Frustrated with my story ratings

[pink_silk_glove]

with flat characters

(Looks at your avatar - blinks)

 

[Melon_Morph]

(Looks at your avatar - blinks)

maybe not that kind of flat

 

[intim8]

It's like people see the high ratings and want to see what all the fuss is about, then get snooty about it not being up to their heightened expectations, and they can't leave well enough alone, so they start lowering the ratings by a mile. And it's really discouraging and kills my motivation.


Clearly, the first people to read my works are the ones who have shared interests. Everyone else? They just want to see me fail, they don't care about the content.

I know you're just tired and depressed and ranting, so have at it. We all need it sometimes. But if you mean it, know that blaming the readers will put you in a downard spiral

Clear your head by whatever your favorite method, then go try again after a few days or whatever. You can get better at this with more practice. Or if the stuff you really want to write is actually too strange for this place (if so, I want to see that unicorn), then just don't look at the voting. Or turn it off when you submit.

 

[intim8]

Its clear that the quality of writing, creativity, etc. is not particularly correlated with ratings on this site.

That's clearly not true. It's a loose correlation, but it is correlated.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

That's clearly not true. It's a loose correlation, but it is correlated.

Nahh, not enough to be measurable, except maybe ... MAYBE, in N/N - a little bit.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Give it time and keep writing. The longer you stick to it, the more followers you pick up. Their votes will steadily erode the power of the malicious and "meh" votes — including on existing stories.

"Followers" is a strange metric. It can be very wide but very shallow. Often they have dozens or hundreds of favorite authors and stories. One can have 180 followers but get six votes. Nice to have them, I suppose, but their attention can vary a lot.

 

[Priscilla_June]

I 100% identify with all the things you have outlined as frustrations. In my two years here I have run the gambit on these emotions and questioned exactly what it is that I am doing here. What I had to come to terms with is the fact that I needed to write for me. I always pursued that Red H, which is a fleeting thing because no matter what or when it can be taken away by someone who just does not align with your story.

A lot of the times, people here rate based on their likes and desires for a story, not its qualities. Was it a sweet story but you slipped in a slapping fetish? 1/5 Stars. It happens, I like to play to more dark themes and less than happy endings for the story, it doesnt do well with most, especially if it is a twist.

Bottom line 2 things:
1) this is a porn site and majority of people vote based on how it played to their fetish or getting off.
2) write like you are the only one reading it.

Do you boo-boo.

 

[SmokingFap]

EDIT: Thank you for all the responses. Had never posted here before, so was a bit scared in case I incurred the wrath of the forum. lol. I'll read your replies fully later and reply when I can.

---

I've only posted 2 stories so far, but both times they received 4's to start, which made me feel motivated to keep writing. I'd have ideas in my head already, and I'd be excited to— and then the 3's start swarming in. It's like people see the high ratings and want to see what all the fuss is about, then get snooty about it not being up to their heightened expectations, and they can't leave well enough alone, so they start lowering the ratings by a mile. And it's really discouraging and kills my motivation.

Also sucks considering that in the case of my 1st story, there was a long stretch where it maintained a high rating, then only after a while did the ratings plummet. It's like, come on, just let me have this.

Clearly, the first people to read my works are the ones who have shared interests. Everyone else? They just want to see me fail, they don't care about the content.

I never was an erotica writer, to be honest. I'm a poet who dabbles in flash fiction and some longer works of prose. When it comes to my stories here, I want to capture an experience, a moment, just like in my regular writings. But I guess people don't like that here. I guess they want something super long to jack/jill off to. I also have a super niche fetish most people seem to find bizarre and don't understand, so that probably works against me, too, if they can't relate. But that still shouldn't be a reason to just tank my ratings.

I dunno. I'm tired and depressed and thought I'd found an outlet here. Guess not :\

Just write what you like for yourself. You can't please everyone. Seriously, why care about a bunch of anonymous random people's opinions? Especially when they're just star ratings. I've only published four stories on here so far. They seem to have done pretty well, but I'm not posting them for positive affirmation about my writing abilities. They're stories that I had written for myself over the years in spiral-bound notebooks. Basically just customized jerk-off material for myself. I finally decided that maybe other people might like getting off to them, too. That's the only reason I'm bothering to transcribe them from my notebooks.

