"One Night in XXX” Story Event: Official Support Thread

[NotWise]

Rescatoor's comment does raise the question whether an event is worth the effort, from the site's point of view, if it's not going to be given more visibility. As it is, with this event, Rescatoor is right that there's almost no visibility for this event from the average reader's point of view.

Maybe that's not a bad thing if we just ratchet down expectations and see this as nothing more than a fun way for authors to compare their efforts in writing about a common theme, without much expectation about added visibility.

There isn't much reason why stories in the event (or any of the other writer-organized event) should get more visibility than other stories. The events are *writer's* challenges and not tailored to *reader's* interests.

From the point of view of a non-participating author, I probably would have been annoyed by having my recently-published story pushed off the category hub or off the first page of the "New" list by a sudden wash of event stories.

I don't know how things may have worked in other hubs, but I think in SciFi a lot of normal readers saw the string of "One night..." titles and then skipped most of them. At least, that's how I explain the very low views on my story. I have two other stories in SciFi. Neither were part of any contest or event, and they have two and five times as many views as my "One night..." story.

The events and challenges have been interesting, but maybe they need to be done so they don't annoy readers or step on other authors.

 

[SimonDoom]

There isn't much reason why stories in the event (or any of the other writer-organized event) should get more visibility than other stories. The events are *writer's* challenges and not tailored to *reader's* interests.

From the point of view of a non-participating author, I probably would have been annoyed by having my recently-published story pushed off the category hub or off the first page of the "New" list by a sudden wash of event stories.

I don't know how things may have worked in other hubs, but I think in SciFi a lot of normal readers saw the string of "One night..." titles and then skipped most of them. At least, that's how I explain the very low views on my story. I have two other stories in SciFi. Neither were part of any contest or event, and they have two and five times as many views as my "One night..." story.

The events and challenges have been interesting, but maybe they need to be done so they don't annoy readers or step on other authors.

It's probably more of an acute problem when the stories tend to be concentrated in one category, as the Geek Event is. I don't think it would be a big problem for most events because they're likely to be spread over different categories. But I don't know.

 

[rescatooor]

Well, I see something has changed on the main page.

Thanks, Laurel.

 

[CoffeeWithMonkeys]

If you submitted it as an "Edited" post ("resubmitted" seems to mean removing the original) it may take a while. The longest I've seen personally was about ten days.

No I didn't edit it, it has never posted. It's always been sitting at pending. This is the longest I've had a story be pending, mine lately have been posted less than 24 hours after submitting, before that the longest was 3 days.
This one has been pending for 5 days now, not long really, more like normal, but long for me!

 

[rescatooor]

No I didn't edit it, it has never posted. It's always been sitting at pending. This is the longest I've had a story be pending, mine lately have been posted less than 24 hours after submitting, before that the longest was 3 days.
This one has been pending for 5 days now, not long really, more like normal, but long for me!

But if you removed the tag, you've practically edited it. That would move it at the back of the queue.

If you haven't edited it too recently, you should send Laurel a message.

 

[gunhilltrain]

No I didn't edit it, it has never posted. It's always been sitting at pending. This is the longest I've had a story be pending, mine lately have been posted less than 24 hours after submitting, before that the longest was 3 days.
This one has been pending for 5 days now, not long really, more like normal, but long for me!

I was a little confused because you mention submitting it on the 24th and then changing the tags and resubmitting it on the 27th.

In any case, that's not an excessive wait yet. I've gotten used to two-day waits, but last year five to seven days was common. (More experienced writers get priority?)

In any case, with all the effort you've put into it, you might as well be patient.

 

[ChloeTzang]

If you dive into the link to authors challenges on the Literotica home page, the page now has links to the stories from each of the author organized events, which is great. Permanent links! Whoooeeeee

 

[ChloeTzang]

No I didn't edit it, it has never posted. It's always been sitting at pending. This is the longest I've had a story be pending, mine lately have been posted less than 24 hours after submitting, before that the longest was 3 days.
This one has been pending for 5 days now, not long really, more like normal, but long for me!

I’ll ask tonite. Laurels been really busy so it’s maybe just waiting.

 

[CoffeeWithMonkeys]

I’ll ask tonite. Laurels been really busy so it’s maybe just waiting.

Thanks!
No worries. I know Laurel gets busy, was just afraid I had done something wrong in submitting since it seems to be taking a bit longer than usual. It's only been 5 days though, so really it's been a normal wait time.

 

[Hypoxia]

Looks like this "story event" (author challenge) thread gets more action than threads about actual LIT contests. Is a puzzlement.

