What Rating makes you happy?

[MillieDynamite]

Ya think?

4.7

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

 

[TiberiusPrime]

Anything over 4.2 for me. If I ever had a story dip below the 4 mark I'd be wondering what the heck I did that offended people! Heck, I'm glad that my 2 Loving Wives stories are above 4, especially considering how tough the audience is for that particular genre on here.

 

[Boobytrap73]

4.9 is as frustrating as . . .

~BT73

 

[mirafrida]

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.

By way of counterpoint, the thought occurred to me recently that having some > 4.7 stories and some < 3.7 stories should perhaps be taken as a good sign, in the sense of demonstrating a willingness to take risks and avoid playing it safe.

 

[sinfantasy]

@SemiAmateurWordsmith - You will notice some trends with Authors here. Some stick to specific categories, some write a specific type of stories or their stories have a common theme. There is nothing wrong with following what works for you. Untimely it boils down to what you want to do?

I am new here and off course I want to see all my stories have red H but that's not practical. Specially when most of my stories are not written to appease the masses. I also intend to write in any as many categories as I can. The problem with this approach is, I always struggle when I pick new category to work with.

Some categories give much higher reach where you will see a story hitting 10k view in a day while some you will struggle to reach 1k even after a month. Some categories are generous with scores and gentle in comments while some are as brutal as they can be in both. Sometimes, you will also left wondering why my story is not getting views even when I have done everything right. Each category has it's own ideal template for success. If you don't follow it, you will be punished in score.

So, rather than Red H, I find Favorites and comments as a much better benchmark for my success. Not that I am doing great with these number, but I am happy with where I stand. You are free to check my submissions to get the gist of what I mean.

 

[MelissaBaby]

By way of counterpoint, the thought occurred to me recently that having some > 4.7 stories and some < 3.7 stories should perhaps be taken as a good sign, in the sense of demonstrating a willingness to take risks and avoid playing it safe.

As a counter-counter point, that would also indicate that the author did not actually succeed at risk taking, while the author with all high scores may have done so successfully.

 

[karina_jayde]

Honestly? Like a 4.8

I tend to publish mostly in series, and my consistent, loyal readers tend to give most of my stuff 5 stars. That's certainly appreciated, but it's only once the 1s, 2s, and 3s start coming in and driving the rating down a bit that I know the story has reached a broader readership.

 

[mirafrida]

As a counter-counter point, that would also indicate that the author did not actually succeed at risk taking, while the author with all high scores may have done so successfully.

Yes quite possible I was just coping

 

[Not2Pervy]

For me, 4.7 is a good benchmark for being happy with the result. But at the same time I also believe a couple of my stories that scored under 4.7 are better than some that scored above. Not every story hits the sweet spot within the category where it’s posted, and that can definitely affect scores. Some very good stories wouldn’t hit the sweet spot within any of the categories. That’s part of what makes comments so nice. Occasionally you can console yourself by thinking, “At least SOMEBODY gets it!”

 

[NuclearFairy]

Not so much the rating as the number of ratings. Which is 9. Because once I get that 10th vote and the red H someone always comes in and gives me a 1 which eliminates my red H. And then my votes slow down and it takes forever to recover if it ever does. So I'd rather have 9 votes with a 4.78 score then 11 votes with a 4.42 score.

 

[Northstar4695]

I really value the red H. I acknowledge all the reasons some say that it doesn’t matter or isn’t a good measure. It’s a motivation for me nonetheless. I would be very disappointed below 4.5.

My best stories (just my subjective opinion) have been above 4.7 and anything in that range feels like a huge deal. I weight a high score more in my mind if it also has high engagement.

 

[YmaOHyd]

Watching things go up is way more satisfying than watching them go down, even if they end up in similar places. I had two stories stabilize in the 4.5/4.6 region last week, but the first one peaked at 4.9 and declined while the other one rose from 3.5, and the first one felt real real bad and the second felt pretty good.

 

[Erozetta]

If a story gets to 100 votes, I'm thrilled. What the score is doesn't matter to me because I'm not a great writer and I know that. But having 100 people respond to my writing enough to warrant them taking the time to vote makes me happy. If they comment, that's even better.

