My Non-Erotic stories have more votes and less views than my erotic stories

[taytay4eva]

It just feels like an odd switch. Maybe I'm focused on my newest stories, Anthro329: Intro to Human Sexuality (non-erotic, and in that section) and Hate and Discipline (erotic, in the Erotic Coupling section). The Non-Erotic one has a score of "3.86 / 14" with 366 views, while the erotic one has a score of "5 / 2" with 928 views and 1 bookmark (and I'm pretty happy about the bookmark).

The non-erotic one is shorter than the erotic one, with the non-erotic being 1.4k words and the erotic one being 8.7k words, but I'm still surprised at how many votes it's gotten.

Is that, well, this, normal? Is it just that one's shorter than the other, and if you read a long thing then you're more likely to rate it well, and you rate a shorter thing however?

I'll admit that the title of "Anthro329" is a BIT of a bait and switch, but it's in the non-erotic section! Are people upset that the non-erotic story isn't erotic?

Normally I'd look at the comments, since at 14 votes I'd usually have at least A COUPLE comments by now, but no comments for either yet.

It's just ... like, my head is going "it bothers me, no, I don't want to say that it bothers me, no but it bothers me a lot" if that makes any sense.

 

[Nicenashguy615]

I write under a different username and I’ve found that one out of a thousand views will vote and only one of of ten thousand views will comment. This has been consistent throughout my 15 stories in various categories. Now, I realize many of those views are people who closed it before reaching the end and since I tend to write long stories, there’s got to be a lot of readers who just don’t have the time or patience.

That said, you really have to have a tough skin about it. I don’t get bad comments but I do wish more people took a moment to vote.

Whatever you do, don’t write in Loving Wives unless you hate yourself. The readers there are downright viscous! Those people will gut you like a fish. I could be wrong but also don’t put an erotic story in Novella either. I did that once and it wasn’t pretty despite being the same style of writing I might otherwise get a 4.7 on.

 

[StillStunned]

Welcome to the weird world of Literotica statistics! Once you start questioning them, you'll never stop. And you'll never find an answer.

One thing is for sure: a lot of those 928 viewers who clicked on "Hate and Discipline" will have looked the word count and noped out. Still, only two votes is not many. Unlike @Nicenashguy615 most writers will quote about one vote per 90-100 views and one comment per 1000 views. This varies by category and the story's subject matter, but either way 14 votes from fewer than 400 views is very high.

But there are so many factors to take into account that it's all just guesswork. It depends on when your story was published, how high up in the list of stories for the day/category, how long it stayed on the category front page, what your readers had for breakfast and whether Scorpio was ascending, and about a thousand other factors.

The bottom line is this: people read your story. Some of them liked it, some of them didn't. But for a brief while, they were reading words that you wrote, about people you imagined, people who until recently only lived in your head. For that brief while, those readers lived in your world. Isn't that incredible?

(Disclaimer: I've been doing this for a year and a half, and I still check all my statistics at least a dozen times a day. No, it doesn't help me in any way, it doesn't tell me anything useful. I just do it. Most of us do. We publish our stories to share them with the world. It's only natural that we want to know how they're faring.)

 

[taytay4eva]

I’ve found that one out of a thousand views will vote and only one of of ten thousand views will comment

I guess the Non-Erotic readers are a different breed when it comes to voting.

I'm not saying that it DESERVED to get a higher score, since I've written other stories that have over 4.5 scores and my other non-erotic story, Mustard Maniac: Time of your Life, has a score of "4.5 / 18" with 595 views and 1 (! =D !) comment, but a higher score would've stoked the ego.

I guess they just can't all be winners (weeps into their energy drink).

 

[Nicenashguy615]

Keep in mind, a lot of readers come here for erotic stories. Not just a plain old story. There’s a couple comments in my stories about loving so much they ‘nutted’ twice before it was finished. Remember the old saying, “know your audience.”

On a slightly different note, I’m certain my 20-30k long stories have hurt me because many readers can’t commit to hours of reading. That’s most certainly why I see only one out of a thousand votes. I’d be tickled to get one out of a hundred voting.

 

[taytay4eva]

True, very true. That said, "Anthro329: Intro to Human Sexuality" was very much written as the first part of a porn-plot daily-life style episodic series, more as the excuse as to why all these classmates are fucking than anything else. I wanted to write sex into it, I did, but I think I boxed myself in with the Professor discluding himself from the sexy shenanigans that're bound to happen in the stories that follow.

I don't want to say that the professor won't ever have sex with one of the students, but I like the idea that he's at least going to try to be ethical about things and not force it to happen. Well, force it to happen with him, anyway.

Also, I'm gonna use this as a reason to finally try to write gay sex stuff. I've had gay experiences, but I feel like "two straight guys having gay sex and then rating the other afterward" isn't the same as "two guys discover that they're bi or gay"

 

[StillStunned]

On a slightly different note, I’m certain my 20-30k long stories have hurt me because many readers can’t commit to hours of reading. That’s most certainly why I see only one out of a thousand votes. I’d be tickled to get one out of a hundred voting.

A lot of writers here will tell you that 7-10k words is the sweet spot. Not so long that potential readers click away immediately, but long enough that only the readers who like the story will finish it and vote. It also allows for enough build-up to engage the reader beyond arousal, which also contributes to higher scores.

