What Rating makes you happy?

[SemiAmateurWordsmith]

Hi, everyone,

I'm new here and I have submitted two separate stories so far. One was for the 750-word project, the other in the Incest/Taboo category.

I'm curious about what scores make people happy. I see that 4.55/138 for my HOT!!! 750 page exhibitionism story and that brings me joy.

I also see the 4.32/128 votes for my Incest Story, a Mother/Son tale, and I think, "Awww, I could have done better but no one's giving me feedback."

What scores make you happy? Is hitting 4.0 or higher good enough for you? Do you want the red "H" or otherwise it's a bust? I'm curious on how others look at Ratings and how seriously you take them.

Thank you!

 

[JessiQueVix]

Hi, everyone,

I'm new here and I have submitted two separate stories so far. One was for the 750-word project, the other in the Incest/Taboo category.

I'm curious about what scores make people happy. I see that 4.55/138 for my HOT!!! 750 page exhibitionism story and that brings me joy.

I also see the 4.32/128 votes for my Incest Story, a Mother/Son tale, and I think, "Awww, I could have done better but no one's giving me feedback."

What scores make you happy? Is hitting 4.0 or higher good enough for you? Do you want the red "H" or otherwise it's a bust? I'm curious on how others look at Ratings and how seriously you take them.

Thank you!

i havent wrote any till now. though i have a plan to write one long story. i am still making the plots. so i dont know anything about score

 

[StillStunned]

Welcome to the forums and to the hobby! And by "hobby" I don't mean writing, I mean obsessing over scores and views and ratios and categories and all that.

To answer your question: it all depends. Trite, perhaps, but it's true. A story that starts at 4.9 but drops to 4.75 will always feel like a bit of a disappointment, but I have a story that sat in the 4.4s for a long time and then clawed its way up to 4.57, and that one feels like a triumph. One story is rated 4.91, but that's from 11 votes, so it doesn't feel satisfying at all, particularly since the story only has 1k views.

With some stories, you pour your heart and soul into them and spend weeks writing, and a 4.6 can like a poor reward. Others just roll from your fingers onto your screen, and score 4.8, and feel cheating somehow.

Over time, and with enough stories, it all becomes relative. Early on, though, the Red H is a huge confidence boost, and encourages you to keep writing. It means that quite a few people like what you're writing, and that's really all that you can hope for.

Good luck, and keep writing!

 

[SinclairGroupLLP]

Anything over a 4 I find to be acceptable. Obviously I want to hit that magical 4.5 and get the red H, but if I can get over a 4, then that means the bulk of people liked or loved the story, and what's really where I want to be.

I'm ecstatic anytime I can get over 4.7 or so, but that is rare - I think I've done it a few times, and they largely come after there's a sweep of the ratings, as there appears to be at least a few people who instantly vote down everything in the interracial category. Red Hs have been few and far between there the last few months.

In the end though, as much as I want to be like the other AH writers and disdain the ratings, I do keep an eye on them. If anything, it gives me an idea of what I'm writing that's working and what isn't, given that I rarely get clear complaints that make sense in the comments, lol.

 

[PennyThompson]

Aside from the dopamine boost of a good rating (I am definitely a dopamine junky ) I think getting to 4.5 for the red H is objectively helpful for getting more people to read one of your stories, which helps you gain followers and build an audience.

Personally, if I'm scanning through a story list or a tag search result to find something to read, the red H catches my eye and makes me more likely to at least read the description, and more likely to click and give it a read.

 

[QuillPig]

As a writer, I don't like getting less than a 4.5, but I know this is irrational, because as a reader, I find scores to have only a slight correlation to quality. With the really innovative stories, sometimes the correlation is inverse. Many readers here don't seem to want too much art getting in the way of their smut.

 

[KittyOfSteele]

I don't. I have no time to read reviews while I'm working on the sequel. ERB line aside, I only care about the ratings if I've written something that is an experiment and I want to see if it can be well received or not. Granted, Lit is just a small portion, so I should repost the story in other places to have a more... global feedback... but I don't, and that's on me!

