Tools and tricks for connecting with readers

[Kieran_Lancaster]

Connecting with readers

Hello All! I'm new to the forums, this is my first post here as a matter of fact.

I've been writing here on Lit since last April and as far as I can tell I'm getting a good response, but I have no idea how to effectively tell who is reading my stories or how to interact with them.

I'm writing chapters in a single story with the intent of turning it into a book. I've got other stories to be sure, stand alone short stories that I may running out in the next few months, but right now I'm concentrating on Guns and Dust.

I get comments here and there, but as I haven't found a way to be able to effectively respond to them, they just hang out there and don't do much. When it comes to trying to get an idea of who is reading my stories, I can go into who is following me, but other than that, there just doesn't seem to be a way to gain any information about my readers unless I've missed something somewhere. Or, on the other side of the coin how to potentially reach out to new readers.

The bottom line is that I pretty much just write what I write. But I would really like to know more about my readers. For example, my current stories take place in post apocalyptic setting. I'd like to know if I'm hitting with women at all or if my audience is just men? Are they younger or older? I'd like to know what readers think of some of the themes, the setting, the characters.

From what I've been seen here on the forums, it sounds like what I'm experiencing is common. I just wanted to see if anyone has guidance about how to get as much as possible out of the information that is available, even if it's limited.

Thanks!

 

[SamScribble]

As far as I am aware, there is no reliable way to learn anything useful about your ‘readers’. You can’t even be sure that they read what you wrote.

My advice (for what it’s worth) is to just keep writing what you want to write, and try not to take too much notice of the trolls.

Good luck.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

I must agree with Sam. This above all: to thine own self be true.

 

[ChloeTzang]

I always include something along the lines of feel free to comment or send me feedback with every story. My profile says much the same thing. I respond to readers who provide offline feedback pretty much immediately and I get some really good responses and discussions. I’m truly surprised at the worldwide spread of readers. It surprised me, especially that I had Chinese female readers from a few different countries. That was unexpected. Also, apparently, a few biker clubs following Chinese Takeout.

 

[Vix_Giovanni]

Hi, Kieran. I’m working on a story with a character with the same name, so—I already like you

Ditto to Sam and TP. There’s very little information to glean about readers besides anecdotes and unscalable observations. The most useful tenant/advice I’ve received on the site, as TP pointed out, is “To thine own self (and writing) be true”.

Best of luck to you!

 

[gordo12]

There isn't much that you can learn from what Lit allows. The views don't mean to much although at least if somebody voted that number has some meaning.

If you want to find out if you have female readers just botch up the romantic part of your story and believe me, they'll let you know. (rubs the sore spots) Still that's only small representation of the women that may be here.

I have to admit these days I look at Lit as a free story READING site and no longer as an AUTHOR site.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I get comments here and there, but as I haven't found a way to be able to effectively respond to them, they just hang out there and don't do much. When it comes to trying to get an idea of who is reading my stories, I can go into who is following me, but other than that, there just doesn't seem to be a way to gain any information about my readers unless I've missed something somewhere.

Well, you could ask them? I occasionally include a footer along the lines of "I love to hear from readers, you're welcome to use my feedback portal to get in touch". I also encourage them to give me an email address if they want to be updated when I post a new story.

From that, I get rather more info about my readers than I get from comments on the story.

BTW - the "My Lit Writings" link in your sig doesn't work. It takes any logged-in reader to their own Lit writings, not to yours. The URL you want to put there is https://www.literotica.com/stories/memberpage.php?uid=5039148&page=submissions

 

[ElectricBlue]

I've been writing here on Lit since last April and as far as I can tell I'm getting a good response, but I have no idea how to effectively tell who is reading my stories or how to interact with them.

The reader who provides sensible and literate feedback is a rare and elusive beast, rarely coming out of their room. Interaction is highly valued when it happens, but it's only an occasional thing.

 

[SimonDoom]

Feedback, alas, is a precious commodity at Literotica, in short supply. If you want it, do whatever you can to get it.