 

[gunhilltrain]

If it were possible to get a 5.1, I think that would do it.

Are you thinking of the Spinal Tap "it goes to eleven" thread we had recently?

 

[gunhilltrain]

Eminem’s Lose Yourself is a great motivational song for me. And true in every word.

Might as well play the song. And with Lit, every day brings a new opportunity.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

Are you thinking of the Spinal Tap "it goes to eleven" thread we had recently?

Oh that one is titled, "Lick my Love Pump".

 

[gunhilltrain]

Oh that one is titled, "Lick my Love Pump".

 

[SimonDoom]

First, your experience, and your reaction, are not at all unusual. Old timers are still trying to figure out the mysteries of Literotica readers and what they do and don't like. So before you get too discouraged, take a deep breath and realize that many of us have experienced the disappointment of wondering why our wonderful story didn't score higher. I have.

Second, once you've taken that deep breath, put things in perspective. Figure out what you are trying to achieve here.

You cannot please everybody at Literotica, but it's a big place, with a huge diversity of reading and writing tastes, and if you do what you want to do and you do it well you're likely to attract at least some fans of your work. That's much more important than a numerical score. Depending on what you write, scores are influenced by many factors that have nothing to do with quality: the category, the length, whether your story conforms to the orthodoxy expected within a category, etc.

You've written two stories that by Literotica standards are short and also are published in two categories with relatively low numbers of readers. I get on average about 1 vote for every 90 views. If your story has 2000 views, it probably has somewhere around 18 votes. All it takes is a handful of random nasty downvoters to torpedo your score. Many of us get random nasty downvoters. It's par for the course.

Just keep writing and don't focus too much on scores. Focus on your own enjoyment and trying to reach those readers who like what you write. Don't worry about those who don't--after all, you don't write to satisfy those who don't like what you do.

 

[RejectReality]

"Followers" is a strange metric. It can be very wide but very shallow. Often they have dozens or hundreds of favorite authors and stories. One can have 180 followers but get six votes. Nice to have them, I suppose, but their attention can vary a lot.

As long as you keep producing — even a little — you're always picking up new ones who are active. Continuing to share your stories is the strongest vaccination there is against troll votes.

( Until you have enough that you start making the toplists. Then you start the cycle all over again until you have enough regular readers to overcome the additional troll votes that arise from the toplists LOL )

 

[AndNowWeRun]

Don't be too disappointed.

I just quickly skimmed both stories - the first thing to say is that they are both very short. The conventional wisdom here is that longer stories score better, not necessarily because people thing they are better, but because the people who don't like them stop reading.

Secondly, humour is a tough category - it doesn't have a shared fetish for people to rally round and people have very different senses of humour. And while you final line did make me chuckle, as you say yourself, you have a particularly strange fetish that is as likely to confuse people as it is to excite.

Remember with a score of over 3 it is mathmatically the case that more people liked your story than disliked it. There's a feeling here on the AH that a story has to be over 4.0 to be a success (and ideally over 4.5). That's not always the case, some stories are like marmite - not for everyone and they will get downvoted, but others wil still enjoy it.

That's an interesting insight about some stories being like marmite. I guess there is value in that. Also, I don't personally think my fetish is strange, only that others unfortunately do. I never quite understood this because of certain other fetishes out there (not to call out or shame), and I feel like there's plenty of logic in my own. I try my best to hint at some of this logic in my stories without resorting to proselytizing, so that at the very least people can start to see it from my point-of-view and find that it isn't strange at all.

I'm sorry if I sound bratty, it's just frustrating to be an outlier.

Makes me wish I could just declare, 'I LIKE BOOBIES!' and be done with it

 

[AndNowWeRun]

Yes, this.

But, I'm also going to agree with some of the others. Readers are looking to be entertained for an hour or so, not five minutes. Your story length is hurting you. I realize you're trying to capture an experience, a moment, as you say, but the average reader is looking for more. We have a 750 word challenge that happens every year, that we as writers, enjoy. But we do it knowing the readers are gonna be less than thrilled with something so short, and vote accordingly. If you decide to try something longer, shoot for 5-12K, IMHO.