I don't obsess over numbers. If something sticks, it sticks, and if it doesn't, I just toss it on the side and keep going. The last thing I want is to put all my eggs into one basket.

 

[YmaOHyd]

I don't know. My E&V 750 story is like a 3.6 or 3.8, and that's fine. It doesn't do much for me. The first part of my romance dropped from 4.8 to 4.5 in a day, and that's been quite disappointing, but it's fine. Both parts have received at least one very nice comment and that's more motivating than the slow sink in rating has been demotivating.

Honestly the only thing that's bothered me so far is that my last three things published have all been one-starred without comment in the first couple hours after publication, and that's very annoying, especially as I'm not, like, swimming in reads or ratings.

 

[MillieDynamite]

I don't put stock in votes or scores. Sure, when I get a 4.5, I'm happy about that. Still, the s are more important to me. Comments from those who liked the story are nice as well. But in the end, I put it out there to be read and I'm most happy that I can do that.

 

[SimonDoom]

I don't have an answer because I don't think of it this way. There are multiple factors that make a score of Story A completely incomparable to a score of Story B. One is fooling oneself to think otherwise.

All things being equal, I like getting a high score and I want the highest score possible, because I know the higher it is the more it will attract readers, and that's what matters to me. But I also know the causal connection is so tenuous that it doesn't matter all that much, and I don't target a particular score as something to strive for.

 

[Trionyx]

I’m happiest if my score is greater than I anticipated. I’ve written a few which I thought were very good and hoped for a high score only to be disappointed when the score was lower than anticipated. Conversely, I’ve had some scores come in quite high on stories that I didn’t think were that great. Those have turned out to be my favorites but there isn’t a magical cut off number overall.

 

[Andreas_Kreuz]

I wanted at least one red H, just to prove I can do it. And "do it" means write for the expectations the audience of a specific category has and also easy reading. I have 2 stories, that will never make it even close to a 4, because they are a bit personal or against the grain. But that is fine.

 

[Katie_Mae]

I published a short story recently. After 10 votes it had a score of 4.9, and after 16 votes it's at a 4.

Still the same story. I'm no more or less happy about itor the score. A score doesn't make me happy or not.

Different categories have different average scores so it's hard to even compare across categories if your story "scored well" or not. A 4 in one category is low, but in another it is high.

I did find if you got a high score on day the story was published it was a great boost for views, so that was nice, however I think they've taken the view away of that now. Best thing for views is enter competitions, which will get you broader viewership (and lower star rating.)

However, it's fascinating to track and watch and see the behaviour of others through your scores, which I like to follow.

 

[glynndah]

I'd almost rather have comments than ratings. With comments, I figure the reader at least skimmed the story; a rating by itself could be just a troll one bombing everything sans reading.

 

[jaF0]

3 is just a little over half way between 0 and five, so ...

 

[rteny3245]

I'd almost rather have comments than ratings. With comments, I figure the reader at least skimmed the story; a rating by itself could be just a troll one bombing everything sans reading.

I agree. Someone taking the time to comment is amazing to me. Especially since I suspect only a small percentage of Lit users have enough comments to get them posted without moderation. Heck the anonymous users have to enter a CAPTCHA so even that's some level of work.

Oh and a follow is chef's kiss.

 

[YmaOHyd]

I agree. Someone taking the time to comment is amazing to me. Especially since I suspect only a small percentage of Lit users have enough comments to get them posted without moderation. Heck the anonymous users have to enter a CAPTCHA so even that's some level of work.

Oh and a follow is chef's kiss.

Absolutely.

 

[yowser]

As a writer, I don't like getting less than a 4.5, but I know this is irrational, because as a reader, I find scores to have only a slight correlation to quality. With the really innovative stories, sometimes the correlation is inverse. Many readers here don't seem to want too much art getting in the way of their smut.

Astutely observed. I've noted before that scoring has a tenuous and asymmetrical correlation with quality. Plenty of high 4 tales cannot be considered well written, but certainly achieve popularity (more about what the scores really mean.) Conversely, most stories below, say, 3.5, usually are neither well considered nor constructed. It is a morass probably not worth a great deal of thought.

