Where are the Writers/Readers going?

[Piper320]

I've been a reader on this site for a few years and only began posting stories a year ago. Since January, I've begun to notice that a lot of the "usual" writers/readers have disappeared. Are the authors going to different sites to post their stories now? What's happened to the people who used to comment frequently (not just on my stories but ones I'd noticed long before)? I was just wondering if this was the usual ebb/flow of the site. I figured I'd ask those who've been writing/reading on Lit for many years now. Thanks!

 

[Nezhul]

going to Amazon, smashwords and other sites that not only pay for your content - but also care to protect it even a little bit.

 

[DesiredUsername35]

.....

 

[litfan10]

There is definitely an ebb and flow. I really don't see a grand scale pilgrimage to publish for money - it does happen certainly but not to a noticeable extent.

Self publishing and the technology being available for anyone and their grandmother to create at all levels their own work have made it a huge challenge to try to write erotica for any discernible income. That ship has largely sailed.

I've been a reader since almost the beginning and a writer since 2010 and there have always been comings and goings.

This is a site for free. Life, health, paying work even death will always take precedence. This is true for readers and writers. These four reasons account for the greatest turn-overs I believe.

There are plenty who are gone that I miss terribly. Some are gone but I still keep in touch off Lit.

But I find there are always new faces popping up.

 

[HandsInTheDark]

I don't know about volume of readers and writers, but in the last two years I've noticed more contact from males, and when I started contacts used to be almost exclusively from females.

 

[HeyAll]

The way I see it, it's extremely rare for there to be prolific writers on Lit. The passionate writers seem to do it for several years, then their production fades.

Life happens. They get busy with other things. Family, job. Health. Run out of ideas. Lose passion. Whatever.

Same is true with readers. A lot of them read less, because maybe they lose interest, or now they have a family, a new job, whatever...

But it goes in cycles. New authors emerge. New readers emerge. There are tons of new profiles being created daily and new authors who write regularly.

That's life, isn't it?

 

[Hypoxia]

I don't follow the flows here so I have no idea of who-all are now reading and writing on LIT. I've endured a writing hiatus for some time now (though I may try to crank out some in the next few weeks). My excuse: I've been on the road for 3 months, often out of cell-WiFi-wired range. And I've been reading tons of downloaded old SF, not new erotica. That's when I read at all. I've been nearly blind lately. I may have to switch to talking books soon.

What happens to writers? Boredom. Payments elsewhere. Death & disability. Family issues or lack thereof. (I've more time to write when the kin are all off contending somewhere.) And don't discount alien abductions. Some of the best of us may have been anally probed by Grays and we haven't yet recovered.

 

[LeandraNyx]

Deleted

 

[weftandwarp]

I think it's just part of the natural ebb and flow of the site. Talented new writers come in and create a large following, attracting a vast reader base, then realize they can make money from their work and leave, taking their readers with them. Or life gets in the way and people get busy, get sick, or even die. A lot of folks just disappear, who knows why? It is what it is.

My guess is that people like to be rewarded and if there are few or no comments there is no real reward. Also, many write the erotic to learn skills, when they have determined they have attained the skills they depart to other genres, ones where there is the reward of being able to show friends and family, as well as a publisher or two. I've never been convinced that there is much reward to erotica. So many leave to self publish and end up disappointed. Of course, a few succeed, just a few. Before they leave some of them become very mercinary and make it obligatory to buy their book. Once that flush of sales has happened there's no one to buy them-competition is fierce. They are too embarrassed to come back with their original identity. I guess the lesson is not to burn one's bridges. There are some who do it well though, they stay and also publish.

 

[Jay321]

My issue on the writing side is that my muse is a fickle bitch. I'll just stop wanting to write randomly. It's more off than on, I must admit. When I'm not writing, I generally stay off the boards. Its an unconscious decision.

Been working on a story that I'm tentatively titled Finders Fee. Having issues with the climax scene. I'll get it worked out before the muse leaves again, I hope.

 

[msgrant67]

I agree that the feedback seems to be shifting. I hear from almost all males now whereas it was different a few years ago

 

[sr71plt]

I agree that the feedback seems to be shifting. I hear from almost all males now whereas it was different a few years ago

How do you know they really are males? Do you do a personal genital check? This is the Internet.

 

[SamScribble]

I have only ever had a couple of hundred followers. And only a few of them leave comments - mainly good ones. (Thank you, followers.) I suspect that many of the three or four or ten thousand 'readers' aren't really readers at all. They just click on, drop a one-bomb, and disappear back into the undergrowth. I just hope that they are managing to stay warm down there in the swamp.

 

[SusanJillParker]

[Personal attacks, accusations/insults against other Literotica authors, and trolling prohibited per our AH Forum Rules]

 

[HandsInTheDark]

How do you know they really are males? Do you do a personal genital check? This is the Internet.

