The Official Authors' Hangout Winter Holidays 2025 Support Thread

[iwatchus]

The thing that frustrates me the most are the people who clearly are watching the top lists and looking to hammer any story that dares get too high. I’ve had a couple finally break into the top of the Romance list, but with just over 100 votes, and a single 1 knocks them down a few hundredth of a point. When numbers 21-250 (and beyond) are all tied at 4.85, that’s a big hill to climb. It’s not that I get anything out of being at the top except exposure, but (a) it’s nice thinking that more people will see your work and (b) it’s jus immature on the part of whoever’s doing it.

On the other hand, it does give me great admiration for the stories that manage to stay up there, because they’re clearly finding a large, appreciative audience, and that’s awesome.

I hate them with a passion I cannot reasonably express. I think it is just pure spite on their part. Whether they hate successful stories or hate erotica in general, I don't know. I lean towards the former.

I have had seven stories make a top ten appearance in four different categories in the last several months. Only one of them is still as high as 4.85. I had three stories all approaching that 100 vote mark at similar times, all with ratings in the upper 4.8's. Two of them are now at 4.81 after having the audacity of making the all time list. The third one, still at 97 votes had the good fortune of getting a couple of 4's to drop to 4.85. Hopefully it can continue to keep it's head down and avoid the bombs.

And I hate that I have to think that way. People wonder about author's creating alts to upvote their stories. Right now if the story crept back up to 4.86, I would think about creating an alt to give a 4, leading it back to safety.

 

[iwatchus]

My submission to the competition is sitting above a 4.5 score! After the low votes got purged, it soared up from 4.33. I'm pretty happy, not gonna lie. I thought that I'd written an A-grade story, and it's nice to have that belief confirmed.

I hope everyone else got great bumps as well!

Clearing the contest 1's left mine at the perfect 4.85 score, up 0.08 (and 17 votes lighter)

 

[taytay4eva]

Clearing the contest 1's left mine at the perfect 4.85 score, up 0.08 (and 17 votes lighter)

Oh nice! That's awesome, congrats!

 

[McQueen127]

I debated all day whether to post something here or not. And I’m not sure where to even start to be honest, so please forgive me if this comes off wrong in any way (and apologies in advance for how long this got)

I found this site nearly 20 years ago. Over the years it went from being a guilty pleasure to being a security blanket of sorts. A place I could go to escape whatever else was going on in the real world. But I had always remained one of those anonymous folks who reads and appreciates from the shadows.

Until 2023 when I decided to work up the courage to post a story of my own. My fingers aren’t as fast or accurate as they used to be, my eyesight is fading and I still can’t copy edit my own stuff to save my life. But, after years of wondering, I decided to try. And I’ve posted a few more here and there since. This year, I decided to try participating in a contest and Christmas seemed as good a choice as any. I entered with no expectations, but simply for the experience of participating.

But you don’t know what you don’t know and I quickly learned I knew nothing about how contests work here. Especially the subtle and not so subtle intricacies involved with voting. I won’t rehash what all of you have already been discussing, but it’s what led me to finding the forums. Specifically the Authors Hangout, and the Winter Holidays Contest thread in particular.

I noticed what I thought was a “glitch” with regards to my votes shortly after Thanksgiving. After looking through the FAQ for answers, I followed the breadcrumbs to this thread and discovered everything there was to know about the issue. The information and advice from so many of you here on things like bombing and sweeps was very helpful in trying to make sense of things.

Before I went to bed last night, I noticed that I had lost a couple of votes and my score had gone up slightly. I assumed that was the final sweep. It was just a small change in score. Seemingly not enough to be a winner, but still respectable. I was happy.

Then I woke up this morning and checked to see if the winners had been announced before I went out to start a long day of moving snow. I was shocked. I went and looked at my vote totals to find an additional number of votes had been swept after I went to bed. Enough to place in the top three. Which I am still stunned by, considering all the amazing stories entered this year.

I debated whether to say anything here in the forum or not. I’ve been lurking the last several weeks, but didn’t feel like I had anything to add. Do I look like a jerk for doing so now, but only after placing in the contest? Hopefully not. Because before I go back to lurking, I do want to say thank you to all of you. For all the reasons above and more. I also wanted to congratulate the other two winners - CleverGenericName and Jorunn - as well as everyone else who entered a story in the contest, you have my utmost respect and admiration. Thank you all for entertaining me with your stories.

Thanks again and Happy Holidays to all.

 

[talemestories]

View attachment 2583204
Congratulations! @CleverGenericName , @McQueen127, @Jorunn

Congratulations to all the winners and a big well done to all that entered stories.

 

[Actingup]

I debated all day whether to post something here or not. And I’m not sure where to even start to be honest, so please forgive me if this comes off wrong in any way (and apologies in advance for how long this got)

I found this site nearly 20 years ago. Over the years it went from being a guilty pleasure to being a security blanket of sorts. A place I could go to escape whatever else was going on in the real world. But I had always remained one of those anonymous folks who reads and appreciates from the shadows.

Until 2023 when I decided to work up the courage to post a story of my own. My fingers aren’t as fast or accurate as they used to be, my eyesight is fading and I still can’t copy edit my own stuff to save my life. But, after years of wondering, I decided to try. And I’ve posted a few more here and there since. This year, I decided to try participating in a contest and Christmas seemed as good a choice as any. I entered with no expectations, but simply for the experience of participating.

But you don’t know what you don’t know and I quickly learned I knew nothing about how contests work here. Especially the subtle and not so subtle intricacies involved with voting. I won’t rehash what all of you have already been discussing, but it’s what led me to finding the forums. Specifically the Authors Hangout, and the Winter Holidays Contest thread in particular.

I noticed what I thought was a “glitch” with regards to my votes shortly after Thanksgiving. After looking through the FAQ for answers, I followed the breadcrumbs to this thread and discovered everything there was to know about the issue. The information and advice from so many of you here on things like bombing and sweeps was very helpful in trying to make sense of things.

Before I went to bed last night, I noticed that I had lost a couple of votes and my score had gone up slightly. I assumed that was the final sweep. It was just a small change in score. Seemingly not enough to be a winner, but still respectable. I was happy.

Then I woke up this morning and checked to see if the winners had been announced before I went out to start a long day of moving snow. I was shocked. I went and looked at my vote totals to find an additional number of votes had been swept after I went to bed. Enough to place in the top three. Which I am still stunned by, considering all the amazing stories entered this year.

I debated whether to say anything here in the forum or not. I’ve been lurking the last several weeks, but didn’t feel like I had anything to add. Do I look like a jerk for doing so now, but only after placing in the contest? Hopefully not. Because before I go back to lurking, I do want to say thank you to all of you. For all the reasons above and more. I also wanted to congratulate the other two winners - CleverGenericName and Jorunn - as well as everyone else who entered a story in the contest, you have my utmost respect and admiration. Thank you all for entertaining me with your stories.

Thanks again and Happy Holidays to all.

No need to be shy! The congratulations are well deserved. Make sure you follow through to claim your prize soon - it won't happen automatically!

 

[CleverGenericName]

Thank you to everyone for the best wishes, and congratulations to the other winners and to everyone who participated in this year's contest. A sincere thanks as well to the folks who contribute to making these contests/these forum threads work behind the scenes. I am brutally critical of my own writing, so even after posting 20+ stories now, I am constantly amazed and grateful that people want to read and enjoy my stories.