What are typical ratings

[fireballxl5]

Be nice to me -- I'm a n00b!! And I did my best to check the FAQs first.

I posted my first two stories earlier this week. I found out how to determine my own ratings, and watched them start out high (in the low 4's) and then erode down to something like 3.8 to 3.9. I'm disappointed that I didn't get to 4.5, of course.

Does the "H" mean that 10 or more people have voted and the overall average remains above 4.5 in the long run (is it the overall average)?

I only know the one number (the overall average) for each of my two stories. Is there a way to find out the distribution (how many zeroes, ones, twos...)? One of the other threads implied that someone can tell when someone's left a zero.

Can I find out the scores of other stories (besides just looking for an 'H')?

What score does a typical story get? Are my 3.8 and 3.9 above or below average?

I think my stories are rather good, and I'm disappointed that they apparently are far below a large number of other stories, many of which seem to be of poorer quality. That raises the question of whether one should follow one's muse or cater to the masses, I suppose, but also leads to my main question which is...

Am I totally out of touch thinking that my scores seem low in comparison to other stories that have rated 4.5+?

If this is all answered in some other thread, please simply direct me to that thread and excuse my tendency to overexplain. Thanks.

Fireball XL5

P.S. Here are the two stories:
http://english.literotica.com/stories/showstory.php?id=188510
http://english.literotica.com/stories/showstory.php?id=187988

I have 6 or 8 others, but I wonder if there's something about the way I introduce them that might improve their ratings (and of course, I'd be very interested in any suggestions about how to improve my writing or make it more appealing to a larger audience. I'm not overly defensive -- I'm just trying to figure out how to get calibrated).

Wait, wait... One last question! They say there are over 27,000 views. Does that really mean that 27,000 people looked at the story (I hardly find that credible) or does it mean there are bots out there mindlessly collecting stories and mining them for addresses to send spam, or what?

 

[sophia jane]

Yes, your scores are an average of all your votes. Yes, an H means a 4.5 with at least 10 votes. No, you can't see the individual scores. People can usually tell if they've gotten a 1 because their score will drop dramatically. If you've gotten all 5's but suddenly your score plummets, you know you've been bombed.
If you pick a category and scroll through the list of stories, beside the name of the story its score will be listed. You will see alot of stories in the 3/low 4 range.

If you want, I'll read your stories later and let you know what I think. Did you get any feedback about your scores? When you submit, only submit one or two at a time. If you do too many at once, it can be overwhelming.

Hope that helped.

SJ

 

[fireballxl5]

Ohh...

I see the codes now. I honestly looked for them before and didn't see them.

Sometimes you can stare right at something and not see it. That answers several questions at once. Thanks!

It will not be necessary for you to read the stories, but thanks.

 

[Colleen Thomas]

Be nice to me -- I'm a n00b!! And I did my best to check the FAQs first.

I posted my first two stories earlier this week. I found out how to determine my own ratings, and watched them start out high (in the low 4's) and then erode down to something like 3.8 to 3.9. I'm disappointed that I didn't get to 4.5, of course.

Does the "H" mean that 10 or more people have voted and the overall average remains above 4.5 in the long run (is it the overall average)?

I only know the one number (the overall average) for each of my two stories. Is there a way to find out the distribution (how many zeroes, ones, twos...)? One of the other threads implied that someone can tell when someone's left a zero.

Can I find out the scores of other stories (besides just looking for an 'H')?

What score does a typical story get? Are my 3.8 and 3.9 above or below average?

I think my stories are rather good, and I'm disappointed that they apparently are far below a large number of other stories, many of which seem to be of poorer quality. That raises the question of whether one should follow one's muse or cater to the masses, I suppose, but also leads to my main question which is...

Am I totally out of touch thinking that my scores seem low in comparison to other stories that have rated 4.5+?

If this is all answered in some other thread, please simply direct me to that thread and excuse my tendency to overexplain. Thanks.

