The Official Valentine’s Day Contest Support Thread 2026

[caleb35]

My latest story "As You Desire" has been posted and is available to all; please enjoy. I am reminded that if one wants to get views and votes, the trick is to 1) post in a category on a day when there's not many other stories posted in that category and 2) enter it in a contest

Now, I could've swore that I submitted the story as "At Your Desire" instead of "As You Desire." So I'm a little miffed about that, not only because I don't see an easy way to change it but also it means my old ass is getting even more forgetful. [sigh] Oh well.

Compliments and congratulations to all other contest entries and I hope you all get many views and high scores.

 

[StillStunned]

Now, I could've swore that I submitted the story as "At Your Desire" instead of "As You Desire." So I'm a little miffed about that, not only because I don't see an easy way to change it but also it means my old ass is getting even more forgetful. [sigh] Oh well.

Submit an edit, just for the title. If Laurel (may she live forever) doesn't have to review the entire text, she might fast-track it. (I submitted an edit for a tag once, and it was handled within three days.)

 

[EmilyMiller]

My latest story "As You Desire" has been posted and is available to all; please enjoy. I am reminded that if one wants to get views and votes, the trick is to 1) post in a category on a day when there's not many other stories posted in that category and 2) enter it in a contest

Now, I could've swore that I submitted the story as "At Your Desire" instead of "As You Desire." So I'm a little miffed about that, not only because I don't see an easy way to change it but also it means my old ass is getting even more forgetful. [sigh] Oh well.

Compliments and congratulations to all other contest entries and I hope you all get many views and high scores.

Good luck

 

[caleb35]

Submit an edit, just for the title. If Laurel (may she live forever) doesn't have to review the entire text, she might fast-track it. (I submitted an edit for a tag once, and it was handled within three days.)

I'm not quite sure how to do that. Do I have to resubmit the story entirely? Not sure it's worth the trouble.

 

[StillStunned]

I'm not quite sure how to do that. Do I have to resubmit the story entirely? Not sure it's worth the trouble.

https://www.literotica.com/faq/publishing/editing-published-work

and

https://www.literotica.com/faq/publishing/change-published-work-title

 

[caleb35]

https://www.literotica.com/faq/publishing/editing-published-work

and

https://www.literotica.com/faq/publishing/change-published-work-title

Thanks for the references. I'm scared but I resubmitted; fingers crossed it all goes okay.

 

[RoyalAuthor]

My story is well reviewed, but it really underperformed my usual contest entries in new followers, total ratings, favorites, comments, and views, which I assumed would be the case within a few days. It's not a total bomb, but I enter these contests for exposure, so it's a little underwhelming.

Now that things have settled, my takeaway is to not post to sci-fi/fantasy for a contest. My story probably would have fit equally as well in romance, and I wish I'd put it there. Live and learn. If anyone here is debating categories for a contest entry, expected category traffic is something to consider.

That said, thanks to everyone who has read it. I hope you enjoyed it!

 

[WittyUserName]

My story is well reviewed, but it really underperformed my usual contest entries in new followers, total ratings, favorites, comments, and views, which I assumed would be the case within a few days. It's not a total bomb, but I enter these contests for exposure, so it's a little underwhelming.

Now that things have settled, my takeaway is to not post to sci-fi/fantasy for a contest. My story probably would have fit equally as well in romance, and I wish I'd put it there. Live and learn. If anyone here is debating categories for a contest entry, expected category traffic is something to consider.

That said, thanks to everyone who has read it. I hope you enjoyed it!

I went with Sci-fi/fantasy for the Halloween contest and my entry for this one is coming out tomorrow, also in sci-fi/fantasy. Yeah, traffic wasn't too high at all. I guess we'll see if I have better luck this time.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Sci-fi/fantasy

The category is sadly drowning in Chapter 128 works and low quality slop (or both combined). Viewership is awful.

 

[WittyUserName]

The category is sadly drowning in Chapter 128 works and low quality slop (or both combined). Viewership is awful.

Yeah, my Halloween contest in Sci-fi/Fantasy is at 6k views, my winter contest entry in romance has 11k views and is two months newer. That's a shame, because I feel like there's a lot of potential for great stories. Hopefully I'm not adding slop

 

[caleb35]

Yeah, my Halloween contest in Sci-fi/Fantasy is at 6k views, my winter contest entry in romance has 11k views and is two months newer. That's a shame, because I feel like there's a lot of potential for great stories. Hopefully I'm not adding slop

Of course you're not, if you were, you wouldn't care about it being slop or not

 

[caleb35]

Concerns about posting in specific categories aside, I came here to opine that it seems submitting for a contest is a good way to generate views for your story. My submittal to this contest, up for less than 24 hours, already has more views than my last three stories. My last story that had more... was my entry for the Halloween contest last October.