Yes, that makes sense. I have written very long stories in the past. Hell, I even wrote a novel that will never see the light of day. It's just that I've been going through difficult times and haven't the energy or motivation to write something that long. I was foolishly hoping that maybe if people here like my shorter works, I could use that as a launching off point to start going longer with it.

Now I'm starting to see the right approach was actually to just say F it and write as I like. I'll still try to write longer stories, I do want to, but I'll work on making my own motivation instead.

 

[AndNowWeRun]

I just read "The Night I Met Myself", and I think you're writing is at the very least competent. Better by far than quite a few stories I've read down the years.

I agree with @TheRedChamber that length is probably the big issue. You begin with an intriguing concept, you give us some build-up and then... the sex scene is undercooked. Readers want it blow by blow. They want to see your narrator's lips exploring flesh, read about the metallic taste of her doppelganger's skin, share her excitement as the doppelganger's fingers excite the nerve endings in her skin...

I've only been publishing stories here for a year or so, and I remember the excitement of writing and wanting to get to the end to publish it. I remember feeling a bit embarrassed whenever I added more detail. Writing erotica can be an intensely personal experience. But trust me, if you can find the patience, and tap into that excitement, your readers will love it.

There was a bit on Mock the Week once, in the "If that's the answer, what's the question?" segment, where the answer was something like "Twelve minutes". One of the suggested questions was, "When a man says he's going to make love to you all night long, what does he really mean?"

That's what it feels like if you write erotica but gloss over the sex. Your readers want you to make good on your promise to make love to them all night long.

That's understandable. I appreciate the thought. I guess for me, personally, coming from a poetry and flash fiction background, vague tends to do better for my audience than super elaborate, so I guess I'll just chalk that one up to different audience expectations.

 

[AndNowWeRun]

Don’t get discouraged. Keep writing what you believe is the right way to tell your story.
Remember that most of those voting haven't written Jack shit.

If the only reason you're writing here is for the ratings, then you are doomed to disappointment.

If you write elsewhere you should already be accustomed to criticism; you cannot be all things to all people, and sometimes you can't save all the puppies.

Write for yourself and treat the positive comments and ratings as a nice, unexpected, unanticipated bonus.

Give it time and keep writing. The longer you stick to it, the more followers you pick up. Their votes will steadily erode the power of the malicious and "meh" votes — including on existing stories.

Two stories is too small a portfolio to despair over, too small to create a following. You have to hang in longer than five minutes.

Don't give up now; you're just getting rolling. I haven't read all of the posts here yet, but scores are highly unpredictable. Do you like what you've done so far? That's what's important. I got a 2.5 (two votes!) on a story, but I like it anyway.

Incest/taboo will get a lot of views for sure, as I found out recently (it's a stepmom!). I changed the trope mentioned above by having her driving a moving van through the Nevada desert. Sometimes an idea seems original if it's actually more realistic in the sense that there is a reason for it happening.

First, your experience, and your reaction, are not at all unusual. Old timers are still trying to figure out the mysteries of Literotica readers and what they do and don't like. So before you get too discouraged, take a deep breath and realize that many of us have experienced the disappointment of wondering why our wonderful story didn't score higher. I have.

Second, once you've taken that deep breath, put things in perspective. Figure out what you are trying to achieve here.

You cannot please everybody at Literotica, but it's a big place, with a huge diversity of reading and writing tastes, and if you do what you want to do and you do it well you're likely to attract at least some fans of your work. That's much more important than a numerical score. Depending on what you write, scores are influenced by many factors that have nothing to do with quality: the category, the length, whether your story conforms to the orthodoxy expected within a category, etc.

You've written two stories that by Literotica standards are short and also are published in two categories with relatively low numbers of readers. I get on average about 1 vote for every 90 views. If your story has 2000 views, it probably has somewhere around 18 votes. All it takes is a handful of random nasty downvoters to torpedo your score. Many of us get random nasty downvoters. It's par for the course.

