The Official Valentine’s Day Contest Support Thread 2026

[FrancesScott]

18K is more than I got in either of my prior stories, so you do something right generally.

Not with this latest story it seems.

 

[StrentWriter]

That’s still low for Romance.

Saddening for me then!

I’m just glad to have got something off the desk again. Felt good seeing it up and I am grateful to those who’ve read and given it a rating.

 

[RoyalAuthor]

Saddening for me then!

I’m just glad to have got something off the desk again. Felt good seeing it up and I am grateful to those who’ve read and given it a rating.

Haven't finished yours yet, liking it so far, but one thing that stood out was the way you worded your author's note. Saying your story follows on from another story makes it sound like a direct sequel, which may turn off some readers, since people expect a standalone story from a contest page. Nothing wrong with that if you prefer it that way, but it could be a factor for you in having fewer readers.

I do the same, but I usually phrase it along the lines of "this story features characters first introduced in _______, but is a standalone tale and can be read without any prior knowledge."
Sometimes, I'll just put the note at the end instead of the beginning, so people read the story and then find out they can read more elsewhere if they're interested in the characters.

 

[StrentWriter]

Haven't finished yours yet, liking it so far, but one thing that stood out was the way you worded your author's note. Saying your story follows on from another story makes it sound like a direct sequel, which may turn off some readers, since people expect a standalone story from a contest page. Nothing wrong with that if you prefer it that way, but it could be a factor for you in having fewer readers.

Good to know - I’ll bear that in mind for the next contest.

The story itself does follow on, but it is standalone. (I was already starting writing the sequel and this story fills in the gap between them).

I do the same, but I usually phrase it along the lines of "this story features characters first introduced in _______, but is a standalone tale and can be read without any prior knowledge."
Sometimes, I'll just put the note at the end instead of the beginning, so people read the story and then find out they can read more elsewhere if they're interested in the characters.

I’ll bear that in mind next time. Thanks for the thoughts. I will go look at your yours shortly!

 

[RoyalAuthor]

I’ll bear that in mind next time. Thanks for the thoughts. I will go look at your yours shortly!

Finished yours and enjoyed it. Good luck in the contest!

 

[StrentWriter]

Finished yours and enjoyed it. Good luck in the contest!

Likewise! I wish I had read some of yours prior, I am looking now. Good luck to you RoyalAuthor!

 

[Waiter519123]

January 13th

For Valentine’s now it’s day four
And your FMC’s down on the floor
On her knees with mouth wide
Saying, "Put it inside!”
A request you just can’t ignore

Those are the best kind of Valentine’s Day presents is to get a blow job from a FWB married or single

 

[PapaRomantic]

Mine posted on the first night in Romance and it's at 6300 views. I have a decent following so that helps, but many of my followers came on board during my LW phase and since I haven't posted much in there lately, I doubt they are reading my romances.

Also keep in mind that two-a-day posting windows aren't helping, plus as the number of stories overall being posted on a daily basis means views will generally be lower than in years and contests past, at least in my opinion.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Saddening for me then!

Didn’t intend to be demotivating

 

[StrentWriter]

Didn’t intend to be demotivating

You weren’t, don’t worry. It has been one of those days.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Oh, no, he's got a broken motivator.

Didn’t intend to be demotivating

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

Oh, no, he's got a broken motivator.

Broken motivator??? Just give it a good swift kick...

 

[redgarters]

Random question. Lesbian Sex seems quite sleepy compared to normal. My story (which I have no aspirations for beyond a few people reading it) is second on the category page and toward the top of the overall new story page, but views are really anemic. A glut of other stories, or is there a big lesbian erotica convention on somewhere?

I agree, LS does seem to be a bit slower on the views than usual. Mine shot up to 2.9k initially, but since then it's trickled up to 4k slower than my usual first week views. Comments are coming in bundles, so maybe the view stats will get updated like that as well.

No such problem in I/T it seems, @mrs_mackenzie is up to 65k views already

 

[FrancesScott]

I agree, LS does seems to be a bit slower on the views than usual. Mine shot up to 2.9k initially, but since then it's trickled up to 4k slower than my usual first week views. Comments are coming in bundles, so maybe the view stats will get updated like that as well.

Well I guess it’s not just me then.

 

[Voboy]

I just started my story yesterday. While I'm not a huge fan of Valentines day, I'm known as a romance author so I guess I have to make a showing.
Going to try Mature again. For us old folks it's permissible to hate the hoopla around Valentines Day.

Romantic Mature stories almost always do well. Good luck!

 

[Voboy]

How are views in other categories?

Going well for me so far. This competition has always felt a lot less cutthroat than the fall/winter contests. There's a lot of romantic-type stories in this one, and I think people have a soft spot for those.

TIL there are new-story category toplists, lol.

 

[EmilyMiller]

This competition has always felt a lot less cutthroat than the fall/winter contests.

Yeah, MMMV…

 

[MelissaBaby]

Random question. Lesbian Sex seems quite sleepy compared to normal. My story (which I have no aspirations for beyond a few people reading it) is second on the category page and toward the top of the overall new story page, but views are really anemic. A glut of other stories, or is there a big lesbian erotica convention on somewhere?

I will be putting up a story in LS, but it's not finished yet.

 

[FrancesScott]

I will be putting up a story in LS, but it's not finished yet.

I hope the views increase by the time you publish. 1,600 views for an extended day (as my story published early yesterday) is not deeply encouraging in LS.

 

[MelissaBaby]

I hope the views increase by the time you publish. 1,600 views for an extended day (as my story published early yesterday) is not deeply encouraging in LS.

Thanks. Keep in mind though, a high view count is not necessarily an advantage in a contest. Many people have won with relatively few votes. And if you do win, you will probably get a big influx of followers, which will in turn lead to higher view counts in the future.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

Thanks. Keep in mind though, a high view count is not necessarily an advantage in a contest. Many people have won with relatively few votes. And if you do win, you will probably get a big influx of followers, which will in turn lead to higher view counts in the future.

I've found that when I enter a competition or event, all of my stories get some love and that's kind of nice. I think it outweighs the trolling.

 

[MelissaBaby]

I've found that when I enter a competition or event, all of my stories get some love and that's kind of nice. I think it outweighs the trolling.

In a way, entering contests is like making an investment in growing your following. When I won the Winter Holidays contest a couple of years ago, I picked up as many new followers in a month as I had in the previous six years.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

In a way, entering contests is like making an investment in growing your following. When I won the Winter Holidays contest a couple of years ago, I picked up as many new followers in a month as I had in the previous six years.

Same when I won a readers choice award a while back. Funny thing is, when you get a blue W, it seems to put a target on your stories.

 

[StrentWriter]

Waking up to find a few more votes on both of my stories - all 1s, sadly, which means my novel lost its “H” overnight and the Valentines day contest story is now averaging a 4.0.

The valentines day story ended around 1600 views for its first 24 hours, which brings it close to the novel published last November.

 

[MelissaBaby]

Same when I won a readers choice award a while back. Funny thing is, when you get a blue W, it seems to put a target on your stories.

True, but when you look at it from a cost/benefit perspective, I think picking up a few hundred followers is worth taking some one bombs. Particularly when you factor in that the more followers you have, the less damage one bombs do.