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[RokofAges75]

Like Rose, I make banners for my novels, but usually not my one-shots, and I still get my regular crew of readers reading both.  It shouldn't matter much either way.  I will say, though, that when I'm just scrolling quickly through the Most Recent page, stories with banners catch my eye more than stories without.  I could see stories without banners getting lost in the shuffle unless they're updated frequently enough to be on the Most Recent page a lot.  I have clicked on stories because the banners caught my eye, but I've also avoided stories because their banners made them look like something I wouldn't enjoy.  That said, I always at least read the summary before deciding whether or not to click on the story.

To me, banners are just like book covers - when I'm browsing in a book store, a brightly-colored or interesting-looking book jacket will grab my attention and get me to pull that book off the shelves, but my very next move is to turn it over and read the summary on the back.  If the summary sounds like something I might like, I open the book and do a little skimming.  If it doesn't, I put it back on the shelves.  I'm the same way when browsing for fanfics to read.

[FrickingKaos]

Like I said on twitter, I have stories that don't have banners. When I first joined AC none of them had any but I think it is like a book cover like Julie said. I've only clicked on a story because of a banner once, and that was Time Has A Way by Tri. It turned out to be a really good story.

I will read stories with or without banners but I look at the summary first. If the summary is interesting, I will read it

[RokofAges75]

Does anyone look at a story's reviews before deciding whether it's worth a try or not?

I know when I buy books online, like on Amazon, I always look at the reviews after reading the summary and so on, but I don't do that with stories on AC.  I guess it's because they're free, so I'm not losing anything by giving a story a try.  If I don't like it, I just don't read it, whereas if I'm going to spend money on a book, I want to know that other people thought it was worth buying!

[FrickingKaos]

I actually look at the reviews too, same as when I buy an app or something off amazon. If I hear good things about a story I am likely to read as well.

[kevmylove]

My guilty Pleasure?

My guilty pleasure was Sinister Devotion. Because I wrote it for myself because I was obsessed with the idea of AJ as an assassin. I knew that it wouldn't be a lot of readers cup of tea. Although, I did get more readers/reviews than I thought I would. I just had a blast writing that story and I wasn't really worried about Its popularity.

1. What are some of the stories you've written because they were something's  you would want to read?

hmmm I would say "Sinister Devotion" I just loved AJ as a hitman. Also "Fight Me" because i suck at writing OF and I was able to use Nick as my main character so easily. 

3. Are there any stories you've written that you don't think you would read if someone else had written them?

If I'm in the mood and have time I give anything a try. But I proly wouldn't have read "Driving Me Crazy" with Howie as the main character because Its just hard to read anything unless it's AJ or Nick as the main man. 

4.  What are some of the silliest lines you've ever had your characters say? 

“You got a boner…with Abby right next to you?” AJ let out a husky laugh.

Nick rolled his eyes and checked if everything he owned was still there. “You just made me smash Mr. Twinkie against that tree.”

He waved a hand at Nick and passed Abby who was startled when he flew by. “Tall boy like yo butt!”

5. What about your favorite conversations? That made you laugh that you've written or someone else has? 

They are both from Just One Kiss. 

"Oh Jesus! I’ll do it.” She sounded so determined, but her insides were churning. Brian got up and threw his gloves away. She took a seat between Nick’s legs as she pulled on the gloves. She took hold of the end of the robe and carefully pulled it open.

“OMG! It’s big!”

Nick blushed, “Twinkie?”

“Oh please!” Brian exclaimed.

Abby turned tomato red as she stumbled on her words. “Um…the…I…your rash. It’s really big and red.”Nick didn’t know a woman could blush so many times in one day.

He couldn’t help the smile on his face as he felt Abby‘s hands on Mr. Twinkie!


“What if Hazeleyes06 isn’t a she. It might be some lard butt dude with an infatuation for blonde boys in tighty whities. Staring right at you from one of the telescopes.

“Shut the fuck up! You are a complete freak and I don't wear tighty whities”

"You did last week."

Tired of looking out at the city he turned his attention to the parking lot and the lawn, hoping to get a glimpse of his date. He leaned against the fence and crossed one arm. “That was all for my photoshoot asshole. It’s definitely a she…and she’s damn hot too.”

“If you say so. What if she’s not what you expect huh? She’s missing a leg or an eyeball. Argh…like a pirate.”

Nick rolled his eyes as if his friend could see him. “You’re in idiot mode. I see what happens when you’re really
in love…you go stupid!”

