Category hopping and EC

[Chase_Storm]

@Chase_Storm
Good morning my dear colleague. I am of the opinion that "categories" are simply a way for niche readers (fans of particular kinks and/or topics) to easily find the stories that most suit their preferred tastes. The secret, I think, lies in the use of "Tags" when you upload a story submission for publication.

Similarly, I am also convinced that the more populated (by readers) the category you choose for your submission the faster it will be picked up and published.

For example;
I recently submitted, and had published, 2 pieces. One was an "Erotic Horror" which was aimed squarely at the '2025 Halloween Contest' but tagged as "Erotic Horror". It took almost a week for it to show up (i.e. get published)
Most recently I submitted a longer piece that involved multiple categories (all tagged at submission) but as one of the tags I used "Erotic Couplings" and lo and behold it turned up right there within a couple of days.

The difference, I believe, was in the fact that I went from a lightly occupied reader base, in EH to a much larger reader base in EC.
It was something of an experiment I tried and the results seem to have, at least somewhat, confirmed my thoughts on how best to get stories published. Aim at least one of your story tags at the larger audience category that it fits, however loosely.

Deepest respects,
D.

This is very interesting. As only a consumer before, I rarely used tags, navigating through the categories instead. I think you are correct, though, that tags play a much more important role than I'd thought. I very much appreciate your time and feedback.

 

[Chase_Storm]

If it's primarily a group sex story and you're worried about the group sex not starting until a few chapters in, ( or whatever kink ) don't post it as chapters, or make the chapters longer to get there in the first installment. Anyone who's going to read a long story will be fine with the setup, so long as you get to their kink and it dominates the remainder of the tale.

Look for an overarching theme that can contain it to a category. ( age-difference in mature, Sci-Fi&Fantasy, and the like ) Some mistakenly "disqualify" a story from a category because it contains elements of another category. If it's an age-difference tale, the readership of Mature isn't going to care if you toss a group sex or anal scene in there. So long as you maintain the age-difference kink, the rest is spice. So long as it's primarily back-door action, Anal readers won't care if there's a threesome or foursome. Sci-Fi&Fantasy readers are there for the world-building. You can throw all sorts of naughty stuff at them as long as you nail that.

If there's no such theme, and no group sex, then EC is probably your best bet. Really, even if there's a group sex scene or two, you could go with EC despite the description of the category. The readership is entirely transient, so there's nobody to punish you for breaking the 1on1 rule.

If the story is long ( 10 Lit pages or more, whether chaptered or not ) and kink-hops a lot without that overarching theme, you're probably better going with Novels and Novellas because anybody reading there is at least looking for long stories. That can help override the range of kinks, especially if they're squicky kinks. Tag ( and possibly warn in an up-front author's note ) about any particularly squicky material such as M/M, Incest, Incest Roleplay, Cuckold, Etc. The readership is small, but from what I see, they're loyal and interactive if you capture them.

Category hopping is a bad idea on Lit. The readerships are too tribal. Unless they're absolutely enthralled by the story or follow you as an author, they're simply not going to leave their comfort zone when you move on to the next category. That's particularly true if you're never going to swing back around to their kink from the chapter they first discovered.

I very much appreciate your insights. It's interesting to think of the readerships for each category as tribal. There are several categories I will consume regularly, and there are others that do not appeal to me at all, but my taste is not limited to only one, if that makes sense. I personally struggle with the NN section simply because of the lack of information/broad scope. I enjoy reading (and writing) longer stories, but also want to know what I'm getting into. I suppose that's where my hangup is when it comes to deciding categories for myself. I've been on that end where I'm reading a long story and all of a sudden it veers into a kink that isn't for me. I feel like I've wasted my time.

 

[Chase_Storm]

My perspectives are influenced by mainstream publishing rather than what can (not necessarily should) be done on Literotica.

From what I have witnessed with most posts on category hopping, the writer is facing the challenge only because they haven't finished the story yet and are wavering on the direction parts of it will go. That challenge is easily met by finishing the story before posting any of its pieces.

I have several long stories here with chapters containing various scenes that, if separated out, would fit into multiple categories. That isn't any different than mainstream publishing. However, you don't see printed books being ripped into sections in a bookstore, with one chapter going into "mysteries", another chapter going into "adventures", and other chapters going into "romance". You won't see that on Amazon, Smashwords, or other sites where stories are monetized. If the writer can't figure out what their story is about as a whole, why should the readers bother even trying?

