Underperforming Holiday Story

[TruthwithaTwist]

Ok….maybe I’m being nuts & overthinking this. So, I’m turning to other authors for opinion and guidance! Sine I started writing, I’ve been VERY fortunate with ratings, follows, etc. i tend to write only for contests but just started my first Chapter tale. But….

This year, my Holiday entry just isn’t getting any traction. It’s not even the lower rating - views are lower than most other stories I’ve browsed and read in the contest. I was in the first batch that got posted & can’t figure out why this one is dragging out of the gate. Title? Category?

Would love thoughts or opinions … or simply other authors to tell me, “It happens, don’t worry about it and go have a drink!”

Thanks!

 

[Voboy]

It happens.

Don‘t worry about it. Have a drink.

 

[NotWise]

Ok….maybe I’m being nuts & overthinking this. So, I’m turning to other authors for opinion and guidance! Sine I started writing, I’ve been VERY fortunate with ratings, follows, etc. i tend to write only for contests but just started my first Chapter tale. But….

This year, my Holiday entry just isn’t getting any traction. It’s not even the lower rating - views are lower than most other stories I’ve browsed and read in the contest. I was in the first batch that got posted & can’t figure out why this one is dragging out of the gate. Title? Category?

Would love thoughts or opinions … or simply other authors to tell me, “It happens, don’t worry about it and go have a drink!”

Thanks!

The contest page wasn't linked to the main category page until a couple days ago. That probably contributed. Romance is a great category for contest stories, but it's a fairly small category. Without much help from the contest page it may not produce a lot of views.

Just looking at the title and short description (and for your other story in Romance) it's possible that you posted it to the wrong category. Mature might have been a better choice. The Romance readers reward Romance stories (think Harlequin). Other stories are sometimes not so well accepted, and your two stories there sound like they're stories from existing relationships--maybe sentimental, I can't tell without reading them--but not Romances.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Ok….maybe I’m being nuts & overthinking this. So, I’m turning to other authors for opinion and guidance! Sine I started writing, I’ve been VERY fortunate with ratings, follows, etc. i tend to write only for contests but just started my first Chapter tale. But….

This year, my Holiday entry just isn’t getting any traction. It’s not even the lower rating - views are lower than most other stories I’ve browsed and read in the contest. I was in the first batch that got posted & can’t figure out why this one is dragging out of the gate. Title? Category?

Would love thoughts or opinions … or simply other authors to tell me, “It happens, don’t worry about it and go have a drink!”

Thanks!

Given that initial Views need the catch of the title to get that first click in, I'd say that's an issue - I had to read the title twice to understand what it meant. I wouldn't click in from a list, not with that title.

Once in the story, I think your longish Author's Note would then make many back out, straight away. I don't think long author notes ever help any story. For me, they're the same as a couple of paragraphs of info-dump back story, I'm out.

 

[SimonDoom]

What Voboy said, mostly. It DOES happen. Sometimes, for whatever reason, a story doesn't connect the way you want it to. If I had to guess (keep in mind, it's a guess, so you know what it's worth), I'd say you might have mismatched it with the category. I scanned it very fast. It's only 2 pages, and I think Romance readers tend to like more of the sweet, slow-building romance stuff, which this story does not provide. Its readers like less explicit stories than in other categories.
None of this, mind you, means it's a bad story. Sometimes great stories just slip through the cracks of the limits of Lit's categorization system.

 

[SamScribble]

The moment that I saw the first three italicised paragraphs I knew that I had better things to do with my time. Nevertheless, I read the first story paragraph. And I still had better things to do with my time.

Try cutting out everything that is not absolutely necessary. Get the reader asking: What happened next? And then keep the reader asking What happened next? I think you'll get a much better reception.

Good luck.

 

[Seadog777]

Ok….maybe I’m being nuts & overthinking this. So, I’m turning to other authors for opinion and guidance! Sine I started writing, I’ve been VERY fortunate with ratings, follows, etc. i tend to write only for contests but just started my first Chapter tale. But….

This year, my Holiday entry just isn’t getting any traction. It’s not even the lower rating - views are lower than most other stories I’ve browsed and read in the contest. I was in the first batch that got posted & can’t figure out why this one is dragging out of the gate. Title? Category?

Would love thoughts or opinions … or simply other authors to tell me, “It happens, don’t worry about it and go have a drink!”

Thanks!

I have not ready ANY of the Holiday Entries yet. I wait until all submissions are in before I binge read them all.

With it being Thanksgiving and the Holiday Season, the numbers will be all over the place.

