Choosing between LW & Group Sex Category

[Milo_Grigsby]

I have been considering posting any story I write that involves swinging, or anything featuring married couples engaged in anything other straight one-on-one sex (Erotic Couplings) into the Group Sex Category vs Loving Wives. Loving Wives seems to generate a ton of Views and Favorites but the story ratings are low and the hateful comments are kind of a drag. I don't want to do BTB (had to look up what that meant) or revenge stories because mine truly are intended as "Loving" stories.
Have any other writers out there faced or made this decision. What was the basis for your decision and how did it work out.
Milo

p.s. Not looking to initiate a new thread about the LW category itself, which is extensively discussed in other threads.

 

[Lifestyle66]

I have been considering posting any story I write that involves swinging, or anything featuring married couples engaged in anything other straight one-on-one sex (Erotic Couplings) into the Group Sex Category vs Loving Wives. Loving Wives seems to generate a ton of Views and Favorites but the story ratings are low and the hateful comments are kind of a drag. I don't want to do BTB (had to look up what that meant) or revenge stories because mine truly are intended as "Loving" stories.
Have any other writers out there faced or made this decision. What was the basis for your decision and how did it work out.
Milo

p.s. Not looking to initiate a new thread about the LW category itself, which is extensively discussed in other threads.

I started posting my initial stories to LW, and as you said, the hateful comments and low ratings bothered me ... for almost the first year. Then I took down my initial stories and rewrote them, posting some to Mature, Erotic Couplings, Group Sex and even Romance.

But I've realized I prefer more people actually READ (or at least view) my stories than to just look for a handful of readers patting me on the back and saying "loved it". Now I recognize the negative comments and low ratings are merely some people's real opinions, (except for the trolls who downvote for the fun of it). But even for the haters, I'm providing some entertainment.

EDIT: I take the LW comments (even the hateful ones) and try to write the stories I want to write to better appeal to them, or at least reduce their hatred. It's a challenge I've accepted to try being better at it. And my latest LW story has over 39K views, with over 500 votes for a 2.99 rating. I'm learning!

 

[ElectricBlue]

You need to decide whether you want to put up with the LW crowd versus the Group Sex crowd. They're the two extremes on this site - LW will get you plenty of attention, in Group you won't get much of a reaction at all.

I'll never publish in LW, and after one deadwater series in Group, I'll not go there again, either. If it were me, I'd plonk it in Erotic Couplings, despite what people say about stories getting lost there.

 

[One_ping_only]

I started posting my initial stories to LW, and as you said, the hateful comments and low ratings bothered me ... for almost the first year. Then I took down my initial stories and rewrote them, posting some to Mature, Erotic Couplings, Group Sex and even Romance.

But I've realized I prefer more people actually READ (or at least view) my stories than to just look for a handful of readers patting me on the back and saying "loved it". Now I recognize the negative comments and low ratings are merely some people's real opinions, (except for the trolls who downvote for the fun of it). But even for the haters, I'm providing some entertainment.

I get the preference of the " views " with this day and age of youtube and it's algorithms. The excitement of how many had read and possibly gotten aroused at your work is thrilling. Can't lie.

I never understood the hateful comments. My desd grandmother always thought me if I can't say anything gold then shut the fuck up and move along.

I'd often just back click and look for another story. Easy, peasy. Best wishes.

 

[djrip]

If they're married, I put it in LW. That would include one-on-one, thought I haven't actually written a married couple one-on-one so far.

Mine are about 3rd partner fun, not cheating or burning. They've done alright but they were posted years ago, before things got so polarized in there.

 

[MrPixel]

I write for my own pleasure, and share on LitE in the instance that someone else may like the stories, as well. That said...

GS is a ghost town, LW is a snake pit. Like Indiana Jones, I hate snakes. My swinger stories go in GS, or in appropriate instances, Mature. If one is broad-minded enough to look beyond the "new" list and see what else is on the site, they find my stories.

 

[MajorRewrite]

The point to get your story read, no? Loving Wives is the place for extramarital sex stories.

 

[Rob_Royale]

My latest is an open marriage story that concentrates on the wife and her lover. I thought, yes it's a loving wife story, but as the husband also had a lover, it might qualify as a mature story also. I did a search of the mature category and found LOTS of wife stories. But I realized that I was mostly leaning away from LW because of the nasty comments and low rates. The story went into the LW category. No regrets. Do it.

 

[Seadog777]

I have been considering posting any story I write that involves swinging, or anything featuring married couples engaged in anything other straight one-on-one sex (Erotic Couplings) into the Group Sex Category vs Loving Wives. Loving Wives seems to generate a ton of Views and Favorites but the story ratings are low and the hateful comments are kind of a drag. I don't want to do BTB (had to look up what that meant) or revenge stories because mine truly are intended as "Loving" stories.
Have any other writers out there faced or made this decision. What was the basis for your decision and how did it work out.
Milo

p.s. Not looking to initiate a new thread about the LW category itself, which is extensively discussed in other threads.

