Valuing the "Invisible Fan"

[AwkwardlySet]

With respect to the author-reader zero sum game, you're right on some issues, but not others. Getting rid of anonymous votes is an example. It might make (some) authors happier (not me), but it would take away something that many readers want -- the right to anonymously vote. There's also the amount of limited time. Were time unlimited they would be able to devote plenty of time to both readers and authors and please both. With limited time, which is what I think they have, there's a certain amount of triage necessary, and it makes sense to tend to the readers first.

I was talking in general and not about any particular idea that I or anyone else pushed forward in these discussions.

I don't know this, and I don't believe this. As I wrote above, I don't believe the Site owners are merely ignoring you. I believe, based on years of experience at this place, that they have considered suggestions like yours and rejected them. They have reasons for taking another path. That's not "deaf ears."

This is what religion looks like.

 

[ElectricBlue]

This is what religion looks like.

With @SimonDoom as a minor daemon, not the anti-christ. Or the gargoyle second from the left, on Notre Dame .

 

[ShamBaLa]

Your on to something. In the '80s Ford did a study on complaints vs praise from customers. It's been repeated other times with similar results. Learned about this in a PR grad program.
The happy customer typically tells 4 people. The unhappy customer tells 12 people. ( pre social media, so scale it up)

Point is we might extrapolate that for every 4 or 5 star vote there are at least 4 more who liked the story but didn't vote. Not a double blind study but a clue. IDN. Maybe means nothing.

I have a story sitting at 4.6 with only 5 votes in 3 months. About 6k hits. Somebody likes it but not enough voters. Insert heavy sigh here.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

Your on to something. In the '80s Ford did a study on complaints vs praise from customers. It's been repeated other times with similar results. Learned about this in a PR grad program.
The happy customer typically tells 4 people. The unhappy customer tells 12 people. ( pre social media, so scale it up)

Point is we might extrapolate that for every 4 or 5 star vote there are at least 4 more who liked the story but didn't vote. Not a double blind study but a clue. IDN. Maybe means nothing.

I have a story sitting at 4.6 with only 5 votes in 3 months. About 6k hits. Somebody likes it but not enough voters. Insert heavy sigh here.

That's a curiously low vote to view ratio.

 

[ShamBaLa]

That's a curiously low vote to view ratio.

It's worse. I double checked and is just over 2k hits. 5 votes.
https://www.literotica.com/s/erotic-exotic-central-america-trip

 

[ElectricBlue]

When I published my Arthurian myth tell, I thought, if I get a thousand readers, I'll be happy. As of today, the last several chapters all show about four-thousand views each, which I'm taking as reads, because if you weren't reading the whole thing, why would you bother opening those last chapters?

The story is seven years old, so it's only being read by folk finding my back catalogue. It's not on any top lists, the vote count and score rarely change, and it otherwise gets no attention, but it's my silent readers, doing their silent thing - the 99% who never show their existence.

The excitement we get when a story first rolls out is ephemeral, the tiny fraction of people who vote, and the even tinier fraction who comment. It's the four-thousand I write for, not just the twenty-seven who voted.

 

[Gamblnluck]

Your on to something. In the '80s Ford did a study on complaints vs praise from customers. It's been repeated other times with similar results. Learned about this in a PR grad program.
The happy customer typically tells 4 people. The unhappy customer tells 12 people. ( pre social media, so scale it up)

Point is we might extrapolate that for every 4 or 5 star vote there are at least 4 more who liked the story but didn't vote. Not a double blind study but a clue. IDN. Maybe means nothing.

I have a story sitting at 4.6 with only 5 votes in 3 months. About 6k hits. Somebody likes it but not enough voters. Insert heavy sigh here.