 

[lovecraft68]

I wouldn't normally say this, but seeing you're asking for reasons...

The title is really weak, and I think a lot of people are passing on it because its not catchy or interesting.

In your author note you go into too many details of what the story contains, it reads like a menu and that can be off putting., especially seeing none of those elements need a warning-like non con or taboo-would.

Its also only 2 pages. In my admittedly limited knowledge of the category I think romance readers like stories a bit longer. Its also a tale of you and your wife who are already together, and although its a nice story in the sense of a couple keeping that flame going, its not a story of two people meeting, falling in love...another staple of the category.

Lastly, when you mention in the note you're an older couple....that immediately made me think this would have performed better in mature.

 

[SimonDoom]

I agree with everything Lovecraft said. I skimmed the story. There's nothing wrong with the story itself. The title is weak and not erotic. Probably should have been published in Mature. Stories this short tend not to do as well, even if they are perfectly well-written stories. I don't read many Romance stories, but my impression is readers of Romance want more buildup and development and prefer longer stories. And, who knows? Maybe you just randomly attracted a few readers like Overcritical who marked it down. Not much you can do about that.

 

[gunhilltrain]

The score is now at 4.35, which is quite good. They can't all be red H's, which you seem to have a knack for writing. In fact, you have nothing now that is not at least a "4."

You haven't lived on Literotica until you've gotten your first 2.76.

 

[lovecraft68]

The score is now at 4.35, which is quite good. They can't all be red H's, which you seem to have a knack for writing. In fact, you have nothing now that is not at least a "4."

You haven't lived on Literotica until you've gotten your first 2.76.

I have two stories under three. One guess to what category they're in.

 

[Voboy]

https://www.literotica.com/s/katies-massage

So explain something to me. How is it that a story depicting a husband who brings a male prostitute to his wife, sits in a nearby hotel room, and watches them on hidden cameras, got a score of 4.65 and 4.4 million views?
How come the Talibans from LW liked it so much?
Maybe because it's an insanely effective hot story, that no person with blood in their body can remain indifferent to?
LW's audience is problematic in many ways but is much more intelligent than you think.

You do realize that you don't have to make every thread about LW, right?

 

[SimonDoom]

https://www.literotica.com/s/katies-massage

So explain something to me. How is it that a story depicting a husband who brings a male prostitute to his wife, sits in a nearby hotel room, and watches them on hidden cameras, got a score of 4.65 and 4.4 million views?
How come the Talibans from LW liked it so much?
Maybe because it's an insanely effective hot story, that no person with blood in their body can remain indifferent to?
LW's audience is problematic in many ways but is much more intelligent than you think.

That story was published in 2002. 20 years ago. The LW environment was very different then from what it is now. Readership was far more receptive to hotwife stories and scores for these kinds of stories tended to be higher. I know because I've been reading here for 20 years.

I would agree that the LW readership is diverse. Many LW readers like these kinds of stories, to this day. The problem is the significant group of readers who reflexively disapprove of and downvote these kinds of stories. This is a phenomenon that has grown over the years.

 

[Voboy]

He was talking about LW, and I was following his train of thought. I think LW has the most traffic out of all the categories. In my opinion, if you're not there, you don't really exist. It's all too easy to warm up to a sleepy, flattering audience.

Well, but your post has nothing whatsoever to do with this thread. OP expressed a concern and got thoughtful responses. Then someone implies something about LW, which acts like a Batsignal to you: you at once come bombing in here with a rec, statistical analysis, and your usual crusading statements, which have nothing to do with what the rest of the posters are talking about. You do that a lot, I've noticed, during your very limited time in AH.

Can you see how it seems a bit odd? And, well, useless to the OP?

 

[lovecraft68]

That story was published in 2002. 20 years ago. The LW environment was very different then from what it is now. Readership was far more receptive to hotwife stories and scores for these kinds of stories tended to be higher. I know because I've been reading here for 20 years.

I would agree that the LW readership is diverse. Many LW readers like these kinds of stories, to this day. The problem is the significant group of readers who reflexively disapprove of and downvote these kinds of stories. This is a phenomenon that has grown over the years.

I find myself wondering, not just in LW, but other categories, that if a story that was successful several years ago-or in this case many years ago-would it be better or worse received today? I think the latter as it seems trolling in general seems more prevalent than it did going back to even when I started, let alone people like Ogg who have been here forever.

 

[SimonDoom]

I find myself wondering, not just in LW, but other categories, that if a story that was successful several years ago-or in this case many years ago-would it be better or worse received today? I think the latter as it seems trolling in general seems more prevalent than it did going back to even when I started, let alone people like Ogg who have been here forever.

