanism is pretty straightforward. I don't think it's a good idea, though.

I meant on this site. Views are based on the first page only, subsequent pages don't tally. So there's no way of knowing how many folk read the whole story - chaptered stories can give you a bit of a clue, but even then, readers have their quirks.

 

[bi_cathy]

I once saw this 6 hours after the story was published, took a screenshot, and tried not to scream internally. I know you're positively selecting for involved readers and fans by posting chaptered stories, but this was published... 12 YEARS after chapter 3.

 

[Voboy]

I meant on this site. Views are based on the first page only, subsequent pages don't tally. So there's no way of knowing how many folk read the whole story - chaptered stories can give you a bit of a clue, but even then, readers have their quirks.

I wrote a chaptered series once in which every entry got a steady 2k views, all with similar ratings; I feel like that's the only real indicator I have on any of my stories regarding how many people actually read them.

Some of the chapters won the monthly contests, though, and those view counts skyrocketed... with no corresponding change in the views for the other chapters. Clearly those were tire-kickers who glanced at the first page of that chapter after linking from the Monthly Winners list, and found nothing to interest them.

Then, once the whole series was finished, every chapter started gathering more views. Most are now around 11-12k. I can tell, roughly, which chapters have been re-read and which haven't. And yes, the blue W still has an effect: those chapters have FAR more views than the rest. Triple or quadruple.

I'm not really a series writer, so that's the only chance I've had to see those dynamics firsthand. Very interesting.

 

[BeechLeaf]

I once saw this 6 hours after the story was published, took a screenshot, and tried not to scream internally. I know you're positively selecting for involved readers and fans by posting chaptered stories, but this was published... 12 YEARS after chapter 3.

Now how surprising actually is that? (1) A lot of people follow you - most early hits on your new story are likely to come from followers informed in their CP rather than random readers looking at New. (2) Most of your followers are general fans, not specifically of that old series. So the time gap doesn't matter to them, it's more of you to enjoy regardless. (3) Most of your fans are likely to give you a 5.

So yes, it's a lucky fluke you got a row of that many 5's without a single 4 or nasty low one, but not an extremely unlikely fluke. But yeah, grab a screenshot whenever that happens, and savour it.

 

[Writer61]

… when your latest story (Happy Valley) has a rating of 4.91 after 11 votes. The last time I looked, it was a perfect 5.0 out of 8, so, frustratingly, I don't know whether the 9th, 10th, or 11th voter gave it a 4. Whichever it was, it's the best opening of any of my posts since records began.

 

[qidniz]

Clearly those were tire-kickers who glanced at the first page of that chapter after linking from the Monthly Winners list, and found nothing to interest them.

Any story on a list is likely to have a greater than usual proportion of 'tire-kickers' (great phrase!). But that begs the question of what is an usual proportion? It probably varies by category, and may be affected by comment activity.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

Views, ratings, stars; they're all superficial. A comment like the one below though, that took time, effort, intent. For me, thaat is satisfaction.

“Re-reading this excellent story & grrrreat storytelling (huh, I haven’t commented before). “it was better than some nicknames the crew I had sailed with called me when I first got on board. ” I thought it when I read it the first time, but now I’m saying it. C’mon, tell us some of the nicknames. He was aboard for months. Surely one nickname stuck? Yeah, yea, we know it’ll be scandalous, they were sailors after all. Along this line of thought, how about telling The Voyage of the Estrella Naciente? You’ve got some plot already sorted out in this story. Hmmmm, no. You’re working the Sci-fi genre. Well, most space civilizations haveFYI, the so freighters, right? There you go. Makeup of the crew just took off into your grrrreat imagination. And while it might be interestng fun to follow the freighter this Chris took, it’s space-faring cousin can go on a different adventure. “I took my time on the ride back and made sure I thoroughly brushed Lady down before going inside to clean up.” The relaxed tension an easy ride, the focused attention & repetition of brushing down a horse, even the routines of cleaning up – all these are meditative practices. They can pull us away from our anticipation/planning thoughts and ground ourselves in the now. Now is the only time we have to behave and a calmer mind is better for choosing how we want to behave.”

FYI, the story is The Hundred Year Storm