 

[BryanRichardson]

Writing for contests definitely increases viewership.

Because if you look at the list for contests you can’t see the category and are only influenced by the title (and maybe author).

 

[RoyalAuthor]

Concerns about posting in specific categories aside, I came here to opine that it seems submitting for a contest is a good way to generate views for your story. My submittal to this contest, up for less than 24 hours, already has more views than my last three stories. My last story that had more... was my entry for the Halloween contest last October.

Yeah, I'm just comparing contest entries to contest entries, I always enter for the exposure. Posting in sci-fi though, I ended up with the least of any entry so far by about half, and actually underperformed my last non-contest one-off significantly.

I think Emily is right, the category is just dead relative to others.

 

[caleb35]

Yeah, I'm just comparing contest entries to contest entries, I always enter for the exposure. Posting in sci-fi though, I ended up with the least of any entry so far by about half, and actually underperformed my last non-contest one-off significantly.

I think Emily is right, the category is just dead relative to others.

Pity

 

[caleb35]

Writing for contests definitely increases viewership.

Because if you look at the list for contests you can’t see the category and are only influenced by the title (and maybe author).

Related question, do contest entries also have lower average scores due to competitive voting?

 

[YmaOHyd]

Related question, do contest entries also have lower average scores due to competitive voting?

Hard to tell because contest entries go up and down more than most other stories due to targeted sweeping at the end of contests. Also, winning contest entries are likely to hit the All-Time toplists, and those are a trash fire.

 

[KitMasterson]

A good news story for today: after having my Valentine's Day story sent back twice, I rewrote it top to bottom (it's quite short so wasn't a biggie), and it has just today gone live. Hurrah!

So one point for persistence, and hurrah for community support — I got some lovely feedback, advice and suggestions from good people on here, thanks all.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Related question, do contest entries also have lower average scores due to competitive voting?

The few times I've entered Contests the total view count might increase by 10%, but the score has always gone backwards. I attributed that to readers coming into mystery categories (for them) from the Contest feed, then saying, "Oh no, I don't like that, here's a lower score." To the point where I don't bother with Contests any more.

 

[StrentWriter]

Got 25 votes but expecting to lose a few in the sweep. New aim is get to 30 to be safe!

 

[EmilyMiller]

A good news story for today: after having my Valentine's Day story sent back twice, I rewrote it top to bottom (it's quite short so wasn't a biggie), and it has just today gone live. Hurrah!

So one point for persistence, and hurrah for community support — I got some lovely feedback, advice and suggestions from good people on here, thanks all.

Well done

 

[EmilyMiller]

29th January

For Valentine’s Day I agree
To take on cocks, numbered three
In my pussy and butt
And my mouth, what a slut!
What fun being airlocked can be

 

[RoyalAuthor]

Related question, do contest entries also have lower average scores due to competitive voting?

I don't think so, sweeps help with that.

I've written 10 one-off stories, most for contests but a few not, and all of them are in a range of 0.06 of each other in score, so very little discernable difference.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Related question, do contest entries also have lower average scores due to competitive voting?

Anything scoring highly will have its rating suppressed by overly-competitive authors. If theses authors don’t understand how the site works, then these low votes will most likely get swept. But if they have a basic understanding of site mechanics, they won’t.

It’s really best not to get too invested in comp scores, they are subject to all sorts of shenanigans. Just view comps as fun and a way to reach new readers.

 

[DickandDoof]

Anything scoring highly will have its rating suppressed by overly-competitive authors. If theses authors don’t understand how the site works, then these low votes will most likely get swept. But if they have a basic understanding of site mechanics, they won’t.

It’s really best not to get too invested in comp scores, they are subject to all sorts of shenanigans. Just view comps as fun and a way to reach new readers.

Hello Beautiful Em,
I know you’ve been subject to suppression of ratings many times. I’ve never understood why some people are so insecure that they have to drag other people down to their level. But it sounds like you’ve mentally adjusted well to this reality and are keeping it in perspective.
Love,
Sey