Category Feedback

[Adam_Douglass]

Hey all, just started posting on this site and a lot of it has me confused. But the categories most of all.

I put the first chapter of an ongoing story (see below) in Novels and Novellas because it's eventually going to comprise of enough chapters to be a shortish Novella. But someone has gone through recently and rated all three published chapters 0/5 for being in the "wrong category".

So what category should these chapters be in? It doesn't feel like any of the others fit and uploading only the finished product might take months as I write it. Am I misunderstanding the categories or is this someone with a bad attitude I should just ignore?

Here's the link to chapter 1:
https://literotica.com/s/the-new-job-ch-01-the-interview

 

[ElectricBlue]

Hey all, just started posting on this site and a lot of it has me confused. But the categories most of all.

I put the first chapter of an ongoing story (see below) in Novels and Novellas because it's eventually going to comprise of enough chapters to be a shortish Novella. But someone has gone through recently and rated all three published chapters 0/5 for being in the "wrong category".

So what category should these chapters be in? It doesn't feel like any of the others fit and uploading only the finished product might take months as I write it. Am I misunderstanding the categories or is this someone with a bad attitude I should just ignore?

Here's the link to chapter 1:
https://literotica.com/s/the-new-job-ch-01-the-interview

Novels and novellas isn't an "erotic" category as such. You're better off selecting the primary erotic focus of your novel, and starting it off in that category, especially if you're writing on the run.

Pop over to the Authors Hangout and search for threads on this topic - which comes up a lot - we talk about the pros and cons of chapters versus standalone stories, the effect of category switching, and so on. You'll find a stack of good input.

My only question for folk starting long works is, can you write? I see a lot of very ambitious start-ups that fall by the wayside because a writer has bitten off more than they can chew. I always suggest starting off with ten or so shorter pieces, to learn your technical chops, discover your natural style, discover yourself as a writer; and only then, tackle the next great American novel. In other words, do an apprenticeship first (I didn't look at your first chapter, so I don't know the answer to the question).

But the best place to get good information - the AH thread library.

 

[HectorBidon]

Novels and Novellas is a legitimate category, and it's fine for you to have posted your chapters there. The commenter who said otherwise is a crank. The problem is that NN is not the most popular category. You might have attracted more views if you'd put them somewhere else. However, you've provided appropriate tags, and so readers will find them eventually.

One way to find what category a story might go in is to look to see where other stories with similar tags have been published. So, for example, if you go to the first page of your story and click on the tags icon in the Story Info box, then click on "denied orgasm" it takes you to the Story Tags Portal. You can see that a lot of the stories with that tag are in BDSM, although some are in other categories as well. Perhaps you can look through some of the stories, and the comments they received, to see which category might be a good fit for your story.

You can publish your next chapter in a different category than NN. That would at least put you on the radar of the readers of that category. However, not all readers are keen to jump into the middle of a story that is already underway.

I read chapter 1, and, although not my particular cup of tea, it's very well written. As electricblue says, it might be a good thing to publish some stand-alone stories in specific categories in parallel with this series to build your readership. I think you're off to a good start. Best of luck.