Category quandary - Romance or EC?

[Swift1620]

I'm just putting the final touches to a new story (probably somewhere in the 13-15k range) which I am struggling to categorize. My previous stories have done pretty well - I even scraped a 4+ from my first LW story which, now that I've been spending some time in the AH, I'm nothing short of amazed at - but I'm still very careful about finding the right audience by choosing the most suitable category. I'm leaning towards Romance over EC for this one - if so, that would be my fourth category from five stories - but would appreciate advice.

The story relates to a 30ish MF couple on holiday; their heads are turned by the arrival of a female couple - the M by one (bi) woman and, as it later turns out, the F by the other (gay) woman. As the story progresses, it becomes clear that the new pairings are much more suited to each other than the original couples. There are four sex scenes - two fairly brief MF scenes, an FF scene featuring some "accidental" voyeurism and some pretty mild dominance, and a longer final MF scene - but of course there will also be plenty of story and emotional stuff, and a Happy Ever After.

The M asks himself if he would cheat on his girlfriend, but is ultimately both too nice a guy and doesn't actually have to go through with it anyway; I think this might get me off the hook with the Romance readers' well-documented dislike for M characters who cheat. However, I'm wondering if four sex scenes in such a relatively short story might be too much for the Romance crowd, which might push me back towards EC (where I gather it is more difficult to get your story seen).

From your experience as authors on LitE, does the above sound like it would find a welcoming audience in Romance, or should I play it safe with EC? How are Romance readers likely to take to an FF scene in the middle of a generally straight story? If I do aim for Romance, I could tone down some of the sex scenes (I've just alarmed myself by the sheer volume of uses of the C word so far - must do better), but on the other hand I don't want to make the story too benign. This is LitE after all.

Thoughts please?

 

[NotWise]

The Romance category is mostly for Romance stories and readers there can punish stories that don't fit the Romance formula. Simply being sentimental love story is generally not enough.

If you didn't write it from the beginning as a Romance, then consider other categories. I'm not sure EC is the only or best alternative. EC seems to be a dead zone.

 

[Rob_Royale]

Without a hard theme, I feel like EC is the best place for it. I have a story there and it's far from ignored.

 

[ElectricBlue]

The Romance category is mostly for Romance stories and readers there can punish stories that don't fit the Romance formula. Simply being sentimental love story is generally not enough.

If you didn't write it from the beginning as a Romance, then consider other categories. I'm not sure EC is the only or best alternative. EC seems to be a dead zone.

I agree with your first para, but I'm perplexed that you keep dumping on EC. It's a perfectly functional category for any story I've dropped into it, and far more responsive than some others.

Sometimes the other "domain" categories are in fact a limitation, and EC is the most logical place for a story. You've obviously had stories that have sunk there, but others do okay.

 

[alohadave]

EC seems to be a dead zone.

It really depends on the story. It doesn't get the views of the more popular categories, but there are readers there. It's the largest category by story count (beats out I/T by nine thousand stories), so there are a lot of stories competing for attention.

 

[PennameWombat]

I agree with your first para, but I'm perplexed that you keep dumping on EC. It's a perfectly functional category for any story I've dropped into it, and far more responsive than some others.

Sometimes the other "domain" categories are in fact a limitation, and EC is the most logical place for a story. You've obviously had stories that have sunk there, but others do okay.

I'll echo this. My stories in EC have no worse engagement, scores, etc., than most of my other stories in "domain" categories. I'll admit I don't put many stories there, but that's mostly because I have speculative stories (SF&F, NonHuman) and like certain, uh, themes (E&V, Anal, Group, First Time.) But my EC stories have done well enough compared to my other stories.

<snip>
Thoughts please?

Your story sounds like it has plenty of romance, but not Romance. I had the wild thought of putting a story not all that dissimilar in Romance. Bad move . It's not there any more, and its scores finally climbed into the, uh, well, off the ground.

Your other choice would be to tweak it with some theme that fits it into another category (nudge up the E&V action to fit it there?) But, honestly, I think it'd do fine in EC if you don't see or want to make changes.

 

[Djmac1031]

I'll back up that EC isn't the terrible dumping ground some feel it is.

You may have to work a little harder at catching attention with your Title and description, but o don't think it's a "dead zone" where stories go to die or anything.

When I (personally) think "Romance," I think of couples falling in love. Not a couple already together questioning the possibility of partner swapping or group sex or whatever.

So yeah I don't know it would get the right reception in Romance.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I agree with others above that this probably wouldn't fly in Romance.

