Where is everyone????

I see the lack of readers and site visitors as due to a lack of new stories. So I saw the question as how to get more new stories. I think the answer lies in increasing the appeal of the site to authors.

I had thought the compensation might be the solution to getting more stories here, because I noticed two of my favorite prolific authors had moved to distributing stories via Patreon.

If the topic ever comes up again, there are mandatory pay walls -- which I do not like and which I find too plentiful, and there is a system to distribute voluntary donations to authors -- which was what I was proposing.


1. I think the consensus of the authors is that we drop the idea of compensation. I'm good with that.


2. The consensus of the authors seems to be that more feedback will encourage them to write more.

The authors know what they want, and we should try to give it to them.

My questions and comments as a regular reader:

a) Authors should be able to see the 'read counts' for their stories. If someone puts the effort into reading part 2, that means they must have at least liked part 1. The read count is the most accurate like/dislike feedback authors can get, and it requires no additional effort from readers.

If authors can't see their story/chapter read counts, then please, could a change be made so they can.

b) Do authors get feedback when we 'favorite' (follow/heart) one of their stories?

I favorite every chapter/story I like, with the assumption that authors know I'm doing it.

b) As a reader, I'd prefer to give a 1 to 5 star ranking, rather than just single Favorite/follow/Heart.

c) Authors who wish critical feedback can add the text "Author requests critical feedback" at the bottom of their stories.

Or Fats could add an option to story posts that would display a caption immediately below the 5 stars, stating either "Author requests critical feedback by comment" or "Author requests critical feedback by Private Feedback".

Would other readers be more comfortable if it was put that way?

Personally as a reader, I avoid saying anything negative about a story unless I either think the author is the sort of person who has the self-confidence to handle it, or the author specifically asks. What I'm afraid of is turning an author off writing -- so I normally try to be as positive as I can.

So if authors want full feedback from readers who think like me, they have to have a way to ask for it.

d) Perhaps below the current comment box, add a box for "Private Feedback To Author".

This would allow those readers who want to stay hidden to send a message that only the author will see.


3. As a reader, I'd still like a faster easier way to find other stories by the same author than searching through the index. I'd like to be able to click on the author's name at the top and see a list of all his stories.

It would be nice to be able to do this from the end of the chapter/story too. Maybe a caption after everything else saying, "Click here to see other stories by this author".

It might be a nice touch if authors could see how often people search for more of their stories.


4. Augoose, to answer your question: This reader had no idea there was a notebook there.


5. On the paypal donation receipt it indicates that the donation is to www.superwomanmania.com I'm single so I don't care. But would the attached guys prefer a less obvious donation subject?

---

Anyways, those are my thoughts as a regular reader. We should repay the authors as much as we can so they'll write us more stories. And if that means more feedback, that is what we should provide.

Thanks guys.

Lucent wrote: I see the lack of readers and site visitors as due to a lack of new stories. So I saw the question as how to get more new stories. I think the answer lies in increasing the appeal of the site to authors.

I had thought the compensation might be the solution to getting more stories here, because I noticed two of my favorite prolific authors had moved to distributing stories via Patreon.

If the topic ever comes up again, there are mandatory pay walls -- which I do not like and which I find too plentiful, and there is a system to distribute voluntary donations to authors -- which was what I was proposing.


1. I think the consensus of the authors is that we drop the idea of compensation. I'm good with that.


2. The consensus of the authors seems to be that more feedback will encourage them to write more.

The authors know what they want, and we should try to give it to them.

My questions and comments as a regular reader:

a) Authors should be able to see the 'read counts' for their stories. If someone puts the effort into reading part 2, that means they must have at least liked part 1. The read count is the most accurate like/dislike feedback authors can get, and it requires no additional effort from readers.

If authors can't see their story/chapter read counts, then please, could a change be made so they can.

b) Do authors get feedback when we 'favorite' (follow/heart) one of their stories?

I favorite every chapter/story I like, with the assumption that authors know I'm doing it.

b) As a reader, I'd prefer to give a 1 to 5 star ranking, rather than just single Favorite/follow/Heart.

c) Authors who wish critical feedback can add the text "Author requests critical feedback" at the bottom of their stories.

Or Fats could add an option to story posts that would display a caption immediately below the 5 stars, stating either "Author requests critical feedback by comment" or "Author requests critical feedback by Private Feedback".

Would other readers be more comfortable if it was put that way?

Personally as a reader, I avoid saying anything negative about a story unless I either think the author is the sort of person who has the self-confidence to handle it, or the author specifically asks. What I'm afraid of is turning an author off writing -- so I normally try to be as positive as I can.

