1-Bombing on Loving Wives

[RejectReality]

I'm talking about the readership of the board, not individual stories.

On Tuesday, the Mature board got only four stories. Almost 27k views between them over the last 54 hours, but only four stories. The Anal board got only 2 stories, which total a bit less than 10k views during that period.

Same day, Erotic Couplings got 22 new stories. Total views between them is a bit north of 53k. The board sees more traffic than Mature and Anal combined, and it's not close. But divided as it is among more than triple the submissions of those two boards combined, there are a lot of stories that just vanish without a trace on Erotic Couplings. You're competing for a lot of eyeballs, but you're competing with a LOT more writers for those eyeballs.

Edit: I should probably add that "winning" on the high traffic boards represents a level of winning that the medium and low traffic boards can't match. If you look at the stories from the first page of the toplists with the most votes, for Mature it's our own Lovecraft68's Home is Where the Heart Is, a story from 2012 with a very respectable 953k views. On the Erotic Couplings, it's DreamCloud's 2014 story The Beach House, with 1.86 MILLION views.

And if you go back to the 2nd, Mature gets about 73k on 7 stories, while EC gets 77k on 23. Go back to the 1st and it's Mature with 70k on 12 stories and EC 76k on 29 stories. ( Just quick eyeball addition on those view numbers )

A certain percentage of those views are always going to be bots and spiders, and the more stories there are, the more that accumulates, so EC takes another hit there as far as combined views.

EC is not a high traffic category, and telling anyone it is does them a disservice. The readership is transient. The content is a grab-bag. It is always overloaded because it's a default for "I don't know where this fits". If it's a choice between EC and another appropriate category, pretty much any other category is a better choice to get eyes on your work.

It's the bargain bin. A bunch of people may rifle through it, but that doesn't mean they're buying, and yours may be buried on the bottom. Put it on the shelf in the appropriate section, and it's always going to get picked up more often.

 

[RocketGrunt]

I mean, you're sort of making the point for me, right? EC has more total views spread across more total stories than any of the other categories except Taboo/Incest and Loving Wives. It is an over-saturated category, but the total viewers is near the top and the top stories in the category get almost double the views of the top stories in categories like Mature.

1.86 Million is a lot of views, even for something 12 years old. It's not Incest numbers, but it's very high. The problem with putting things in EC is that it is an over-saturated category, and some of the stories just don't get read at all. I would not recommend posting to EC because of the substantial chance of getting lost. The effects of being one of the stories that doesn't end up on the first page of the new releases on the day it comes out are BRUTAL, and you have absolutely no control over that.

But the total number of viewers is large, and the stories that win really do win very hard and get seen by more people than anything but the but the big two.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

spread across more total stories

This is the killer. There are tons of submissions and relatively low eyeballs overall, so per submission the eyeballs are low.

It's the only 'major' category that no one actively searches.

If someone is looking for mom/son, they go straight to incest.
If someone is looking for BBC, they go straight to interracial.
If someone is looking for cuckold, they go straight to LW.
If someone is looking for exhibitionism or nudism, they go straight to E/V.
If someone is looking for anal ... you get the picture.

Pretty much nobody is specifically looking for vanilla, and most of those who might be, probably go to romance first. So EC gets most of its hits from the new lists but since EC is such a grab bag, the new list there rolls over quickly (very quickly, like 1 or 2 days) so the exposure time sucks. Top it off with lack of people actively searching the category, you end up with a graveyard. It is the worst category on lit for exposure. My L&T story gets 2 or 3 times the action that my EC stories do, 2 years dead.

 

[sirhugs]

I mean, you're sort of making the point for me, right? EC has more total views spread across more total stories than any of the other categories except Taboo/Incest and Loving Wives. It is an over-saturated category, but the total viewers is near the top and the top stories in the category get almost double the views of the top stories in categories like Mature.

