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Question about categories on a web site.

lovecraft68

lovecraft68

Bad Doggie
Joined
Jul 13, 2009
Posts
42,033
So I finally decided to get a real website one complete with a shopping cart and some bells and whistles.

This is being done for me by the same person who has done some publishing for me and made a lot of my new book covers.

So far I'm rolling with everything she suggests because she does this professionally and although I'm getting somewhat of a break this is not cheap.

But we ran into a disagreement today and I want to get some others opinions on this.

For categories I have a Taboo (with sub cats for mom/son dad/daughter etc...) Now I also have a milf/cougar category.

So I click on the milf link and she has listed all my mother/son books there. She says you should cross promote and have the same books in as many categories as possible.

Now my opinion is that....incest is not for everyone and if the person wants incest-any pairing-they will click on the proper category. If I am someone turned on my milf stories I may get squicked stumbling on incest stories, get ticked off and leave, much like people will click off a story here if its in the wrong category.

She says mom/son is the ultimate milf story, after all they are moms right? My take is the average guy(or girl) who is onto a cougar cub tale is not necessarily turned on by incest, in fact most are not.

So looking for thoughts on this as to which is the better way to go. I feel I am right, but want to hear what others have to say before I make the final decision.
 
While she has a point about MILFs include mom(s) desired by their son(s), I feel your experience with incest squicks trumps the category. Keep them separate.
 
I would agree with you. The chance of squicking out (and losing) someone who doesn't want to see incest is far greater than the odds of missing a sale because a MILF fan doesn't see the incest stories.

On the other hand, if you are using tags rather than categories (as in, a story can have multiple tags), then you might create a "MILF/Incest" tag that would return those stories, but only if someone selects that tag.
 
Carnevil9 said:
I would agree with you. The chance of squicking out (and losing) someone who doesn't want to see incest is far greater than the odds of missing a sale because a MILF fan doesn't see the incest stories.

On the other hand, if you are using tags rather than categories (as in, a story can have multiple tags), then you might create a "MILF/Incest" tag that would return those stories, but only if someone selects that tag.
Click to expand...

I suggested a link at the end of the Milf list "if you're interested in real mothers who..." and have that carry to the taboo category...she said that takes a different type of script and she's looking into it.
 
I'd keep them apart. I don't think the common understanding of Milf is ones own mother. That's incest, and its a very different thing. Cross promoting is good, but not in this case. I do like the idea of the separate link for it at the bottom though. That would be the right way to do it.
 
I also vote for keeping them apart. I like Milf tales but mother/son not so much.
 
To me, it depends upon what your expected mix of incest to "other" is going to be.

If you have expectations of anything close to a balance or a tip toward non-incest stories, I wouldn't let the incest bleed across categories. If you expect incest stories to always dominate your total offerings, it's less of an issue.
 
RejectReality said:
To me, it depends upon what your expected mix of incest to "other" is going to be.

If you have expectations of anything close to a balance or a tip toward non-incest stories, I wouldn't let the incest bleed across categories. If you expect incest stories to always dominate your total offerings, it's less of an issue.
Click to expand...

Good advice here. If you're going to specialize in Incest stories, then the point of having a MILF category without incest is almost pointless. If there's a decent selection opposite that, than MILF should definitely do held separate.

The MILF thing is pretty simple. Stifler didn't want to nail his own mom. MILF alone is non-incest. But if the Incest crowd is your main target audience, they won't differentiate anyway.

Q_C
 
MILF/Cougar stories get a good amount of crossover from the Mom/Son readers.

The opposite, not so much.
 
RejectReality said:
MILF/Cougar stories get a good amount of crossover from the Mom/Son readers.

The opposite, not so much.
Click to expand...

I've noticed this as well. If you are into mom/son then a milf story can still be hot, but for a pure cougar reader it doesn't always translate.

The woman working the site for me has been publishing erotica for years and will publish anything as long as its not underage and one of my points to her is we are jaded.

We spend so much time on sites like this and writing smut we tend to forget the average person doesn't think like us.

To the everyday person incest and non consent are extreme kinks that are crimes in real life (although 18 over takes some of the sting from incest) and most don't like them and yes there are those that do and won't admit it, but outside our dirty little world most won't.

as for my 'catalog' I have more incest than anything else, but do have quite a bit of Milf/cougar material as well as group sex and bdsm and a smattering of other stuff hopefully enough for a something for everyone type of crowd.

I may eventually look at offering to sell there for some other people, but I have to learn how to add books to the site myself for that and not there yet.
 
I'm surprised you're having to learn anything. My first thought when building something for someone else is a back-end admin section that lets you update something that critical with simple form entry.

Hell, that's my first thought when building something for myself.
 
However it happened your thread switched a lite on in my head to write a tutotial for depicting character personality and issues. I s'pose cuz categories are what psychiatric work is all about, and every psychiatrist I know cant cull the chicken from the egg. Thanks little buddy.

I've been on sites where all the ingredients in the book are listed tho the book is shelved one place or another based on its dominant theme. Its no different in court. You start out quarreling about child support, then discover that Juniors pappy is uncertain, then deal with domestic battery, and finish by lassoing Grandpa for the money.
 