 

[GlennJenko]

Before I started writing, I told myself I was just happy that people would experience something I wrote. I was kidding myself a little, because I am human so ego does inevitably creep in.

Overall I'm "happy" with a 4, as when my first story crossed that threshold is when I felt like I'd achieved something. Not as much as when I got to readership or follower mindstones, though. My stories also tend to "rally," as all three started a lot lower than they are now. I don't know if that's just chance or the subject matter of my stories, but I'm 3 for 3 on a significant increase as time has gone on. E.g my first story debuted at around 3.7 (not an awful score by itself for a first go) and is now at 4.35, or my latest starting at 2.75 and now being at 3.87 (my lowest to date but I'm not super depressed about it - I got burnout while writing it but wanted it done).

EDIT: I do think comments as feedback are more constructive overall, though. I got some good advice on my first story to carry through to the future. Even a couple that voted "negatively" (said they gave it a 3) had constructive stuff to say. Most of the specific criticisms around my third story seem to be around the ending, which is something I struggled with, rewrote and honestly I still don't know if I'm 100% happy with it. So I understand the frustration.

 

[ronde]

Hi, everyone,

I'm new here and I have submitted two separate stories so far. One was for the 750-word project, the other in the Incest/Taboo category.

I'm curious about what scores make people happy. I see that 4.55/138 for my HOT!!! 750 page exhibitionism story and that brings me joy.

I also see the 4.32/128 votes for my Incest Story, a Mother/Son tale, and I think, "Awww, I could have done better but no one's giving me feedback."

What scores make you happy? Is hitting 4.0 or higher good enough for you? Do you want the red "H" or otherwise it's a bust? I'm curious on how others look at Ratings and how seriously you take them.

Thank you!

I like seeing a rating above 4.5, but I also understand that the ratings on Literotica are never objective and therefore do not accurately reflect either the writing or the content. The ratings are extremely subjective and as often as not reflect what the reader expected to read based upon the title, description, and tags. Reach that goal and you'll get a "4" and maybe a "5" from that reader if they bother to vote at all. Fail in that goal, even a little and you'll get a max rating of "4".

There are also some readers who's criteria for a rating of "5" is impossible to achieve. Some readers never rate a story higher than "4" even if they liked it a lot. Other readers who don't like a story will automatically rate it as a "1". I've had readers rate a story as a "5" even though I didn't think it was that good.

The best approach to ratings is to write the best story you can, and if the ratings aren't as high as you would like, try to figure out why and change on the next story.

 

[AwkwardMD]

4.7

I'm not unhappy with anything, but above 4.7 feels like a win.

 

[DanDraper]

I think we all would love to get that 4.5 minimum rating to get that red H symbol next to our story title. I got some of those and it does feel good. But I think anything over a 4.0 sounds reasonably good. We can't please everyone and if it's above 4.0 at least its saying you have a big majority of readers have enjoyed it.


...

 

[mirafrida]

My recent LW story is at 3.27, and I can't help feeling bitter about that one. NoTalentHack can lecture me from now until eternity, but there is no universe in which that's a fair rating for that story.

With that said, I mostly try to write what I like and not sweat it. Any time a story settles above 4.3 I'm pretty sanguine about it.

 

[HordHolm]

I'm not really a fan of the scoring system - as noted above, it often tells us nothing about quality. It can also be very category specific. But the way the site operates we are almost obliged to be score conscious, in that getting to 4.5 and a red H means probably more readers than not having a red H. Personally, it's one of the things I'd ditch if I had the power, its effect being potentially disproportionate, particularly with a newly posted story with only a few votes yet - 4.5 or above on a few votes? That catches the eye. 4.49 on the same number of votes? In danger of being lost in the mass of stories, especially if a writer isn't posting so regularly.

 

[MelissaBaby]

4.7

I'm not unhappy with anything, but above 4.7 feels like a win.

I don't compare myself to anyone else. I judge success against my own work. I have shown I can write stories that score very high, so I should do so. I consider anything under 4.70 as a disappointment and under 4.5 as a failure.