Should I have waited to publish my story, or was it never going to get many views to start with?

[taytay4eva]

So I entered A Mid-Winter Night's Dream into the winter competition, and it managed to gain and keep a 50+ votes. All well and good.

About a week later, I submitted Sammi Elf Sweetens Her Sugarplum as a regular erotic story, since it was a follow-up to the story I submitted last year. It has, thus far, gotten 5 votes.

Now, I'm pleased with it. Maybe there are a few things I'd change, but overall I'm pleased. What I'm wondering, though, is if submitting it during the competition without it being a competition piece meant that it lost a lot of the views it might have otherwise earned, or if that's just the normal number of votes and views a story is going to get.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

Hard to say, there does seem to be a bump in views from stories in the competitions. That said, there are plenty of stories released during the competition that aren't part of it but get a significant number of views. So the Comp isn't sucking all the oxygen out of the room.

 

[NotWise]

So I entered A Mid-Winter Night's Dream into the winter competition, and it managed to gain and keep a 50+ votes. All well and good.

About a week later, I submitted Sammi Elf Sweetens Her Sugarplum as a regular erotic story, since it was a follow-up to the story I submitted last year. It has, thus far, gotten 5 votes.

Now, I'm pleased with it. Maybe there are a few things I'd change, but overall I'm pleased. What I'm wondering, though, is if submitting it during the competition without it being a competition piece meant that it lost a lot of the views it might have otherwise earned, or if that's just the normal number of votes and views a story is going to get.

Submitting it to the competition would have gotten your story more views. Sometimes stories in EC can fall through the cracks.

 

[taytay4eva]

Submitting it to the competition would have gotten your story more views. Sometimes stories in EC can fall through the cracks.

I did try to submit it to the competition with the idea that it wasn't a Chapter Two, it was a Follow-Up Story, but that got me rejected twice, so I just submitted it to exist on its own merits. Maybe if I try to say that in the submission comments next time it won't be rejected out of hand.

 

[dirk2024]

I did try to submit it to the competition with the idea that it wasn't a Chapter Two, it was a Follow-Up Story, but that got me rejected twice, so I just submitted it to exist on its own merits. Maybe if I try to say that in the submission comments next time it won't be rejected out of hand.

Looks like Admin still thought it was a chapter 2 story.

 

[taytay4eva]

Looks like Admin still thought it was a chapter 2 story.

View attachment 2583678

Yeah, that's why I decided to just submit it on its own, outside the contest. I made the Series after I submitted it.

 

[ronde]

So I entered A Mid-Winter Night's Dream into the winter competition, and it managed to gain and keep a 50+ votes. All well and good.

About a week later, I submitted Sammi Elf Sweetens Her Sugarplum as a regular erotic story, since it was a follow-up to the story I submitted last year. It has, thus far, gotten 5 votes.

Now, I'm pleased with it. Maybe there are a few things I'd change, but overall I'm pleased. What I'm wondering, though, is if submitting it during the competition without it being a competition piece meant that it lost a lot of the views it might have otherwise earned, or if that's just the normal number ofY votes and views a story is going to get.

You've written 12 stories and it looks to me like you've done a great job on all 12.

What's probably happening is you're a relatively new author so not a lot of readers have found you yet. You did the right thing by entering the contest. Even if you don't win, you'll have readers reading your work and getting to now how you write. You can see that in the difference in the number of views between the two stories. Readers will look for stories by an author they know, and then look for stories based on some personal criteria. I see you have 32 followers and that's not bad for just 12 stories. Keep writing and you'll find your number of view and votes will go up. It just takes a little time before you get noticed in a big way.

Just one comment about this story. You don't need the first paragraph. A prologue is fine as long as it relates to the story, but an explanation of why you posted it might cause some readers to just click out. The second paragraph is sort of a prologue, but I'd have found a way to write that into the story where it applies to the characters and action. Just a suggestion and not a critique.

 

[taytay4eva]

You've written 12 stories and it looks to me like you've done a great job on all 12.

What's probably happening is you're a relatively new author so not a lot of readers have found you yet. You did the right thing by entering the contest. Even if you don't win, you'll have readers reading your work and getting to now how you write. You can see that in the difference in the number of views between the two stories. Readers will look for stories by an author they know, and then look for stories based on some personal criteria. I see you have 32 followers and that's not bad for just 12 stories. Keep writing and you'll find your number of view and votes will go up. It just takes a little time before you get noticed in a big way.

Just one comment about this story. You don't need the first paragraph. A prologue is fine as long as it relates to the story, but an explanation of why you posted it might cause some readers to just click out. The second paragraph is sort of a prologue, but I'd have found a way to write that into the story where it applies to the characters and action. Just a suggestion and not a critique.

No no, critiques are good! They help us grow. They tell us what did and didn't work. I like critiques as long as they aren't just "this is bad and you should feel bad for posting it".

 

[YmaOHyd]

So I entered A Mid-Winter Night's Dream into the winter competition, and it managed to gain and keep a 50+ votes. All well and good.

About a week later, I submitted Sammi Elf Sweetens Her Sugarplum as a regular erotic story, since it was a follow-up to the story I submitted last year. It has, thus far, gotten 5 votes.

Now, I'm pleased with it. Maybe there are a few things I'd change, but overall I'm pleased. What I'm wondering, though, is if submitting it during the competition without it being a competition piece meant that it lost a lot of the views it might have otherwise earned, or if that's just the normal number of votes and views a story is going to get.

