Your Literotica Successes & Failures in 2019

[SamScribble]

A late entry for my 2019 successes. A new reader (well, new to me) praised my most recent story and said; ‘The sex wasn’t over the hill …’.

I’ve had rather a lot of birthdays myself, but it’s nice to now that the sex in my story had apparently survived the ravages of time.

 

[RejectReality]

If you want followers, write incest stories. The traffic in that category is a quantum jump higher than you see elsewhere (excepting LW, maybe, but I don't ever go there).

Anal and Mature are also big gain categories, if keeping it in the family isn't your thing.

As far as followers go, Sci-Fi&Fantasy and Non-Human aren't bad choices if you are into the genre and write some long, appealing stories. My other two pen names are over the 1k bar, and that's entirely on the back of fantasy work as Dark.

The traffic may be pretty low, but the fans are hardcore, and they want the notifications for that next chapter as soon as it comes out.

It's probably a combination of the two Mom stories + Magic of the Wood as Les.

 

[rebel_code]

My biggest failure was not getting anything written after July. Other interests, other priorities, etc. But I got six stories done this year, and have a few ideas kicking around. Just need to devote time to writing again.

In terms of story success, I was disappointed that "High Tide" didn't fare as well as I hoped. It got a very small number of views to start with. Maybe it would have done better in another category, but I felt it fit best in Romance.

On the upside, "Grace's Rose Garden" got close to my best rating and some nice favorable comments. And then out of nowhere, my contribution to the "One Night In..." event, a rewrite of a previous story that just happened to have had the title "One Night in Taipei", suddenly became my highest rated story. It's not much more than a vignette about two friends and coworkers lending each other a hand on a work trip. Perhaps readers liked the characterizations, and I should go and reread it as a guide...

 

[yukonnights]

A late entry for my 2019 successes. A new reader (well, new to me) praised my most recent story and said; ‘The sex wasn’t over the hill …’.

I’ve had rather a lot of birthdays myself, but it’s nice to now that the sex in my story had apparently survived the ravages of time.

This is sort of cruel Sam. Now I want to read an example of "over the hill sex" Research, you know.

 

[RejectReality]

This is sort of cruel Sam. Now I want to read an example of "over the hill sex" Research, you know.

Now there's an idea percolating in my head. A little romance, and a touch of humor in the little speed bumps that may arise during the ascent to ecstasy for an older couple who just found each other.

Filing that as a possible Valentine's idea...

 

[SimonDoom]

To my list of failures in 2019 I guess I must add having had a story rejected for the first time. I started a thread on the subject. Or perhaps I should count it as an educational experience, not failure.

 

[JPGmvny]

First, let me say that there were a like button I'd hit it for all of the prior comments here. I've only recently come to the BB side of Lit, but find the people on here generally kind and supportive. And as Bramblethorn (one of my favorites) said the editing support I've gotten from authors I admire has been invaluable and I've tried to do what I can to others.

I was a long-time reader before writing anything. I found my way into reading lesbian romances and was encouraged by one of my favorite authors to try one (and I include several of her characters (in aliases) as easter eggs).

I put up 17 distinct stories (incl. two with another name). Most were well received and almost all were romances in MF, FF, and MM. I enjoyed creating characters. My first MM story was my most positive thing. I looked at things from a completely different perspective, and I received a slew of positive comments about it. Twice, for different stories, I've had people write asking me if they are one of my characters--they're not--and whether I am who they think I am--I'm not. That was strange.

Perhaps because of where I post (with an exception I'll mention) I've gotten nothing but helpful suggestions, even the highly-critical. And I've learned to crave comments, and am disappointed at the paucity of mine in contrast to what some others receive.

My disappointment is that one of my most fun stories--a saucy NYC women--with references to "The Graduate"--an uncompleted wedding--and "Jane Eyre"--a tall, dark, rich dom in love with his second wife--is easily my lowest rated. People I know who've read it liked it. I liked it because it was different and less reverent than my normal. (I may have initially put it in the wrong category.)

I had a second story that was ripped with lots of nasty comments. I posted on this Board about it and got helpful criticism. I pulled it to re-write along the lines suggested and it's being published elsewhere as something far superior than the original.

I learned that a dialog-only story, while easy to write, is not popular. I was saved only by a post-contest sweep. I spend too much time thinking about my score.

So on to 2020.

 

[careythomas]

2019...

