1-Bombing on Loving Wives

[IWroteThis]

The ratio doesn't need to tell you why when it's 1:20. You can tell by the average rating that is it's at 2.0 or relatively low, the readers are angry or irritated. It it's 4.0 then they're generally enthusiastically enjoying it.

But if the ratio is 1:200 or higher, then the audience isn't impressed enough to bother.

The tight ratio of 1:20 means you've struck a nerve in many of them, for good or bad. But you DID IT!

Stephen King might write a good book and turn it into a movie. And if most of the audience vomits during the horror scenes, you can't say they "loved" the movie. But he DID IT, and he got the reaction he wanted from them.

My story, "Pavlov's Dog - 750 Words" in Loving Wives was written with that goal in mind: to get a reaction from the trolls! It's rated 2.3/834 votes with 18,500 views. That's a 1:22 ratio. And the low rating means I stuck a nerve with them! It lit a fire under them to vote!

That's fine, if you just want to feel good about meaningless numbers.

Once again, it doesn't differentiate between story quality and teaser attraction. A good story that attracts too broad of an audience is going to have a lower ratio than a bad story that only attracts a narrow audience that matches what you wrote.

So, that lower ratio might actually be telling you that your combination of title, description, and category sucked, and you failed to attract a large portion of your potential audience.

 

[IWroteThis]

(OK, that deserves a 1-star! Soree, eh?)

How ironic, on a thread supposedly about how bad 1* bombing trolls are, one of them magically appears.

 

[OddLove]

I thought I made it very clear that I didn't want to endure more "cuck fag shit" comments in the LW. Maybe you missed that part. I have written stories that I knew would bomb in the LW, and I don't desire that anymore. To me, it sounds like you write so MORE people will see it, whether they like it or not. I chose to do it a different way. But I guess I'm still writing to upset people because I knew this post would call you out.

I write because I want the reader to enjoy what they read. It's the same thing when I read - I want to enjoy what I read. Doesn't that make sense? Why would I want to do it any other way?

You can check me off your list - you've bashed me in a post now. You can move on to someone else.

That's exactly the thought process I use to determine which categories I publish a story in.

As a reader, I want to be able to find stories I enjoy. So as a writer, I try to give the same courteous.

I don't want to spend days or weeks on a story, then throw it in front of people who I KNOW will hate it.

And since I've yet to think of a story idea that only fits into the Loving Wives "Married extra-marital fun: swinging, sharing & more." category, I will always choose a different accurate category even if it means 'less eyes'.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

That's exactly the thought process I use to determine which categories I publish a story in.

As a reader, I want to be able to find stories I enjoy. So as a writer, I try to give the same courteous.

I don't want to spend days or weeks on a story, then throw it in front of people who I KNOW will hate it.

If you publish an LW story in LW, you will get 10000 views in the first week, of which 2000 will fucking hate it, and 2000 people will love it, and 2000 people will be indifferent, and the other 4000 people will like it enough to enjoy it to some degree. So 6000 people will enjoy your story.

If you publish that same story in EC, you will get 2000 views in the first week, so even in the absolute best case scenario that ALL of them love it, (far) less people will enjoy it.

So really all that you are doing by avoid LW is avoiding haters and protecting the score.

 

[OddLove]

If you publish an LW story in LW, you will get 10000 views in the first week, of which 2000 will fucking hate it, and 2000 people will love it, and 2000 people will be indifferent, and the other 4000 people will like it enough to enjoy it to some degree. So 6000 people will enjoy your story.

If you publish that same story in EC, you will get 2000 views in the first week, so even in the absolute best case scenario that ALL of them love it, (far) less people will enjoy it.

So really all that you are doing by avoid LW is avoiding haters and protecting the score.

Cry harder

More views means nothing to me.

 

[Soixenta]

If you publish that same story in EC, you will get 2000 views in the first week, so even in the absolute best case scenario that ALL of them love it, (far) less people will enjoy it.