[Carter-Orange]

Asked this on twitter and Mare said it'd be good here!

So, do you guys think that stories with a banner get read more than a story without a banner? I know for me personally, I never make banners for my one-shots, and they still get read. But I'm wondering what you guys have experienced?

I never make them for my one-shots, with the exception of the one challenge where we had to make one.  I usually make them for my other stories though, just because I think of them as a book cover.

I don't decide to read a story because of a banner though.  I read the summary to decide if it's something I'll like.  The banner is just something pretty to look at

When I'm deciding on a book from Amazon, I do read reviews because I'm parting with money, lol.  With fanfic, it's free so I don't need to read the reviews first as if I don't like it, I can just click out.

[Rose]

I read reviews if I'm buying a book. Cause honestly you're parting with money. With fanfic? No. That and usually not many people give concrit. People will rave about stories that I can't see the appeal in at all LOL, like that Oreos story. So even if I did read fanfic reviews, it wouldn't do me any good!

[mare]

I wouldn't be able to do that challenge anytime soon . I'm determined to finish my current novellas before going into something new LOL.

The best part of this challenge is how simple it is! All you have to do, is go to a story you are currently working on, hit edit, go to the summary, highlight the banner and press delete! Yay!!!! lol life should be that simple for everyone.

[mare]

I will only read reviews before clicking in a story if I'm on the fence about it. Sometimes by just seeing who is reviewing kind of gives me an idea if I might like it, for example if I see it's someone who has the same taste I do. Otherwise I usually don't check out the reviews.

Like everyone else said, I do with books but usually I'll go by people's recs over what a review says anyway.

[Sakabelle]

I don't usually read reviews on a story I'm not reading or one that I'm on the fence about reading. I actually will more often read other reviews of a story I'm really caught up in and love, because I want to see if the other reviewers had the same thoughts as I did about chapters and stuff. I also like reading them because the author's reponses sometimes have interesting little tidbits to other readers that they may not have mentioned to me because it never came up.

I have another question.

If you tried reading something by an author, and it wasn't good, would that deter you from reading something of theirs in the future? Would you be less likely to try something from that author if something you read before from them ended up not being to your taste, even if the plotline of a different story from them looked interesting to you?

[Purpura Lipstick]

Banners:

Banners catch my eye but it's the summary I read.  I have made it a point to look at stories without banners more lately and read their summaries to see if I think it's something I will enjoy.

Reviews:

I won't read reviews for fanfic that I'm wanting to read because oftentimes the reviews have spoilers in them and I don't want the spoilers.  I will read them if I am reading the story to see what others are saying though. 

If you tried reading something by an author, and it wasn't good, would that deter you from reading something of theirs in the future? Would you be less likely to try something from that author if something you read before from them ended up not being to your taste, even if the plotline of a different story from them looked interesting to you?

It depends on why I didn't like the story.  If I didn't like that plot I'd give another a try if the summary looked interesting.  If I didn't like it because the writing wasn't easy to understand I am more likely to avoid another by the same author.

[mare]

I tend to look for a specific kind of story and I'm usually not concerned with who wrote it. One thing I do take into consideration before reading it though is if the author has a history of not finishing their stories or if they tend to make a lot of grammatical errors. That would be the only reason I might not give a story I would otherwise click on, a try.

I know what I like to read, if it's one of my favorite authors writing it, it's an added bonus but if not, that's okay too.

[mare]

I'm not sure if that actually answered your question lol

I guess my real answer would be similar to Lore's answer. It would depend on what I didn't like. I would think if the plot was something that excited me & the execution wasn't there, I might give that author another go if he or she came up with another interesting story idea. If it happened again, I'd most likely not give them a third chance lol

If I stopped because of horrible grammar, that would be the end most likely.

[Sakabelle]

Yeah I definitely agree with both of you guys. If it was something I didn't read because it had a lot of spelling/grammar errors, then I'd be really hesitant to try something from them again. But if it was purely the plot that just didn't interest me, I'd probably give another one of their stories a try.

I think I personally am more likely to give something I am a little on the fence about a try if it's by someone who has written things I've loved in the past rather than someone completely new. Not something that doesn't look interesting at all, but just something that I wouldn't normally try but am a little intrigued by.

[mare]

I'm like that more with one shots, like Rose's new short about AJ. If it was someone I didn't know, I probably would have skipped right over it because it was an AJ story lol but I already know I like her writing so I gave it a try. I'm really not as willing to do that with novels, no matter who wrote it. If its an AJ novel I'm not going to want to read it. lol