I will be happy to put this year behind me. Not enough time for writing (2019 yielded just one story submission). Successes? The consistent support and encouragement of readers here; for that I feel so grateful and lucky.

 

[JPGmvny]

I will be happy to put this year behind me. Not enough time for writing (2019 yielded just one story submission). Successes? The consistent support and encouragement of readers here; for that I feel so grateful and lucky.

Yours are the Easter eggs I referred to.

 

[EricasDreams]

Failures

Trying to write sequels to existing stories. Not enough time, and keep getting hung up on details. But the parts I have read make me very wet and swollen...so there is hope.

-EvH

 

[Kojak01]

Maybe I'm a bit simple but judging from feedback and comments, I made at least one person feel better. That's my biggest success.

Failures? Maybe that I didn't make more people feel better.

 

[UsuallyPresent]

Maybe I'm a bit simple but judging from feedback and comments, I made at least one person feel better. That's my biggest success.

Failures? Maybe that I didn't make more people feel better.

If you made one person feel better you're beating the mean, IMO. Yes, the pun is intended, but the point remains true either way you choose to read it.

 

[yukonnights]

Maybe I'm a bit simple but judging from feedback and comments, I made at least one person feel better. That's my biggest success.

Failures? Maybe that I didn't make more people feel better.

If you made one person feel better you're beating the mean, IMO. Yes, the pun is intended, but the point remains true either way you choose to read it.

This really is the greatest pay. I'm often amazed at how some stories seem to truly resonate and touch a reader. I write 'sappy' stories and have gotten quite a few of such comments over the years — sorta embarrassed I didn't mention this as successes

 

[PennameWombat]

"A Mermaid Christmas" was pretty ambitious, and was one of my favorite stories I read this year, so thanks for sharing it with us.

<blush> Thank you for that! I remember your comment as well. Much appreciated.

2019 was a fantastic year for me IRL. Ridiculously busy, but good. Which may be part of the reason why my output on Lit was absolutely nothing. I've mentioned before that my writing time is mostly my lunch break, but that has been intruded upon by a busier job, and my efforts for an organization where I volunteer now only seem to get done over lunch, too.

<snip>

I read a lot of stories this year, and many very good ones were submitted by posters on this board. Thank you all for contributing and Merry Christmas/Happy Holidays to you!

Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays as you choose to you too. Hope you get a bit of time to write but so long as things are good, may those continue.

And Merry Christmas and Happy Holidays and a good and enjoyable 2020 to all.

 

[Hypoxia]

I succeeded in failing to write or post anything, and my most-viewed story was taken down, so feh.

 

[SimonDoom]

Writing a large volume of stories is more helpful for being favorited than writing in high readership (especially contentious readership) categories, I think.

I think both things are true. Writing a high volume of stories means that your stories are frequently posted on new story hubs where they get visibility and exposure to new readers, so I agree that's helpful for getting favorites.

But that's the opposite of what I've done. I've published only 27 stories in just over three years, and I've attracted many followers by publishing stories that get high views in the incest and exhibitionist categories. While view:favorite ratios vary from story to story, they do so, in my experience, only within a certain range, so it is accurate to say that the more total views you get the more favorites and followers you will get. Incest authors will, on average, pick up more followers than authors of other stories.

I will note, however -- and this may support what you wrote -- that I was getting more views (and everything else) with my incest stories when I was publishing more often. As my publication pace has slowed, I've been getting fewer viewers not just in total but for each story. There's value to getting your name out there and keeping it out there through frequent publication, if that's what you're after.

There is no point whatsoever in trying to adopt a single yardstick for success for authors on this site. Even if you just concentrate on numbers like views or favorites, the categories vary so wildly in readership that comparisons between stories in different categories are meaningless. My incest stories get, on average, three times the views that my non-incest stories get.

Success has to be measured as a matter of how well you've met your own personal goals, not by how well you measure up by a mythical "objective" measuring stick.

 

[KeithD]

sr71plt is halfway up the top 250 list and has been for a decade despite having stopped posting stories two years ago. That account didn't get there by posting I/T, Loving Waves, Romance, Mature, etc. I'm pretty sure it got there by high volume of submissions at regular intervals.

 

[LoquiSordidaAdMe]

2019 saw my first attempt at a long Romance, Springer Mountain Bride. I followed it up with another long Romance, One Night in Dubai (thanks again for the motivation, ChloeTzang). Both are tied as my highest rated stories.

