It would be interesting to see an Exell style graphic representation of the stories on BCTS. It would not need to mention names or titles, but it would be interesting to see number of votes, reads, and comments on one axis and perhaps the time on the other.
I know that we have people getting well over 100 votes on some stories, but I am thinking that may not be the average at all. It may be that the average is somewhere around 30-40 votes.
I also think I saw a significant jump in votes when the vote box was moved to the bottom of the story.
I know that some are feeling considerable hurt over their apparently low scores and it pains me to see that happening. I know a site or two where there is no facility for votes or comments.
I think that all the authors here are wonderful.
I write for purely selfish reasons. I usually have an emotion or feeling I want to explore or an issue in my life I want to work out.
Khadijah
Comments
Who's That Knocking at My Door
The number of votes, comments, and hits your story receives is influenced by criteria that have nothing to do with it's quality.
Probably the biggest factor is how long the story remains on the Quickcuts list -- and to a lesser degree -- how long it stays on the front page. I posted a story recently that stayed on the Quickcuts list less than seventy-two hours. Although it received nineteen positive (and appreciated) comments from readers, it fell far short of your standard of 100 votes. My hope now is that it will come up quite often in Random Solos so those who missed it will eventually read it, which is happening with my other stories.
Graphics "sell" a story. I never use them, but a simple picture is a huge invitation. If numbers are your goal, use a picture in your title. Hint: make sure that picture is a cute boy dressed prettily.
Genre is a very important factor for hits, comments, and votes. If you want hits, write about forced feminization. Those stories won't necessarily get the votes, but they always attract a large number of readers. If you want votes and positive comments make your protagonist a twelve to seventeen-year old male who passes quite easily for a female. The more your protagonist tends to be toward the transsexual end of things rather than a fetisher cross-dresser, the more votes and comments you will receive.
If you're trying to be a stats diva, make sure to post your story as a serial. If you break up your story into small bites it will attract readers and you really don't have to worry about falling off the Quickcuts, because even a novelette will keep you on the front page for weeks.
Or, you can realize that all of the above is fairly meaningless in the grand scheme of things and find other motivations, such as presenting positive general themes, which you do so well. If your purpose is to lighten the readers' burdens through inspirational thought, you win with only one vote, comment, or hit -- because how else would have you reached and helped that person?
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Interaction
It may sound fairly obvious, but one sure fire way to bump up the number of comments is to reply to commentators :)
Especially in the case of serials, encouraging speculation about what lies ahead (particularly if you've already written the next few chapters and tease readers with non-clues) often attracts comments.
Needless to say, being controversial also bumps up the comment count, as does posting a solo with the potential to continue (although in that case, most of the comments will be along the lines of "Encore!" or "Please continue!"). Although comments are lowest on the quantity scale, seeing someone's comment in the "Recent comments" list on the front page (particularly if it has an unusual title) can encourage more readers to dip into the story.
Oh, just thought - another method of encouraging people to read your stories is to take the time to create author / title pages, so people can jump around between your stories without going via the home page.
Generally speaking, hits > votes > comments.
Aggregated over the four ramblings I've written so far: 5,803 hits, 292 votes, 63 comments.
Which reminds me...since Petra 1 garnered the most, I'd better get a move on with writing Petra 2 :)
--Ben
As the right side of the brain controls the left side of the body, then only left-handers are in their right mind!
Thanks for the complement.
My life was destroyed partially because of my own bitterness and not my T issues. Had I not been so malignantly angry at the perpetrators in my past, I could perhaps have instilled attitudes in my own family that would have given them a stance that would allow them to accept me. Well, that didn't happen and it is done and over. So, now days, if I have a mission, it is to try to portray happy events in life and to warn those who will hear me away from practicing vengeful thoughts.
I did write what I would call a masturbatory fantasy, "HEAT" just to see if I could, but mostly.
So, after all this reflection, I find that the stories I write are important to me. We all have our own motivations for coming here. Others have their own reasons for coming (no pun intended).
Khadijah
My own situation
Until late last year, no story or story chapter of mine ever got to 30 votes. 100 sounds sounds like a fairy tale in regards to my own work.
Now my highest vote total for anything I've written is 43. That story has been up less than 48 hours and is already teetering on the edge of falling off the Quick cuts list. Hits to the story have fallen off too. 20 so far today.
As for other stories of mine, my next highest vote totals- 37, 33, 32, 31 twice, and 30. I have more stories with single digit vote totals than 30 or above.
Now as for comments, only 3 stories of mine have reached double digits. Actually I've only have 4 stories period that have
more than 5.
A closer look at the three digit stories shows-
The 26 comment story had only 7 commenters not counting myself. A few of us were hotly debating aspects of the story.
The 12 comment story only had six original commenters not counting myself again.
The 10 comment story only had seven original commenters not counting myself again.
