The now fully official Author’s Hangout Halloween 2025 competition support thread

[EmilyMiller]

How is the admin team doing? Ill? Personal issues?

Seems like something has been hindering things.

We don’t know

 

[talemestories]

View attachment 2572536

Welcome to Day 20 of The Halloween 2025 Competition

https://www.literotica.com/stories/contest.php/halloween-2025

I am sure this is answered somewhere but are you producing this art on a daily basis either digitally or on paper? They have been a highlight each day.

 

[EmilyMiller]

They have been a highlight each day.

Thank you

 

[Actingup]

For those who've participated in past contests and past Halloween contests, in particular, how is your viewership on this one in comparison to past events?
I'll share my experience after a few responses.

(Edited to give category information).

 

[EmilyMiller]

See if you can guess which dot represents my entry for this contest....

View attachment 2572679

We have close to the same crappy engagement as each other.

 

[WeShallUnclench]

Many of us have been saying, for some time now, that there are simply too many "events" and contests. Every time I open the AH, it seems there's another support thread for yet another event. I don't necessarily fault the organizers, but I think it's just simply too many for the readers' bandwidth.

on the flipside, wouldn't fewer events just mean every writer would go absolutely apeshit to participate in the few events that are held, leading to 20million entries all at once?

I suppose you could use tricks like, only the first ten entries can compete and everyone got exactly 1 hour to post from announcement to closure, but that's not exactly the spirit of the sport either

 

[Voboy]

on the flipside, wouldn't fewer events just mean every writer would go absolutely apeshit to participate in the few events that are held, leading to 20million entries all at once?

I think there's a balance. When I was first entering contests (quite a few years back, I think), there were about six contests a year and maybe three? Four? Five? No more than five other special events. That's about once a month, or a little less, and people didn't participate this way. Some themes and contest topics just don't tickle everyone's fancy, and never really will.

As a guy who was a reader for many, many years before I started writing, I found it fatiguing to try to wade through a few dozen entries in contests that struck my fancy. I'd never be able to maintain my interest these days; there are simply too many.

 

[old_prof]

I will also argue that the site has an alternative agenda. Many of us have complained about how many of the stories published now are parts of series and many readers want stand alone stories. The events of all kinds generate efforts for stand alone stories by the authors. I bet the number of annual events generates a notable increase in high quality stand alone stories.

 

[Actingup]

I think there's a balance. When I was first entering contests (quite a few years back, I think), there were about six contests a year and maybe three? Four? Five? No more than five other special events. That's about once a month, or a little less, and people didn't participate this way. Some themes and contest topics just don't tickle everyone's fancy, and never really will.

As a guy who was a reader for many, many years before I started writing, I found it fatiguing to try to wade through a few dozen entries in contests that struck my fancy. I'd never be able to maintain my interest these days; there are simply too many.

The number of stories in each contest has generally been increasing, adding to the load. I think that it would be good to encourage writers to only enter each contest or event once - to give it our best single shots. That said, with an average of 181 stories a day published over the last 12 months, I'm not sure that the events & contests are the major issue with the overall load.

 

[Eisenloewe]

The number of stories in each contest has generally been increasing, adding to the load. I think that it would be good to encourage writers to only enter each contest or event once - to give it our best single shots. That said, with an average of 181 stories a day published over the last 12 months, I'm not sure that the events & contests are the major issue with the overall load.

Are these statistics published somewhere? Is a Litipedia buried somewhere here that I haven't found yet?

 

[Actingup]

Are these statistics published somewhere? Is a Litipedia buried somewhere here that I haven't found yet?

No - I got those from https://search.literotica.com/ - search for stories using ' ' as the search term, and use advanced options to get results for the last 12 months. That gives you a page with 66K search results, which averages out to 181 stories a day. If my maths is right, the long term average is around 80 per day over the past 25 years, as the database seems to kick in properly from mid 2000.

More fun facts:
920 Editors Choice stories show in the (All Years) search (average of 37 per year), but only 2 have been awarded in the past year (hello @FrancesScott!). In the last six months of 2000, there were 86 Editors Choice Awards. In 2001, there were hundreds.
There are 1281 Contest Winners in the (All Years) search (an average of about 51 per year), but only 18 Contest Winners in the past year, because the site isn't running Monthly Contests any more.