 

[Nicenashguy615]

Agreed on the last. Discovery is a fun element in a good story.

The category really can make or break. Possibly more than the content which seems silly.

I’m guilty of it too. If I’m in the mood to read something hot, I absolutely will never click on a story under non erotic because I know I won’t find what I want there.

Many times for me, my story fits well into Romance, BDSM, Erotic Couplings, Anal, and sometimes even more so I struggle to pick the best category. I even had a guy comment that he voted me down because he thought it was better suited for another category. Which circles me back to ‘there’s no winning sometimes’ in the statistics world

 

[taytay4eva]

"I loved your story but I don't like that you chose to post it in the category you did, so I'm going to punish you for that" feels like an odd choice to make on their part.

 

[Nicenashguy615]

A lot of writers here will tell you that 7-10k words is the sweet spot. Not so long that potential readers click away immediately, but long enough that only the readers who like the story will finish it and vote. It also allows for enough build-up to engage the reader beyond arousal, which also contributes to higher scores.

I’m still struggling to whittle my stories down. I get wordy and I love details.

I know I can make it multiple parts but I don’t want to be that guy with a fifty part story. And I’ve learned I can get 100k views on part one, 80k views on part two, and only 300 views on part six despite all of them rating 4.7 plus.

 

[StillStunned]

I even had a guy comment that he voted me down because he thought it was better suited for another category. Which circles me back to ‘there’s no winning sometimes’ in the statistics world

You can't please all the readers, so just please yourself. In the end, your opinion is really all that matters,

I had a reader comment on one of my stories that "Sal" (the narrator's impish twin sister, short for Sally) sounded like a fat mobster. Sometimes I think some readers are just looking for an excuse to downvote stories.

 

[Nicenashguy615]

"I loved your story but I don't like that you chose to post it in the category you did, so I'm going to punish you for that" feels like an odd choice to make on their part.

Agreed but it happens.

I even had one comment, “I loved every part of the story and I look forward to the next but I saw a couple missing commas so I couldn’t rate it a five in good conscience. You really should consider getting an editor.” And that was on a well read story that topped out at 4.86 so clearly most viewers didn’t have an issue.

 

[taytay4eva]

I’m still struggling to whittle my stories down. I get wordy and I love details.

I know I can make it multiple parts but I don’t want to be that guy with a fifty part story. And I’ve learned I can get 100k views on part one, 80k views on part two, and only 300 views on part six despite all of them rating 4.7 plus.

Losing readership over several parts happens no matter where you publish or what kind of stuff you publish. I had loads of readers on a fanfiction I wrote for the first part, and then it dropped off after the first few chapters. Like, for every ... I dunno, ten? ... readers who start, I'd only have one who stuck through all the way. That said, once you've gotten to the third or forth part of a series, you tend to keep the audience you've gained.

 

[Nicenashguy615]

You can't please all the readers, so just please yourself. In the end, your opinion is really all that matters,

I had a reader comment on one of my stories that "Sal" (the narrator's impish twin sister, short for Sally) sounded like a fat mobster. Sometimes I think some readers are just looking for an excuse to downvote stories.

And not everyone will have identical reading comprehension. Some read to fast and gloss over important story details. Etc, etc.

You’re pissing in the wind when you shoot for high scores.

I’m sure to get blasted here but if high scores are important, change your profile to female, add a hot avatar pic that’s supposedly you and insert the name ‘kitten’ somehow in your username. Something like ‘sluttykitten’ You’ll attract ten thousand male followers who will leave comments like ‘bravo, bravo!!!!’

 

[taytay4eva]

I’m sure to get blasted here but if high scores are important, change your profile to female, add a hot avatar pic that’s supposedly you and insert the name ‘kitten’ somehow in your username. Something like ‘sluttykitten’ You’ll attract ten thousand male followers who will leave comments like ‘bravo, bravo!!!!’

I mean, I had a story on here that got views over the years and I only recently discovered that being active in the forums was helpful, so take that as you will.

 

[taytay4eva]

The bottom line is this: people read your story. Some of them liked it, some of them didn't. But for a brief while, they were reading words that you wrote, about people you imagined, people who until recently only lived in your head. For that brief while, those readers lived in your world. Isn't that incredible?

I gotta ask, did you write that off the cuff? Because it is a BANGER of a quote, and it is going to live in my head rent-free forever now.

 

[StillStunned]

I’m sure to get blasted here but if high scores are important, change your profile to female, add a hot avatar pic that’s supposedly you and insert the name ‘kitten’ somehow in your username. Something like ‘sluttykitten’ You’ll attract ten thousand male followers who will leave comments like ‘bravo, bravo!!!!’

Sad but true. But then you have to be prepared for a million DMs and emails propositioning you, and the immediate hate and backlash if you don't play along.

I gotta ask, did you write that off the cuff? Because it is a BANGER of a quote, and it is going to live in my head rent-free forever now.

I did. I probably spend too much time thinking about writing.

 

[taytay4eva]

I probably spend too much time thinking about writing.

Impossible. Can't be done.

Also, though, huzzah! You are very smart =)