Vote/View Ratio

[JessikaN135]

Hi everybody!

I'm just curious what the typical "number of votes" to "number of views" ratio of your stories is.
Mine is always below 1% and I'm wondering if that's because most people dislike my stories so much that they neither read them to the end nor vote at all or if it's completely normal to be that low.
I mean: Those who vote seem to like them...
Perhaps the reason is that they are somewhat exclusive to a very special audience (world of warcraft with some unusual fetishes) and that's why most people close them right of the bat?

What are your usual numbers and in which category do you write?

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Hi everybody!

I'm just curious what the typical "number of votes" to "number of views" ratio of your stories is.
Mine is always below 1% and I'm wondering if that's because most people dislike my stories so much that they neither read them to the end nor vote at all or if it's completely normal to be that low.
I mean: Those who vote seem to like them...
Perhaps the reason is that they are somewhat exclusive to a very special audience (world of warcraft with some unusual fetishes) and that's why most people close them right of the bat?

What are your usual numbers and in which category do you write?

99% of LIT readers stalk the strokes, the rest are your friends and family. Any others are writer-enemies.

 

[PennLady]

There's no typical ratio of anything on Lit, I don't think. There are simply too many readers, writers and types of stories for anything to settle out like that.

That said, I think it is safe to say that your <1% ratio is probably pretty normal. I think it's safe to say that a tiny percentage of those who read stories vote and and even smaller percentage leave comments. You may have a slightly smaller percentage since, as you said, you write in a fairly specific niche, but I don't think anyone out there has a much higher ratio.

 

[Ironiclaconic]

For mine it's usually 30-50 views/vote early, and that then decays after the first week or two, when bot hits start to become a sizeable share of views. Yes, there are some stories that do worse than that, which I have interpreted as a sign that people stopped reading. Not coincidentally, my story with the worst ratio has the largest amount of post-sex story. Most of my stories build to a big sex scene and then wrap up in a few paragraphs. That one went on for a full page and it looks like a lot of readers used their free hand to click out.

 

[JessikaN135]

Not coincidentally, my story with the worst ratio has the largest amount of post-sex story.

This is really funny because I consider the later chapters of my story, with more lore and development of the characters, the better ones.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

I saw a change lately. My sex scenes are improving and the later episodes get more clicks than earlier episodes, so I assume the reader is coming back for another wank.

If you think about it, that's what happens when we stumble over a good stroke story, we return to it.

 

[RoyceConnors]

Votes and views depend a lot on which category you write in. Some readers don't vote or comment, while in others, many do.
I have chapters with 5000+ views, but only 17 votes. Sometimes I'm lucky if I get 10 or more to vote and comments are near non-existent. I write in Celebrities, so the likelihood of votes and comments is slim to none.

 

[HeyAll]

For me, average is if I get 10,000 views, I'll have 100 votes.

Sometimes the ratio is higher, sometimes it's lower.

I've noticed that some authors had a note at the end of their story telling people to vote, and they were getting higher vote ratios. I started doing the same thing and it worked.

 

[Bramblethorn]

The first chapter of my story has about 100 views for each vote. The last has about 40 views per vote - but I suspect long stories filter the readership down to people who care about the story and are more likely to vote.

So the figures you give seem pretty much normal.

 

[Tx Tall Tales]

For me, average is if I get 10,000 views, I'll have 100 votes.

Sometimes the ratio is higher, sometimes it's lower.

I've noticed that some authors had a note at the end of their story telling people to vote, and they were getting higher vote ratios. I started doing the same thing and it worked.

Fact. Ask nicely, don't threaten to hold back chapters, don't whine. Thank the reader for their time, and ask for votes and comments. I got about a 20-40% increase when I started doing that several years ago.

TTT

 

[RoyceConnors]

Fact. Ask nicely, don't threaten to hold back chapters, don't whine. Thank the reader for their time, and ask for votes and comments. I got about a 20-40% increase when I started doing that several years ago.

TTT

I found the same results. The chapters I asked for votes and comments, I got them. The subsequent chapters went right back to normal. So, if asking for votes/comments is what is desired, politely ask for them and be prepared for the negativity that might follow.

 

[RejectReality]

Less than 1% is normal across the board. As with anything else, it varies by category, and it's typically going to descend as time goes on ( when difficult to detect and exclude spiders & bots outnumber readers viewing old stories )

Once again, my quarterly track comes in handy *laugh* It not only shows % of votes per view on each story, but averages across all my work.

http://www.darkniciad.com/hotlink_pics/All_3_Names_05_05_13.htm

 

[Tx Tall Tales]

Less than 1% is normal across the board. As with anything else, it varies by category, and it's typically going to descend as time goes on ( when difficult to detect and exclude spiders & bots outnumber readers viewing old stories )

Once again, my quarterly track comes in handy *laugh* It not only shows % of votes per view on each story, but averages across all my work.

http://www.darkniciad.com/hotlink_pics/All_3_Names_05_05_13.htm

Wish I had your patience, Dark. I do a thorough analysis every couple of years. When I saw this question, first thing I thought of was your spreadsheets, and the competition analysis you used to do.