I do have a well-received story in that category where a married woman has an affair with another woman and ends up divorcing her husband. But that story makes it clear that her first marriage was a mutually agreed subterfuge between a gay woman and her gay male friend to give them both cover in a homophobic country. Anything that smacks of betraying a real partner is unlikely to go well in Romance.

 

[NotWise]

I agree with your first para, but I'm perplexed that you keep dumping on EC. It's a perfectly functional category for any story I've dropped into it, and far more responsive than some others.

Sometimes the other "domain" categories are in fact a limitation, and EC is the most logical place for a story. You've obviously had stories that have sunk there, but others do okay.

Our experiences in EC differ. Maybe you have a following there. I apparently do not.

I used to really like EC. I think there's only one category where I've posted more stories. Then, over a period of a couple years, the views and votes on new stories just seemed to stop coming in.

The last story I put into EC was in January. I put six months of work into that story, and I thought I'd see how EC took it. It got 1262 views on the first day, which is about as good as most of the current crop is getting. At that point, it had nine votes. It's still my second least-viewed story. My next story went to I/T. It had more than twice as many views (2.8K) in the first day, and I thought it had been forgotten. The next story went to Mature. It got 11K views in the first day, but that was a contest story.

My problem isn't with the scores, it's with the views. How much value do you place on a high score from ten voters?

 

[ElectricBlue]

My problem isn't with the scores, it's with the views. How much value do you place on a high score from ten voters?

That's a fair comment. That's a pretty ordinary response.

My four 750 Word Anthology entries for this year went into EC, and got me two Red Hs, which is unusual, I think, for the 750 word stories - they usually end up much lower.

 

[Rob_Royale]

My problem isn't with the scores, it's with the views. How much value do you place on a high score from ten voters?

That's a fair comment. That's a pretty ordinary response.

Agreed. Most people that come here to read, have a preferred type of story and they focus on that category. Invariably EC isn't that category. But there's nothing to be done about it. There has to be a catch-all. Our only option is to focus our stories just enough to fall into another category.

NW, you're a terrific writer. I'm reading Pixie, right now. Don't sweat the numbers.

 

[Swift1620]

All useful comments - many thanks.

 

[Rustyoznail]

Swift, thanks for asking the question. I was debating this for my current story, and it can't be tweaked for another category.

EC is it.

 

[Trionyx]

EC can be rewarding. One of my EC stories skyrocketed and within weeks was my second most viewed story with a large number of votes as well. My other EC stories have decent but not huge numbers.
As others have suggested, it sounds as if your story would best fit there and not romance.

 

[djrip]

I agree with others above that this probably wouldn't fly in Romance.

I do have a well-received story in that category where a married woman has an affair with another woman and ends up divorcing her husband. But that story makes it clear that her first marriage was a mutually agreed subterfuge between a gay woman and her gay male friend to give them both cover in a homophobic country. Anything that smacks of betraying a real partner is unlikely to go well in Romance.

What about if the first marriage is bad, abusive or just that he's an entitled asshole and she realizes he never respected her or something as she falls for the new partner? Like she's finding herself with the help of a new love that shows her what love can really be like etc.

 

[djrip]

I'm just putting the final touches to a new story (probably somewhere in the 13-15k range) which I am struggling to categorize. My previous stories have done pretty well - I even scraped a 4+ from my first LW story which, now that I've been spending some time in the AH, I'm nothing short of amazed at - but I'm still very careful about finding the right audience by choosing the most suitable category. I'm leaning towards Romance over EC for this one - if so, that would be my fourth category from five stories - but would appreciate advice.

The story relates to a 30ish MF couple on holiday; their heads are turned by the arrival of a female couple - the M by one (bi) woman and, as it later turns out, the F by the other (gay) woman. As the story progresses, it becomes clear that the new pairings are much more suited to each other than the original couples. There are four sex scenes - two fairly brief MF scenes, an FF scene featuring some "accidental" voyeurism and some pretty mild dominance, and a longer final MF scene - but of course there will also be plenty of story and emotional stuff, and a Happy Ever After.

The M asks himself if he would cheat on his girlfriend, but is ultimately both too nice a guy and doesn't actually have to go through with it anyway; I think this might get me off the hook with the Romance readers' well-documented dislike for M characters who cheat. However, I'm wondering if four sex scenes in such a relatively short story might be too much for the Romance crowd, which might push me back towards EC (where I gather it is more difficult to get your story seen).