 

[FrancesScott]

hello @FrancesScott!

Hi!

 

[TheRedChamber]

Mine was published yesterday but hasnt been included in the Halloween list. I've messaged Laurel. Oh well.

 

[Unblemished]

Ugh. I wanted to submit a story to the contest, but work blew up over October and destroyed my writing time. I still have a chance to get it done, in theory, but at this point I’m wondering if I should just hold fire until next year?

 

[Actingup]

Ugh. I wanted to submit a story to the contest, but work blew up over October and destroyed my writing time. I still have a chance to get it done, in theory, but at this point I’m wondering if I should just hold fire until next year?

Without knowing anything about your story (quality and category will make a difference), I think that you should consider that there are already 189 stories listed on the site and others being processed. Many authors are still experiencing publication delays, and the impression from discussion here is that stories are receiving less exposure/engagement than normal, presumably due to the site issues.

 

[Unblemished]

Without knowing anything about your story (quality and category will make a difference), I think that you should consider that there are already 189 stories listed on the site and others being processed. Many authors are still experiencing publication delays, and the impression from discussion here is that stories are receiving less exposure/engagement than normal, presumably due to the site issues.

That’s another data point pushing me towards the already pretty overwhelming “this isn’t going to work, maybe get it ready in time for next year’s contest” vibe. Lit does do Halloween contests on the reg, yeah?

 

[Actingup]

That’s another data point pushing me towards the already pretty overwhelming “this isn’t going to work, maybe get it ready in time for next year’s contest” vibe. Lit does do Halloween contests on the reg, yeah?

Yes, every year, although there's always the risk that the creeping, black yet somehow erotic horror surrounding LitAdmin's house and threatening to overwhelm them will finally break through in the meantime.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Welcome to day 21 of The Halloween 2025 Competition

https://www.literotica.com/stories/contest.php/halloween-2025

 

[WittyUserName]

View attachment 2572763

Welcome to day 21 of The Halloween 2025 Competition

https://www.literotica.com/stories/contest.php/halloween-2025

Nice turnout for this one! Although, I noticed I'm getting way fewer views than I did when I entered Summer Lovin' 2024. I got over 200 followers and a hundred comments on that story. Less than 10 followers and comments on this one.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Nice turnout for this one! Although, I noticed I'm getting way fewer views than I did when I entered Summer Lovin' 2024. I got over 200 followers and a hundred comments on that story. Less than 10 followers and comments on this one.

Yeah - the comp effect is much lower for Halloween. Not sure why .

 

[WittyUserName]

Yeah - the comp effect is much lower for Halloween. Not sure why .

That is unfortunate. I have an idea for the Winter contest, how is that one? Summer Lovin' was my first real contest, so I don't have much experience to draw from.

 

[EmilyMiller]

That is unfortunate. I have an idea for the Winter contest, how is that one? Summer Lovin' was my first real contest, so I don't have much experience to draw from.

There is a lot going on on the site and it’s very hard to work out what might be transitory noise and what might be long-term trends.

This has been a very strange Halloween Comp contemporaneous as it is with many stories falling into a black hole (including comp ones), stories getting published late (including comp ones), the ongoing notifications debacle, even more one bombing than usual, and the overlay of AI rejections, number of stories increasing faster than number of readers, and perhaps a general malaise that is affecting at least the U.S. and maybe other places.

At this point, it’s impossible to make robust predictions about how the Winter Holidays Comp with go. It may see a return to the historical mean of enhanced views, but The Halloween Comp could also be the new normal. People can speculate, but only time will tell.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Looks like I picked a good year to skip this contest... Though I tried very hard to get my story polished, but I couldn't get 'er done.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Looks like I picked a good year to skip this contest... Though I tried very hard to get my story polished, but I couldn't get 'er done.

You’re a wiser woman than me, Millie

 

[MillieDynamite]

Well, no, I'm not, EM! I jus' couldn't make my brain work. Too much coffee, too little sleep, way, way too much paid work. Wait, no, there can never ever be too much paid work.

You’re a wiser woman than me, Millie