Is Erotic Couplings such a slow category? My second story was in EC and it has 23.5k views. I believe most of them happened within the first few weeks.

 

[Hampshiregirl]

Are all Literotica threads this unpleasant? I use a forum in the UK called Pistonheads, and it's pretty challenging in there at times. I expected this forum to be more chilled, but it seems not. I offer in evidence the post above, by OddLove. I mean, really?

 

[OddLove]

Are all Literotica threads this unpleasant? I use a forum in the UK called Pistonheads, and it's pretty challenging in there at times. I expected this forum to be more chilled, but it seems not. I offer in evidence the post above, by OddLove. I mean, really?

I came in here and offered my opinion about why I don't post in Loving Wives category and an ankle biting weiner dog who thinks they're a pit pull started barking at me. And I'm not the only one in this thread that they've strawmanned and went on unhinged rants toward.

You can go back in this thread and see OJ Simpsons glove has done nothing by make up claims about what I think, and I'm not doing anything wrong by matching their aggression while I clarify and defend my intentions for why I avoid the incel category.

 

[InvisibleHarvey]

Are all Literotica threads this unpleasant? I use a forum in the UK called Pistonheads, and it's pretty challenging in there at times. I expected this forum to be more chilled, but it seems not. I offer in evidence the post above, by OddLove. I mean, really?

Hey Hampshiregirl! Welcome!

I started publishing on this site about a year ago, and I have mostly avoided the forums for this reason. I'm not exactly a seasoned veteran, but from what I gather you need to be careful opening up any thread that has gone on for more than two or three pages. Even at that, sometimes you have to click "unwatch" and walk away. Only open it again if you're the kind of person who likes to lift up a bandage to see your unhealed wound.

Other than that, this site is just fine! Except for the review-bombing and the trolls...

 

[Jay1415]

Hi All,

So my first story in the Loving Wives category published last night (I'm UK based). Woke up this morning to find it 1*'d to hell.
Angry at first, thinking it was personal. But then I looked at the other new stories published in the Loving Wives category and they'd mostly experienced the same fate.

I'm probably just looking vent - but seriously, is this the norm?! It just renders the whole process really rather pointless.

Anyway, happy Friday. Stay safe whatever you get up to.

Maude

Xx

5 fucking stars.

To hell with the haters!

 

[CalBishForNow]

Are all Literotica threads this unpleasant? I use a forum in the UK called Pistonheads, and it's pretty challenging in there at times. I expected this forum to be more chilled, but it seems not. I offer in evidence the post above, by OddLove. I mean, really?

The forums are a mix of helpful advice, commiseration about the low points of writing and celebration about the high points, troubleshooting the kinks of this massive-but-ancient-in-Internet-standards website, and shooting the breeze. Any forum where some people hang around a lot will develop established personalities. Sometimes, personalities conflict, that's all.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

Cry harder

More views means nothing to me.

First, who's crying?

Second, then you admit that you are writing for applause and high fives, and you are writing more to not be hated that to be liked. There's nothing wrong with that. You really don't want more people to enjoy your work, you'd rather have less people tell you that they didn't like it. The proof is in your own statements. I'm not supposing anything.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

I came in here and offered my opinion about why I don't post in Loving Wives category and an ankle biting weiner dog who thinks they're a pit pull started barking at me. And I'm not the only one in this thread that they've strawmanned and went on unhinged rants toward.

I'm right here. You can say my name. Also, there are no straw men. You might want to look up the definition of that. Also, I'm staying on topic and you are the one resorting to personal shots. Continue if you please. I'm a big girl and I can easily take it. I've heard far far far worse. (shrug)

 

[sirhugs]

I've been here longer than most people and find that on the forums in general the love and support outweigh the criticism about 20 to 1. And there's always the ignore button.
Something about LW does bring out a lot of feelings. Sometimes we just have to have thick skin.

 

[RocketGrunt]

Is Erotic Couplings such a slow category? My second story was in EC and it has 23.5k views. I believe most of them happened within the first few weeks.

