Story Statistics

I don't know if this has been asked or shared before?

What is your best ratio of votes to viewers for stories? In other words number of votes divided by number of views - I call it the conversion ratio.

I know that views doesn't mean stories fully read - it could mean started but abandoned for whatever reason, or read but not enjoyed, it could mean just glanced at to see if it is worth putting in a reading queue, or it could mean read, enjoyed but just bothered to give a Like or Fav?

I've looked at top stories in many categories and the ratio of views to scores doesn't seem to get above 10% i.e one tenth of people who viewed the story gave it a score.

I've looked at my own & they range from 1% for my most popular story which is at second highest number of votes in the Reluctance category i.e 49,699 views & 541 score (Likes + Favs) to a recent recommended read in the Love Stories category which has a conversion rate of 4% i.e 871 views, 34 score.

I've seen on my activity screen, people who have read a story and also read the second story in the series (which indicated to me that they enjoyed them) but who haven't given any score!!

I'm wondering if many authors see the same pattern & what are your thoughts?

I know I have started stories & abandoned them for various reasons but it's very seldom & I've never read a story which I enjoyed & not given it a vote.

I don't expect that readers will admit to reading stories, enjoying them but not scoring them even if it was an anonymous poll?

Keep in mind that views includes guests, i.e. people not logged in, who can't score. In fact that's probably the bulk of any story's views. So score:view ratio is almost doomed to be low just for that reason. It has always been that way and the only remedies would be to either close the site to guests (not happening since that would impact ad views) or split the view count into guest and member views (probably possible but I am not sure on that). That would let you calculate calculate the ratio of scores to member views, which would be arguably the more valid number, i.e. the number of people who can vote that actually do. Until that happens, you have to just assume 10% or so is going to be an upper limit on that ratio and that the average is going to be even lower.

It’s low. Probably way under 10% percent on mine. And comments seems to run about half of vote count.

I only have one at 10%, but that was a comp piece, so it doesn't count. I'm lucky if something gets to 5% and I have a handful where the comments outnumber the likes.

It should also be noted that for some writers in the past, likes were used as a medium of exchange, rather than a measure of a story's merit. I believe a closer eye is kept on the practice now days.

Ah, I didn't factor in the non-members - I wasn't even that familiar that we can send a link of a Lush story to anyone who can then read it without joining. So that would make a difference for sure but would it not mean that a link was sent to them as non-members can't access the site to check the stories in a category? So, I'm doubtful if the majority of views are from non-members? I would love to be able to see the number of members as opposed to guests who read a story, to confirm my suspicion.

Yes, I think 10% is the absolute upper of scores to views.

Strange someone would leave a comment if they don't leave a score - ok, they may be new & not aware of the Like of Fav buttons?

But I've messaged members who I've seen have read a number of stories of mine to ask them if they liked or not the story but got no reply or reaction.

Do you mean some writers used the scoring as a quid pro quo?

Quote by cybervirgin

Yes, I think 10% is the absolute upper of scores to views.

Strange someone would leave a comment if they don't leave a score - ok, they may be new & not aware of the Like of Fav buttons?

But I've messaged members who I've seen have read a number of stories of mine to ask them if they liked or not the story but got no reply or reaction.

Do you mean some writers used the scoring as a quid pro quo?

I've never really spent too long analysing the statistics here. However, I have noticed that the likes-to-views ratio seems to change the longer a story is on the site. So, in the first 100 views, my story is quite likely to get 10 likes, but after 500 views, it is unlikely to get 50 likes... it is more likely to be around 35 and so on... 🙄

For example... If anyone in the future writes a famous story, 30,000 views, they are not going to achieve 3,000 likes.

On the favourable comment without clicking the like button, I believe that happens quite often. I know it does with me. Though I have never chased for a reason, when it happens, I think of it as an oversight and nothing more. 😊

I am not sure what you mean by that last question.

Quote by wxt55uk

I've never really spent too long analysing the statistics here. However, I have noticed that the likes-to-views ratio seems to change the longer a story is on the site. So, in the first 100 views, my story is quite likely to get 10 likes, but after 500 views, it is unlikely to get 50 likes... it is more likely to be around 35 and so on... 🙄

For example... If anyone in the future writes a famous story, 30,000 views, they are not going to achieve 3,000 likes.