It might have lost a few. Erotic Couplings as a category is very hit-or-miss. It gets a ton of submissions relative to readership, so it ends up being easy, unfortunately, for new submissions to never have front-page time in the category.

 

[taytay4eva]

It might have lost a few. Erotic Couplings as a category is very hit-or-miss. It gets a ton of submissions relative to readership, so it ends up being easy, unfortunately, for new submissions to never have front-page time in the category.

That makes a lot of sense.

 

[ronde]

No no, critiques are good! They help us grow. They tell us what did and didn't work. I like critiques as long as they aren't just "this is bad and you should feel bad for posting it".

You'll probably get one of those from time to time. They'll usually be from "Anonymous" and it's a safe bet they've never written a word for publication in their entire life. Take that type of comment for what they are - some person who wishes they could do what you can do but can't, and they're taking their revenge for that by leaving that comment. They're the same bullies you had in high school. They're just hiding behind a keyboard now.

 

[jsmiam]

It’s the title. Erotic couplings too. I may inject some humor into this post, but in all seriousness, it’s the title. Yes the contest would have helped too. But it’s still the title.

If you reflect on the demographics of lit, mostly male, that very feminine-centric title (sugarplums) screams “Come shopping with me for scrapbooking supplies then dried flower arrangement foam and wire at Michael’s. And if they don’t have the right sizes, we’re going to Joanne’s then to Hobby Lobby. Then you’re going to help me work on the scrapbook and dried flower arrangements.” (FYI to those not in the USA, they are arts and craft supply snores. I meant stores.)

Compare it to your “stocking stuffed” story title with lots of votes. Now we’re talking! We’ll go shopping for hammer drills and big screen TVs then eat cheeseburgers at a sports bar!

I’m not saying titles have to be as appealing to the simple male as stocking stuffing. Just not as “chase them (us) away” as sugarplums.

Great story, I’m sure.

 

[NotWise]

I did try to submit it to the competition with the idea that it wasn't a Chapter Two, it was a Follow-Up Story, but that got me rejected twice, so I just submitted it to exist on its own merits. Maybe if I try to say that in the submission comments next time it won't be rejected out of hand.

You have the story linked as part of a series. If the rejection was because the site believed it was a chapter, then that might be why. In your note to the editor, you could explain that the story is part of an anthology rather than a chapter, but that might not matter. What I've done before is put off linking the story until after the contest.

 

[taytay4eva]

You have the story linked as part of a series. If the rejection was because the site believed it was a chapter, then that might be why. In your note to the editor, you could explain that the story is part of an anthology rather than a chapter, but that might not matter. What I've done before is put off linking the story until after the contest.

It wasn't linked as part of the series when I submitted it initially, but I'll keep that in mind for the future

 

[NotWise]

It wasn't linked as part of the series when I submitted it initially, but I'll keep that in mind for the future

Was it only the one-line author's note at the beginning of the story that said it followed up on another story?

 

[RocketGrunt]

My own experience with contests was a profound reduction in views. Getting hit by the contest downvotes in the first few minutes (and thus having a rating under 3 for most of the time it was on the front page of new releases) reduced votes by way more than whatever number of people clicked through to the story because it was in the contest listings. Not only will I personally never submit any story to any future contests, I would suggest that other people also do not do so. It is NOT worth it, the exposure is measurably negative, not positive.

That being said, a lot of parts of the site are broken, and that very much hurts stories that would be noticed through them. The "recently popular" section doesn't work, which means that the views dropoff after day 1 is even larger than it used to be. The "Most Talked About Stories This Week" hasn't updated since October 8th, which obviously destroys conversation generation for new authors. Submission to high traffic areas is a real crap shoot, since the new default presentation only shows ten new stories each day - so if a category got 14 there are 4 stories that never get shown on the front page of their category at all. Today's take for SciFi/Fantasy was 13 (so 3 missed the front page), today's take for T/I was 15 (so 5 stories missed the front page), and Today's take for Erotic Couplings was 16 (so SIX stories missed the front page).

A lot of the site is not working, and so a lot of the engagement is going to be sharply reduced. Your particular story doesn't sound like something I would have clicked on, but I also never saw it, so it is what it is.

 

[iwatchus]

My own experience with contests was a profound reduction in views. Getting hit by the contest downvotes in the first few minutes (and thus having a rating under 3 for most of the time it was on the front page of new releases) reduced votes by way more than whatever number of people clicked through to the story because it was in the contest listings. Not only will I personally never submit any story to any future contests, I would suggest that other people also do not do so. It is NOT worth it, the exposure is measurably negative, not positive.

I originally said I would not enter another contest after my first one (even though I won a prize) because of the downvoting. Prior to winning, I saw no uptick in views for that story and I got almost new followers from it originally. Because it is the most recent prize winner in the category (Thank you @TheRedLantern for not winning this time and displacing me), the story has had real legs. So did get a lot out of that contest. But I still was unsure of doing it again.

Six months later, I gave in and entered the Winter Holiday event. I don't know what's different for me this time, but my entry quickly became my most viewed, most favorited, and most commented on story of mine in the category (this time Romance). I got something like 40 new followers off of it. I don't know what was different between my first contest and this one. My first story was subjectively and objectively better than the second one. But the second one got far more attention during the contest and garnered me far more followers.

 

[taytay4eva]

Was it only the one-line author's note at the beginning of the story that said it followed up on another story?

Correct.

 

[NotWise]

Correct.

Well, at least now you know that Laurel looked at your story.

 

[taytay4eva]

Well, at least now you know that Laurel looked at your story.

At least twice