Just keep writing and don't focus too much on scores. Focus on your own enjoyment and trying to reach those readers who like what you write. Don't worry about those who don't--after all, you don't write to satisfy those who don't like what you do.

Thank you, everyone, for your insight, wisdom and encouragement. I genuinely appreciate it.

 

[gunhilltrain]

That's an interesting insight about some stories being like marmite. I guess there is value in that. Also, I don't personally think my fetish is strange, only that others unfortunately do. I never quite understood this because of certain other fetishes out there (not to call out or shame), and I feel like there's plenty of logic in my own. I try my best to hint at some of this logic in my stories without resorting to proselytizing, so that at the very least people can start to see it from my point-of-view and find that it isn't strange at all.

I'm sorry if I sound bratty, it's just frustrating to be an outlier.

Makes me wish I could just declare, 'I LIKE BOOBIES!' and be done with it

Marmite: isn't that British? I've never seen it in America. Anyway, kinks, fetishes - maybe we should just call them "interests." Most of us here have some of those. On Lit, I found out that some interests which I thought were rare are actually so common that they barely qualify as a "fetish." Within the rules of the site, there is nothing that is truly "strange." (Well, I don't understand adults wearing diapers, but I've seen plenty of that on some sites! )

 

[AchtungNight]

Marmite: isn't that British? I've never seen it in America. Anyway, kinks, fetishes - maybe we should just call them "interests." Most of us here have some of those. On Lit, I found out that some interests which I thought were rare are actually so common that they barely qualify as a "fetish." Within the rules of the site, there is nothing that is truly "strange." (Well, I don't understand adults wearing diapers, but I've seen plenty of that on some sites! )

Google the Gondwara Family. They’re one of several Yakuza groups that are allied with the good guys in my fictional universe.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Yes, that makes sense. I have written very long stories in the past. Hell, I even wrote a novel that will never see the light of day. It's just that I've been going through difficult times and haven't the energy or motivation to write something that long. I was foolishly hoping that maybe if people here like my shorter works, I could use that as a launching off point to start going longer with it.

Now I'm starting to see the right approach was actually to just say F it and write as I like. I'll still try to write longer stories, I do want to, but I'll work on making my own motivation instead.

There is a great deal of back and forth on here about story lengths. Some people refer to post individual chapters (a "series") rather than a single 40 K word story. The problem I've had with series is that sometimes I start them with no idea of how to finish them. Yer about 10 K words (or even less) is where I would usually break for a new chapter.

 

[gunhilltrain]

That's understandable. I appreciate the thought. I guess for me, personally, coming from a poetry and flash fiction background, vague tends to do better for my audience than super elaborate, so I guess I'll just chalk that one up to different audience expectations.

That's another thing that is discussed here. A lot of stories here prefer a "vague" or generic setting. Some of my stories can be followed on Google maps, but that is not always necessary.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Google the Gondwara Family. They’re one of several Yakuza groups that are allied with the good guys in my fictional universe.

"Shows no mercy to anyone who fails to recognize him as a baby." Seems unwise to get on his bad side.

 

[AndNowWeRun]

Marmite: isn't that British? I've never seen it in America. Anyway, kinks, fetishes - maybe we should just call them "interests." Most of us here have some of those. On Lit, I found out that some interests which I thought were rare are actually so common that they barely qualify as a "fetish." Within the rules of the site, there is nothing that is truly "strange." (Well, I don't understand adults wearing diapers, but I've seen plenty of that on some sites! )

It is, but I personally prefer a Branston pickle. lol. Anyway, thanks for that bit of positivity x

 

[AndNowWeRun]

There is a great deal of back and forth on here about story lengths. Some people refer to post individual chapters (a "series") rather than a single 40 K word story. The problem I've had with series is that sometimes I start them with no idea of how to finish them. Yer about 10 K words (or even less) is where I would usually break for a new chapter.

I see, thanks for the advice. I have seen suuuuper long single-post stories here, and it was a bit overwhelming to me, personally, even if I can see the convenience of having it all in one place right from the jump. Writing-wise, I'd also probably find a series more manageable.