1.86 Million is a lot of views, even for something 12 years old. It's not Incest numbers, but it's very high. The problem with putting things in EC is that it is an over-saturated category, and some of the stories just don't get read at all. I would not recommend posting to EC because of the substantial chance of getting lost. The effects of being one of the stories that doesn't end up on the first page of the new releases on the day it comes out are BRUTAL, and you have absolutely no control over that.

But the total number of viewers is large, and the stories that win really do win very hard and get seen by more people than anything but the but the big two.

but your point is pointless. Total views is a misleading measure, and the preceeding posts explain that - every reader that randomly clicks on your EC story, reads a paragraph and exits, is counted. Quantity, but not Quality. If you can fit your story in a proper category, you will get better quality of readership (LW being the exception, because "quality" is an eusive idea there).

 

[RocketGrunt]

Erotic Couplings isn't even close to the worst category for exposure. 9 Stories came out on Erotic Poetry on the 31st of January. In the week since then, only one of those nine poems got more than a hundred views. Romance got 6 stories one week ago, and two of those six haven't cracked a thousand views. Five stories/chapters went up on Novels on the 31st, and only two of those five have gotten past one thousand views. Humor & Satire didn't even get a submission on the 31st, but the story from the 29th has less than four hundred views.

Meanwhile, Erotic Couplings got 15 submissions go up on the 31st, and the five that went up "below the fold" have never recovered from that lack of promotion. One of them still doesn't have one thousand views! But the ten have done fine, with every one of them having over a thousand views. If you ranked the 4 offerings of Mature from that day alongside the Erotic Couplings stories from that day, the top five would go: Mature, Erotic Couplings, Mature, Erotic Couplings, Erotic Couplings. The top commented stories from both categories got the same number (13, which is pretty mid).

Do I recommend putting things in Erotic Couplings? No. It's a crap shoot where your story can easily get lost in the high turnover and poor presentation. But the total traffic is large and the upper end of what stories can achieve there is very high. But like, I write stuff for the Sci-Fi/Fantasy board, where I get MUCH lower view numbers and much higher engagement on other metrics. My chapter that came out on 02/02/26 had more than double the number of views of any other chapter that came out on SF/F that day, and it's been rated 372 times with a Red-H and favorited 24 times. But you know, in terms of raw views there are SEVEN stories that came out that day on Erotic Couplings with more views than my story.

If you put your story in the uncategorized pile, there is chance that you get seen by like, a LOT of people. The category is oversaturated, but the winners really do win.

 

[Erozetta]

Erotic Couplings isn't even close to the worst category for exposure. 9 Stories came out on Erotic Poetry on the 31st of January. In the week since then, only one of those nine poems got more than a hundred views. Romance got 6 stories one week ago, and two of those six haven't cracked a thousand views. Five stories/chapters went up on Novels on the 31st, and only two of those five have gotten past one thousand views. Humor & Satire didn't even get a submission on the 31st, but the story from the 29th has less than four hundred views.

Meanwhile, Erotic Couplings got 15 submissions go up on the 31st, and the five that went up "below the fold" have never recovered from that lack of promotion. One of them still doesn't have one thousand views! But the ten have done fine, with every one of them having over a thousand views. If you ranked the 4 offerings of Mature from that day alongside the Erotic Couplings stories from that day, the top five would go: Mature, Erotic Couplings, Mature, Erotic Couplings, Erotic Couplings. The top commented stories from both categories got the same number (13, which is pretty mid).

Do I recommend putting things in Erotic Couplings? No. It's a crap shoot where your story can easily get lost in the high turnover and poor presentation. But the total traffic is large and the upper end of what stories can achieve there is very high. But like, I write stuff for the Sci-Fi/Fantasy board, where I get MUCH lower view numbers and much higher engagement on other metrics. My chapter that came out on 02/02/26 had more than double the number of views of any other chapter that came out on SF/F that day, and it's been rated 372 times with a Red-H and favorited 24 times. But you know, in terms of raw views there are SEVEN stories that came out that day on Erotic Couplings with more views than my story.