Erotic Couplings has a very large number of posts and a moderately large readership. The "first ten" effect is VERY LARGE. Today had 15 stories posted, yesterday had 28. It gets the most stories, and the readership is like 3rd (after T/I and LW). One of the stories in the first ten from yesterday is standing at 8.9k views, but the 11th story only has 380 views.

The 11th story is one that you have to click "more new stories" to see, and the viewership drop is HUGE. Very easy for your story to just get lost in the tides on Erotic Couplings. There are a lot of readers, and some stories do very well, but many stories end up stone cold dead.

 

[LightningSeed]

Open Letter to the Loving Wives Commenters

 

[RejectReality]

Erotic Couplings has a very large number of posts and a moderately large readership. The "first ten" effect is VERY LARGE. Today had 15 stories posted, yesterday had 28. It gets the most stories, and the readership is like 3rd (after T/I and LW). One of the stories in the first ten from yesterday is standing at 8.9k views, but the 11th story only has 380 views.

The 11th story is one that you have to click "more new stories" to see, and the viewership drop is HUGE. Very easy for your story to just get lost in the tides on Erotic Couplings. There are a lot of readers, and some stories do very well, but many stories end up stone cold dead.

Say what? LOL

Mature and Anal will run circles around any EC posting for viewership. It is not third. It's not even close. EC is the very bottom of the mid-tier readership categories.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

Erotic Couplings has a very large number of posts and a moderately large readership. The "first ten" effect is VERY LARGE. Today had 15 stories posted, yesterday had 28. It gets the most stories, and the readership is like 3rd (after T/I and LW). One of the stories in the first ten from yesterday is standing at 8.9k views, but the 11th story only has 380 views.

I'm very interested in how you determined that EC gets the 3rd most readership. Views in EC stories are quite low compared to most other categories.

 

[lc69hunter]

I read a lot, comment a lot, and vote a lot. I don't remember the last time I gave a 1. However, I do give 2's instead. Most of my scores are in the 3-5 category, especially for new authors, encouraging them to sometimes get an editor and/or spellcheck.

 

[RocketGrunt]

Say what? LOL

Mature and Anal will run circles around any EC posting for viewership. It is not third. It's not even close. EC is the very bottom of the mid-tier readership categories.

I'm talking about the readership of the board, not individual stories.

On Tuesday, the Mature board got only four stories. Almost 27k views between them over the last 54 hours, but only four stories. The Anal board got only 2 stories, which total a bit less than 10k views during that period.

Same day, Erotic Couplings got 22 new stories. Total views between them is a bit north of 53k. The board sees more traffic than Mature and Anal combined, and it's not close. But divided as it is among more than triple the submissions of those two boards combined, there are a lot of stories that just vanish without a trace on Erotic Couplings. You're competing for a lot of eyeballs, but you're competing with a LOT more writers for those eyeballs.

Edit: I should probably add that "winning" on the high traffic boards represents a level of winning that the medium and low traffic boards can't match. If you look at the stories from the first page of the toplists with the most votes, for Mature it's our own Lovecraft68's Home is Where the Heart Is, a story from 2012 with a very respectable 953k views. On the Erotic Couplings, it's DreamCloud's 2014 story The Beach House, with 1.86 MILLION views.

 

[OddLove]

First, who's crying?

Second, then you admit that you are writing for applause and high fives, and you are writing more to not be hated that to be liked. There's nothing wrong with that. You really don't want more people to enjoy your work, you'd rather have less people tell you that they didn't like it. The proof is in your own statements. I'm not supposing anything.

You know, you linger around like a rotten egg fart, and you just keep popping up and replying to me in just about every thread I’ve posted in. It's weird.

And since you insist on playing this “Here’s what you really think and believe” game, I’m going play too.

The only reason you’re trying to claim I ‘protect my scores’ and 'only write for applause' is because you’re insecure about your low scores. So you want to hand wave and devalue my high scores, which means, ironically, you care about the scores more than I do. Which is why everything you're saying is obvious and desperate projection.