2019 also saw my shortest entries, the 750-word Leslie Takes Control and the fifteen 50-word stories in Fifteen Women, my only two stories without a red H.

The lesson of 2019 seems to be that my long, difficult stories that involve gallons of research and a ton of pre-work and organization are better than the short and easy ones. I'm honestly not sure how to feel about that, because 2019 is also the year that my time for research and writing got seriously curtailed.

 

[SimonDoom]

sr71plt is halfway up the top 250 list and has been for a decade despite having stopped posting stories two years ago. That account didn't get there by posting I/T, Loving Waves, Romance, Mature, etc. I'm pretty sure it got there by high volume of submissions at regular intervals.

Which is why I say both things are true. I've published only 27 stories over about three years and I'll be halfway up the top 250 author list sometime in 2020. I've done that by publishing relatively few stories that have received a relatively high number of views. 15 of my 27 stories have been incest stories. Those stories receive 3 times the average number of views of stories in other categories, so they receive more votes, and more favorites, and result in my getting more followers, as well. So that's another way to do it.

 

[RejectReality]

Yep, it can go either way. A few of the authors in the top 100 got there on the back of Sci-Fi&Fantasy/Non-Human, which are obviously not high-readership categories. They produced a lot of work on a regular basis, though. Often, epic length stories.

I'm mostly category based, because while I have spurts of activity, I also sometimes go months, or even years ( depending on pen name ) without producing anything new. My follower numbers come from all the Mature and Incest stories as RR, the Mom stories and my connected fantasy stories as Les, and a fair-sized collection of fantasy in the same world as Dark.

That existing body of work probably crosses over a little with production, because when I do put something out, there's a lot of others to check out, even if it's taken over a decade to accumulate.

 

[JamesMiehoff]

Is that followers? If so I have 81, LOL!

Hi Coffee,

No. I have 200+ followers. That is a different metric. Favorites is where someone marks a story as one of their favorites.

Typically you have more favorites than followers because your followers can mark more than one story as favorites and random people who are not following you can also mark stories as favorites.

James

 

[JamesMiehoff]

If you want followers, write incest stories. The traffic in that category is a quantum jump higher than you see elsewhere (excepting LW, maybe, but I don't ever go there).

I may try that in the next year or so. My biggest problem (other than the icky factor) is that I really haven't got any good story ideas that revolve around finding out you are banging your sister because, (a) I don't have a sister, and (b) there is just some sense of moral indignation about that.

If I finish the couple of series I have going now, I'll give it some thought.

James

 

[ElectricBlue]

I may try that in the next year or so. My biggest problem (other than the icky factor) is that I really haven't got any good story ideas that revolve around finding out you are banging your sister because, (a) I don't have a sister, and (b) there is just some sense of moral indignation about that.

I completely fail to understand the fascination for stories about young men wanting to bonk their mom (I just don't get it at all), and I have an adult daughter so daddy/daughter stories are just a bit strange (although someone noted that I'd written one of my favourite young women into the blue dress my daughter wore to her formal, so there's that...)

I have delusions one day of writing an EB style sibcest thing, but it's very low on a list of priorities. It's never been a thing for me. Besides, you're competing against the other thousand I&T writers who do want to bonk mom. I'd only contemplate writing in that category if I thought I could write something truly exceptional, but without the erotic fascination, I can't quite see how that would happen.

 

[Sonatatre]

I completely fail to understand the fascination for stories about young men wanting to bonk their mom (I just don't get it at all), and I have an adult daughter so daddy/daughter stories are just a bit strange (although someone noted that I'd written one of my favourite young women into the blue dress my daughter wore to her formal, so there's that...)

I have delusions one day of writing an EB style sibcest thing, but it's very low on a list of priorities. It's never been a thing for me. Besides, you're competing against the other thousand I&T writers who do want to bonk mom. I'd only contemplate writing in that category if I thought I could write something truly exceptional, but without the erotic fascination, I can't quite see how that would happen.

I do not think most writers of mother/son stories want to bonk their mother. I would assume that a very small minority want to do that.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I do not think most writers of mother/son stories want to bonk their mother. I would assume that a very small minority want to do that.

It's the fundamental premise of the genre that I don't understand at all. But hey, it's a thing, and plenty of writers to feed the demand, so good for them.