People are going to think me very anal to do this, but after 170 stories, and being the analytical type, I have had a closer look at how mys stories have been received, with some puzzling results.
If (as I have) you judge overall reception by kudos as a proportion of total hits, the top stories are "Squaddie", "The Forensic Accountant", "Caring", "Biker Chick" and "The Leap" with "Searching" being top performer at 8.9% approval followed by "Lumberjackie" at 8.8% approval. I am not sure what to make of this. All my stories are my children, so of course I love them equally, but I know that some are better than others.
A fan recently did me the huge compliment of sending me her ratings of my first 50 stories and "Searching" ranked 49.
Then there are the stories that just don't seem to get read. I don't understand how this works but looking at total hits as a read, "Searching" rates the lowest at only 1,050 hits, followed by "Berlin" - a story that I am very proud of - at only 1,307 hits. What prompts people to read the stories?
I would hope that I have some kind of name recognition, but I also hope that people realize that when they open a story of mine it will probably be short, and hopefully a surprise - a box of Gump chocolates all tasty, I hope.
Maryanne
Understanding the Readers
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Comments
Reviews
I, too, used to wonder about the what’s and why’s of reviews, comment, and that. But, honestly, the advice I received early on, is what carries me today.
I write for myself. I write because l love to write. In the real world you have to love yourself and not expect peeps to do the job for you.
I love to develop my characters and see them come alive. When they’re talking inside my head, they are telling me what write. Well, not really, but close. I love the stories I tell and there’s my satisfaction.
Life is easier that way. Love what you write and enjoy that moment.
Same page
I am 100% on the same page as you on this. I have said it before, I started this thing to escape from my man-life which chokes me sometimes. I will write even if I never post, but I have found that a good number of people get pleasure from my stories, so I want to understand what they are looking for.
Maryanne
Me too...
I've tried to make sense of the 'stats' too. I even wrote the same story back-to-back... one very mild and a different version of the SAME story but very XXX rated. "What prompts people to read the stories?"
Acceptance: Spousal (XXX version) - 2,331 reads - 78 kudos - Feb 2019
Acceptance: Spousal - (mild version) - 1,764 reads - 81 kudos - Feb 2019
Same story.
I couldn't find a common thread. Go figure. In the interest of 'research' I'll be doing something similar with my Avon Lady stories.
My conclusion: Write for yourself. Hope for the best.
What about kudos? How difficult is that to do? One mouse click isn't asking OR expecting too much. Is it?
Air kisses!
Dee
(Keep writing!)
Donna
Kudos
For multi-part stories (or books disguised as such) I have found myself wondering if they'd get more kudos if there was a second type of link they could click to get to the next part of the story which would not just bring up the next chapter/part but ALSO give a kudo while doing so. When watching click counts/kudos far too often I've seen someone out there binge reading book after book over the course of a few days (300,000 words+!)... and yet nary a kudo boost for any section.
Such a button could also boost writers with lots of short stories too if someone is plowing through their collection one after another...
So yep, the ways of the kudos click still remains a mystery!
To be brutally honest
I'm a bit of prude. If story tags indicate that the story contains explicit sex or violence or that the characters will be using "adult language", I'll give it a pass. (I put "adult language" in quotes because it's language that children shouldn't hear, but in my not so humble opinion it's really adolescent behavior to use that kind of language.)
Next, if the squib or promo, if you will, doesn't suggest a storyline that piques my interest, I'll give it a pass. In reality, it has nothing to do with the quality of the story and very little to do with the author's reputation, but whether or not it appeals to my personal taste and/or if it fits within my narrow standard of subject matter I'll allow my mind to absorb.
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
Ich bin eine Mann
Adult language depends on how it's inserted
Had a friend when most people would cuss, he would start saying, Flowers, flowers, oh beautiful flowers." He wasn't weird, it was totally him. Tossing sex, porno, language gratuitously into a story is a matter of choice of the author. Understandable why they do it, which isn't up for discussion on this open channel. The truth in life is people do cuss and use fowl, inappropriate language. Let's take a supposition for clarity. The guy or gal is in a truly bad situation, possible even life or death. Words such as "fuck this shit" are passing hot and heavy adds realism to the story. The story gets an adult rating. Am I going to bypass what looks like an interesting read? No, I'll wade into it and may find it's an excellent story or a sinker. On BCTS it will show a read even though I dropped it only a few pages in.
