What gains comments?

I'm also one of those authors who don't get many comments, and to be honest, it's not really surprising considering the sort of things I write.

I've come to the conclusion that if I really do write primarily for my own satisfaction then I shouldn't pay too much attention to low views or a low V/C ratio. I'm certainly not about to start writing effectively the same story time and again which ticks certain boxes just to garner comments and give myself a spurious sense of self worth.

Having said that, I'm a snob, and I value a comment from an author who I respect far more than a comment from someone else, and have been known to copy and save then to my own computer. Vain or what?

I have no idea as well what makes a reader comment besides the rule of 25/1. I try to comment on most stories that I like resulting in a 10% rate which is not bad as those percentages go.

One thing is certain: I have stories on other sites and LSF readers comment a lot more and the quality of comments is much better here.

I think it's actually 500/1. 25/1 would be Nirvana.

Based on my own tendencies to comment or not this is my observation. Stories, no matter how well they are written, that follow a familiar format are not likely to get many comments. Stories that are unusual in some way or have something unexpected in them are likely to receive comments.

For example, long before I was a member of the Library I read stories by Mike of London on other sites. Whenever I see a new story by Mike of London here or elsewhere I am always pleased as I know I will enjoy it. However his schoolgirl stories are similar to one another so once you have commented on one of them there is not much to say about the next one hundred.

A story that is familiar may get many reads and please many people but is unlikely to be commented on. Another story that is odd may get fewer readers but more comments.

What. Definitely what.

There is no shame in taking pleasure from the appreciative comments of grateful readers. I'm papering the walls of my loo with mine!

One thing I've noticed when some people are reading serials, they will read the first part (part 1), which in fact most of the time will have the most reads, and then look at the synopsis of each of the other parts and read only what interests them. Therefore, you can get 389 part 1 reads - v - 89, 97, 102, etc... of some of the other parts. It goes to show a point that I made in my first post. It's what people want to read. I read all the parts if I read a serial.

B

When the library was just beginning I gave permission for a few of my stories to be uploaded. There were (and still are) few readers and even less comments on my work. Writers appreciate feedback; it's the only payment we receive but just knowing I have readers has been satisfactory. On my own website, a reader can only comment by sending me an email. I'm fortunate I get a really high number of hits every day and more than enough email comments to keep me interested in writing.
On this board, an author can plug his/her own works. Perhaps "marketing" your stories will bring in the comments.
~Sar~

There are a several factors at play in determining how many comments a story will generate. The first group affects whether a story gets read in the first place. The second group affects whether, having been read, a story will generate comments. Whether stories get a comment per 500 views, or a comment per 35 views, it is clear that, all other things being equal, more views will generally mean more comments.

What factors generate more views? First of all, due to the oft-noted tendency of members to read the "new" stories more frequently than old, the longer a story stays on the "front page," the more views it will generate. Then there are a host of other factors: the orientation, the genre, whether a story is by a popular author, whether it generates comments keeping it on the "recently-commented" list, whether it's part of a serial, and perhaps the biggest of of all - whether it it has a provocative title. Early stories by new authors often get lots of views as members check them out. From my own experience (aeons ago), I can say that "plugging" doesn't necessarily generate many additional views.

Once a story has been read a given number of times, then what determines its likely "views to comments ratio?" I think it's clear that how well liked it is will be an important factor. (Note, though, that "well-liked" doesn't necessarily equate with best-written, as there are various factors at play here as well, although being well-written will be a positive factor for making a story "liked"). I would also point out that there is another stat, other than comments, that shows whether a story is "liked." The "favoriting" of stories may better indicate whether stories are liked. It is interesting that these two stats - number of comments, and number of stories - seem to measure different qualities, whether for authors' bodies of work, or for individual stories. Overall, there seem to be perhaps twice as many comments as "favorites," yet some authors receive more "favorites" than comments, while others receive several times as many comments as "favorites." There are even bigger discrepancies when comparing individual stories.

I think it is every bit as interesting to consider why some authors (and stories) tend to receive relatively more "favorites" than comments, while other receive the reverse, as to figure what causes a story to receive comments. In fact, the factors are likely to be similar.

There certainly must be a smaller views to comment ratio for all views after May of 2010 than before that date, since that's when the number of comments exploded. Since such a high proportion of "views" are of newly-posted stories, any story posted before May, 2010, will likely have a much higher views to comment ratio, as will authors generally who have the bulk of their work posted before that date. Newer stories will have lower ratios. That's just a fact.

Some factors that determine how likely a story will be commented upon are related to how well a story is "liked." These can be similar to ones that determine if a story is likely to be read - such as orientation and genre - or independent of it - e.g., how well written it is. Whether a story is a stand-alone story are part of a serial can also affect the number of comments. Though many readers WILL comment on multiple (or every) part of a serial, some may only comment once, or when there is a gap in episodes (asking for more).

There are two other factors that not only are likely to affect the number of comments, and also separate the likelihood of being "favorited" from the likelihood of receiving a comment. An author with a loyal band of reader/commenters will get comments on most new stories, and also on his/her older work. These readers will seek out stories even when they may be ignored by the membership at large (as may happen when a story disappears quickly from the front page). This doesn't necessarily mean that a story that receives a significant number of comments from such readers is "better" than another story (although it may signify something about how this group of readers has evaluated the author).

And tiptopper has certainly nailed another factor. An unusual story is much more likely to provoke a comment than an equally-well-written story that follows a common prescription. The comments don't necessarily mean a story is better-liked than another story, but rather that there is more to say about it.

I find that everything I said above is true with my own work. I strive to make my stories different - from other authors' stories, and from each other. I also have a small group of local reader/commenters who tend to comment on most of my new stories. I don't write serials. The result is a very low VCR; scanning my 25 most recent stories, I estimate it to be around 15 to 1. I don't think this means my work is better than that of other authors. In fact, I don't have a particularly low "views to favorites" ratio (or at least a very low "stories to favorites" ratio). Although I have the most-commented story in the Library (a statistical freak, really), not even one of my stories comes anywhere close to making the most-favorited list.

So if your goal is to get lots of comments, start out by getting your stories read frequently - pick popular orientations and genres, give them provocative titles, and then bribe Februs to load them last in a batch of new stories. Next, cultivate your own band of groupies who will read and comment on all of your stories. Eschew serials. And finally, choose unusual story-lines rather than following the usual formulae.

OR. don't worry about the number of comments you get, and just write what you like.

I have no idea. I've written some things I thought wouldn't be especially popular or get many comments and they get loads (for me anyway), others that I've personally thought would definitely get comments seem to get bypassed or have very few comments.

Just a brief remark on comments versus favorites. My feeling is that they mainly come from different groups of readers. To make your first comment, you have to be a bit brave — you have to trust your writing skills and you have to believe that you actually have something to say. To create a favorite, you only need to press a button. As far as I can see, most of the comments come from the "regulars"; people who are either authors themselves or have contributed to the site in other ways (e.g. by lots previous comments). My guess is that the favorites to a much larger extent come from the "common readers".

To back this up, let me add an observation: It seems to me (but I admit that I have not made a real investigation of the question) that well-written, traditional stories tend to be "favorited" more than "commented", while more untraditional and experimental stories usually attract more comments than favorites. If this is the case, it supports my thesis above — one would suspect the regulars to tire of traditional stories (no matter how good they are), while the common readers probably haven't had their share yet.