Fireball XL5

P.S. Here are the two stories:
http://english.literotica.com/stories/showstory.php?id=188510
http://english.literotica.com/stories/showstory.php?id=187988

I have 6 or 8 others, but I wonder if there's something about the way I introduce them that might improve their ratings (and of course, I'd be very interested in any suggestions about how to improve my writing or make it more appealing to a larger audience. I'm not overly defensive -- I'm just trying to figure out how to get calibrated).

Wait, wait... One last question! They say there are over 27,000 views. Does that really mean that 27,000 people looked at the story (I hardly find that credible) or does it mean there are bots out there mindlessly collecting stories and mining them for addresses to send spam, or what?

Hey

I'll answer your last question first, views is not how many people viewed it per se, but how many times it has been opened by a lit reader, including any times you have looked at it yourself. If the stories are multi page or multi part, it's quite likely you have people opening it several times before they finish. Likewise, you will get a lot of folks who are fishing for a story, will open it, read a little or scan, decide it isn't what they want & back click. We gdo get bots ripping stories, but the odds are good your views are legit, just remember a view dosen't equate to someone reading it through.

Your ratings, can be determined by a lot of factors. One that most people don't realize is they are an aggregate of all your votes. Very early, a single one can really hurt, as there isn't a lot of ability for a five or two to counter. As the story stays up and your vote total rises, the cumulative effect of the stray ones is diminished and the story's score generally climbs and stabilizes.

Theoretically, a score of three is average. So if you are above three, you are above average. In practice, the average is probably higher than three, since few stories have one ratings. As a rule of thumb, I don't pay much attention to my scores, but I don't worry about a piece being substandard until I have at least 50 votes on it. At that point, if it's running far beneath my average, I will take a look at it, Far more useful to you will be your feedback. That's where you get an idea of what people liked and did not like. If you think your average is low, comb your feedback & see why it might be getting lower marks than you feel are warranted.

Also remember that over time, you will build a readership, who look forward to your new works. These readers will enjoy your style, and thus, will on average give you higher marks because the works are unlikely to disagree with them stylistically. That removes one of the major points for which readers will give low votes that you can't really do anything about.

 

[fireballxl5]

Once I figured out how to see the ratings of other works, which should have been obvious I admit, it was a bit of a blow to see where I stand. I'll have to rethink this whole thing.

I appreciate your help understanding how the system works. Please accept my very best wishes.

Sputterball XL5

 

[smy3th]

deleted

 

[fireballxl5]

Thanks for the insight

Thanks,

That cheers me up quite a bit. I was a bit depressed for a day, but I've bounced back now. I'll keep working at it, and have more of an incentive to improve in this particular way: I want to write something that has wider appeal and gets a higher rating, just to see if I can do it.

I'm going to have to actively solicit negative comments. It's mystifying when almost all of the private and public comments are very positive and the score is low. Maybe y'all are just a very kind group of people.

smokeball XL5

 

[hmmnmm]

Fireball,
Speaking as one who has not been here long and who has submitted, posted, then removed several times, I went through the same thing - got low ratings, let it bother me, pulled the story. Wanted to see if I could do something that would gain wider appeal - and it worked. I've since pulled that one.
Finally - after going through what are probably common feelings about all this - I submitted one that I most enjoyed writing and felt the best about; I did not expect it to Do Well and those expectations were met: overall low score, the lowest of all that I have submitted. But it did not bother me and it still does not bother me. I am more content with this one with the lower rating than the one that got the higher rating.
It's probably just a process you have to go through.
Welcome!

 

[fireballxl5]

Thanks!

That's great to hear, Hmmnmm. About reading: I've been reading only the stories marked with an H up until now, thinking that I was getting the best quality. Not anymore.

Fireball XL5

 

[BlackShanglan]

There's no holy grail for good stories, but I found a number of very good reads here:

https://forum.literotica.com/showthread.php?t=317435

and here:

https://forum.literotica.com/showthread.php?t=319459

That last is not complete, but it's not hard to do yourself either; just page through the categories and look for the little green "E" icons. It only really shows you what Laurel and/or Manu like, but their tastes seem fairly congruent with my own.

