2008-10-23
Wow…I usually try to write my blog notes offline because the internet café here is right next to the bar where I like to hang out. Usually I hang out for awhile, go internet for awhile, then hang out some more. If I try to do my blog entries, or do anything more complicated than answer emails and yes/no questions, I usually end up embarrassing myself.
The proof is in the pudding.
So, I take back whatever I said yesterday and instead, I offer this gem of sobriety…
Rachael’s Really Deep Thoughts on Download Counts
Stat counting is pretty much useless for me. I’m sure some people get a kick out of it and maybe they even have some use for such things, but I’ve just never found much value for totaling my downloads or anything like that. Word count is handy and you have to understand what that is and what it means and how to use it as a writer, because it’s important in a lot of ways, but those are numbers that I have sole control over. I’ll confess that I never contemplated comparing my story size to anyone else’s. It smacks of penis envy…or something.
Weird.
After reading AscendingAuthor’s blog, and I don’t know him at all, one way or any other, I’m a little mind boggled by what he says there. Of course dedicating oneself to 3.2 million words in a single story??? Wow! It’s safe to say that he and I have very different views on storytelling in theory and practice and I’m sure neither of us is more right or less wrong than the other. I wish him the very best of luck with reaching the longest story on SOL goal or whatever the thrust of his efforts is. Good luck with that.
But the whole numbers thing, daily vs weekly downloads and losing some of them…I don’t know about that stuff. About the only numbers I look at are the number of favorites lists that I’m on, just because that’s right at the top and it’s hard to miss, and the number of libraries a given story is in.
Downloads don’t tell me anything. I could have fifty thousand downloads, but I don’t know how many of those are people who actually finished the story or just popped in for a quick skim, a midnight jerk, or just to cheer me with a ten or spank me with a one…I mean, how many people read the whole thing? That’s what I’m concerned with, and SOL and the best bean counting software in the world won’t ever be able to tell me.
As I’ve mentioned before, email and feedback is really the only method I use to determine a story’s “success” if I write a story with nice high scores, but I only get a dozen emails…It’s a failure. I have a couple of those and I think, “God! That story must really suck, cause nobody emailed me.” Likewise, posting a story to terrible scores and limited downloads, but getting thirty emails, which is what happens with TS Severe for example, she’s doing okay. I know transgendered stories aren’t going to get big numbers. Same with Kylie and her stories, but they get so damn much email from the readers who are into it, they’re really vocal and enthusiastic and I love them!
That’s rewarding, it really is. Numbers…blah. Who cares? That’s another toy for readers and I think authors should just ignore that crap. It is tempting to write a 3.3 million word story though, I have to admit! I have a title picked out for it already, "Doorstop" …But I have so many other things to do. I still have to figure out if Kylie is going to hook up with Karen or her father!! That's what I should be doing right now…Yikes! At least I finished Tina (7) just a minute ago, that was a relief! I kept putting it off and putting it off. I really need a cattle prod shoved up my butt sometimes, you know?
Yeah…See? You do know, but probably for a different reason than mine, huh? I need a drink.
