Thousands of views...35 votes?

[Lissa Fae]

I've been a member of Lit for a few months now, and I have 10 submissions all together. My stories seem to have fair ratings...but out of thousands of views they only have 35-45 votes and limited feedback. Am I the only one encountering this?

I write under the name "Mary Riley". I would appreciate any feedback or constructive critisism. If there is room for improvement...I want to know how so...not just "You suck" with no explanation. Aside from storyline rp...I'm farely new at this.

Also, I'm tired of the whole "You are a newbie...hey let's sic such and such on 'er" thing. I used to fantasy roleplay online with groups of TEENAGERS that did that type of stuff. In my opinion it's just like being fresh out of college and seeing ads in the paper for jobs that want "experience only". You will never get the experience if you are never given a chance.

 

[openthighs_sarah]

I haven't checked out your stories yet so I'm not sure what might be holding back the votes, but here are a few things I've found:

1) First-person stories, maybe for obvious reasons, generate tons of feedback (unless the reader hates your guts, and even then you'll probably get feedback). The reader thinks (maybe correctly, maybe not) that he or she *knows* you because of the story, and is more likely to want to send a note than if the story seems more "detached", as it might (possibly) in a third-person story. And when you get feedback, you'll most likely get votes, too.

2) 35 votes may not be bad, even with "thousands" of views. I have one story with over 200 votes, but it also has over 40,000 views. So that's one vote for every 200 views. Most of the other stories I've posted have a similar ratio, I think. The key, then (if you really want votes), is getting all those views in the first place, and that's the result of lots of things -- when your story is posted, what category it's in, the title, the description, and (importantly) whether or not the first few readers like it and vote it high, giving it a little red "H". That'll make the view count jump tremendously.

3) People will rarely vote if they don't finish the story. If you write things that are meant solely to get people off (which isn't a bad thing -- obviously that's what a lot of readers are looking for), they may not even reach the end. And other things may cause a reader to not want to finish (in both senses of the word) -- grammar and spelling problems, etc. I'm not saying those are the problem here (since I haven't read your stuff), only that it's a consideration.

4) If you want more feedback, it doesn't hurt to actually *ask* for it explicitly. Just put a little note at the end of the story: "I welcome feedback, both good and bad, and I want to keep improving. Please let me know how I've done!" Lots of readers are probably hesitant to write to an author, especially with erotica, even when it's "anonymous". (And lots of people might not trust that it's "truly" anonymous, but you can't do anything about that.)

I hope this helps. I don't pay too much attention to the votes anymore (except when a story is first posted!), but I do love the feedback -- we all do. Don't be discouraged...

 

[karmadog]

Your votes per view ratio sounds about right. I'd say my stories have gotten one vote for each 150-200 views, and only about one in eight to ten votes results in feedback.

As far as 'siccing' someone on a newbie, I have no idea what you're talking about. That's the first time I've heard of something like that.

 

[jfinn]

I've been a member of Lit for a few months now, and I have 10 submissions all together. My stories seem to have fair ratings...but out of thousands of views they only have 35-45 votes and limited feedback. Am I the only one encountering this?

Nope. Sounds to me like you're getting a pretty standard response. I have twenty posts here and most of them have less than a hundred votes though thousands of hits. Lit's readers don't seem to like to punch those little buttons for some reason. In fact I have a couple of stories where I've gotten more feedback than votes. Go figure that one, I can't.

You could ask for votes when you submit. I've heard a lot of people say they do that. I haven't tried it myself, but I here it does give you results.

As far as asking for criticism, could you provide a link to the stories you want read? That's usually how it's handled here and if you do that, I'm sure you'll get feedback.

Jayne

 

[Dangela Carr]

thousands of views-----35 votes

I came in here with the same question as Lissa Rae. After reading the reply post from Openthighs and karmaDog I think I understand how the system works.
Can someone tell me why the ratings flucuate so much? One minute it's 4.47 when I check again it's 4.35
I'd appreciate feedback from you guys please. I'm new at this and trying to get better with each story. I know I have problems with describing people and rooms. So please give me feedback. Thanks. D'Angela Carr
nonconsent----A Midnight Swim
Humor & Satire---PUSSY, INC.
Lesbian Sex---Drew's Awakening


Samfigirl1210@Hotmail.com

 

[Lissa Fae]

Link

http://www.literotica.com:81/storie...0&author=Mary+Riley&Submit=Search+The+Stories


That is the link to my member page. I would welcome any feedback, votes, or constructive critisism on my stories. The final chapter in the "Striga" series will be posting within the next week.

 

[Lissa Fae]

Thank you

Just since I posted the link to my member page yesterday, I have recieved a few emails with feedback and I have recieved a few more votes on two of my stories, one of which is #1 in the Sci-Fi catagory for now.

Though on a bad note I will say that since the story shot up to 4.91, I recently checked it again and it went down to a 4.85 with one more vote. It was almost as if someone gave me a "1" just to knock it down and be an asshole. *shrugs* Oh well...suppose you can't win all the time.

 

[pointless]

they do it all the time. after i posted my first story, it was running at 4.7 after about 10-15 votes. i was ecstatic. i went to check a little later and it and the six or so poems i had had all recieved one 1 vote each. some people are just jerks.

of course, i'm not saying i'm perfect. my second story only has a 4.14 and it deserves it. it was a bit of a rush job and it wasn't my proudest moment. But a 4.14 isn't that bad. it could be much worse.

happily my other two stories are a bit better off in ratings, but anyway...congrats.

 

[Mary Riley]

Thank you, dear. *smiles*