 

[NotWise]

Looks like this "story event" (author challenge) thread gets more action than threads about actual LIT contests. Is a puzzlement.

Why are you puzzled? There were almost as many authors in the event as there are in the smaller contests, and it's an author-organized event instead of site-organized contest.

 

[LoquiSordidaAdMe]

Why are you puzzled? There were almost as many authors in the event as there are in the smaller contests, and it's an author-organized event instead of site-organized contest.

I prefer the events to the contests. Less pressure to pander for a score, so I can be a little experimental, and I love the support. It's nice to have a place to bitch about being stuck and for as much as I struggle with them, deadlines motivate me. Come to think of it... yeah, four of my last five stories were for non-contest events.

 

[ChloeTzang]

Looks like this "story event" (author challenge) thread gets more action than threads about actual LIT contests. Is a puzzlement.

The competitions are the same theme every year and once you’ve been here a while there’s not that much to talk about for them. Valentine’s Day is Valentine’s Day, Halloween is Halloween. The events are usually one offs on a unique theme and in this case, I asked who was interested and I fired off a few emails to authors we don’t often see on the AH to ask if they’d be interested. I guess the topic was interesting enough that a lot of us talked about it and New writers asked questions, which was great to see.

 

[Hypoxia]

IMHO the difference is that contests draw readers and author's events draw... authors. Larry Niven's Rule #1: Authors who write for authors should write letters. There's nothing WRONG with author's events. I just haven't the energy. YMMV.

 

[rescatooor]

IMHO the difference is that contests draw readers and author's events draw... authors. Larry Niven's Rule #1: Authors who write for authors should write letters. There's nothing WRONG with author's events. I just haven't the energy. YMMV.

I doubt it's that simple. It depends on the event itself. There was that erotic horror event, which should interest people who like that genre, to read and to write. I'm sure there are people who especially like romances and couplings in professional setting. Geek day is... well, for geeks.

And authors are readers too. 750 word -event was attractive to me as a reader in the sense that I like shorter stories. And this event interested me as well for similar reasons. ("How did you turn a single night into 10+ pages, whyyyyy.")

As for the contests, they're not that attractive to me as a reader. They're just too seasonal. How many stories does one wish to read about Valentine's Day in February? Perhaps if the contests were for each category, things might get interesting, like it almost is with Nude Day and, to some extent, with April Fools.

That's anyway, just my opinion. You are all welcome to disagree.

 

[SimonDoom]

I doubt it's that simple. It depends on the event itself. There was that erotic horror event, which should interest people who like that genre, to read and to write. I'm sure there are people who especially like romances and couplings in professional setting. Geek day is... well, for geeks.

And authors are readers too. 750 word -event was attractive to me as a reader in the sense that I like shorter stories. And this event interested me as well for similar reasons. ("How did you turn a single night into 10+ pages, whyyyyy.")

As for the contests, they're not that attractive to me as a reader. They're just too seasonal. How many stories does one wish to read about Valentine's Day in February? Perhaps if the contests were for each category, things might get interesting, like it almost is with Nude Day and, to some extent, with April Fools.

That's anyway, just my opinion. You are all welcome to disagree.

The main issue, I think, is advertising, rather than intrinsic interest. Contests are advertised, get prominently linked on the home page, have their own page, and happen every year on schedule. Readers know about them.

But the Geek event, for example, is barely advertised at all. Many, perhaps most, readers will have no idea it's even happening. It doesn't matter whether it's an appealing idea or not. It's of great interest to the authors but without advertising commensurate with what the contests get it likely will draw fewer readers.

 

[ChloeTzang]

The main issue, I think, is advertising, rather than intrinsic interest. Contests are advertised, get prominently linked on the home page, have their own page, and happen every year on schedule. Readers know about them.

But the Geek event, for example, is barely advertised at all. Many, perhaps most, readers will have no idea it's even happening. It doesn't matter whether it's an appealing idea or not. It's of great interest to the authors but without advertising commensurate with what the contests get it likely will draw fewer readers.

I think looking ahead, Laurel is looking to improve that with better link visibility. Now the authors events page is linked from the home page and it has links to each of the completed events pages with all the stories. I’ve been seeing a pick up in one night views since that happened.

 

[rescatooor]

I think looking ahead, Laurel is looking to improve that with better link visibility. Now the authors events page is linked from the home page and it has links to each of the completed events pages with all the stories. I’ve been seeing a pick up in one night views since that happened.

I imagine she might even place it later on the main page proper. She recently put On The Job up there, which is right since I don't think that event had much visibility either. Can't be certain, of course, but it's a hopeful sign.