I totally agree. Forty years ago I owned a pet store. Now being a small business owner is tough. You have little reserves beyond paying the overhead and a small amount of takehome. But advertising is a requirement. Graphic computer programs were just beginning to be available. I decided to make my own flyers/coupons. I'd make 3 to a page, cut them with an old style paper cutter and distribute them myself. The easiest way to distribute was to put them under the windshield wiper of the local Walmart and a few other businesses.
the coupons would be with the coupon the customer would get buy a tank assembly and get a certain amount of fish to stock it. Or a free parakeet with my cage setup.
I kept track of my efforts. After every distribution I saw a serious increase in business for a week or so. But the ratio of returning coupons to what I'd distributed was low.
I realized that for every coupon returned, I had a dozens of new customers. Many mentioned the coupons but were not interested in a parakeet. Old customers were reminded to stop by.
I had a great reputation for being the go to guy for aquarium problems. I even got referrals from a few of the other pet stores (knowing they were more interested in selling than trying to help teach). I'd get a lot of returning customers. (Kept the business open)
Point is what you see (comments) is not always a direct percentage of your advertisement. I stole a lot of customers from the other stores that did not take the time to explain and teach. (Although they got the big initial sale)

 

[Gamblnluck]

My first story on Lit. has 74248 views. The rating is 4.7 for 3121 which is a 4% response. I have only 106 comments.
My lowest rated story pissed people off because I wrote a sequel to a popular story. It had even a lower % of scoring but over three times the number of comments. That score was 2.74 with 1795 scoring and almost 52. 8k views.

 

[Britva415]

It's another case of the internet created need for instant gratification destroying our sense of perspective.
For most of human history artists worked to create something beautiful and them released it into the world and never got likes, scores, comments or favorites.
Michelangelo didn't hang out in the Sistine Chapel to see what everyone thought. He moved on and created more art.

Create something beautiful, hope that it brings someone joy and go one with your life.

Your last line is the point, and it's a good one, but the Sistine wasn't just some wall anyone could write on. You're comparing human history's professionals to today's AH writers. They worked to create something beautiful enough for the patron, and got paid money.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

Your last line is the point, and it's a good one, but the Sistine wasn't just some wall anyone could write on. You're comparing human history's professionals to today's AH writers. They worked to create something beautiful enough for the patron, and got paid money.

Artists are artists. Paid, not paid, just create.

 

[SimonDoom]

This is what religion looks like.

I think there is some disagreement as to who has drunk the koolaid.

 

[filthytrancendence]

I think there is some disagreement as to who has drunk the koolaid.

Honestly I'm surprised nobody's started a fake/not-fake religion with Laurel as deity yet.

Or maybe they have and it's a secret society you have to hit 1000 posts in order to be told about.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

Honestly I'm surprised nobody's started a fake/not-fake religion with Laurel as deity yet.

Or maybe they have and it's a secret society you have to hit 1000 posts in order to be told about.

Burn the heretic!!


Errr.... I mean...my what a silly idea...who would ever do such a thing.

 

[HordHolm]

I've spent a while pondering this question, and trying to think about taking the high road. But... sorry, I can't. Not that I'm about to jump up and down and stamp my toddler foot at how ungrateful everyone is.

However, I can't agree that we should simply be beholden to our invisible readers, and more so the site for allowing us, in their gracious wisdom, to spend the midnight hours at our burning lamps crafting stories for the gratification of a silent many (and presumably, wads of cash for the site owners). The truth is that, yes, without readers there would be no site, and we would have no audience. But the flip side is that without authors, there would be no site either (or at least, it would be just another cam site amongst the legions).

I don't believe that translates into any obligations for the readers, but I do believe that should translate into some appreciation from the site, beyond simply providing a place for us to publish. Perhaps a place where we could give feedback and believe that the feedback has actually been read, if not acted upon. Basically, some author engagement. Now, I'm not naive enough to believe that will ever happen - and why would it? If you own this site it pretty much functions perfectly.

But moving on, because the above debate has been whirling around since God was a lad without any conclusion, we come back to the invisible readers and the point of the thread. I guess, for me at least, I feel forced to worry about the visible readers (the voters) because their votes play a disproportionate role in determining how many views anything I publish here will receive (the tyranny of the Red H). If that hideous Red H was scrapped, I might care more about the silent readers. And, of course, the other problem with the silent reader is that I have no way of appreciating them (e.g. by giving them more of what they want) precisely because they are silent.

 

[iwatchus]

Or maybe they have and it's a secret society you have to hit 1000 posts in order to be told about.

One more post and I can tell you what the real number is