I think so, although I haven't been writing as long as you or Ogg. I've been reading LW type stories for 20 years. My memory is that they did better and didn't get trolled as much back then. The LW incel/hostile/troll phenomenon is one that has been picking up over the years, which, if you think about it, is weird and disturbing. For whatever reason Lit over the years has become a haven for BTB stories, and the crowd they attract hates all the other types of LW stories.

 

[lovecraft68]

The LW incel/hostile/troll phenomenon is one that has been picking up over the years, which, if you think about it, is weird and disturbing.

Because lit is no different than anywhere else. The incels are all over youtube both in their videos and everyone's comments as well as everywhere else in social media. Anywhere someone can post anonymously and not risk getting what they deserve, that's where they are.

I think it was Gordo that started a thread sometime back about the growing incel movement, even claimed he owed me an apology(which he didn't) because he had no idea how large it was becoming.

Contrary to what many 'men' will tell you, its as hard today to be a woman as it's ever been if not worse thanks to the net and anti-social media.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Because lit is no different than anywhere else. The incels are all over youtube both in their videos and everyone's comments as well as everywhere else in social media. Anywhere someone can post anonymously and not risk getting what they deserve, that's where they are.

I think it was Gordo that started a thread sometime back about the growing incel movement, even claimed he owed me an apology(which he didn't) because he had no idea how large it was becoming.

Contrary to what many 'men' will tell you, its as hard today to be a woman as it's ever been if not worse thanks to the net and anti-social media.

I'm 67, so I've been out of the "loop" for a long time, but I'll give some very impressionistic comments. It seems that gender relations have become increasingly dysfunctional is the last fifteen to twenty years. The upshot is that it's not gone well for either men or women. The use of social media is one of the reasons. Apparently, dating apps have become the number one method that people use to meet each other romantically or sexually. Earlier generations would have found that quite bizarre - well, it is bizarre.

What seems to be happening is that men are increasingly left out of the dating "market" when they are younger while women are left out when they are older. I hope I haven't oversimplified this. The mere fact that an economic term - "market" - is being used to describe interpersonal matters is in itself strange. Yes, people have always been aware of the attractiveness of potential partners, but now the participants have been reduced to human commodities. The obsession with assigning numbers to people (usually on a one to ten scale, although sometimes it goes to decimals - like Literotica voting!) to gauge their appeal is one sign that this is happening.

 

[TruthwithaTwist]

I wouldn't normally say this, but seeing you're asking for reasons...

The title is really weak, and I think a lot of people are passing on it because its not catchy or interesting.

In your author note you go into too many details of what the story contains, it reads like a menu and that can be off putting., especially seeing none of those elements need a warning-like non con or taboo-would.

Its also only 2 pages. In my admittedly limited knowledge of the category I think romance readers like stories a bit longer. Its also a tale of you and your wife who are already together, and although its a nice story in the sense of a couple keeping that flame going, its not a story of two people meeting, falling in love...another staple of the category.

Lastly, when you mention in the note you're an older couple....that immediately made me think this would have performed better in mature.

Thanks for the feedback - I think you nailed it. The title of this one...kinda sucked. In hindsight, I should have thought it out a bit more, played off the "stockings" or "holiday treat" sort of thing. And I usually publish in Erotic Couplings - which probably would have been a better fit (or even Mature as you noted.)

Regardless, I can't complain that I'm still over 4 stars with a title, summary and category I pretty much botched! Thanks again for your thoughts!

 

[TruthwithaTwist]

Given that initial Views need the catch of the title to get that first click in, I'd say that's an issue - I had to read the title twice to understand what it meant. I wouldn't click in from a list, not with that title.

Once in the story, I think your longish Author's Note would then make many back out, straight away. I don't think long author notes ever help any story. For me, they're the same as a couple of paragraphs of info-dump back story, I'm out.

Yeah - you and a few others have suggested that the Title sucked....and I don't disagree! Plus the wrong category. Oh well, I guess I can console myself with cookies and egg nog!

 

[maryanek]

The contest page wasn't linked to the main category page until a couple days ago. That probably contributed.

For sure, that highly contributed to the shower of 1-stars over couple of top rated stories

 

[SamScribble]

Yeah - you and a few others have suggested that the Title sucked....and I don't disagree! Plus the wrong category. Oh well, I guess I can console myself with cookies and egg nog!

Ah-ha! So the whole thing was just an excuse to get into the eggnog before the festive season really gets underway