I'm interested in the skill of the author not how the story is flagged. Read some excellent forced fem stories because the authors were very talented with their writing skills. At times I skip parts of a story because the author got bogged down in descriptive and left out dialog and action.
Back to flagging the story with ratings. I skip all that. A good book can't be judged by it's cover nor how it's rated. I know I'm sticking my foot in my mouth here but that's kind of like judging me by what one sees. I bought a bunch of goats so I guess I'm no longer a cowgirl but a "goat herder"?
Hugs Patricia
Barb
By the time we think we know everything we understand we know nothing.
Oklahoma born and raised cowgirl
Entirely your prerogative
I used to do as you suggest. I would download the story into my word processor and edit it as I read it. So I wouldn't have the language or sexual content on my computer. But I got tired of that.
As far as cussing, I can imagine that if an author chooses to write about people in the armed services, that there could be a fair amount of cussing involved since the environment invites the type of people who swear as a matter daily speech. But if you suggest that people who don't normally swear would resort to such language, in stressful situations... I beg to differ. My father, as worldly a man as ever there was, very rarely used any kind of colorful language. The worst I can remember was an occasional, "Jesus H Christ" or an "I don't give a damn". He never even when angry enough to scare me went on a tirade contain such language. I myself, when I was the work experience trainer for a drug and alcohol recovery house, had a team out putting up siding on house and we needed some blocking to nail to at a certain point and I went inside to put it in place. I was holding a short piece of 2 X 4 in place and swung a 24 oz hammer to sink the 16 penny nail I had started. I clipped a rafter and miss the nail and smashed the index finger on my left had with the waffle head, drawing blood and ripping a one inch piece of skin loose. I took a second swing, being careful to avoid the rafter and finished putting in the blocking. The crew, on the outside of the wall asked what happened when I came out and asked one of them to get the first aid kit. I didn't swear, even under my breath.
I don't believe swearing is ever inevitable. It's a choice that people make. The people I associate with on a regular basis choose not to have those words in their vocabulary. It's a matter of choice on the words and the friends. Choosing to not have those words in my vocabulary requires that I don't subject myself to hearing or reading them when ever I can. Again personal choice.
As far as explicit sex in a story; completely unnecessary. That's not to say that there should be no sex. It's just that we don't need to know about technique or how many times a person orgasmed or have a description of what said orgasm felt like. below is and excerpt of a sexual encounter from one of my unpublished stories.
From "Jan Comes Out to Play"
That conveys the fact that the couple has sex and it sets the stage for sex being a part of their relationship, but in a tasteful manor.
Hugs
Patricia
Happiness is being all dressed up and HAVING some place to go.
Semper in femineo gerunt
Ich bin eine Mann
Cussing and sex are also part of your perogative
Certainly it's possible to write stories without cussing and explicit sex.
If you do, it will make your story more palatable to those who'd rather not read such things.
It's also possible to write stories that have no TG element. Wouldn't that be lovely? You could show it to your Aunt Margaret. She could enjoy it and share it with her friends without blushing.
After all, why would a person want to write these stories? Where men dress as women and vice-versa? Let alone stories in which a person changes from one gender to another!
If you make the effort, you can come to understand what sort of story your Aunt Margaret would like to read, and write her a lovely piece where bunnies roll down a hill together and laugh and laugh and they find some umbrellas that are a gift from Nice Mrs. Duck and they all walk home (to the "tasteful manor") in the sunset, holding armloads of flowers.
But if, for some strange reason, you want to write stories about cross-dressing and transformation, you can do that, even if it disturbs your Aunt Margaret.
The rule I follow is to write the kind of stories you wish to read. For me, often -- maybe even usually -- those stories feature explicit sex. If they didn't, I would be less interested in them.
There is only thing that is a deal-breaker for me, and if there was a tag for it, I would be so appreciative. The tag would read
CAUTION: wearing 'heals'
I'm not joking in the least. When I see a character struggling with "three-inch heals" [sic], I feel dirty, as if I'm reading the cheapest, most perverse pornography, and it's not a sensation I enjoy.
Maybe it's because I first found TG fiction online so long ago, before people knew how to spell and all, and seeing that word reminds me of my furtive guilt.