So if authors want full feedback from readers who think like me, they have to have a way to ask for it.

d) Perhaps below the current comment box, add a box for "Private Feedback To Author".

This would allow those readers who want to stay hidden to send a message that only the author will see.


3. As a reader, I'd still like a faster easier way to find other stories by the same author than searching through the index. I'd like to be able to click on the author's name at the top and see a list of all his stories.

It would be nice to be able to do this from the end of the chapter/story too. Maybe a caption after everything else saying, "Click here to see other stories by this author".

It might be a nice touch if authors could see how often people search for more of their stories.


4. Augoose, to answer your question: This reader had no idea there was a notebook there.


5. On the paypal donation receipt it indicates that the donation is to www.superwomanmania.com I'm single so I don't care. But would the attached guys prefer a less obvious donation subject?

---

Anyways, those are my thoughts as a regular reader. We should repay the authors as much as we can so they'll write us more stories. And if that means more feedback, that is what we should provide.

Thanks guys.

Really good points, Lucent, except I don't like the 1 - 5 rating system. What does a 2 mean? Does a 1 mean you completely suck? If you rate it a 5, does the author know why?

There is no shortcut to writing at least a sentence or two for every story.

When someone does comment, it would be neat if you had a choice whether to send it as a PM/email, or post it publically. If it is sent privately, there should be a counter that denotes the number of private comments that have been sent. That's further affirmation that everyone can see. God forbid we have a lonely, uncommented story.

I personally think public comments are better than private in most cases as they can generate further discussion, and public comments require us to be a bit nuanced and polite and helpful. But I understand that some new writers haven't built up any scar tissue yet. Criticism can be pretty challenging to read after you've poured your heart and soul into a story. But it's required to produce better stories.. I think of it as medicine -- you don't take it for pleasure but to get better.

One thing we can't avoid, and don't want to, is that we've got authors who are dipping their toe in the water for the first time, and are high in inspiration but low in experience. There are others of us who have posted dozens up to hundreds of stories on the Web and can handle any kind of feedback.

Right now we're racing old Volkswagon Beetles (which I once truly loved) on the same track, at the same time, as Porsche Turbo 911's. We have to be very aware of the differences in 'speed'.

I would suggest we have a way to denote New Writer, which is a self-declared label that one can attach to their story (and to subsequent stories for as long as they wish). It basically says you're trying your hand at writing, and/or you haven't written enough yet to be comfortable with it all, and you are probably more fueled by inspiration than by craft, and feedback should be gentle but helpful.

For that kind of writer, feedback on the inspiration and characterization is more important than picking at the grammar, plot or other elements of traditional storytelling. In fact, comments on spelling and grammar are pretty useless in general unless it makes the story challenging to read. Better to focus on genre elements of the story and less on construction and craft.

For others, who have been around the block a few times, we leave that label off and are in effect inviting more critical feedback, including comments on craft, that might be more direct and less nuanced. We've got thick skins.

In the end, a minimum of a half dozen people replying on each story will provide a lot of inspiration for new ones.

I plan to discipline myself to commenting on each and every story posted from this day forward. It only takes a few comments to make a BIG difference in author enthusiasm.

Shadar

Shadar, I think a New Writer's section would be a welcome addition to the site.

Shadar wrote:

<<I would suggest we have a way to denote New Writer, which is a self-declared label that one can attach to their story (and to subsequent stories for as long as they wish). It basically says you're trying your hand at writing, and/or you haven't written enough yet to be comfortable with it all, and you are probably more fueled by inspiration than by craft, and feedback should be gentle but helpful.>>

I'll never be a new writer again, but I'd like to encourage new writers who are into Aurora Universe fiction by offering them a place at The Bright Empire as well as here.

Not only that, but I herewith offer them a chance to write trial scenes for Empress of the Dawn III (www.brightempire.com/Empress-3.pdf), leading up to and including the Battle of the Triple Moons. Of course, they'd have to have some familiarity with the whole Empress epic, and I can't guarantee I could use any of their contributions verbatim, But they might inspire me with new approaches to the story that could be integrated into my own, overcoming my long delay in wrapping up the series. Full credit if that should happen...

Hey, and if any of you find fault with what I've already done and offer suggestions for improvements that make sense to me...

--Brantley Thompson Elkins

Well, more than three dozen people have hit on the link. Maybe a few will speak up.

--Brantley

brantley wrote: Well, more than three dozen people have hit on the link. Maybe a few will speak up.

