Posting chapters in different categories

[ThisNameIsntTakenYet]

I've seen some writers who have a story that is posted as multiple separate chapters who post certain chapters in a different category. Say you have a lesbian story that features a chapter focused on bondage, for example. Or any combination of fetishes for that matter. Would it be wise to post those chapters in different categories? Does it affect your reads? Or would it be better to just stick all the chapters in the main category of the story?

 

[NOIRTRASH]

I've seen some writers who have a story that is posted as multiple separate chapters who post certain chapters in a different category. Say you have a lesbian story that features a chapter focused on bondage, for example. Or any combination of fetishes for that matter. Would it be wise to post those chapters in different categories? Does it affect your reads? Or would it be better to just stick all the chapters in the main category of the story?

It makes good sense to spread the glory around.

My Quest is finding good reads of any stripe, and what you suggest puts variety on the menu.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I've seen some writers who have a story that is posted as multiple separate chapters who post certain chapters in a different category. Say you have a lesbian story that features a chapter focused on bondage, for example. Or any combination of fetishes for that matter. Would it be wise to post those chapters in different categories? Does it affect your reads? Or would it be better to just stick all the chapters in the main category of the story?

Generally better to post the whole thing to one category appropriate to the overall theme of the story, but you might use tags and an author's note to let people know what to expect, especially if it involves squick categories. If you post it across multiple categories, many readers won't follow it.

 

[Hypoxia]

I have posted across categories in three series to decidedly mixed results. I won't do so again. I generally gained fewer readers in the second category than I lost from the first. You could post in Novels & Novellas if your series has no dominant theme but not many will read it.

That's with series. Story cycles are something else. Standalone episodes can go wherever you think they fit, and they CAN drag in readers favoring other categories. But in a series, stay consistent.

 

[ChloeTzang]

Question what category to post in

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[sr71plt]

First, your example isn't about posting different chapters anywhere. Your example is a standalone.

I think the commenter is just off the beam (and the comment gets a bit contradictory). An adopted brother-sister relationship isn't legally incest, but most publishers will consider it so, and it certainly is taboo, because the relationship is functionally a familial one. The category specifically includes taboo subjects. I think chances are good that the submissions editor would have put it in Incest/Taboo even if you hadn't marked it that way.

 

[ChloeTzang]

..........

 

[Bramblethorn]

I think the commenter is just off the beam (and the comment gets a bit contradictory). An adopted brother-sister relationship isn't legally incest, but most publishers will consider it so, and it certainly is taboo, because the relationship is functionally a familial one. The category specifically includes taboo subjects. I think chances are good that the submissions editor would have put it in Incest/Taboo even if you hadn't marked it that way.

This varies by region. In parts of Australia, adoptive siblings still count for incest: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/que...-can-face-incest-charges-20160412-go4ihb.html

In other states here, IIRC, only direct ancestor/descendant is considered incest, and brother/sister is governed only by the regular age/consent laws.

 

[sr71plt]

This varies by region. In parts of Australia, adoptive siblings still count for incest: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/que...-can-face-incest-charges-20160412-go4ihb.html

In other states here, IIRC, only direct ancestor/descendant is considered incest, and brother/sister is governed only by the regular age/consent laws.

Oh, lord, I hope we aren't going off on a tangent about comparable incest law in different countries (again). This is like underage. Law on incest has nothing to do with what can be written and published about incest. It's a publishing choice on how to treat it. Most erotica publishers and distributors have a broad definition of what is incest and they don't carry incest.

 

[Hypoxia]

This varies by region. In parts of Australia, adoptive siblings still count for incest: http://www.brisbanetimes.com.au/que...-can-face-incest-charges-20160412-go4ihb.html

In other states here, IIRC, only direct ancestor/descendant is considered incest, and brother/sister is governed only by the regular age/consent laws.

Refer to What is Incest? Legally in many places, various non-DNA-sharing relationships are considered incest, including step-fucks and inlaw-fucks. Many jurisdictions have different standards for fucks vs marriages -- fuck your cousin but don't marry them. On LIT, anything further than nephew-aunt isn't *really* taboo. The 'taboo' part of the Incest-Taboo cat is effectively meaningless. For a good response, fuck your sibling or parent or child. I make sure to throw in a closer relative when I write cousin-fuck stories.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Oh, lord, I hope we aren't going off on a tangent about comparable incest law in different countries (again). This is like underage. Law on incest has nothing to do with what can be written and published about incest. It's a publishing choice on how to treat it. Most erotica publishers and distributors have a broad definition of what is incest and they don't carry incest.

You're the one who first mentioned incest law in this thread; I was merely attaching a caveat to your statement. If you don't want a discussion about incest laws I strongly recommend not discussing them

 

[NotWise]

Well, getting back on topic...

Reader's don't seem to be prone to picking up chapter 2 or chapter 30 if they haven't read the previous chapters. I haven't tried it, but suspect that you would be shooting yourself in the foot by posting a chapter somewhere that readers haven't already seen earlier chapters. Your whole story should probably go into the category that fits it's dominant theme.

There probably aren't very many stories that will fit exactly into one category. You can try to fine-tune things by providing different tags for different chapters as appropriate for their slant.

 

[CharlieB4]

I've seen some writers who have a story that is posted as multiple separate chapters who post certain chapters in a different category. Say you have a lesbian story that features a chapter focused on bondage, for example. Or any combination of fetishes for that matter. Would it be wise to post those chapters in different categories? Does it affect your reads? Or would it be better to just stick all the chapters in the main category of the story?

I posted my first story which had multiple chapters in different categories but later wished I hadn't. Pick the one that suits the overall theme and put them all there with appropriate warnings in front of the chapters that might have "offensive" material.

 

[Jay321]

If there is something about the story that draws me in, when I see Chap 3 or so in the category I am browsing, I will try and find Chap 1. If it shows up in a category I am not interested in (Or even if chap 4 is in a category I don't like) I will not start it.

I agree with other posts. One theme. If there is something that you think will squick out the folks in that category, post a warning at the beginning of the chapter, or at the beginning of the story if you write the whole thing and post it all at once.

Anything other than mother, brother, sister, father, biological is going to catch a lot of flack in the incest category.

 

[LadyVer]

As a VE, there have been times that authors I have worked with have posted chapters in different categories. As a VE and a reader, I think posting in different categories works well when the sex themes are so different. An overall theme posting to one category doesn't meet the criteria for a lot of readers, if one chapter has incest and another chapter has romance. I don't think that's difficult too understand.