These little tantrums of yours are convenient masks for you, ones that lies, "I don't care about applause and high scores." and "I only have low scores because I don't protect them like others with high scores." and "I just have low scores because I get 1-star bombed for being too 'real' in the forums."

All coping mechanisms.

Sad.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

All right, whatever. (shrug)

 

[RejectReality]

I'm talking about the readership of the board, not individual stories.

On Tuesday, the Mature board got only four stories. Almost 27k views between them over the last 54 hours, but only four stories. The Anal board got only 2 stories, which total a bit less than 10k views during that period.

Same day, Erotic Couplings got 22 new stories. Total views between them is a bit north of 53k. The board sees more traffic than Mature and Anal combined, and it's not close. But divided as it is among more than triple the submissions of those two boards combined, there are a lot of stories that just vanish without a trace on Erotic Couplings. You're competing for a lot of eyeballs, but you're competing with a LOT more writers for those eyeballs.

Edit: I should probably add that "winning" on the high traffic boards represents a level of winning that the medium and low traffic boards can't match. If you look at the stories from the first page of the toplists with the most votes, for Mature it's our own Lovecraft68's Home is Where the Heart Is, a story from 2012 with a very respectable 953k views. On the Erotic Couplings, it's DreamCloud's 2014 story The Beach House, with 1.86 MILLION views.

And if you go back to the 2nd, Mature gets about 73k on 7 stories, while EC gets 77k on 23. Go back to the 1st and it's Mature with 70k on 12 stories and EC 76k on 29 stories. ( Just quick eyeball addition on those view numbers )

A certain percentage of those views are always going to be bots and spiders, and the more stories there are, the more that accumulates, so EC takes another hit there as far as combined views.

EC is not a high traffic category, and telling anyone it is does them a disservice. The readership is transient. The content is a grab-bag. It is always overloaded because it's a default for "I don't know where this fits". If it's a choice between EC and another appropriate category, pretty much any other category is a better choice to get eyes on your work.

It's the bargain bin. A bunch of people may rifle through it, but that doesn't mean they're buying, and yours may be buried on the bottom. Put it on the shelf in the appropriate section, and it's always going to get picked up more often.

 

[RocketGrunt]

I mean, you're sort of making the point for me, right? EC has more total views spread across more total stories than any of the other categories except Taboo/Incest and Loving Wives. It is an over-saturated category, but the total viewers is near the top and the top stories in the category get almost double the views of the top stories in categories like Mature.

1.86 Million is a lot of views, even for something 12 years old. It's not Incest numbers, but it's very high. The problem with putting things in EC is that it is an over-saturated category, and some of the stories just don't get read at all. I would not recommend posting to EC because of the substantial chance of getting lost. The effects of being one of the stories that doesn't end up on the first page of the new releases on the day it comes out are BRUTAL, and you have absolutely no control over that.

But the total number of viewers is large, and the stories that win really do win very hard and get seen by more people than anything but the but the big two.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

spread across more total stories

This is the killer. There are tons of submissions and relatively low eyeballs overall, so per submission the eyeballs are low.

It's the only 'major' category that no one actively searches.

If someone is looking for mom/son, they go straight to incest.
If someone is looking for BBC, they go straight to interracial.
If someone is looking for cuckold, they go straight to LW.
If someone is looking for exhibitionism or nudism, they go straight to E/V.
If someone is looking for anal ... you get the picture.

Pretty much nobody is specifically looking for vanilla, and most of those who might be, probably go to romance first. So EC gets most of its hits from the new lists but since EC is such a grab bag, the new list there rolls over quickly (very quickly, like 1 or 2 days) so the exposure time sucks. Top it off with lack of people actively searching the category, you end up with a graveyard. It is the worst category on lit for exposure. My L&T story gets 2 or 3 times the action that my EC stories do, 2 years dead.