If you put your story in the uncategorized pile, there is chance that you get seen by like, a LOT of people. The category is oversaturated, but the winners really do win.

Poetry with audio is even worse than erotic poetry for views.

I will say, I, by some freak of nature, pulled off a contest win with a story in Erotic Couplings.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

Erotic Couplings isn't even close to the worst category for exposure. 9 Stories came out on Erotic Poetry on the 31st of January. In the week since then, only one of those nine poems got more than a hundred views.

That's poetry. You can't compare.

Romance got 6 stories one week ago, and two of those six haven't cracked a thousand views

There are always outliers. You can't quote the outliers as proof. Romance has tons of readers. It;s very popular. We all know this.

Five stories/chapters went up on Novels on the 31st, and only two of those five have gotten past one thousand views.

My 2 N/N titles crush my 4 ECs for views/votes.

 

[RocketGrunt]

There are always outliers. You can't quote the outliers as proof. Romance has tons of readers. It;s very popular. We all know this.

In what way do we know this? I mean, Romance is a popular genre in general, but not so much on Literotica. That board is a niche board. The whole board had 58 stories come out in the last week. Of those, 26 haven't gotten to a thousand views. Erotic Couplings is way higher on the submissions, but if we just look at February first, there were 29 submissions in that one day and only four of them haven't gotten to one thousand views.

 

[LightningSeed]

On the Loving Wives topic, Trailer #7 is a story about a newlywed couple’s trip to their first swingers function. What can happen in 750 words, right?

 

[pink_silk_glove]

In what way do we know this? I mean, Romance is a popular genre in general, but not so much on Literotica. That board is a niche board. The whole board had 58 stories come out in the last week. Of those, 26 haven't gotten to a thousand views. Erotic Couplings is way higher on the submissions, but if we just look at February first, there were 29 submissions in that one day and only four of them haven't gotten to one thousand views.

You can't go by one days hits because an EC story stays on the first page for one or two days, while a Romance story will stay on the first page for three or four or five days or if lucky, a whole week. Plus, once all stories drop off their recent lists, for years the collect hits and votes, and EC stories don't collect hits or votes after they drop off because no one is rifling through old vanilla stories, while certain readers are still digging through old Romance or Anal or Lesbian or Novels etc. Over the long term, EC gets the lowest trickle factor of any category. Even L&T and How To get more.

 

[RocketGrunt]

You can't go by one days hits because an EC story stays on the first page for one or two days, while a Romance story will stay on the first page for three or four or five days or if lucky, a whole week. Plus, once all stories drop off their recent lists, for years the collect hits and votes, and EC stories don't collect hits or votes after they drop off because no one is rifling through old vanilla stories, while certain readers are still digging through old Romance or Anal or Lesbian or Novels etc. Over the long term, EC gets the lowest trickle factor of any category. Even L&T and How To get more.

I counted the whole week for Romance. The numbers were and are bad.

Like, what part of "nearly half of the stories published in the last week on Romance haven't even gotten to 1k views" did you not understand?

Like, the stories from a week ago, the ones published on Romance on the 31st of January? There are six of them. They have 10k views combined. The first posted Erotic Couplings story from that day has 11.9k views. That one story has managed more views than all six stories published on Romance a week ago managed to accumulate in a week combined. And this isn't a one-time thing. The second posted story from the first of February on Erotic Couplings managed 11.6k views. The fourth posted EC story on the 2nd of February managed 15.3k views. The 1st posted story from the 3rd? 12.5k. The 4th from the 4th? 12.4k. That's five days of last week where I was able to look at the first five stories and immediately see a story that got more views by itself than all six Romance stories got together with a week to sit on it.

Not that Romance actually has stories stay on the front page much anymore. The new layout only shows the ten most recent additions, and Romance got 10 or more submissions on three days over the last week. That means that on four days, some of the new releases were displayed to people who didn't click "more new stories" for a second day, and on three of the days, none of them were.

