How do you people survive?

[Rob_Royale]

When does that happen?

Well I suppose it might depend on the person. In your case, maybe never.

 

[VallesMarineris]

Ah, not just me, then.

The current rating system is badly flawed. I'm thinking or starting a thread with a proposal for an improved system that could be implemented with minimal coding. 99% chance it will be ignored, but it will feel good to get it off my chest.

Also, I like your stuff, @AlinaX, and I'm slowly working my way through your substantial oeuvre. You only get 5s from me. Are we going to see a new Zar chapter soon?

 

[AlinaX]

There needs to be further chapters, but I'm still searching for a core idea that brings all the threads together.

 

[Voboy]

The current rating system is badly flawed. I'm thinking or starting a thread with a proposal for an improved system that could be implemented with minimal coding. 99% chance it will be ignored, but it will feel good to get it off my chest.

Ooof.

I'd suggest tempering your expectations. A lot of threads over the years have been started with that exact topic and noble intentions, but they often end up being vey divisive.

Proceed with caution.

 

[orangecurious]

I did log in this morning for the usual expectation of disappointment, but my new story was published and someone added it as a favourite... I check the ratings, but have given up hoping for the magic red H for the ones that are missing, they have stalled and are not getting any votes now, too old ad jaded, like me.

If you are used to good ratings, then it is a bit disappointing when they don't happen, but sometimes the timing is wrong - or other excuses can be used... but then i will just sit in the corner and sob.

 

[VallesMarineris]

There needs to be further chapters, but I'm still searching for a core idea that brings all the threads together.

I thought the core idea was blindingly obvious: golden to moonsilver to ???. Since you're progression is heading downward from the noble metals, let me suggest studsteel or bullbronze, maybe even wineoak. I'm sure you can come up with something more mystical. Not my strong suit.

 

[AlinaX]

Well, sungold and moonsilver are recurring themes, but I'm currently puzzling over the fate of Zo from the Vale sequence, the founding of the Farm from the Maze sequence, the establishment of Torduhn from the Zar sequence, and how exactly to defeat (or not) the Three Witches from the Perliss sequence.

If, however, you're only interested in the fate of Zar herself, see Ch. 03 of The Ring of Perliss.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Doesn't matter what the rating is. I released the latest chapter of my new series three days ago. The series has been getting very good ratings. Yesterday the new chapter was at 5.0 stars with 17 ratings. Awesome! (I appear to have a small but discerning group of loyal fans.)

Now today it's at 4.8 after 20 ratings and my first thought was, "Grr! What bunch of jerks gave it low ratings? Did someone 1-bomb me?" And no comments.

It’s close to impossible to maintain a perfect rating - unless you are publishing in some backwater with very few votes being placed. I know there are exceptions, but (ignoring the malicious) there are two things happening:

1. Readers use their votes in different ways - for some a 4 is a big thumbs up and they reserve 5 for only the truly exceptional. It’s not an irrational approach.
2. If enough people read your story, it’s inevitable that someone will find something to dislike. It could be they hate the plot, or your writing style. Equally it could be that a kink you include offends them. Or your FMC shares a name with their ex-wife. Particularly in low-traffic categories, a single 1 vote has a massive effect.

Beyond that, some readers are so egalitarian that they go through any highly rated new stories and make sure that their scores get pulled back into the herd. I hate to say it, but I suspect some authors are in this group, jealously is a very human emotion.

Then you get assholery - where people didn’t like one thing you wrote (or something you said on a forum) and dedicatedly go and down vote your entire portfolio.

Comps also bring out bad behavior - 1 bombs are more prevalent (in my experience) on comp stories. Whether this is the extra exposure, or - sad to suggest - vote manipulation by disgruntled or overly competitive authors, is hard to say.

A lot of the above will get swept away by Laurel and Manu’s magic routines, but not all. And it’s important to accept that someone (maybe multiple people) will have a lower opinion of our work than we have ourselves.

I used to get stressed about it. It used to feel personal. Now I’m more zen. I’m happy about my own writing most of the time and ratings are much less important to me than they used to be.

If someone wants to rain on my parade, that’s OK. I can’t stop them and I now refuse to let it get to me. All of it, the good and the bad, is just opinions. It’s not like a high rating is indicative of some intrinsic quality. It’s just what a bunch of people thought. And, demonstrably, people think all kinds of weird shit.

Emily

 

[THBGato]

4.80 and up - TROLL BAIT!! (reset to 4.6 and start again.)

This makes me think I'm never going to talk about my ratings again.-

I did log in this morning for the usual expectation of disappointment, but my new story was published and someone added it as a favourite... I check the ratings, but have given up hoping for the magic red H for the ones that are missing, they have stalled and are not getting any votes now, too old ad jaded, like me.

Just had a look at your ratings. They are insanely good. Well done!

 

[orangecurious]

Just had a look at your ratings. They are insanely good. Well done!

yes, there is some insanity there! Thank you.

 

[Voboy]

I used to get stressed about it. It used to feel personal. Now I’m more zen. I’m happy about my own writing most of the time and ratings are much less important to me than they used to be.

Yep. The sooner you get to this point, OP, the better your Lit experience is likely to be.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Yep. The sooner you get to this point, OP, the better your Lit experience is likely to be.

Agree 100%

Emily

 

[VallesMarineris]

It’s close to impossible to maintain a perfect rating

Understood. My reply to the thread OP was to give them some perspective, that it doesn't matter if you're at 2.8 or 3.8 or 4.8, the emotional rollercoaster produces the same stomach churn.

I'll keep in mind your warning that the high nail gets pounded down.

 

[EmilyMiller]

I'll keep in mind your warning that the high nail gets pounded down.