On the favourable comment without clicking the like button, I believe that happens quite often. I know it does with me. Though I have never chased for a reason, when it happens, I think of it as an oversight and nothing more. 😊

I am not sure what you mean by that last question.

Yes, over time the conversion rate goes down, I agree - the number of views will increase without an increase in score - I suspect that is readers who just don't bother giving a score.

As a casual, sporadic writer, I just feel it would be nice to get more of a handle on the type of readers - are they just wankers, 😜 who don't give a toss about your work, just want to get off, lol?

My last questions was that I wondered if what kistinpencil meant by "It should also be noted that for some writers in the past, likes were used as a medium of exchange, rather than a measure of a story's merit.", was that some writers agreed to give one another votes in order to bump their story's visibility, merit, etc - a quid pro quo, so to speak

Quote by cybervirgin

My last questions was that I wondered if what kistinpencil meant by "It should also be noted that for some writers in the past, likes were used as a medium of exchange, rather than a measure of a story's merit.", was that some writers agreed to give one another votes in order to bump their story's visibility, merit, etc - a quid pro quo, so to speak

I have never heard of this happening, and I hope that it doesn't. However, I simply do not know. 🙄

For me, I'm happy to keep chipping away. Improving my storytelling craft, building up my follower number, and when I submit something, hoping for likes and some positive comments/feedback. 😊 My greatest pleasure here is interacting with the members, people who follow me. 😎

Quote by cybervirgin
Ah, I didn't factor in the non-members - I wasn't even that familiar that we can send a link of a Lush story to anyone who can then read it without joining. So that would make a difference for sure but would it not mean that a link was sent to them as non-members can't access the site to check the stories in a category? So, I'm doubtful if the majority of views are from non-members?

Sending links isn't the main source of non-members, though. This is a public website. Anyone anywhere on the Internet can read stories here. If you search for any kind of erotic stories on a search engine, Lush is usually high in the results. Those people looking for smut via Google and others are not generally going to be members and I would argue those are going to be the majority of your views: People who find the site through search engines or other sources and then start browsing for other stories. And those casual browsers are not likely to join unless they get interested in publishing themselves or in getting involved in the social side of the site like the forums and chat. Hence my contention that a majority of views are not logged in and probably not even members.

If you want to see for yourself, use your browser's incognito/inprivate mode, go to Google, and search for "erotic stories". Lush is the number 2 hit, at least when I did it just now. Click on it, scroll down to the stories on the home page, and open one. You can read it and it will now be counted as a view. Try it with a genre of erotic stories. "Gay male sex stories" has Lush's Gay Male category as the fifth hit. So, yes, non-members can browse categories and find them online.

Quote by wxt55uk
I have never heard of this happening, and I hope that it doesn't. However, I simply do not know.

I think it was more of a thing on Lush 1.0 where you could actually score a story out of five rather than just "Like" or "Favourite". That meant that you could trash a story's score by giving 1s and boost it by giving 5s so some people gamed the system. The classic was asshats (who usually got banned for their trouble) who would go through and slap 1s on all the entries in a comp or on all the stories of a writer they had a beef with.

Not sure it's been as much on an issue on the current Lush since there's no way to "give a 1" or "dislike a story" to lower its rating. If you don't like a story, you don't hit Like or Favourite, but that's no different from a non-logged in user or other who doesn't leave a rating. It means the score doesn't go up, but it also doesn't drag it down.

Quote by Seeker4

That meant that you could trash a story's score by giving 1s and boost it by giving 5s so some people gamed the system. The classic was asshats (who usually got banned for their trouble) who would go through and slap 1s on all the entries in a comp or on all the stories of a writer they had a beef with.

...aaand this is why I left Literotica after less than a month and transferred my stories to Lush. 😅

My highest rated story has 5155 views and 33 fires.

Quote by cybervirgin

Strange someone would leave a comment if they don't leave a score - ok, they may be new & not aware of the Like of Fav buttons?

I don't think that is that strange. I can read a story and appreciate some parts or not and provide a comment but not give it a like.. a like is a positive affirmation...

In the old days you could score between 1 and 5.. I would regard a like as a 4 and a favourite as a 5.