In any case...
Do you know Ben Franklin's story about the Hatmaker's Sign? Here it is:
“I have made it a rule,” said he, “whenever in my power, to avoid becoming the draughtsman of papers to be reviewed by a public body. I took my lesson from an incident which I will relate to you. When I was a journeyman printer, one of my companions, an apprentice hatter, having served out his time, was about to open shop for himself. His first concern was to have a handsome signboard, with a proper inscription. He composed it in these words, ‘John Thompson, Hatter, makes and sells hats for ready money,’ with a figure of a hat subjoined; but he thought he would submit it to his friends for their amendments. The first he showed it to thought the word ‘Hatter’ tautologous, because followed by the words ‘makes hats,’ which show he was a hatter. It was struck out. The next observed that the word ‘makes’ might as well be omitted, because his customers would not care who made the hats. If good and to their mind, they would buy, by whomsoever made. He struck it out. A third said he thought the words ‘for ready money’ were useless, as it was not the custom of the place to sell on credit. Every one who purchased expected to pay. They were parted with, and the inscription now stood, ‘John Thompson sells hats.’ ‘Sells hats!’ says his next friend. Why nobody will expect you to give them away, what then is the use of that word? It was stricken out, and ‘hats’ followed it, the rather as there was one painted on the board. So the inscription was reduced ultimately to ‘John Thompson’ with the figure of a hat subjoined.”
If the poor man had simply posted the sign as he conceived it, his friends could make all the comments they pleased, and maybe those comments might drive some traffic to his store.
Instead, he was left with an impersonal, neutered sign that was as efficient and unremarkable as a broom.
- io
Goat herder?
Like this?
titles and tags
The only things I can see to help a reader decide which stories to click on are titles and tags. If you are going to be honest in the tags then the only controllable variable you have is the title. If some stories are not getting read as much I would consider the titles and how they could have been better.
Good luck figuring it out...
I agree with Patricia and Greybeard...
You have to have something to pull people in and the title, tags and a good picture can all make a difference--not necessarily in kudos count, but in pulling the reader in. You can have a great story and maintain a decent (although declining) reader count over a series, but kudos will slowly decline--even though comments might stay high.
You really can't go by any of the stats on here--you are throwing a story (a labor of love) out to the readers for free. If you aren't doing the writing for yourself, then I think you are missing the mark. Sure it can be a blow to the ego to have low counts, but unless you're writing for money it is a bit meaningless. The writing has to be for yourself--then you have to decide whether it is worth the effort to clean it up, format it, and do all the other stuff to 'publish' it--for the readers' enjoyment.
All of that said, I get your question and your frustration. I have the same question and vented many times myself!
HUGS!
S
Numbers Game
There is very little, if any, correlation between a good story and a good "response."
I'm assuming that your "approval" rate is the ratio of kudos to hits.
Here are some things that impact this ratio:
Length of time a story has been posted. The longer a story is up the lower the ratio. People seemingly feel that after the first twenty-four hours they have little duty to give a kudos or comment. My assumption is that they look at both as some sort of review. This is nuts -- but it's a fact of life.
Genre makes a difference.
Sad endings aren't popular.
Forced fem will get a large number of its and fewer comments.
Age of your protagonists makes a difference. Normally, the younger the better.
There are exceptions to all of the above.
Since I've been reposting my stories "Feeling Blue" has my highest approval rating with 142 kudos and 1744 hits (8.14%). "You Might As Well" has gathered the most hits at 2520 since 8/26. It's reposted approval rating is 4.02%.
The story that's attracted the least number of hits is "An Affair of the Harte." I'm guessing the readers make the decision that if I don't know how to spell "Heart" it's going to be a tough read -- not knowing that the story is written in the style of Bret Harte.
My dear - I pour through the stats trying to make sense of it all. I took two statistics courses in college and have made a living in an industry where statistics rule the day.
It's not there - THERE IS NO CORRELATION BETWEEN GOOD WRITING AND KUDOS OR COMMENTS.
It should be noted - as recently accurately pointed out to me - I've retired nearly thirty of my best stories to Doppler Press and Hatbox, to support this site. One would think those stories would have a higher approval rating -- but I wouldn't bet too much on it. I know that Shannon's Curse and Peaches have sold a lot of copies.