Now, as for stories not getting legs on Erotic Couplings, let's consider one of the more popular and prolific EC writers: BurntRedstone. Let's check some of his EC numbers:
* The Shepherd's Crook Pt. 01 (268.8k views since 2019)
* Melody For a Long Weekend (102.6k views since 2020)
* Shifting Priorities (278.8k views since 2017)
* Shepherd Afield Pt. 01 (292.5k views since 2016)
* To Walk a Mile (897.3k views since 2016)

I just don't even understand why you keep doubling down on this. EC is an upper tier category that has a lot of stories get lost and forgotten in because it gets too many submissions. Romance is a minor category and will never be more than that.

 

[lovecraft68]

So you want to hand wave and devalue my high scores.

That's common here, although to me PSG is not where I usually see it. You're saying she's saying her scores are low because of her opinions here or she writes niche material

Where I see high scores denigrated is among the many here who have the attitude top list stories suck, and high scores are just about popularity, not quality, or they write in easy categories, etc.

Except for their scores of course. Their high scores are not only legit, but they cry their 4.85 should be a 4.90 if not for that one insane person that gave their masterpiece a 2.

Only rando pauper non AH authors numbers are fake is pretty much the tone of it.

 

[lovecraft68]

I counted the whole week for Romance. The numbers were and are bad.

Like, what part of "nearly half of the stories published in the last week on Romance haven't even gotten to 1k views" did you not understand?

Like, the stories from a week ago, the ones published on Romance on the 31st of January? There are six of them. They have 10k views combined. The first posted Erotic Couplings story from that day has 11.9k views. That one story has managed more views than all six stories published on Romance a week ago managed to accumulate in a week combined. And this isn't a one-time thing. The second posted story from the first of February on Erotic Couplings managed 11.6k views. The fourth posted EC story on the 2nd of February managed 15.3k views. The 1st posted story from the 3rd? 12.5k. The 4th from the 4th? 12.4k. That's five days of last week where I was able to look at the first five stories and immediately see a story that got more views by itself than all six Romance stories got together with a week to sit on it.

Not that Romance actually has stories stay on the front page much anymore. The new layout only shows the ten most recent additions, and Romance got 10 or more submissions on three days over the last week. That means that on four days, some of the new releases were displayed to people who didn't click "more new stories" for a second day, and on three of the days, none of them were.

Now, as for stories not getting legs on Erotic Couplings, let's consider one of the more popular and prolific EC writers: BurntRedstone. Let's check some of his EC numbers:
* The Shepherd's Crook Pt. 01 (268.8k views since 2019)
* Melody For a Long Weekend (102.6k views since 2020)
* Shifting Priorities (278.8k views since 2017)
* Shepherd Afield Pt. 01 (292.5k views since 2016)
* To Walk a Mile (897.3k views since 2016)

I just don't even understand why you keep doubling down on this. EC is an upper tier category that has a lot of stories get lost and forgotten in because it gets too many submissions. Romance is a minor category and will never be more than that.

I know nothing about EC and didn't put a story there until last year, these are the numbers, whether they're average or below or above I have no idea.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

Like, what part of "nearly half of the stories published in the last week on Romance haven't even gotten to 1k views" did you not understand?

Okay, I'm stupid. My experiences here mean nothing. Fuck it. You win.

 

[RocketGrunt]

That's common here, although to me PSG is not where I usually see it. You're saying she's saying her scores are low because of her opinions here or she writes niche material

Where I see high scores denigrated is among the many here who have the attitude top list stories suck, and high scores are just about popularity, not quality, or they write in easy categories, etc.

Except for their scores of course. Their high scores are not only legit, but they cry their 4.85 should be a 4.90 if not for that one insane person that gave their masterpiece a 2.

Only rando pauper non AH authors numbers are fake is pretty much the tone of it.

I understand that you personally have stories in toplists and that generates a lot of traffic for you, and you're invested in the toplists being something other than absolute fucking garbage trash, but they are absolute fucking garbage trash. Everyone knows it. It's been proven, with math. The toplists are an embarrassment and need to be radically overhauled.