Seven commenters is my high in other words.
My work must not appeal enough for some reason for it not to gain comments here. I must be too niche. People berate the quality of work at FM, but my stories not counting DHCF have gotten at least two times the amount of comments the same work has here.
Just saying.
"Writing is like walking in a deserted street. Out of the dust in the street you make a mud pie."- John le Carre
Daniel, author of maid, whore, bimbo, and sissy free TG fiction since 2000
What the world needs is more geniuses with humility; there are so few of us left.- Oscar Levant
Vote counts
I am still trying to figure out a rational way to analyize my work. "Hala's Snow Day" got 32 votes and I am quite proud of it. Still a couple writers who I really admire have encouraged me to rework it and then to write two more installments. I really do hate "do overs", but have started on it. I purposely wrote it with very little T content to see if there was a way to depict a T person having a normal life. I like the results but it just does not fit in the nitch. So I am faced with writing to please myself, or the readers. In this case, I choose "ME"! :)
Many blessings
Khadijah
I Don't "B" Rate
I don't berate the stories on Storysite and FM. That would be much too generous.
I give most of the stories on both of those sites (over the last year or so) a solid F.
There are exceptions. Kelly Ann Rogers is running a story on FM right now that is quite good.
http://www.fictionmania.tv/stories/readtextstory.html?storyI...
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Storysite
I actually started out on "Storysite" in about 2001, I think. In my opinion, my writing is now much better now than it was then. I eventually left there because it just felt like some people were quite crabby to me. I don't have harsh memories about it, because Crystal gave me my first chance. I think it was her stories that first drew me there.
I seem to be developing a new "style" and I don't understand where it came from, but I like it. My "Houston, we have a problem" was the first time it sort of just popped up. I suppose one could call it a "commentary style". I think I'm coming round to feeling like I'd like to write again. I am seeing that the votes issue is quite superficial and I just need to please myself. Were it commercial work, I would not have that privelege.
Many Blessings
Khadijah
Incubated at Storysite: Me Too Gwen, Ditto, Same Here
Like you I also started out on Storysite.
I probably read 200 Storysite stories before I wrote "Friends Four Life".
What I remember most about posting that first story was worrying that my story was too risque to fit in there. That was at least a decade ago.
No one can convince me that things haven't changed. Sure -- there have always been those who wrote purely stroke fiction, but that was always the exception and now is close to the rule, both on FM and Storysite.
It bothers me that neither site seems to care and values what they call a "lack of censorship" over running a site that nurtures relationships with good writers.
Deciding what is acceptable and what isn't for a site like this is a quagmire. What is acceoptable is a decision to be made by the owner of the site, without need for Hectoring. I agree with some of what Crystal has stated about everyone thinking their particular kink is okay and everyone else's is weird, but there's a big difference between weird and unacceptable. There is a line. I don't have a site, but I have a personal line. When that line is crossed I don't want my work on the site that crossed it. That doesn't mean I'm ungrateful or unappreciative. It means my work and that site are no longer compatible. It certainly doesn't mean I'm morally superior, nor am I trying to establish that posture. That's utter nonsense. What you read is your business. Where you establish your line is your business. Not mine. I don't believe in aborption. I faced that decision 35 years ago and have a son to prove it. Yet, I firmly believe in another person's right to make that decision.
I've long believed that a thousand "Attaboys!" are wiped out by one "Aw shit!" Therefore, I think those who think the good writers should try to overwhelm the non-acceptable stories by writing and posting more good stories are on a fool's mission.
Some have tried to pin this on one writer's singular story. In my case I quit posting to both SS and FM over a year ago. That was not a quick decision. The decision to finally ask to have my stories pulled also was not quick, nor was it part of conspiracy. All that conspiracy talk is also utter nonsense. The posting of that "last straw" story was simply a wake-up call to me to ask to have my stories removed from FM and SS. No one pushed me to that decision. No one even suggested I do so. I have not contacted any of the dozens of people I've edited for to suggest they pull their stories and don't intend to; that's their business.
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Nifty is even worse
I found that website before I found FM in the late 90's. It was a repository for alot of great TG fiction but the quality started sliding and by 2004 if not before then it was a place for stroke fiction only. Now it has loud porn advertisements to boot.
Right now I got 44 stories at FM which but I haven't posted the last three installments of DHCF there. Partly because I don't know if I want to leave my work there anymore.(I'm 9th in total kilobytes of stories there)Also because posting DHCF over there looks to be a waste of time. None of the previous parts have gotten more than 2 comments.
"Writing is like walking in a deserted street. Out of the dust in the street you make a mud pie."- John le Carre
Daniel, author of maid, whore, bimbo, and sissy free TG fiction since 2000
What the world needs is more geniuses with humility; there are so few of us left.- Oscar Levant