People who lie about gender online do it for specific reasons, and always engage in online conversation in order to enjoy their specific, um, interest. (It's essentially a fetish, like any other). The overwhelming majority are males pretending to be attractive females. The reverse is vanishingly rare, aside from acknowledged roleplay.

People creating accounts here as readers, who aren't intending to interact much, typically admit to being male when male, and often leave gender unspecified when female. (There are guys who leave it unspecified.) But there's not much incentive to lie about it because if there's no intention to interact there's no incentive to lie. If Bruce55 (made up name) favorited you, you can be 90% certain it's male. If illwind123 favorited you, you should make no guess. If sowet4hardguy favorites you, definitely make no guess because a nickname like that is an invitation to interact, and you're likely back in fetish territory. But jillk63 is probably female - if it was a guy looking for kinky email action the year would be closer to 98.

Once a conversation starts, if you can't tell accurately within 3 or 4 emails, or one text chat, whether you're dealing with a male or female, you're not much of a student of human nature. (Caveat: my writing here tends to attract straight people; maybe it really is trickier in the gay lands, I don't know.) People trying to fake it just about invariably rely on stereotypes too much - and males invariably get too flirty much too fast. (And of course if an actual conversation starts, it goes to voice chat simply to save typing, where no ruse lasts for long. Anyone who wants to talk and won't engage in cameras-off voice chat is lying about something and it's best not to try to find out what.)

When I report that over the last couple years fans making contact have shifted to predominantly male, I have a very high confidence I'm correct. What I can't say is whether his is a shift in readership, or just a localized effect. Maybe the set of females on Lit interested in my kind of writing have largely all found it by now, so most of the females contacting me who ever will, already have. Maybe there's so much hassling of females on this site recently that there's been a general falling off of female interest in contacting people. Maybe I finally got the wording of my bio correct to the point that people understand I'm set for companionship and am not looking for that kind of contact. I don't know. But I stand by my assertion that it's a pattern.

 

[JLRemora2]

I haven't been on the Literotica bulletin board in some years, hence, pardon my lack of whatever passes for posting etiquette these days.

I was glancing through the forums and came upon this thread, which I found interesting. Actually, I was contemplating posting for help with some editing (since that other method on Literotica doesn't seem to work), with that in mind I was snooping around, and ended up going through some of the more interesting categories, and their threads.

I don't know where any of the authors or writers are going, at least not specifically -but as has been stated already- no doubt, some are doing it for the pay. I say, good luck and more power to them. Been there and done that. It was, and probably still is, a shark fest out in the "professional" publishing world.

5th Avenue left my thoughts of publishers, rancid for life.

As for the rest- I can only speculate, that like me, they reach burn out, and decide to try something different. I've reached burn out a couple of times these last few years. Probably because my disposition has darkened a bit, and yet, I keep returning to writing. Mostly, I do it for my own sake of mind, and not for any accolades I might receive by publishing on some website.

Of course, life does seem to step in unexpectedly, inconsiderately disrupting the balance that you've worked for so long and so diligently to achieve. Unsurprisingly, I've also experienced these protuberances, even if some sneak up as nuances.

No one is too experienced, nor too chock-full of wisdom, that they can foresee and sidestep some of these errant situations. And, thus, their writing suffers. I know mine has.

As for anyone actually running off others, I can't speak to that, since I've not been around this bulletin board, and thus I'll just take the word of others on that. But, if such is the case, then that certainly is a sad and deplorable state for these forums to be in.

Anyway, I just dropped by to see what condition everyone elses condition was in.

 

[sr71plt]

People who lie about gender online do it for specific reasons, .

I didn't read any further than this because you don't have any more idea why anyone would lie about their gender online than anyone else does--which is nothing that you can be so definitive about.

 

[JLRemora2]

One other thing that came to mind, after I posted.

It could also be that some writers just hate writing. The physical aspect of it. In fact, I do, and so do some of the more main stream authors.

One author that readily comes to mind, that hated writing, was Robert Asprin. Yet, Bob wrote several books, that proved fairly popular. Unfortunately, no matter his successes in writing, that same success sadly didn't extend to other areas of his life.

 

[hentaikitten]

Newbies

Well, I have no idea of the trends since I'm new here, but I am a new author and reader (naturally I've read more than I've written so far) and I'm female, and I comment when I think a story calls for it, so I don't know what you're all talking about!

 

[ThisNameIsntTakenYet]

Some people do tend to go on hiatus for a while. I myself only just returned today after disappearing about half a year ago. Some come back like me, some never do. Moved on to bigger and better things, real life got in the way, whatever. There's a ton of possible reasons.

 

[ChloeTzang]

Well, I have no idea of the trends since I'm new here, but I am a new author and reader (naturally I've read more than I've written so far) and I'm female, and I comment when I think a story calls for it, so I don't know what you're all talking about!

Oooooooh, and a hentaikitten too. I like you already. Welcome and hang around , it's fun here and the coffee is always good