I just went through BurntRedstone's catalog to prove a point, and that makes it really easy to prove another point. Because BurntRedstone isn't just a big name on Erotic Couplings, he is also a big name on Science Fiction & Fantasy.

Now on the Erotic Couplings toplist, BurntRedstone enjoys eleven of the top twenty spaces. On the Science Fiction & Fantasy toplist, he has zero of the top two hundred and fifty spaces. Just a year ago, he had What Comes Next Pt. 01 and several chapters of Satyr Play in the top ten, but now his name isn't in the SF/F toplist literally at all. Because the SF/F toplist is hard curated by a small group of trolls that pushed his SF&F works off the toplist to make room for whatever toplist story they are protecting.

That's insane. And the fact that I might even be wrong to call it "trolls" because it could literally be the work of a single person is even more insane. The use of "average ratings" to set the toplists gives so ridiculously large amounts of power to downvoters that there are multiple boards whose toplists bear the unmistakable fingerprint of troll curation.

You know this. It's been explained to you more than once. And you keep pretending that all toplist complaints are disingenuous sour grapes because you personally are a winner in the broken system we have.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Okay, I'm stupid. My experiences here mean nothing. Fuck it. You win.

You keep declaring that EC is a rubbish category, full stop. It might not be brilliant for your stories, but that doesn't mean it's not okay for others.

 

[Seurat]

Yeah, I'm not around posting much, and no stories for a decade. But I do read, and it's mostly the LW category. I've discovered that most of the LW category is about confrontation, whether in the story or directed at the author. Those above have done an exemplary job of describing the people who comment, and why they do. My two cents, rounded up to a nickel? It's that confrontation.

I've commented to numerous people about that fact but without those words. A good cuck story will do better in fetish, because it's not about the sex and the confrontation, but about the sex and the *lack* of confrontation. Your story comes across as a part one because, as always, people want that moment of anguish and the action that happens afterwards. There are plenty of successful 750 stories in LW, but when you read them they will be about one thing.

I published one or two LW stories but the shark tank is vicious. My other stories suffered as people swept through my list, one-bombing my other stuff without reading it. Nasty comments unrelated to the topics. You know the sort. I have numerous stories at the 4.49 because of people tanking them.

Good scores in LW, I think, are built on followers. Write well and consistently on your subject and you will gain followers, who will then rank your stuff positively. Write your stories so they are easy to read; no walls of texts, poor editing, changing names, etc.

There's my diarrhea of the brain for the moment. I wish you luck. I'm getting a drink.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

You keep declaring that EC is a rubbish category, full stop. It might not be brilliant for your stories, but that doesn't mean it's not okay for others.

Yes I know. You've put me in my place over this before. because you have an EC story that has done fairly well. Obviously that means that the category is perfectly fine for views. You're just a much better writer than I am. I concede. There ya go.

 

[SmilingLez]

On the Loving Wives topic, Trailer #7 is a story about a newlywed couple’s trip to their first swingers function. What can happen in 750 words, right?

Thanks for posting a link to your story. I enjoyed it immensely

 

[SmilingLez]

Poetry with audio is even worse than erotic poetry for views.

I 100% agree. I submitted my audio rap about months ago and it only had 687 views

 

[ElectricBlue]

Yes I know. You've put me in my place over this before. because you have an EC story that has done fairly well. Obviously that means that the category is perfectly fine for views. You're just a much better writer than I am. I concede. There ya go.

That's not what I'm saying at all, and you know it. I'm pointing out that your comments about EC are misleading to new writers, who come seeking advice about categories. That is all.

 

[OddLove]

That's common here, although to me PSG is not where I usually see it. You're saying she's saying her scores are low because of her opinions here or she writes niche material

Where I see high scores denigrated is among the many here who have the attitude top list stories suck, and high scores are just about popularity, not quality, or they write in easy categories, etc.

Except for their scores of course. Their high scores are not only legit, but they cry their 4.85 should be a 4.90 if not for that one insane person that gave their masterpiece a 2.