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Less than 1% is normal across the board. As with anything else, it varies by category, and it's typically going to descend as time goes on ( when difficult to detect and exclude spiders & bots outnumber readers viewing old stories )

Once again, my quarterly track comes in handy *laugh* It not only shows % of votes per view on each story, but averages across all my work.

http://www.darkniciad.com/hotlink_pics/All_3_Names_05_05_13.htm

Makes plenty of sense. I attended a seminar pertaining to client satisfaction. The presenter said that 4% of pissed off customers bother to complain, and fewer happy customers bother to praise. So our scores reflect the extremes.

 

[ScouriesWorld]

The #1 story of the world's greatest boss has the following numbers. In the first year of it's release here on LITEROTICA it was getting votes from approximately 2.5% of the view number (one in forty). Which means that about 18% of readers who opened the story eventually voted for it (FYI views are inflated on the site by between 6-8 times).

Over the years the percentage has dropped (almost in half) due to the large number of repeat readers who gravitate again and again back to this wonderful tale :

"Daddy?" I Whispered
4.53
42,596 votes
3,350,494
Incest/Taboo (English) 02/19/06 approved
Public Comments: 1015
​

 

[JustaSCOUNDREL]

From what little i know here is the problem with vote/view. No one that I know of knows for sure how views are determined. well, except for Manu and Laurel and they ain't saying. Is a view one story looked at or is one view one click per page of a multi page story?

The other part of that is if you post a 5 Lit. pg story and someone reads two pages and clicks away how many views is that? Is it one or two?

I have seen two or three discussions in the AH and to the best of my recollection there is no solid knowledge,there are however, a multitude of opinions, one view per story and one view per page.

My own guess is one view per page clicked, for what ever you think it is worth. (LOL) Not that I have a single thing to prove it.

Mike

 

[RejectReality]

For the purposes of this discussion, does it really matter?

Regardless of what a view is, there's still a percentage of votes per each of them. We're not comparing across sites that might have different versions of "views", but only within Lit.

 

[damppanties]

For the purposes of this discussion, does it really matter?

Regardless of what a view is, there's still a percentage of votes per each of them. We're not comparing across sites that might have different versions of "views", but only within Lit.

Well, it does, kind of. For if a 5 page story gets 1 vote per 100 'views' it might mean a higher vote conversion per 'read' if a view is regarded as one click per page (1 in 20 are voting as opposed to 1 in 100 voting). Which then might explain the difference between the vote/view ratio for single page stories compared to multi-page stories. I think there's something there but I don't really pay attention to the numbers other than just looking over scores most of the time, so not quite sure how to work with it.

 

[Laurel]

I believe (this was true last time I asked) that whenever a story file is accessed, that counts as a view. So it doesn't matter if a person reads one page or twenty of a single submission - it's still one view, because the text of that submission has been accessed by the database once.

 

[JustaSCOUNDREL]

Obviously I stand corrected. That means a couple of my stories have a lot more looks than I thought. Interesting.

Thank you, Laurel, for clearing that up.

Mike

 

[JessikaN135]

Ok, at least this cheers me somewhat up. Slightly.

What remains: I put a lot of hard work into my fourth chapter, yet I have the feeling... nobody cares.
If I got voted down, I would know it's rubbish. But although chapter four is up for 3 days already, there are only about 400 views and 2 votes have been made (4 and 5). I already planned the storyline for chapter 5 (I have lots of ideas! It got quite story-focussed since chapter 3, although there's of course much naughty stuff). But what for?
Chapter three got its tenth vote (and with it the hot-flag) this monday - almost 8 weeks after it got approved. None of all four ever got a public comment. At least one anonymous reader told me I should keep up because he loved the story. Yeah - one.
And you have to take into account that there would probably be even less readers if there wasn't a naughty picture of Lucy and Tharion on some fanart-websides linking to my stories.

*sad face*

I think I take this voting and view-counter stuff too serious...

 

[JAMESBJOHNSON]

Ok, at least this cheers me somewhat up. Slightly.

What remains: I put a lot of hard work into my fourth chapter, yet I have the feeling... nobody cares.
If I got voted down, I would know it's rubbish. But although chapter four is up for 3 days already, there are only about 400 views and 2 votes have been made (4 and 5). I already planned the storyline for chapter 5 (I have lots of ideas! It got quite story-focussed since chapter 3, although there's of course much naughty stuff). But what for?
Chapter three got its tenth vote (and with it the hot-flag) this monday - almost 8 weeks after it got approved. None of all four ever got a public comment. At least one anonymous reader told me I should keep up because he loved the story. Yeah - one.
And you have to take into account that there would probably be even less readers if there wasn't a naughty picture of Lucy and Tharion on some fanart-websides linking to my stories.