Yeah - happens all the time

Emily

 

[Cool88]

Hi all,

Let me start with a little background. For years I've been writing erotic fiction for myself. I don't know how much I get off on it, actually. I just like sex and I like to fantasize about sex and when I fantasize about sex, Poof!, I've forgotten that asshole at work who doesn't understand how much more valid my ideas are than his.

This eventually got overly problematic because I would start obsessing a fantasy, it would clutter my mind. So, I started writing it down. It cleared my mind, I created the next fantasy cause, goddammit, Harold, I'm right! Ten+ years (I dunno, this is laptop #3) pass and I'm about 1000+ pages into what, if it had been about socially acceptable stuff, could have been a trilogy. A hack trilogy, no doubt, but better than the work of that dude I know who self-published. I have like fifty characters and I've run out of ideas. It also doesn't meet criteria for this website.

So, I start a couple of new stories, and expand on them as is my habit. All this time, I check in to this site to read a couple of things in my area of kink. Y'know, occasinally.

One day, I'm, like, I should publish on literotica. That would be hot, like an exhibitionist thing. I go through the FAQ's meticulously to make certain I know what I'm doing because, gods know, I am totally in the closet about writing erotic fiction (my partner knows and occasionally gets to read it but, nevermind).

I choose a suitable chapter, form at it (hmm, need to have actual line breaks between paragraphs) and hit the publish button. I wonder how many people will read it and get around to checking on it. HOLY FUCK! Ten thousand people read my story! And, shit, they have me in the 4.2 range. I am a literary genius! Seriously, It was quite the rush and, I have to admit, I did not expect this. I thought it would be a lark, that I would be cool, not care. Suddenly, I'm checking my phone twice a day for numbers, updates on my readership, my score, and, sweet gold, comments.

Well, hold on kiddos, daddy's got a shitload more where that came from! Maybe I could adapt my original big story? Nah, won't work. Still, I have, what, 20, 30 chapters hanging around. I publish another, one of my newer chapters. It gets a 'H' rating! Oh, gods, I'm truly amazing! I should write a book about, um, something, um, something besides sex. Maybe I won't be able to quit my job but at least I won't need to self-publish; I'll get a real publisher.

First, I need to give my adoring fans another morsel of WHAT THEY CRAVE! Which is my writing! I should tell the moderator to fast track this one! Where's the button that tells them I'm the gods' gift to erotic fiction? Don't they already know? I drop another chapter; will this one surpass my previous hot one?. I barely sleep and, as is my habit, grab my phone almost before my glasses the next morning. But, instead of my usual doom scrolling, I go straight to my works section. 3.88???? WHAT THE EVERLASTING FUCK? What did I do wrong? Did I have the wrong tags? Was it too short? Did I miss the mark of the appropriate level of kink? There's some bisexual stuff; does that turn people off? Won't somebody comment on it and tell me what I did wrong?

I know what they want, I know what they want. They want more of this thing in my mind. I start steaming and hammer out a quick story and, hardly edited, drop it in. Maybe this will work better. UNDER 4? (It's been published for like an hour at this time. Luckily, I'm checking my "Works" dashboard every fucking hour so I don't miss it.) Useful comments come in. "Dude, it's rushed." That's true. I rushed it. I wanted that sweet shot of endorphins from seeing that level 4 rating. I really wanted another "H." Calm down. Longer, better edited, different category. How many people read this category? That one? Maybe one of the tags brought in a bunch of haters from another category. I need to edit that other one, warn them that it might not meet their expectations, so they can drift past instead of dropping my rating. TWO WEEKS FOR AN EDIT?! Okay, be cool, be cool. I'm sitting on over 150 pages of usable stuff. Maybe I need to develop the characters better. More detail? Like, just draw it out? Make it more realistic? Do I have the camera angle right? More metaphors? Less metaphors?

I pull up two more chapters. I edit them TWICE for content, separated by a couple of days so I can get a fresh perspective. While my hand did shake, I did not have an actual panic attack when I submitted them. Now I await my fate. I should wait a day to see if they've been published. That's what a sane person would do instead of, y'know, having a browser window open to my works dashboard on every fucking device I own.

So, um, how do the rest of you handle these feelings?

So does anybody get paid for anything that is published on here ??

 

[MillieDynamite]

Not on here. It's a free site to publish (they don't charge us to do so) and free for the readers.

So does anybody get paid for anything that is published on here ??

 

[lustychimera]

Whether this is the extra exposure, or - sad to suggest - vote manipulation by disgruntled or overly competitive authors, is hard to say.

Granted, I'm not very technologically savvy, but wouldn't Manu and Laurel know exactly what devices those votes are coming from, and by extension, exactly what accounts are associated with those devices? So even as anonymous votes, seems like Manu and Laurel would know exactly which author is upvoting their own stories or downvoting other peoples—if that was their thing. And it also seems like it'd be weird if they didn't have a list.

I wonder if that's what their magic sweep is.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Personal VPNs mask your computer and allow you to change where you're voting from. Using browsers that clear their history and cookies would allow them to make a lot of votes within a few minutes. Cheaters are gonna cheat, angry trolls will find a way, but this too shall pass. The more devesting votes (Since seemingly one votes are out of character on some tales get swept) are the 3 and 4 that keep you just out of the H.

Granted, I'm not very technologically savvy, but wouldn't Manu and Laurel know exactly what devices those votes are coming from, and by extension, exactly what accounts are associated with those devices? So even as anonymous votes, seems like Manu and Laurel would know exactly which author is upvoting their own stories or downvoting other peoples—if that was their thing. And it also seems like it'd be weird if they didn't have a list.

I wonder if that's what their magic sweep is.