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You know, since I began here at BCTS, I have seen a gradual changeover of the readership. It's in the tastes of the types of fiction that they like. We went from one day being a site that had readers starved for fiction, to one where now something barely even gets read much less commented on.
The authors here are not demanding anything for their works except that occasional kudo and comment. It cannot be that hard to comment. What about that story made you feel good? Or bad? Anything? |
But the sad truth of the matter is that we have already lost authors due to a lack of commenting. We have lost giants in the field of TG Fiction. They went out our door and began to self publish. While I wholeheartedly support that for them, another part of me is crying that they left us.
So what I am trying to say to our readership is please please please... comment! Say something to our authors who come here daily to publish.
If you don't say something now, they will not be here tomorrow.
...And neither will we.
Sephrena
Comments
Comments
The fact that this post has garnered no comments itself pretty much speaks volumes.
Melanie
I Think It Mostly Says...
...that the note had only been up for 34 minutes when you commented.
Eric
I feel stupid
just saying "I liked it." That's what the kudos are for. I'll comment if I have something meaningful to say. Maybe authors should look at kudos as well as comments?
Kudos
I love kudos, and it's always neat to see them tick upward. But a comment, even if it only says, "Hey, thought this was cool", totally makes my day. Every time.
Why the difference you may wonder? Well, a kudos updoot is anonymous - we have no idea who did it. A comment though puts an identity to someone out there appreciating our writing, and therefore feels more 'real'. Yes, identities through the internet are also anonymous...but a handle can be spotted on other comments / blogposts and recognized. It's different, even if just from a psychological viewpoint. :)
So don't ever feel stupid for simple comments like those. Please! They're worth so much more than the kudos counter going blip.
I apologize
I’m too much of just a reader, although I try to give almost everything I read a kudos.
Thanks to all the wonderful writers who continue to contribute here.
Gillian Cairns
To be quite honest, most of
To be quite honest, most of the stories posted just don't call to me. A lot of the authors that wrote interesting works.. left. They lost interest and abandoned the site, they left claiming they were being abused by comments, they went off on random tangents or tried to set up their own sites, or have just plain disappeared.
Over the years, there's been a shift in the types of stories posted. They've cycled from SF, to fantasy, to superhero, past, future, alternate reality, and always also had a core of crossdressing/tv/real life. So, my tastes themselves haven't changed, but the content has. No, I can't give you chapter and verse (or rather, won't. It's not important.)
I _do_ regularly post on the works that I read - just ask Amethyst, StickMaker, or Erisian. (I'd say others, but they've been inactive or deceased for a while).
I will admit that the constant "Kindle, Kindle, Kindle " pushing turns me off (it's often hard to see when something's actually updated). It's not just here, other sites I frequent do it as well. I'll save my arguments for and against it, and how to manage it, for a more appropriate venue.
I'll get a life when it's proven and substantiated to be better than what I'm currently experiencing.
I think that needed saying
I, too, find that I don't read much on here, nowadays.
If, when I sign in, I find that the recent content is "... part X" or "... chapter Y" that's something I'm going to skip. Your mileage may vary, of course, but I don't read works in progress. My reading time is limited and I'd rather buy something in finished condition.
I wonder if we might be coming at this wrong. Is this a story site, or a writers' group? Anything I've posted here has already been seen by the folks in my writers' group and it will have been through several iterations. I don't need "attagirl, keep going" type feedback because anything I post is complete. I don't need plot ideas for the same reason. If writers genuinely need help or encouragement, perhaps they need writers... and readers only later. This idea of feedback from readers is, well... it's something different.
To my mind, the kudos thumb thing serves only to hint at a decline in readership. (I wouldn't blame the BC crew if they don't want to discuss actual daily visitor numbers... but we only have to look at the stories of a few years ago to see that they got a lot more reads.)
I'm not one of those authors who was 'lost' to commercial publishing (per the OP's message) as I was already on Amazon when I joined BC. I think we have the best of both worlds where people can access stories absolutely free... and choose to buy other ones if they want to part with their money. The only thing I really detest is the story thieves who lift the work of dead authors and list it on Amazon. Scumbags.
Oh - and it saddens me that Angela Rasch feels she can't publish the stories that are her best work. Angela - I don't usually bother with the thumb thing, but if you or anybody else writes something with some sex in it, I'll make an exception. Don't censor yourself and don't let anybody else do it either! (Or post it on Fictionmania...)
Bx
Sugar and Spiiice – TG Fiction by Bryony Marsh
It's amazing how important comments are
Or occasional PMs ( no not that sort of female crabbiness) I have several times considered leaving the site or stopping my posting here, but as quite a few readers have told me that my writing helped them in some way, I feel a need not to abandon them although I know plenty of readers have abandoned me.
I read very few stories here these days, I don't like superheroes or fantasy or much sci-fi, preferring stories of a form of real-life like Alyssa Plant's delightful tale of transitioning while of school-age. I read every comment or PM and although I admit I do notice kudos, it is anonymous and while I appreciate some people are paranoid over being outed, it is also almost automatic unless the author wrote something you don't like. The readership are different from when I first posted here, less committed, more selfish and harder to please.
Some authors are more popular than others, that I understand and I wish them luck, being British means I'm not as popular, again I understand as the cultures are different but I won't apologise for using British English or moaning about some stupid Americanisms which have obviously missheard the original expression but I could care less ( that expression doesn't make sense, it's I couldn't care less) and obviously I do care but I'm increasingly in a minority these days.