 

[mirafrida]

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.

Is it typical for stories to sit at 4.49? This seems a very common pattern (like 6 of my 31 stories are at 4.48-4.49 at the moment).

They edge up and up until they reach 4.49, then every time the pop over the red H line they get knocked back down. Do other people see this?

 

[TheRedChamber]

Is it typical for stories to sit at 4.49? This seems a very common pattern (like 6 of my 31 stories are at 4.48-4.49 at the moment).

They edge up and up until they reach 4.49, then every time the pop over the red H line they get knocked back down. Do other people see this?

For what it's worth, I have 64 published stories and 14 of those are between 4.4 and 4.5, way more than any other 0.1 band. (10 between 4.5-4.6)

I think what happens is that it's fairly easy for someone to see a 4.5 story and decide that it is 'Not Hot' in their opinion and hit it harder than they might otherwise - especially later in a stories life when nearly everything else has settled, but they see that a vote could affect this one.

(Or maybe you and I are just 4.4 kind of writers... )

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

Is it typical for stories to sit at 4.49? This seems a very common pattern (like 6 of my 31 stories are at 4.48-4.49 at the moment).

They edge up and up until they reach 4.49, then every time the pop over the red H line they get knocked back down. Do other people see this?

8 of 17 of mine are between 4.2 and 4.49

 

[mirafrida]

I think what happens is that it's fairly easy for someone to see a 4.5 story and decide that it is 'Not Hot' in their opinion and hit it harder than they might otherwise - especially later in a stories life when nearly everything else has settled, but they see that a vote could affect this one.

Yet another reason to hate the arbitrary line. Maybe 8-letters or someone will run an analysis sometime to see how disproportionately many stories are at 4.49

 

[OddLove]

I only have four stories so far and they're rated really high IMO, but I know it won't be that way everytime, and I know even those stories ratings can go down over time, so I'm trying to keep myself from putting my happiness eggs in that basket.

 

[kitmarlowe]

I've only got one story up so far and it's hovering around 4.4/4.5. I've been writing fiction for a long time but this is my first time writing erotica, so I'm very happy with this response.

 

[MK_Whimsy]

Given that I tend to write such niche material, I'm happy to get any ratings at all. Now while I like getting high ratings of course, since that indicates that my idea resonated with people, I know not to put too much stock in them either. I have a few low-rated stories which I still personally like, and I think focusing too much on ratings could dissuade me from taking risks.

 

[beliefofmine]

 

[NuclearFairy]

The latest section of my serial only has 3 votes on it. Which is especially hilarious because it has 3.33 stars. But yeah... I only get 1 voter for every 500 views or something and it takes time for them to accumulate.

 

[Belegon]

14 of my 20 Stories have the red H. I enjoy that as it means I'm pleasing at least a decent portion of my audience. The thing I really hate about thratings system isn't the system at all. It's the fucking one-bombers that tend to go in and blast people without reading. Which isn't really a criticism of the system, but a criticism of trolls.

I feel the same way about them as I do about people who claim to love a band and then, the moment they have a hit, start talking about how the band "sold out", even if the song that's a hit is totally consistent with the direction of the band. Some people just can't stand to see anything good happen to other people... and it is my consistent and long-standing belief that people who hate just to hate FUCKING SUCK!

 

[YmaOHyd]

The latest section of my serial only has 3 votes on it. Which is especially hilarious because it has 3.33 stars. But yeah... I only get 1 voter for every 500 views or something and it takes time for them to accumulate.

The first two of mine have 2.4k and 2.2k views; the third part has 200. Nine ratings, all fours and fives plus the customary 1 I get within two hours of publishing anything.

 

[NuclearFairy]

The first two of mine have 2.4k and 2.2k views; the third part has 200. Nine ratings, all fours and fives plus the customary 1 I get within two hours of publishing anything.

Yeah the view dropoff per part in a series can be killer. Mine range from 3.1k for the first one to 300 for the latest. I just worry that the low rating of my last one might deter people from reading because all of the previous sections have a rating of 4.6-4.8 and then this one is 3.33. Although only the first two of the five have enough votes to be hot.