Where did I go wrong?

[Biker_Faerie]

Hi

Over the past couple of years I’ve written a few stories on here and, while I don’t seem to get a huge number of readers for them, they seem to have generally been well received.

I’ve struggled to find a character I want to write about but found one and have been trying to turn her adventures into a series (A Fresh Start)

The first three episodes went well but the fourth bombed and I don’t really know why. I get that not everyone likes the same thing but if you liked the first three then I’d assumed you’d like this one.

I know I got a couple of one star reviews but that’s lit for you. The thing is that even though I got 2k readers in a week (which is good for me) I got very few people giving me a rating (good or bad), which suggests that maybe a lot just gave up before the end

Any insights gratefully received

BF

https://www.literotica.com/s/a-fresh-start-while-the-cats-away

 

[Red_Herring4]

I've not read the stories in question, but a quick glance at your tags reveals a possible culprit. Your latest entry is tagged with mfm and sharing. There is a very vocal contingent of readers on Literotica who absolutely loathe stories in which a wife/girlfriend is willingly shared with another man.

Unless the story spells out severe consequences for the woman and her lover (known as a BTB or "burn-the-bitch"/"burn-the-bastard" story), this contingent of readers will one-bomb the story and leave negative comments.

These readers typically read the Loving Wives category and bomb stories posted there, but they will also hit stories in other categories that involve consensual sharing and bomb those too. Just search "Loving Wives" or "BTB" in the forums and you'll see scads of threads devoted to this phenomenon.

At any rate, I suspect that some of these readers found your latest story and downvoted it for that reason. That prevented this entry from getting the red H, which in turn suppressed views and votes.

Regardless of whether that is what actually happened in this case, my advice is to continue writing whatever you enjoy writing and let the story and your characters take you wherever they take you. Good luck!

 

[debaucher]

After reading the story, I think I'd have to agree with what Red Herring said above. It's definitely a good story and doesn't deserve the negative reviews.

 

[Areala-chan]

There's almost zero way to make sense of a given story's rating when it's not even been up for a week. I wouldn't worry too much about ratings until at least a few weeks or a full month has gone by. That gives time for sweeps to chop out the drive-by ratings and for your followers to find and read it.

That said, I also think @Red_Herring4 is on to something with the tag hurting your initial reception. Time, ultimately, will tell, I think.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I know I got a couple of one star reviews but that’s lit for you. The thing is that even though I got 2k readers in a week (which is good for me) I got very few people giving me a rating (good or bad), which suggests that maybe a lot just gave up before the end

Any insights gratefully received.

I've found Group Sex the least responsive category in terms of Votes per View and Comments. It's a tumbleweeds category for reader response - I've never got much of a clue how my stories have gone in that category. I won't bother posting there again.

 

[RBeemer]

It is my humble opinion that ratings (and number of favorites) is nearly irrelevant on this site. Even getting eyeballs on your story is a crap shoot at best. I have a story with thousands of views but it's sequel only got a few hundred. No idea why. And how can you have tens of thousands of readers, only a dozen ratings and no comments? And then you get comments from people that have no idea what they are talking about.

I just think the signal-to-noise ratio here is so small it's very hard for new writers to get any traction.

My solution? Try not to care. I write what I like and if I get a positive comment I just consider it gravy.

 

[feel_the_beast]

Regarding Lit readers issuing one-star reviews; is it possible there are some doing so purely to troll people, for stories they may not have even read? Watching the score trend on my recent new stories, I'm pretty sure I got a few like that. I'd like to think most folks here are above that sort of petty vandalism, but this is the internet, after all.

 

[THBGato]

Regarding Lit readers issuing one-star reviews; is it possible there are some doing so purely to troll people, for stories they may not have even read?

Authors who have been around a LONG time assure me that this is the case. It's particularly prevalent in Loving Wives, but apparently there are also trolls who go and 1* any stories on the top list.

Speaking from personal experience, my story Thirty was at 4.97 after 105 votes, which was just... wow! Went straight in to Number 1 on the Lesbian Sex top list. I took a screen shot as I knew it wouldn't last.



Sure enough, after 130 votes it had dropped to 4.84. Trolls. Pure and simple. It has since recovered a bit (4.87 after 235 votes). Oh well.

 

[feel_the_beast]

Authors who have been around a LONG time assure me that this is the case. It's particularly prevalent in Loving Wives, but apparently there are also trolls who go and 1* any stories on the top list.

Speaking from personal experience, my story Thirty was at 4.97 after 105 votes, which was just... wow! Went straight in to Number 1 on the Lesbian Sex top list. I took a screen shot as I knew it wouldn't last.

View attachment 2354624

Sure enough, after 130 votes it had dropped to 4.84. Trolls. Pure and simple. It has since recovered a bit (4.87 after 235 votes). Oh well.

Thanks for the input, Gato, I suspected as much. How sad and empty some peoples' lives must be. 'I can't have nice things, so neither can anyone else...'

 

[feel_the_beast]

I wonder if it would at least curtail the practice to require you to browse a story for some minimum time, five minutes, say, before you can leave a rating?

 

[Areala-chan]

I wonder if it would at least curtail the practice to require you to browse a story for some minimum time, five minutes, say, before you can leave a rating?

I believe there is a method the site uses to detect whether or not a vote is "legitimate". The amount of time spent browsing the story is likely a part of this algorithm, which is what allows votes to be swept on occasion. In a way, not knowing the specifics is better in the long run, since if the methodology is known, the griefers are just going to adjust their tactics to compensate.