Angharad
Sorry
I am sorry you feel this way. I am not reading as much at the moment because of time, and there are certain authors which I look every day to see if they have updated any of their stories. I will not name drop who because it is unfair to them for me to do so in this message.
I agree with you, I am not as much into the mythological, science fiction, super hero. I like stories where I can relate to the main character. I am fine pushing plausability, but not moving so far into the impossibility that it loses any connection to reality.
Having said that, there are some authors whose ability to transcend into the impossible is still an interesting and enjoyable read.
Keep up the good work. It has been a while since I have read you, Sorry. I also do not always leave kudos. I reserve those for stories I thoroughly enjoy and plan to read again.
Melissa
I do my best to comment as often as I can
but I am only 1 person!
Well Said
To write effectively, the author must be in the head of all the characters simultaneously. More importantly, the author must be in the head of the reader at all times.
It becomes harder and harder to write when your readers are giving you a blank stare.
This past week I was in Maine visiting a brother. Took my brother-in-law with me. I quit trying to get my family to read my books decades ago. Many of them read Peaches but had little interest in my next few books.
I told my brother and brother-in-law that I've had twenty-two books published on Amazon. I told them that as many as four books have been in the top one hundred sales at one time, in one of several genres. I told them my books have gathered over 20,000 reviews that averaged 4.3 stars.
They asked why I hadn't sent them copies. I said, I went to a place where the readers would tell me what they think. I needed the feedback.
Sometimes even a bad review helps.
We often talk about our muse. Reader's comments are my muse.
In defense of our readers, sometimes reader's wants and authors' preferred genre don't match.
I'm a much better writer when I'm writing forced fem but I know I'll get slammed here if I write forced fem so my best work goes unwritten.
Hits are as important to me as kudos or comments.
Curiously, my forced fem stories gather by far the most hits.
There are so many stories on BC currently that garnering hits is becoming harder.
Fewer hits result in fewer comments.
Thanks for the post. I hope your illness is allowing you to enjoy life.
Jill
Angela Rasch (Jill M I)
Secrecy itself is a source of appeal
And there is no rule that everything in mental life need be authorized. I was fortunate to meet a wise elder who taught me that.
People who have been threatened might avoid forced fem due to its portrayal of threats. But I can imagine that for others, stating approval of forced fem might lessen its pleasure: paradoxically, the lack of kudos and comments might signal a story’s appeal. We humans are strange.
Not a Simple Answer
Giving a response to a story requires a lot more than a simple like or dislike take on the tale. As there are authors who really are world class writers, there are others who are stringing words together and not very well. There is the problem is most authors don't take criticism very well or not at all. There are readers who haven't a clue how to critique a story without slicing and dicing it along with attacking the author. Readers who didn't like the way the story plot was written as it wasn't the way they would have wrote it. Provided they could write a story in the first place.
The author went and gave birth to his or her child, the story, and posted it. Let's say it was good to excellent writing and a great story. Congratulation it's a pretty baby, comments are posted. Only a few authors on this site understand the next relationship between them and their readers.
She isn't the only one but I'm going to use Emma Anna Tate as a prime example. Readers who comment on her story receive a response from Emma herself. Think of it as receiving acknowledge from one's movie star, pop singer, or heart throb. The reader has been given an emotional boost they were acknowledge by one of the Great Writers. You can bet your last lucky dime the next story from said author is going to get a comment about his or her story. Comments are a two way street. Authors, you want comments, let your readers know you appreciate them.
Sadly, I come from an industry where response to submissions were never answered if the manuscript didn't fit in the genre of the stories published. Unsolicited manuscripts hit the trash almost faster than they made it in house. Even accepted manuscripts without a synopsis were tossed. If the author received a response, it was a postcard, NOT ACCEPTED.
BCTS is a godsend to all kinds of writers and I find I have landed in publisher's heaven. Virtually everyone gets to submit and have their story posted, no rejects that I have read about. Some of the finest writers to put ink to paper post on this site and I'm privileged to read their story. If a million dollars of push was behind them like all the writers who get notice on New York Times Best Seller List receive, they would headline that list. The game book critics and publishers play is blood thirsty and costs millions to play in their casino. Hillary Clinton is an excellent example. She was paid millions for a book her spook writer wrote, it sold a few thousand and the rest went to remainders and the dump. Welcome to the league of Dead Tree writing and publishing.
Thank God most here haven't been tainted by the world of politics in the world of publishing. A few tears, a few hurt feelings, a few broken hearts isn't like losing one's home, their life savings, their job, their family. The authors here didn't bet everything when they met the sharks massaging their ego telling them their manuscript was the best. All it needed was a little push, money, to be a number one best seller.
Instead they met one of the kindest, bestest, publishers in the world. Erin and the girls who keep BCTS open for all writers who want to share their story with anyone who would like to read it.
Hugs Ms Sephrena Lynn Miller
Barbie Jean
Oklahoma born and raised cowgirl
What Can I do?
I even considered pulling the Christmas contest itself because of the huge lack of response. Melanie Brown begged me not to. I am not sure what to do here anymore. Yes I want to help the authors. Yes I would like there to be a new fresh supply of critical readers for them to hone their craft. Yes, we have lost a lot of great authors as well. And yes, I know most of us here probably wouldn't pass those supposed "Publishers" first firewall. But what can we do? What can I do?
What can I do?
Sephrena