Is it just me?

[AmericanWench]

And another thing...

It seems to me, watching the ratings rise and fall on different stories, that if one seems to be doing really well, have have an "H" on it...people go and give it a low vote. It doesn't happen on all of them, but I've seen it happen to some.
I guess it may be true, on average, however, that if you keep on writing, and people start seeing you, and getting to know your work, they will give you high votes.

Just my two cents worth here...

 

[FlyontheWall99]

I haven't made any submissions myself yet, but I have noticed that a very well-written story I quite enjoyed has suddenly tumbled way down in the rankings, yet an overly long, amateurish story is still near the top. I think that's rather a shame since I'm sure many people read off the top list and when a story has been knocked way down the list it is less likely to be read. It does make a gal wonder about the motives of some of the people voting here.

E-

Actually from an author of twelve currently posted stories I can tell you that you're not the only one who notices the strange happenings of the top boards. I have had a two part story in the top ten of one particular top list, and they stayed there with very healthy ratings for close to two months.

Low and behold I went away without checking into Lit for a month, doing some writing, and I come back and look at my control panel and notice that both stories have been knocked down about 0.20 of a point. Both stories when I left had 80+ votes over the two month period that they were in the top list. Now I'm not usally one for conspiracy theories but it makes me wonder about who was voting so heavily to cause such a downturn in rating. Both stories were no longer on the new list, so normally I've found the reader numbers and votes dry up after that. So I can only think that someone was guarding their cabbage patch above or below me ....

Oh yeah, during this month that my ratings took a hack I never got one piece of feedback over those two stories, so how I can ever know what was wrong with them two months later, I'll never know .....

Back to writing ....

Fly ....

 

[destinie21]

Re: voting

personally, if I think a story deserves less than a 3 I don't vote, I send some feedback by e-mail. Of course, this could be counter-productive, since a writer might ignore the feedback, and only look at the number on the voting. But that's just me.

I do that to. I'm not out to trash people just to be helpful. Also if they don't take heed and I see their stories again after two or three bad or not so good stories I just don't read them.
Also anytime I send feedback I try to make it a good or
bad(constructive) I try to be more specific than I like or hated the story. Since I also write I know this type of feedback is counter-productive. When I get those I have no idea why people like/or hate it so I can't do the good more and avoid the bad.

 

[Jenny _S]

Re: Re: voting

I do that to. I'm not out to trash people just to be helpful. Also if they don't take heed and I see their stories again after two or three bad or not so good stories I just don't read them.
Also anytime I send feedback I try to make it a good or
bad(constructive) I try to be more specific than I like or hated the story. Since I also write I know this type of feedback is counter-productive. When I get those I have no idea why people like/or hate it so I can't do the good more and avoid the bad.

Agreed. It is so much harder to offer positive feedback to the author than it is to trash their story. Some of the atrocious stories I have critiqued have been difficult almost to the point of impossible when it comes to finding something positive to say. I do it quite often, anyway just to give the newbies a little help.

Trashing a story does no one any good. For the most part it will be ignored with the author thinking you are a complete idiot. If I have negative feedback or feeback that the author may feel embarrassed about, I always do it in the privacy of a PM or E-Mail with my return address.

The other option is: <BACK BUTTON>

Who said the reader has to read a story they didn't care for anyway.

 

[destinie21]

I'm always surprised by the reader who says I hated your story you're sick. You make me want to vomit. (or anything of the like)
if the put their email in (which is rare) I always send them a reply suggesting that they visit the BDSM area since they're obviously masochistic and probably sadistic since the point of the feedback was to humiliate me.
lol

 

[FlyontheWall99]

Re: And another thing...

It seems to me, watching the ratings rise and fall on different stories, that if one seems to be doing really well, have have an "H" on it...people go and give it a low vote. It doesn't happen on all of them, but I've seen it happen to some.
I guess it may be true, on average, however, that if you keep on writing, and people start seeing you, and getting to know your work, they will give you high votes.

Just my two cents worth here...

I agree to a large part. I have seen that happen in my own circumstances, but I've also had the reverse happen with one of my stories. It was rating just under 4.5 after the first month on site and didn't get the "H" next to it's name. But over the next five weeks it gradually built up over the 4.5 mark. So it does apparently happen in the opposite way, there are some nice readers out there who will boost up a flagging story .....