I also strongly suggest the Story Discussion Circle (https://forum.literotica.com/forumdisplay.php?f=14; be sure to read the sticky post with rules for participation) if you'd like to know more about how people view your writing. It's a great place to receive more detailed feedback, and also a very good way to meet others interested in writing. I met some great "editing buddies" there and now have readers with whom to exchange drafts and measure my progress as a writer.

Shanglan

 

[geronimo_appleby]

scores

Hi,
Firstly welcome to you from a relative newbie also.
I asked a similar question about the scores too, and was advised (quite rightly it turns out) that the feedback is more important.
Please, please don't get down about scores and feedback. I had a pretty scathing comment today, and yes it did piss me off mightily. Mainly because it was an anonymous comment. Whoever wrote it didn't stand up behind their words. hey ho
If you're enjoying the writing keep going. At least you've had the bollocks to put your stuff up for people to judge, and that first story submitted is a bit nerve wracking.
Keep the faith and good luck.
Regards to you.
Rick

 

[davidwatts]

That's great to hear, Hmmnmm. About reading: I've been reading only the stories marked with an H up until now, thinking that I was getting the best quality. Not anymore.

Fireball XL5

Hello and welcome

I just wandered over to your profile to see what you had written and think I found the answer to your question. Both your stories are in the Loving Wives section, correct? They're a very enthusiastic bunch over there. It's very difficult to please everyone all the time no matter what you do, but that category is brutal, filled with very demanding people.

The problem is that they fall into two distinct categories; ones that love the wife stories where she humps everybody in the county (the cuckold crew), and the others that rant about all wives being pigs (the apparent unhappy divorcees). You please everybody there and you've really done something.

That's not a put down of them, merely an observation. I put a story over there and I got an incredible number of comments. Not all of them complimentary, and some even anatomically impossible, but I got a kick out of all of them. You just can't go by scoring in that category.

If you want a better barometer of where you stand, may I suggest that you write a story that you can put into another category and see what happens. I'll predict a higher score elsewhere, but then again if you're writing about what interests you, then follow your heart.

Try and make each story better than the one before, and above all have fun!

 

[Sherry Hawk]

I only know the one number (the overall average) for each of my two stories. Is there a way to find out the distribution (how many zeroes, ones, twos...)? One of the other threads implied that someone can tell when someone's left a zero.

The only way to know exactly what vote your story has gotten is if you watch it very, very carefully, and even then, it's not always possible, but here's how it works:

Say your story just reached 10 votes, and has a score of 4.50.

You receive the eleventh vote and your story's score plummets to 4.18. You've just been hit with an infamous 1-bomb. The way you can tell is 10 votes X 4.50 (your score) = 45.

11 (votes) X 4.18 (score) = 45.98 or 46.

so you know the eleventh vote is a one.

After that, for instance, you check your ratings again, and your story has fallen again, this time to 4.17, and now you have 12 votes. Same math:

12 (votes) X 4.17 (score) = 50.04, or 50, so you know that the twelvth vote is a 4.

It gets very very complicated to try to keep up with when Laurel does sweeps of duplicate votes, so sometimes votes will disappear, but your score will go up.

The best advice I can give you is to not stress about it too much. The highest rated stories here aren't the best...and some of the best stories I've read here didn't have soaring scores.

 

[fireballxl5]

Thanks for the insight

Dave, I really like that observation about the loving wives group -- that it contains two types of people with very different taste. It makes perfect sense. As it happens, I have a story that I can submit to a different group, so I'll soon be able to do a one-off test of you r theory.