Here's what you might hope for -- that you have a handful of friends on BC who are devoted and discerning readers. Care about what they say.
Babe Ruth led the league in strikeouts. The Hall of Fame is filled with pitchers who gave up the most home runs, lost the most games, hit the most batters, etc.
You're a very good writer with a vivid imagination. It is absolutely essential that you write a bunch of stories that don't get rave reviews. If you aren't trying new and different things - things that don't turn out to be popular -- you'll never do your best.
It's great that you care -- just don't care too much.
And - make sure you whine once in a while. Recently I bemoaned not having a story with 300 kudos. Now I have four that have exceeded that number. The squeaky wheel gets the most grease - (and is often replaced.)
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
I will further add to the issue of "statistics" here...
Using Jill's calculation: # kudos/ # views = % like
The one story that I never thought would go anywhere has been my most wildly popular one. It blew me away on the number of kudos it received in spite of a terrible title and initially no splash. But, it took off and also received a lot of comments--which I think helped make up for my terrible marketing skills.
Now, if someone is nice enough to leave a comment, I do my best to respond to each and every one of those--that's just me. But that means I am increasing the # views every time I read/respond to a comment--and many others go back to read comments, too. Then, in this case, I know for a fact that some readers have gone back and reread the series multiple times--again inflating that denominator.
I have had other multi-sequence stories that have surprised me (not like that one), but the ones that I thought were going to be killers often didn't do anywhere near as well as I expected -- by the numbers (but maybe got great comments). Others that I thought were mediocre did great (but didn't get meaningful comments -- I personally like getting thoughtful comments).
I know you are looking more "short term" around the actual posting, but comments and rereads still will water down the percentage. It just isn't a reliable way to gauge how well a story is received!
HUGS!
S
Coming back to answer
Coming back to answer comments as well as readers coming back to read your replies will do tens of hits what's less than percent of all reads.
Don't worry so much about readers.
Write for yourself. Whatever you write many will like a few won't.
But for me, getting me hooked on a serial is the surest way to get me to read. (Currently Broken Wings is on top). But for solo's your or Angela's authorship creates high interest, but timing and real life interference may get me to miss some. Also whether the title grabs me (few do). I would guess title and timing (readership varying seasonally and even with day of the week) are main variables for number of reads. Subject matter is probably more important to kudos and comments.
Hope this helps, Cheryl
A matter of taste.
When I first started writing, over 33 years ago, before Computers, my skills were abominable but I did not know it. After I got a Computer, I tried submitting my stories to "Storysite". Crystal was patient with me and did a lot of repair to my stories. I still did not understand how awful they were. Around 2005, I came to Big Closet Top Shelf, but I don't remember if it was called that. In that first year, one your better writers offered to help me improve my stories, but frankly I was not smart enough to understand the need. I may have been far too dopey from Psychological medications. I got off them in 2008 but it took a year to sober up.
It may be that Transgender life has gotten to boring to me because if there is much of that in a story, I pass it up. I'm post op.
In the last few years, people seem to like my stories better though I can now see that I will never be a star.
Subject and style matter
I for one have a few things I do not like in a story such things as, Magic, Furry, turned into an Object, and other impossible ideas.
Also I am a fan of authors who keep a similar yet not identical style of writing. I used to be a big fan of another author on this site but by the third or fourth story I found I could predict the entire plot by the second paragraph. For myself I know when I read your story's, it will be along a similar theme but your methods and plotlines differ in most stories, for myself it keeps it fresh and keeps me wanting to read more.
I am guilty of not leaving remarks or Kudo's on what I read and I really should.
Be yourself
Winter
Hugs Winter
Not Liked
And what about diapers? What is with those? Or being turned into a mannequin or a sex doll? Yep, there are some places I won't go to read 'em or write 'em. I have always avoided magic or even hypnosis or science fiction where it verges on magical thinking, because for me TG fantasy must be possible, however improbable, so it might happen to me. But I get close to these devices sometimes.
What I hope that I am not, is predictable. Not just in plot lines, but in styles and viewpoints.
I really enjoyed writing "Summer Times" because it allowed me take bring forth some weird inner Dickens, and I am following up with something Elizabethan next week, or maybe two.
Thank you for your kind words here and anywhere else you think they are warranted.
Maryanne