On the idea that you get better results the more you publish. I agree, before I went on a one month break I had put up stories at a frantic rate and noticed I got more votes and better than that, more feedback, and I got some feedback for the same readers reading a number of my stories. That is what makes it worth it, when you get "loyal" readers who give good honest feedback ....

Back to writing ....

Fly ....

 

[AmericanWench]

Re: Re: And another thing...

I agree to a large part. I have seen that happen in my own circumstances, but I've also had the reverse happen with one of my stories. It was rating just under 4.5 after the first month on site and didn't get the "H" next to it's name. But over the next five weeks it gradually built up over the 4.5 mark. So it does apparently happen in the opposite way, there are some nice readers out there who will boost up a flagging story .....


Fly ....

I find that very interesting! I would think, that if your story hasn't gotten good, or any ratings in the first couple of weeks, that it would not be read much at all after that. Being there are so many new stories coming on every day, and so many on the site, as a whole. I am glad to know that people read the stories, even after they are not "new" anymore..thanks for that info!

 

[FlyontheWall99]

Re: Re: Re: And another thing...

I find that very interesting! I would think, that if your story hasn't gotten good, or any ratings in the first couple of weeks, that it would not be read much at all after that. Being there are so many new stories coming on every day, and so many on the site, as a whole. I am glad to know that people read the stories, even after they are not "new" anymore..thanks for that info!

I've also noticed that after my most recent three parter that a story I had written a good eight weeks before in the same genre also got a good spike in votes and readers, so there are some nice readers out there who do develop a following to your work.

I was actually quite shocked that the story in question rated lower than my normal standard because I thought it was my best effort yet. But I'm not complaining now because it's rating has picked up about 0.20 in the ratings over the time it has spent after the new list ....

Back to writing ....

Fly ....

 

[Submissive Susan]

Votes and feedback

Keep in mind there are thousands if not tens of thousands of readers who will go through every story and give them a "one" for the sole purpose of being an ass. I've also received a couple of really negative comments not about how good or bad the story was, but the direction it took. (Such as a wife giving in to somebody other than he husband) Even had one go into politics, being a Bush basher. Go figure! One person sent me an e-mail and said he was giving me a one simply because the story involved a cheating wife. Hang in there!!

 

[StryWrter7]

Re: Votes and feedback

Keep in mind there are thousands if not tens of thousands of readers who will go through every story and give them a "one" for the sole purpose of being an ass. I've also received a couple of really negative comments not about how good or bad the story was, but the direction it took. (Such as a wife giving in to somebody other than he husband) Even had one go into politics, being a Bush basher. Go figure! One person sent me an e-mail and said he was giving me a one simply because the story involved a cheating wife. Hang in there!!

I just came back to this site after not posting stories for several months.
I had a number of good stories that good both good reviews, and email.
then I did one that I thought was humorous and exotic about a husband who got pussy whipped by his wife and her best friend. I took a LOT of hate mail over that one. I didn't understand why. It caused me to ignore this site for some time. But now I am back. I just did a new story (will be out in a few days) and I would like to tell this writer to hang in there too

 

[falcon29]

I haven't read any of your stories yet, but you have to remember that everybody who joins this site is not a writer. As in other areas of the media, critics abound.

I think the least valuable people in the world are critics. I'm speaking of those people who work for the media who only read works by authors, go to see movies and otherwise partake of work of others without producing any of their own.

I cannot imagine the ego it takes to produce a parasite that believes his opinion should matter to the "great unwashed" (i.e. everybody that doesn't think the way he does). Gene Shalit, Roger Ebert, and any others of their ilk aren't worthy to kiss the ass of anybody who actually produces something in any medium for others to (hopefully) enjoy.

Who are they to tell us what is good and what is not? You've no doubt heard the old joke about "opinions are like assholes: everyone has one and they all stink!"

On the other hand, there is constructive criticism. Heed the critiques by other writers if you have read their work and what they tell you is borne out in their own work. Just ignore everything else. Also, remind yourself why you write. Are you writing for yourself? Are you writing to see if what you write appeals to others? Are you thinking about publishing a volume of erotic stories or an erotic novel?

These are concerns you should address before being worried about what kind of feedback you get.