RejectReality said:
I'm surprised you're having to learn anything. My first thought when building something for someone else is a back-end admin section that lets you update something that critical with simple form entry.

Hell, that's my first thought when building something for myself.
Click to expand...

The site is still being built once its complete she is going to show me the way to enter new books.

The fact I am a tech dummy makes it seem more difficult
 
lovecraft68 said:
The site is still being built once its complete she is going to show me the way to enter new books.

The fact I am a tech dummy makes it seem more difficult
Click to expand...

Dear, leave something for others to do and let their lights shine..
 
lovecraft68 said:
The site is still being built once its complete she is going to show me the way to enter new books.

The fact I am a tech dummy makes it seem more difficult
Click to expand...

Odds are it won't be much more difficult than making a forum post. Fill in the blanks, make a couple of drop-down selections, select the cover image from your hard drive, and click "submit".

Then if you bugger it up ( always look at the final page after you make a new entry or a change! ) there should be an edit option to bring back up the form with all the data you put in there, so all you have to do is tweak the bit you goofed on.

A little forethought in error-trapping the form should keep you from making any critical mistakes, leaving it down to typos and brainfarts that you have to correct.
 
Categories?

Novels/Novellas, Anthologies, Short Stories, clean, simple and easy to care for.
 
Quiet_Cool said:
Good advice here. If you're going to specialize in Incest stories, then the point of having a MILF category without incest is almost pointless. If there's a decent selection opposite that, than MILF should definitely do held separate.

The MILF thing is pretty simple. Stifler didn't want to nail his own mom. MILF alone is non-incest. But if the Incest crowd is your main target audience, they won't differentiate anyway.

Q_C
Click to expand...

^This.

MILF and incest are not the same. The way the movies portray Stifler and his mom are pretty close to how "normal" people think. In real life, a son may be able to admit his mom is hot, but the thought of himself between her legs is as sexy as him using a kickball full of scorpions as a sex toy.

Since your site is one that is trying to sell copies, I think you will lose customers who see stuff that turns them off. In the MILF category, when a customer sees a story about a MILF cougar hunting 3 roommates at the college bar, they will probably like it, but when the top stories are about a MILF mom who takes on her triplet sons while dad jerks off in the closet... Boom, the customer is grossed out and the tab is closed.

It can be a subtle difference to the jaded Litsters, but the rest of the population, it's as subtle as a nuclear bomb.


EDIT: Congrats on getting your own site set up! Yes, please make sure you get documented procedures for how to admin the site. Also very important, make sure you do regular backups, with the compressed file(s) stored in multiple locations (thumb drives: one in a safe, one at a friend's house).
 
Last edited:
JAMESBJOHNSON said:
However it happened your thread switched a lite on in my head to write a tutotial for depicting character personality and issues. I s'pose cuz categories are what psychiatric work is all about, and every psychiatrist I know cant cull the chicken from the egg. Thanks little buddy.

I've been on sites where all the ingredients in the book are listed tho the book is shelved one place or another based on its dominant theme. Its no different in court. You start out quarreling about child support, then discover that Juniors pappy is uncertain, then deal with domestic battery, and finish by lassoing Grandpa for the money.
Click to expand...

Glad I could get your synapse firing there old hoss
 
lovecraft68 said:
I suggested a link at the end of the Milf list "if you're interested in real mothers who..." and have that carry to the taboo category...she said that takes a different type of script and she's looking into it.
Click to expand...

I'd go with something like this.
 
Nothing to advise on, just wanted to congratulate you and wish you the best on your site and sales. :)
 
RoyceConnors said:
Nothing to advise on, just wanted to congratulate you and wish you the best on your site and sales. :)
Click to expand...

Thanks Royce! I am planning on setting up at a couple of local fetish cons to push my books which is why I am finally getting a real site done so I have something to direct people to.
 
lovecraft68 said:
Thanks Royce! I am planning on setting up at a couple of local fetish cons to push my books which is why I am finally getting a real site done so I have something to direct people to.
Click to expand...

Advertising it is the big issue once you're ready. Need to link up with as many sponsors as you can in the genres you have. Being on SW or Amazon/Kindle is next to impossible to get noticed and stand out at all.
 
RoyceConnors said:
Advertising it is the big issue once you're ready. Need to link up with as many sponsors as you can in the genres you have. Being on SW or Amazon/Kindle is next to impossible to get noticed and stand out at all.
Click to expand...

You're right.

Amazon's latest game is if you are not in kindle unlimited they bury your books and SW is just...vast....especially for erotica
 
lovecraft68 said:
You're right.

Amazon's latest game is if you are not in kindle unlimited they bury your books and SW is just...vast....especially for erotica
Click to expand...

Too bad there wasn't a site sponsored by authors and we all got a spotlight during a day. We write, so we should have more say and more exposure of our work. It would all be Ebook, so selling is easy. It would certainly take the reins of control out of the big retailers or erotica writers and give us what we need and readers the chance to easily find what they want.

New authors pay in for start up and get instant exposure in the new section. I'd go for something like that.
 
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