Seek feedback on your stories in the Feedback forum.

Make sure you accurately link to your story page, so people can get to your stories easily (Bramblethorn beat me to the punch on this point, which raises a good side rule to observe -- pay attention to Bramblethorn, who has scary powers of observation).

Put a statement at the beginning or end of your story specifically asking for feedback.

Respond promptly and open-mindedly to any feedback you get.

Get involved in the Author's Hangout, read others' stories, and learn from how other people do things.

If there are specific authors or editors whose opinions you value, based on what you've read of them, reach out to them. Specific inquiries are more likely to yield useful responses than general ones.

 

[gordo12]

BTW - the "My Lit Writings" link in your sig doesn't work. It takes any logged-in reader to their own Lit writings, not to yours. The URL you want to put there is https://www.literotica.com/stories/memberpage.php?uid=5039148&page=submissions

I reported that as a tech problem this morning. But I see it was related to his link. I'll have to go let them know it was a false alarm. There's been so many hiccups since that update last week

 

[Kieran_Lancaster]

How are you responding to them offline? This is part of stuff I'm not figuring out. I'm pretty sure there are some simple things I'm missing. =)

 

[Kieran_Lancaster]

Grr... getting used to this interface.

Thanks so much Bramblethorn for the catch on my link. If anyone would be so kind as to confirm it works correctlynow, I would greatly appreciate it.

And again. I can't find how to respond to feedback. What am I missing?

Thanks again!

 

[Bramblethorn]

How are you responding to them offline? This is part of stuff I'm not figuring out. I'm pretty sure there are some simple things I'm missing. =)

When people contact you via your feedback portal, they have an option to give an email address.

And yes, your stories link is working now. There's a general one that anybody can use to see your stories, and a "show me my stories" link which shows each person their own - for you they both go to the same place, but not for us.

 

[Kieran_Lancaster]

When people contact you via your feedback portal, they have an option to give an email address.

And yes, your stories link is working now. There's a general one that anybody can use to see your stories, and a "show me my stories" link which shows each person their own - for you they both go to the same place, but not for us.

Gotcha. Thanks again!

 

[JuanSeiszFitzHall]

To Kieran_Lancaster:

We’ve been living in the future for a long time, so it puzzles us when we can’t derive useful data from something. You’d like to know who’s reading your works, how many of them are women, and so forth? You and everybody else. May I direct everyone’s attention to the elephant in the room? This is an erotic fiction site, and ever so many readers are identified only as ‘Anonymous.’ Society may have progressed a bit from the days when huddled, trenchcoated people entered porno movie houses and dreaded being identified, but the fact remains that loads of people who read here don’t want anyone else ever to know that they do. As others have already advised, write and submit works that mean something to you, and maybe readers will enjoy them (and never admit it).

 

[gordo12]

Gotcha. Thanks again!

If you're talking about responding to the comments there is a comment management system within the author panel that allows you to read them and delete them if you wish. Otherwise if you want to respond to them just go to the story and submit a comment like everyone else.

Use something to identify your response like Anon Feb 10 or the title they used on the comment. Maybe they said "this story sucks" you would comment

@ this story sucks: blah blah blah.

The system highlights your user name as the original author of the story.

 

[ElectricBlue]

When people contact you via your feedback portal, they have an option to give an email address.

It's odd, though, the number of people who use the feedback route but still remain anonymous.

Perhaps their comments are very personal to them and they prefer to keep it private, but to me it's no different to a public comment.

Readers are very shy, I think, when it comes down to saying, "You touched me," which is generally the nature of private feedback - my story reached them emotionally, sexually, and they wanted me to know. I like that, but if it's anon it's still anon. But knowing I made a difference for a little while, that's an affirmation.