Only rando pauper non AH authors numbers are fake is pretty much the tone of it.

Actually, I didn't say "she's saying her scores are low because of her opinions here or she writes in niche material."

I said,

And since you insist on playing this “Here’s what you really think and believe” game, I’m going play too.

The only reason you’re trying to claim I ‘protect my scores’ and 'only write for applause' is because you’re insecure about your low scores. So you want to hand wave and devalue my high scores, which means, ironically, you care about the scores more than I do. Which is why everything you're saying is obvious and desperate projection.

These little tantrums of yours are convenient masks for you, ones that lies, "I don't care about applause and high scores." and "I only have low scores because I don't protect them like others with high scores." and "I just have low scores because I get 1-star bombed for being too 'real' in the forums."

I think you might be confused because you're missing the context of our back and forth. So here's a quick starting point if you want the context.

On Page 2, I say, in response to OP's frustration with the Loving Wives category,

Personally, I consider the LW the "Mean-Spirited/Angry Revenge" category.

So if I write a story about Loving Wives/Husbands, it going in Erotic Couples or Romance.

If I write a story about consensual and happy Cuckoldry, it's going in Fetish.

if I write a story about Cheating Partners/Unhappy Cuckoldry, it's going in Reluctant/Non-Consent.

If I write a story about Swingers, it's going in Group Sex.

There really isn't any "For Accurate Categorization" reasons to publish a story in Loving Wives. The only logical reasons are to rage-bait woman haters, or gain engagement and visibility because it's a huge cesspool of readers. There are categories that cover everything Loving Wives claims to be, which is "Married extra-marital fun: swinging, sharing & more" according to it's own description.

So my advice to your valid frustration is this, never post a story in Loving Wives simply because it fits the description of "Married extra-marital fun: swinging, sharing & more," you're better off posting it in a different category that actually has readers who enjoy those kinds of stories such as Erotic Couples, Romance, Fetish, Non-Con, Group Sex, etc.

Then Pink_silk_glove replied,

So you care more about getting a positive reaction than you do about being read by (way) more eyes.

But I don't avoid Loving Wives because I care more about getting a positive reactions than I do about being read by way more eyes. I actually avoid Loving Wives because I don't see the point in posting a story that perfectly fits into other categories since I already know there's a huge chunk of people in that category who will hate anything that's not a "Mean-Spirited/Angry Revenge" story. And you personally might disagree my description of those readers who enjoy Burn-The-Bitch stories, and you might think Loving Husband/Wife stories belong there, which is fine. But I believe I have a valid reason for not publishing a non-Burn-The-Bitch stories into Loving Wives because I rather get less Everything, views, ratings, comments, than to work hard on a story and put it in front of the shittiest humans on Literotica.

But what keeps happening is, she reads my words(or maybe just skims them), and asserts, "Oh, so you think X because Y!" and no matter how many times I try clarifying and explaining what I really think, she just goes, "Oh, well you still said Y, so you think actually X."

And since this isn't the first time I've dealt with this, I decided to stand my ground because I'm sick of her pretending she's some Sherlock Holmes who can pluck some hidden truth out from under my words, when all she's really doing is purposely misconstruing everything I say.

And I'm not the only person she does it to. Even in this very thread she's done it to multiple people. So I played the same stupid Sherlock Holmes game and plucked her 'hidden truth under her words' and whether it's true or not doesn't matter, the point is I'm not taking her words at face value, I'm assigning her secret motives and intentions that she didn't express, just like she keeps doing to me and others.

 

[LightningSeed]

Thanks for posting a link to your story. I enjoyed it immensely

Thanks so much!

 

[Erozetta]

I 100% agree. I submitted my audio rap about months ago and it only had 687 views

There was a sharp decline in views between your submission and mine. Somewhere around August, the view average dropped to like 200

 

[SmilingLez]

There was a sharp decline in views between your submission and mine. Somewhere around August, the view average dropped to like 200

That's a shame because sometimes there are hidden gems.