*sad face*

I think I take this voting and view-counter stuff too serious...

I read it and didn't know what to think about it. So I didn't comment or vote. One particular beat ejected me from the story like a spent cartridge. A womb is a uterus, and so I wondered how you put your hand onto it unless youre doing a C-Section.

It aint my cuppa tea but the fault may be with my taste buddies.

Anyway, don't despair. Hang in there.

 

[JessikaN135]

A womb is a uterus, and so I wondered how you put your hand onto it.

Oups. This happens without an editor proofreading when you don't write in your native language. *blushes*

Belly?

But I am aware of the risk I took with writing in English. There are probably more "slip-ups" scattered over those 4 chapters. I do my best to check spelling/grammar over and over again before I submit, but there is stuff I just don't know better which I will never find.

 

[PennLady]

Ok, at least this cheers me somewhat up. Slightly.

What remains: I put a lot of hard work into my fourth chapter, yet I have the feeling... nobody cares.

Unfortunately, that falls into the "well, that's too bad" category. No one's obligated to read our stories, let alone vote on or comment on them -- although we wish they would, if they've taken the time to read them.

Plus, you have put your stories on what is apparently the biggest site of its kind on the internet. We are all little fishes in a huge pond. Sometimes you strike a chord and get lucky with many reads, views, votes, comments. Other times, not so much. And others have mentioned in many threads that as a series/chapter story goes on, views and votes go down.

If I got voted down, I would know it's rubbish. But although chapter four is up for 3 days already, there are only about 400 views and 2 votes have been made (4 and 5). I already planned the storyline for chapter 5 (I have lots of ideas! It got quite story-focussed since chapter 3, although there's of course much naughty stuff). But what for?

No, you don't really know that it's rubbish. All you know is that a bunch of complete strangers voted on your story -- it's not peer review. If by what for you mean why continue, the answer is: because you want to.

Chapter three got its tenth vote (and with it the hot-flag) this monday - almost 8 weeks after it got approved. None of all four ever got a public comment. At least one anonymous reader told me I should keep up because he loved the story. Yeah - one.
And you have to take into account that there would probably be even less readers if there wasn't a naughty picture of Lucy and Tharion on some fanart-websides linking to my stories.

*sad face*

I think I take this voting and view-counter stuff too serious...

You might. I always advise taking all the views and ratings with a huge grain of salt. Also, as others have mentioned on other threads, views/votes/etc. vary by category. I don't think you said what category you write in, so perhaps you chose one that doesn't have a lot of vocal reaction from readers.

 

[soflabbwlvr]

Ok, at least this cheers me somewhat up. Slightly.

What remains: I put a lot of hard work into my fourth chapter, yet I have the feeling... nobody cares.
If I got voted down, I would know it's rubbish. But although chapter four is up for 3 days already, there are only about 400 views and 2 votes have been made (4 and 5). I already planned the storyline for chapter 5 (I have lots of ideas! It got quite story-focussed since chapter 3, although there's of course much naughty stuff). But what for?
Chapter three got its tenth vote (and with it the hot-flag) this monday - almost 8 weeks after it got approved. None of all four ever got a public comment. At least one anonymous reader told me I should keep up because he loved the story. Yeah - one.
And you have to take into account that there would probably be even less readers if there wasn't a naughty picture of Lucy and Tharion on some fanart-websides linking to my stories.

*sad face*

I think I take this voting and view-counter stuff too serious...

Here's the thing--you are writing in a category (celebrity) that gets pretty low foot traffic to begin with. It consists of two types of stories: fanfic and celebrity crush. Yours, from what I could gather, is fanfic. Unfortunately, the source material must be something pretty obscure, because I had no idea who these people were or where they came from. So, from the outset your audience is going to be limited to Lit. readers who recognize the world in which your story is set.

OK, I reread your original post and I see now that this is set somewhere in WOW. I know that is an immensely popular gaming platform, but I'm not sure how wide of an appeal it has here at Lit. In any event, your story seems to be in an obscure part of that world. That also limits your audience.

In addition, your story title and tag lines are don't do much to draw viewers to your story. This is a hard concept to get across to new authors, but it is crucial. A potential reader only has four pieces of information at his disposal when deciding whether to click your story. Being new, your author name is of little value. The category of your story is limiting. That leaves the title and the tag line, and yours are kind of meh. A popular author with a huge following can get away with that. You could get away with it on a WOW website. But here, you have to try harder until such time as you build up a following.

Finally, nearly all series see a drop off in readers as additional chapters are added. People who tried it the first time but didn't like it won't come back for a second serving. Some people who did like it won't see the next installment just due to timing issues. Others who are wavering will fall off when the story doesn't go the way they want it to go. That's just the life here at Lit.

There are some very fine writers here with very small followings. There are some mediocre authors with huge audiences. It's not always fair, but it happens.