 

[KeithD]

This is a porn site. There's no mystery why people want to remain anonymous on it. The site also requires nothing from the readers in response to the stories. Something for authors to live with if they want to post stories here. People selling in the marketplace undoubtedly receive fewer comments than those posting to story sites like this one. I respond to comments, as appropriate, in the same channel they are given--comments directly on the story, in site PMs, or e-mails.

 

[ChloeTzang]

This is a porn site. There's no mystery why people want to remain anonymous on it. The site also requires nothing from the readers in response to the stories. Something for authors to live with if they want to post stories here. People selling in the marketplace undoubtedly received fewer comments than those posting to story sites like this one. I respond to comments, as appropriate, in the same channel they are given--comments directly on the story, in site PMs, or e-mails.

That’s pretty much what I do. The only other thing I do is a Facebook page in my author name a I let anyone who contacts me know it’s there. I don’t share friends names on fb and I keep it low key. Mostly it’s artwork and links to my new stories and updates on what I’m working on. Almost at 300 which isn’t much, and it takes time. As was said, a lot of readers prefer to remain anonymous for obvious reasons.

 

[Vix_Giovanni]

That’s pretty much what I do. The only other thing I do is a Facebook page in my author name a I let anyone who contacts me know it’s there. I don’t share friends names on fb and I keep it low key. Mostly it’s artwork and links to my new stories and updates on what I’m working on. Almost at 300 which isn’t much, and it takes time. As was said, a lot of readers prefer to remain anonymous for obvious reasons.

That’s very interesting to know about your FB Page. I’d wondered how effective that is considering that readers (generally speaking and reasonably so) would probably prefer to be anonymous, and Facebook friending—even with dummy accounts, and for all but the most technologically sophisticated users—just is not.

 

[ChloeTzang]

That’s very interesting to know about your FB Page. I’d wondered how effective that is considering that readers (generally speaking and reasonably so) would probably prefer to be anonymous, and Facebook friending—even with dummy accounts, and for all but the most technologically sophisticated users—just is not.

I set friends on fb so that they can’t see each other unless already friends and I keep the friends list private. I don’t post on anyone else’s page and I don’t let anything explicit at all so it’s very low key, but those that friend or follow appreciate the updates.

 

[NotWise]

I set friends on fb so that they can’t see each other unless already friends and I keep the friends list private. I don’t post on anyone else’s page and I don’t let anything explicit at all so it’s very low key, but those that friend or follow appreciate the updates.

I'm not FB friendly or knowledgeable, but I noticed that Lit's FB page lets authors post announcements of their new stories. I think there's also some user feedback.

But don't quote me on any of that. It's all a dark mystery to me.

 

[LexxRuthless]

I have cultivated some friendships and regular correspondence via e-mail through the site. Whenever someone reaches out to me through the feedback portal and they leave an e-mail address, I immediately send them a response. Occasionally that leads to a lengthy exchange of ideas. I have also reached out to some of the members who have left comments on my stories--particularly those who take the time to leave a detailed critique or criticism--thanking them for their time and interest.

Over the 21 months I have been writing and posting stories on Literotica, I have exchanged about 3,000 e-mails. That has led to a few collaborations with other authors, and I was given the seeds of another handful of stories in the form of reader requests. It has been a lot of fun.

By the way, two of the folks with whom I now share the most correspondence originally left scathing criticism on some of my early stories. When I e-mailed them, thanking them for their time and their interest, and asked "How do you think I could fix this story?" it completely changed the tone of our conversations going forward. It would have been easy for me to take that criticism personally and just delete their comments. Instead, I have gained some really clever online friends.

 

[HeyAll]

Twitter and leaving your (erotica) email in your profile helps a little.

But in the end, if a reader wants to contact you, they will. Let's not forget that this is porn. People don't want their email accounts out there. It's the same reason many people read here often but won't create account. They want privacy.

I just focus on writing stories that I think people will enjoy. If the numbers are still strong, then I know I'm on the write track.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

When people contact you via your feedback portal, they have an option to give an email address.

The other way they can provide feedback is with a PM. The one goes to your email address, the other stays on this site.