--Brantley

Ah, Brantley, the purpose of this thread was to discuss how to increase participation here on SWM, and that morphed into ways to increase the number of stories posted here. From there we focused on ways to increase feedback to SWM authors who post here on SWM.

Your hijacking the thread to try to drum up readers for your site is a bit inappropriate considering the subject at hand.

Or so I see it...

Shadar

Okay, I'll leave off here and stick to my own update thread. But I'll try to follow new SWM stories and comment on same. Should be more interesting than the Mon El... er, Supergirl show.

--Brantley

brantley wrote: Okay, I'll leave off here and stick to my own update thread. But I'll try to follow new SWM stories and comment on same. Should be more interesting than the Mon El... er, Supergirl show.

--Brantley

I agree on more interesting than Mon El.

On a related note to Fats or Woodclaw... is the library working well enough to post a story? I'm not quite ready, but getting close. As always... my writing always takes longer than I plan.

Shadar

fats wrote: please hold off until Monday as the site rebuild will be uploaded on Sunday.

Fats

Sounds good, Fats. Probably take me until then to be ready. Amazing how fast the weeks fly by.

Shadar

shadar wrote: On a related note to Fats or Woodclaw... is the library working well enough to post a story? I'm not quite ready, but getting close. As always... my writing always takes longer than I plan.

fats wrote: please hold off until Monday as the site rebuild will be uploaded on Sunday.

Can you tell us if any submissions are waiting in the wings for Monday?

Since this thread was started, there have been plenty of insightful responses and interesting ideas aired. Given that the thread has been ongoing for several weeks now and has received dozens of responses, it would be helpful to get some closure on the conversation.

Fats, as the person who started this thread, can you let us know which ideas presented here are most compelling to you, ie, the ones most likely to be flagged for implementation on the site?

And for everyone else, how has this conversation affected the specifics ways in which you plan to participate in the site? For example, Shadar mentioned that he planned to make a point of commenting on every story. I'd be curious to hear what others have concluded.

Not any type of New Years goals here but this is what I do.
- Hit the 'thank you' button. Its something.
- Comment, and go look back at old posts. Maybe spark them back up if new material has come up.
- Kick in some $ to the SWM site when needed.
- Use Patreon/Kickstarter etc. for a few artists, writers, vid makers.
- Post what I find interesting in the fetish we all enjoy.
- Sell/donate/gift a few costumes now and then. My plan to activate the powers within them is moving along to plan.
- Not leave negative gripes. Don't like it, don't comment. Don't turn people off. Try to stay out of the politics. Bombarded with it everywhere else. I'm a freedom loving Libertarian. My beliefs center around personal accountability, the use of friends/family/community over government in any form, freedom of action, property rights, charity, and non intervention. I've seen too many 'good idea fairies' enact crazy policies, programs, and projects that either backfired or went to some corrupt Pol's pockets. Sorry, started a rant.
- Purchase genre products outright and personally fund a few that I would like to see. I will say that I have found videos that were pirated and ended up watching them. Only to go and buy them afterwards. Not so much out of guilt but out of 'I WANT MORE'.
- And maybe get another model for my own quick Supergirl costume shoots. Was so much fun. I wish I had better camera skills...

/nag on
I notice that the recent crop of stories are mostly still very light on comments.

We all did a lot of talking for a few weeks in this thread. It sounded very good. But it would be a lot nicer to actually reward the authors who have sweated and worked their way to a posting on SWM.

Remember, most authors are fueled by feedback. It doesn't have to be praise unless you feel that way, but it should reflect that you've read the story and thought about it. And maybe have a suggestion or two.

Even if you send a private reply to the author, a brief note on the forum would go a long ways to encouraging more comments.

/nag off

Shadar

shadar wrote: /nag on
I notice that the recent crop of stories are mostly still very light on comments.

We all did a lot of talking for a few weeks in this thread. It sounded very good. But it would be a lot nicer to actually reward the authors who have sweated and worked their way to a posting on SWM.

Remember, most authors are fueled by feedback. It doesn't have to be praise unless you feel that way, but it should reflect that you've read the story and thought about it. And maybe have a suggestion or two.

Even if you send a private reply to the author, a brief note on the forum would go a long ways to encouraging more comments.

/nag off

Shadar

I feel pretty bad because I like to comment. But I'm so far behind from work & freelancing that I've not gotten to READ most of the stuff from the last few months, let alone take the time to comment.

So I see the Library and I'm left with this sinking guilty feeling .... but one of these days I'll start reading things there again ... and I WILL make some comment.

I'm not commenting on Deviant Art either, nor have a posted the (few) things i've managed to commission lately. (I really need to fix that.)