Category quandary - Romance or EC?

[ElectricBlue]

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.

I'd go sample a few higher rated Romance stories to get an idea of what's doing it for readers, and to compare your content with those stories.

I get the sense that Romance readers generally prefer warm and fluffy, and your detailed, intense and filthy language might shock the vicar's wife.

But you never know until you check against what's doing well. I'd go look at "Highest Rated, Last Thirty Days".

 

[NotWise]

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.

Usually, when people ask if they should put their story in Romance, the answer is "No." Romance stories fit into a specific mold, and you usually need to set out to write a Romance, or your story won't fit. To put it briefly, a Romance is about a man and a woman who don't know each other at the start of the story, who find they have a mutual interest in each other, and who struggle through obstacles to build a relationship. The relationship is central, and the story should build to an ending that is usually Happy Ever After, but may also by Happy for Now.

Sometimes people break the mold and still get an okay reception in Romance. Readers there may go for it as long as you have the relationship and the ending. Romance readers are prone to punish stories that aren't to their liking. Punitive voting (1*) on ill-fitting stories is common.

You didn't say that much about your story. In particular, you didn't say it was about a relationship. Also, the group scene probably would not go over, and you seem to downplay the ending.

I understand the problem with EC. It's very easy for your story to get lost in the EC crowd. But maybe Romance isn't your best choice. Why not Group?

 

[Phantom300]

I have/had the opposite problem. I put a story (Getting My What If Answer ) in EC a couple months ago that should have gone into Romance. The thought of doing so never really crossed my mind, since I had never written there before, it was out of sight, out of mind so to speak. Don't get me wrong, it has done well in EC [13K views, 15 Favorites, 4.8 score] but I think it would have been a much better fit in Romance.

 

[Britva415]

EC seems to be a dead zone

It has more stories than any other category, but I guess not more readers?

Anyway, speaking for myself, it's my favorite one to publish in.