From your experience as authors on LitE, does the above sound like it would find a welcoming audience in Romance, or should I play it safe with EC? How are Romance readers likely to take to an FF scene in the middle of a generally straight story? If I do aim for Romance, I could tone down some of the sex scenes (I've just alarmed myself by the sheer volume of uses of the C word so far - must do better), but on the other hand I don't want to make the story too benign. This is LitE after all.

Thoughts please?

I read somewhere Laurel confirmed gf/bf relationships can be in LW. This kind of seems like it could work there to me. Whether you'd want it to is another question!

 

[CoyoteHoward]

That's a fair comment. That's a pretty ordinary response.

My four 750 Word Anthology entries for this year went into EC, and got me two Red Hs, which is unusual, I think, for the 750 word stories - they usually end up much lower.

Red H?

Red hot?

 

[Swift1620]

I read somewhere Laurel confirmed gf/bf relationships can be in LW. This kind of seems like it could work there to me. Whether you'd want it to is another question!

That's a thought - I did ok with my first story in LW but I'm not one for pushing my luck!

 

[alohadave]

Red H?

Red hot?

Score of 4.5 or higher with at least 10 votes puts a red H icon on the story.

 

[CoyoteHoward]

Score of 4.5 or higher with at least 10 votes puts a red H icon on the story.

Ah! I wondered what that metric was.

 

[Bramblethorn]

What about if the first marriage is bad, abusive or just that he's an entitled asshole and she realizes he never respected her or something as she falls for the new partner? Like she's finding herself with the help of a new love that shows her what love can really be like etc.

I'd guess that'd be OK if it was clear from the beginning that the first marriage wasn't salvageable, but would welcome input from folk with more experience of the category here.

 

[Britva415]

EC seems to be a dead zone.

In what way?

It's one of the only categories I read regularly, and it's where all but one of my stories are published, so I don't know how it compares to other categories in any ways other than volume.

Just based on the numbers posted on each category in the list page, it's the single biggest category in terms of how many stories are in it. It's got three times the stories the Romance category does.

Low quality? Low ratings? Low views? Dead how? Not challenging, just asking.

 

[RejectReality]

In what way?

It's one of the only categories I read regularly, and it's where all but one of my stories are published, so I don't know how it compares to other categories in any ways other than volume.

Just based on the numbers posted on each category in the list page, it's the single biggest category in terms of how many stories are in it. It's got three times the stories the Romance category does.

Low quality? Low ratings? Low views? Dead how? Not challenging, just asking.

Well, for one example, I used to post my age difference stories to EC because I assumed ( without research ) that the Mature category meant 50+. When Laurel moved one there upon submission, it got easily 4x the numbers a nearly identical story got in EC. I was leaving a tremendous amount of readership on the table through ignorance, and Laurel enlightened me to that fact.

If there's any other appropriate theme, it's typically a better choice than EC. Without a particular fanbase that's there for a certain subject, the readership is transient, and the numbers are lower.

If it's a 1on1 story with no particular kink, no strong romance, etc., then EC may very well be the appropriate category for it. Your title and description line are going to have to do a lot of heavy lifting to stand out to the transient readership there. I would argue that you should tag it a lot more carefully as well, because the long-term readership is going to depend upon those who search that way. ( Not an insignificant readership, because that subdomain is typically on the upper end on metric sites that break such things down. It's often #1 )

There's nothing wrong with the category if used appropriately. Defaulting to it instead of doing your research means you're likely leaving a lot on the table.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Red H?

Red hot?

Red H = score 4.50 or higher, from at least ten votes. Hard to get with the 750 Word stories, generally speaking.

Edit: double up on earlier answer.

 

[bestkeptsecret678]

Resurrecting this old thread for my own selfish needs.

I’ve published exclusively in EC, not because it’s a catch all, but b/c that’s what my stories are intentionally rooted in. My one misguided entry in BDSM taught me where I belong.

I’m questioning my current project’s category, simply b/c there’s a much more lengthy buildup before my MC’s get around to sex. It’s a plot line I suspect the ROMANCE crowd would appreciate, but there’ll also be a group scene later, and I have no idea how that would be received. My sex narratives are detailed, intense, and stocked with as much filthy language as the encounter will support without going overboard. I do my best to develop my characters outside of their sexual activities. This story’s HEA will be more implied than described in detail.

I’m interested in the notion that reader counts, comments, vote quantities might all be higher somewhere outside of EC, but am fence sitting for moment.

Comments welcome.