Why the low ratings?

[Otto26]

As the title says. This is my lowest rated submission and I would very much appreciate your take on why this is the case.

http://english.literotica.com:81/stories/showstory.php?id=254735

Some things I have noticed that may have contributed:
-Putting it into BDSM and then having no actual violence or sexual intercourse take place. Perhaps I should have put it into a different category.
-Sex and violence. I note, in general, that stories with sex and violence (or the emotional equivalent) *tend* to do better.
-Told from the male viewpoint. This seems to be a big no-no for heterosexual stories. No one seems to really care about the male character; he's just supposed to be a part of the scenery. Everyone wants the female perspective.
-Lack of a strong plot. Guilty. This is the intro to a much longer story, but I felt it stood well as a standalone piece. In retrospect, it lacks much in the way of conflict and resolution.

Anything else? I really would appreciate your feedback. Thank you.

 

[lance gt]

Hi Otto

I understand your disappointment well. As a fellow writer, we all look for big ratings and many readers. The problem I have recently discovered is that many readers are trolls,(People who rate stories low on purpose) and those who don't feel your story merited a good rating. I posted a similar story in the same category and the same thing happened to mine. The story consisted of 12 chapters and needed them all to accurately describe the events. Sometimes you need to really read your story for content before posting and choose a category that best suits it. Sometimes your story chapters might be posted in several categories. This isn't nescessarily a bad thing, It will get read by the right readers and if they see it's done in more than one chapter, they will look for the others to complete the story. Hope this helps you. Lance

 

[sethp]

you win some you lose some

I have stories I wrote in 2 hours with hot ratings and stories I took my time on and tried new things with less than 3 ratings. don't go for the ratings I saw you have a hot in there ..didn't have time to read it though.. write for the feedback!

 

[Jenny_Jackson]

Otto,
Don't worry about it. Think who you are writing for? You? or the reader? If you write for you and you like the story, screw it. On the other hand, if you are looking for ratings there are some things you can do.

1) Increase the number of reads. That sounds easy and it is. Be noticed around Lit by posting in the forums. Your post count is low for someone who's been here as long as you have. And, for god sake get an avatar.

2) The title of you story, The Visit, isn't all that appealing. The title and tag lines for your stories can and do attract readers - specially if they are juicy. The fact is with 50-75 stories hitting the NEW list every day there is a lot of competition for readers. You Title and Tag Line are you hook to real them in before they can move on to another story.

3) Post in the New Story Announcements. People (especially the other writers from the AH) do read that thread.

4) Some catagories do get more reader attention than others. For instance, the Non-Consent catagory gets LOTS of attention, dismal feedback and horrid vote scores. The Romance and Loving Wives catagories and really great but there are a lot of people writing in there(can you spell COMPETITION, Virginia?). Humor, Sci-Fi and Erotic Horror are not great and don't get that much attention, but I write there sometimes sucessfully.

The most important thing to remember is this - LITEROTICA is a learning place. You will learn to write well and make you stories attractive to the readers.

JJ

 

[kromen]

I agree with Jenny. But, you have to post 100 times for an av. My excuse? I'm a procrastinator. I liked the read; it wasn't too erotic for my tastes but written well. Don't let low posts discourage you.

 

[Decayed Angel]

As the title says. This is my lowest rated submission and I would very much appreciate your take on why this is the case.

http://english.literotica.com:81/stories/showstory.php?id=254735

Some things I have noticed that may have contributed:
-Putting it into BDSM and then having no actual violence or sexual intercourse take place. Perhaps I should have put it into a different category.
-Sex and violence. I note, in general, that stories with sex and violence (or the emotional equivalent) *tend* to do better.
-Told from the male viewpoint. This seems to be a big no-no for heterosexual stories. No one seems to really care about the male character; he's just supposed to be a part of the scenery. Everyone wants the female perspective.
-Lack of a strong plot. Guilty. This is the intro to a much longer story, but I felt it stood well as a standalone piece. In retrospect, it lacks much in the way of conflict and resolution.

Anything else? I really would appreciate your feedback. Thank you.

I think that in the BDSM category, unless you get into some pretty intense dominance or SM behaviour you'll get lower votes. Mild bondage or light experimentation apparently doesn't count as BDSM.

I think the viewpoint issue may vary depending upon the category.

Another thing you need to consider is story length. I have found a definate bias against the shorter story regardless of how well crafted the story is.

Happy ending... don't kill your characters. I got tired of people wanting me to write 2nd, 3rd or 4th chapters, so I'd have my characters die in a car wreck. Wow, that will bring in some low votes.

Another thing that will kill your score is to have dispicable or ugly characters, I have run experiments with the exact same story, one with attractive characters the other with drunken bums and sure enough those pretty characters get higher votes.

Just some thoughts.

 

[Otto26]

Thanks

Thank you all for taking the time to read and comment. I appreciate your suggestions. The biggest eye-opener for me was the idea that a story might get a low rating simply because it wasn't the type of story the reader wanted. I think I'll make better use of keywords and start putting in a short summary of what the reader can expect so that folks don't waste time on material that isn't to their taste.

Jenny, I'll get an avatar when I'm allowed one. I have to confess I checked your avatar and ended up spending several minutes just staring at the screen.