Sherry, thanks sincerely for taking the time to explain the arithmetic. Although a method like that works at low scores, the precision of the number is not great enough to use it after the votes start to accumulate past about 20. I actually was thinking about something like Dave's point early on, and someone claimed to know when he got a one. Being a geek (and proud of it!), I wondered whether I could get the actual distribution. If so, one could tell whether it was just a so-so story (simple distribution with a low average) or whether one had ticked off some segment of the viewers (bimodal distribution or a bunch of votes stacked up at one).

Anyway, I'm through stressing about it (my score, I mean), although it was a bit of a shock at first, like unexpectedly losing one's clothes a long way from home in a crowded place and having to walk naked.... I think it would make more sense to spend time in the story discussion circle and then submit a story to them.

You're a great group of folks.

Steve

 

[elfin_odalisque]

Hi, fireball, and welcome to the neurotic world of being an author here.

I think all the advice given so far is good but, coming in later, perhaps I can offer an overview.

There are two great sources of advice and comfort for the psychotic writer here. First, the Authors Hangout in the Forum. Almost every point you raised at the beginning has been the subject of a thread there this year. More important, in the 'How to' category there's enough pearls of wisdom to keep you reading for months. Everything from Colly's advice on how to write lesbian love scenes to The Earl's 'How to improve your story score'. Grammar, plot advice, suggestions on vocabulary, and mostly written by the most successful and respected authors on the site. A veritable treasure trove.

Each category seems to have different characteristics and 'audience size'. You can get a score of 4.9 in Romance whilst this seems impossible in Toys or Anal. Also, look at the number of votes, Loving Wives and Erotic Couplings are the popular choice. Personally, I would suggest staying away from Loving Wives as a category, even with a 'married' story. The title is beguiling but, in reality, there is a lot of polemic flying about that really shouldn't be on an erotic story site like this.


A look at the contest entries will give a good list of the authors who write pretty well and are enjoyable/educational to read. Not particularly just the winners

I'll go and hide in a deep cave now!

 

[mDyne]

Lots of views. Few Votes.

I've also been bombed. I have a story, The Last Sashay, which curently has a 4.5 rating. But awhile ago it had a 4.6 and someone gave it a 1 and pulled it off the hot list for awhile. Everyone's entitled to their opinion, and if they really thought it was a 1 then so be it, I don't mind, but I wonder. It's a BDSM story, certainly politically incorrect, and I wonder if they bombed it for that reason, or for other selfish purposes.

What disturbs me more is that this story has had nearly 5000 views, but only 24 votes. Maybe Literotica could put a note somewhere to encourage people to vote more than they do.

 

[elfin_odalisque]

I've also been bombed. I have a story, The Last Sashay, which curently has a 4.5 rating. But awhile ago it had a 4.6 and someone gave it a 1 and pulled it off the hot list for awhile. Everyone's entitled to their opinion, and if they really thought it was a 1 then so be it, I don't mind, but I wonder. It's a BDSM story, certainly politically incorrect, and I wonder if they bombed it for that reason, or for other selfish purposes.

What disturbs me more is that this story has had nearly 5000 views, but only 24 votes. Maybe Literotica could put a note somewhere to encourage people to vote more than they do.

We all agree with you, from the gurus down to us scribblers. We'd love a system where everyone who starts a story has to vote.

The powers that be won't buy that, and I think they're right. Freedom of speech also means freedom of non-speech, or voting.

There are often threads here that worry about what score they should be getting. I can promise you that the best writing on this site is not often found in the top pages of the top lists. Hate to agree with Dr Mabeuse, but he is right. Popularity is not always a synonym for quality. (Except for John Grisham, I love his stuff!!).

Publicity is important. I'm off now to check out your stuff.

 

[smy3th]

deleted

 

[elfin_odalisque]

True genius is rarely recognize by the great unwashed.

Or at least, that is what people like me keep telling themselves to cheer ourselves up.

Love the AV!!

Wouldn't put it quite like you, but I ain't too far away.

We have the best of both worlds here, in that we don't have to sell anything and our little efforts get huge publicity. Where else would you keep being asked back if you always bomb.

Bless L & M!!