The next stop would be opening two patreons or ko-fi accounts and checking how much each story earns. The last time I heard about it, smut earns WAY less. It is very outdated stat though.
It just feels so unfair, I've spent years working on my novel and I get maybe three hundred views a week. I write a short smut story and I get five thousand views and twenty comments in a day.
As someone who likes smut and isn't shy about admitting it, I can tell you this much. Not every smut is popular, not every smut takes off so smoothly. It's not JUST smut label, your writing skills also helped.
You're probably right about that, most of the stuff on those subreddits is just terrible. It's like none of them know how people actually talk to each other.
@SailusGebel Honestly, no. And I agree with Sailus on this one, your writing skills is probably the thing that made your smut story popular, no one wants to read bad smut.