I get "writing by the seat of your pants", since I frequently do it myself. I also get the desire for instant gratification and feedback on what you are writing. All I can recommend is that you focus on patience as much as your writing.

I appreciate your perspective, but I would contend this comparison (which I've seen shared a lot) doesn't quite fit.

You are correct that in a bookstore, chapters aren't ripped apart and placed in different categories, however I would suggest in this analogy your "Mystery" genre is equal to "Literotica" as a whole. Every story on the site falls into the Erotica category, as it would in your bookstore.

Now imagine your bookstore ONLY sells mystery books, and then asks writers to place it into a specific category within mysteries. So is it a mystery with corporate espionage, or political intrigue, or murder, or romance, or car chases, or explosions, or, I don't know, aliens! "OK, well, my mystery involves a murder, romance, there's a car chase, and it involves biological weapons and espionage..." Do you, as that author, choose one, or would you place your story in multiple categories?

I think that example is even easier, though, than what we have on Lit, because I feel like our options are a mixture of actual genres (Sci-Fi or Celebrities, for example) and particular sex acts (GS, Anal, T&M).

I tend to write a complete piece before posting, and next up for me is a 160-pager divided into 12 chapters. I don't have a lot of experience reading stuff in the N&N section. Perhaps that is my best fit as it would seem to catch all for long-form content, but I don't know. Otherwise, my dilemma is as I wrote at the top.

This story largely involves a college couple's advancing sexual relationship. Does it all fall under Romance, or is that audience not going to be up for an anal scene? Based on the description offered for Romance, I don't think this is that kind of story.

If the story begins strictly in T&M, do I keep it there after the action changes to involve intercourse, or is that unfair to T&M? Or is it unfair to T&M to take that story out of the category after starting it there? OR, do I start the category elsewhere to begin with, even if the first several chapters don't feature that kind of activity? So if chapter 9 has a threesome, do you start in GS, even if we aren't getting there for a while?

For me, I'd like to say this should go into Erotic Couplings. However, it also seems that category is so overrun with content it's impossible to get anyone to see what you write.

Or, it goes into several different categories that best fit the action depicted in a particular chapter. I don't know. I'm lost!

If the series functionality was better, I wouldn't be too concerned. I think if you grab a reader and make it easy for them to navigate between chapters, they'll stick with it. But if they get to the end and don't see a place to click for the next installment, you're losing them regardless of the category conundrum.

 

[Chase_Storm]

@RejectReality,
Good evening my dear colleague. At the risk of sounding clairvoyant I adopted your advice, unknowingly, in my latest submission. No category hopping. I put it fair and square in EC but placed every tag/activity that was involved in the story.

I also chose NOT to write it as chapters but wrote it as a complete story, beginning to end, and separated the document, within the story, by calling each major break "Part 1,2,3,4,5 and 6" accompanied by a sub-title.

I must have done something right as it got awarded as an "Editors Choice" so I would urge everyone to follow your advice. Many thanks for your post.
Respectfully,
D.

This is really helpful information. Thank you!

 

[BobbyBrandt]

Every story on the site falls into the Erotica category, as it would in your bookstore.

Just one of your misconceptions.

There are thousands of stories on here that include zero erotic content and they do quite well. There are also thousand of stories here that contain multiple kinks or fetishes that readers tolerate if the rest of the story justifies their inclusion, especially if there are tags that forewarn the readers. I have several myself, all in Novels/Novellas, where you will find a lot of stories with "mixed content".

Please, you do you. I'm just offering advice based upon experiences of my own and others.

 

[Britva415]

I'd like to say this should go into Erotic Couplings. However, it also seems that category is so overrun with content it's impossible to get anyone to see what you write.

It's easy enough to tell. You can see how many views other stories in the category are getting.

 

[Chase_Storm]

Just one of your misconceptions.

There are thousands of stories on here that include zero erotic content and they do quite well. There are also thousand of stories here that contain multiple kinks or fetishes that readers tolerate if the rest of the story justifies their inclusion, especially if there are tags that forewarn the readers. I have several myself, all in Novels/Novellas, where you will find a lot of stories with "mixed content".

Please, you do you. I'm just offering advice based upon experiences of my own and others.

And that's much appreciated, thank you.

 

[Chase_Storm]

I certainly appreciate all of the different perspectives, everyone! Thank you!