What Exactly Do You Expect?

[Andy78]

I love the stories on here. But the only thing that drives me round the bend is certain authors who shall go nameless have so many stories on the go at once, that many stagnate. One story was not updated for almost a year, whilst another story was being updated almost weekly. The only reason it drives me so crazy is that the stories are so good and I'm loving them, but have to wait so long for the next chapter that I've competely forgotten the story and have to re-read it again. I now tend to only read stories which are complete.

 

But everyone should keep feeding back to the writers, it's only with our feedback that the writers will continue writing. It takes less than a minute to leave a few words of feedback.

[Nephylim]

Absolutely true. With no feedback and no reads authors get despondent and just stop posting.

[Johnathan Colourfield]

I didn't see this when it was initially posted.

 

I have the same issue as to Efiction as many others; I had alot of reviews in EFiction that have just gone and now people just don't want to review again because they have already reviewed. I've saved all my reviews on a document but thats not the point.

 

I like GA Stories as a writer because its easy to post stories however, I think the background colour is hard for a reader to cope with.

 

As a beta reader, I don't really use GA Stories; i tend to just communicate via email or via msn.

 

Around 6 months ago, I found myself in a state of self deprecation because i had no reviews and nothing coming in and I was finding it very hard to write. Just a little feedback is all I would need eg the anthologies; the reviews that are 3 words mean just as much as those that are 300. I respond to every single one. I would love for there to be a conversation section in the reviews; which would make it so much more interactive for the author and the reader.

 

I personally dislike the emphasis on the forums now. I think it should be able the stories in GA.Stories and less about forum discussion. I think if the shift is made; there would be more physical reviews and more interaction.

 

My main issue would be the lack of interaction in the reviews section. Oh and also it feels like there are no readers anymore. I post but it doesn't get read; which is very disenhearting. Thanks to a friend I'm now Peer Reviewed (100+ Likes) and still when I post barely any response.

 

I never plan to leave but it would be nice to entice the readers in.

 

An idea might be is to eliminate the 'author' status, and make another 'signature' role such as a 'Try Out' or a 'Applicant'; so that GA Stories isn't flooded with new stories. Said Applicants wouldn't be posted in the main stream and would have their own section in the website and then the populace would be able to vote via review to make them full authors. Then have 'Author'. Then 'Promising', who as they have now their own forum. Then the highest accolade of the 'Hosted' Author, which means they would have a website and their own personal page in GA. This is what I found put me off reading hosted stories because it feels like everyone is the same now; even though the abilities of the Hosted Author far excel the work of a smaller author (such as myself).

 

Hope i didn't ramble too much

[option]

I know this is an old topic, but felt like responding

this is from the point of view of me as a READER

 

 

 

How do you let the author know you liked/disliked their story?

I will rate the story (not the individual chapters)

I will click 'like', even though its completely useless as it dosnt produce a list of what youve liked

I will 'follow' a story thats still in progress

 

I should point out though, that if its an author i havnt read before, i will start with one of their completed stories. So if they have no completed ones, its very unlikely that i would read any of theirs.

 

 

 

https://www.gayauthors.org/forums/topic/31469-what-exactly-do-you-expect/#entry290990

 

how does a published author know if people like what theyre writing? sales!

even if every single newspaper & magazine & bookshop individually reviewed a book, that would be a tiny number in comparison to the number of copies a bestseller sells in a week, let alone a month or a year

 

so how does a writer on here know that their story is being read? readership figures / views / hits

 

 

"my expectations would be that if you're reading a story, you would leave even a short review to let the author know they aren't wasting their time posting"

 

but if a reader is reading your story, & has clicked like or follow, then surely theyve already left some feedback

can a reader have an expectation that an author will actively update their story, & actually finish it?

 

 

 

as Q says in post #17

you can read without having to be a member

so dont assume that all the readers are like you & have a login & the ability to post a review

 

 

as Mark says in post #18

a lot of the 'most' lists are meaningless

if you go to /forums, in the sidebar is 'most reviewed',

why is this on the forum page, & what does it tell me about an author & the stories?

 

the main/front page, /index, is effectively a dead page, theres nothing there to draw you in to read a story

/stories, again, nothing draws you in or really promotes any stories