I've just posted my first story on the site and I'm finding these things somewhat confusing as to figure out how people are using them. Most stories here seem to have Likes far outweigh the others, but so far for my story I'm getting tons of Favorites and comparatively few Likes. It makes me wonder what people use each for around here. Personally, I view Likes as telling the author that you enjoyed a particular chapter or branch to give them an idea where you want them to keep writing, or what sorts of things you really enjoy seeing them write about. Favorites go to stories that I enjoy everything about and will read any update from it no matter what threads it follows in the future. It's kind of like Following a writer, but just for a singular story. And then Bookmarks I reserve for when there's a big story but only a singular thread in it that I'm interested in. I use it to save my place in that story and make sure I'm only notified when what I want to read is updated. How are you using these three different metrics and what should I take from the fact that I'm getting more favorites than likes so far?
My story is a little different from most as I use a specific system for judging which chapters get sequels (and how many). Up to chapter 19, 5 likes gets one option, 10 likes gets two; chapter 20 (the end of a given storyline) and beyond, it's 10 likes for an epilogue and 20 likes for two. Bookmarks are used to determine priority. So, for example, if there are two chapters with 5 likes, and one of them has two bookmarks (**) and the other has none, the chapter with 5** gets a sequel written first. But I think a lot of users are a bit more idiosyncratic; they tend to like chapters they enjoy, and bookmark chapters they want to come back to, particularly on longer or unfinished branches.
I'm similar in how I use likes vs bookmarks. I prefer to follow a story but for the big ones there are often branches I don't care for so instead I follow the author I do like and just bookmark the threads I like. I treat Likes as tip for providing service as well, so if I really enjoyed a story I make sure I Like every chapter so the author gets as much benefit (a LOT of people search for new material by sorting through popular stories) as possible. I strongly suspect some people use bookmarks *only* because they don't want their profile to indicate anything about what they are reading and using Likes or adding Favorites shows up in the Recent Activity. Fair enough, but I've had people bookmark every chapter in a 30 chapter long story and I'm like... I'm not sure how that's useful to you but thanks? Those are the people that, when I look at their profile, there is nothing listed at all in any tab. One thing I've noticed is how some people who seem to really like my stories don't Like any of them. But they'll comment on them, message me directly and randomly have one bookmarked chapter and that's super cool too. I do wish the story metrics/rankings counted bookmarks by chapter instead of just for the story though, I think it would be helpful and a nice way for writers to obsess over another number. For me one of the greatest thrills is when on a couple of occasions I notice someone Liking the last chapter in a story, then going backwards and liking the other chapters they already finished. I *LOVE* that, because taking the extra time to do it is so damn cool of them and it's exactly how I use CHYOA as a reader when I find a story so awesome I race through it and then realize I was so wrapped up I didn't take the time to Like the chapters.
Comments are the best - actual feedback, suggestions for how they want the story to go forward, etc. The require more effort than a like or a bookmark so it's damn rare to see them (then again, I'm terrible at commenting, so that doesn't help).
Comments are indeed the absolute best. Love them so much... except when my story takes a turn and people don't like it and (politely) express their opinion and then I'm all sad about every one lol. BUT I eventually get over it and even come to appreciate the negative feedback. They do actually tell you something useful, mostly. I've been lucky in that most feedback is quite lovely, I don't think many readers will bother commenting if they don't like something after all.