It's YOUR STORY.
You post it wherever the hell you want.
If someone doesn't like it, they can on sit on a cactus.

 

[Milo_Grigsby]

According to the Freudian school, LW readers can be divided into three groups:

1. Mommy Issues: Members of this group enjoy mocking and punishing female characters. They tend to stick to the same formula repeatedly.

2. Tiny dicks issues: Members of this group hide in the closet or behind their wives. They find pleasure in reading about assertive and dominant women having big cocks. They have zero interest in women; they are only there for the big cocks. Some female readers also belong to this group. They take pleasure in mocking and punishing weak male characters (Daddy issues).

3. Readers who simply want to enjoy a good story: They are indifferent to whether the story involves extramarital fun or family dramas; they are just looking for something to pass the time.

Writers can also be divided into three groups:

1. The hedonists: They claim to enjoy the craft of writing and expressing their fantasies on paper. They are seemingly undeterred in pursuing their favorite hobby.

2. The artists: They are ascetic creatures who perceive art as their destined path. They are driven by unconscious and enigmatic forces, often conveying messages that hold little interest to others.

3. The narcissists: Although they might never admit it, they write solely for the sake of affirmation. No achievement can truly satisfy them. They persistently strive for more to fill their inner voids and repair their fractured self-images. They can be likened to mountaineers who invest weeks in ascending Everest only to spend a minute at the summit, taking a selfie, gazing downward, and thinking, "Shit, now I must make the entire descent."

Go for GS.

I appreciate the psychoanalytical approach you have taken here. As a matter of fact I have been seeing an Existential Psychoanalyst for a number of years now. We recently made a breakthrough - we agree that I exist. Next week we start working on everyone else.

 

[Lifestyle66]

I appreciate the psychoanalytical approach you have taken here. As a matter of fact I have been seeing an Existential Psychoanalyst for a number of years now. We recently made a breakthrough - we agree that I exist. Next week we start working on everyone else.

I've been in discussions with a psychoanalyst for years. I recently asked if I could get a copy of the audio tape from one of our sessions, and he said "You know this is all in your head!"

Wow! What a breakthrough.

Now he has me wondering what words of wisdom I'll hear in our next session.

 

[Cacatua_Galerita]

Have any other writers out there faced or made this decision. What was the basis for your decision and how did it work out.

Yes. I faced this exact decision a month ago, with my first story: LW or GS?

My first story would best fit into LW, but I had read the other discussions, and seen the troll-hate in that category.

I’m a pretty stable personality and think I could handle the comments from the BTB crowd, but my personal goal was to achieve a ‘hot’ rating. (I guess that makes me a Type-3 Writer, in Tilan’s groupings. ) I’ve written a lot of technical non-fiction for work, but nil fiction since high school. So just wanted to see if I could write a passably-good fictional story. And Lit seems the best place to try that out, on the unsuspecting masses. So I chose GS for the better ratings.

While my first story was sitting with the volunteer editor, I banged out a second story over a weekend. I guess I enjoyed the freedom to write whatever I felt like – instead of having to convey the intricacies of a specific computer system. This second story went into the fetish category (mild foot-fetish, with no actual intercourse).

Fortunately, both my stories currently have a red ‘H,’ so I’m pleased. Having achieved my goal, I won’t be so hesitant to try LW next time. I think I’d prefer the wider readership of that category.

Anyway, I still got one hate comment in GS. It amused me, more that irritated me, thanks to some helpful perspectives from other writers. I didn’t delete it.

My observations on story ratings.

My first story started out strongly and stayed above a 4.5 rating, keeping it high on the ‘popular’ list for the 7 and 30 day category lists. It currently has 23.2k views.

I watched my second story go live. First vote was a 5, second a 4, and third a 1 (to a 3.33 rating). This kept it in obscurity for the first week until this 1-star was apparently deleted. The rating jumped from something like 4.3/12 to 4.63/11 (i.e. one vote less and the rating jumped into ‘hot’). So I suspect that being 1-bombed kept the reader-count way down in the critical first week. It only has 3.5k views after a similar amount of time.

Want good ratings? Long stories do better. If the reader sticks with you until the end of a long story then they probably liked it, and will vote that way (if they vote). Better yet, by the time you’re releasing chapter 25 of your series, only your fans are going to vote. My first story is currently ranked #20 in the GS “Last 30 days” (but about to time-off that list). Only two of the stories above me are stand-alone stories – the seventeen others are all ‘series’ stories. I’m not going to start reading at chapter 172, so the only people voting for those are the existing fan base.

I wish there was a way to hide the ‘serial’ stories from the group lists. As I far prefer reading stand-alone stories.

So, as written elsewhere, the rating system has its flaws. Maybe my goal will be some other metric next time; like the number of comments, or favorites? I’m thinking LW may be rewarding, if you can ignore the inevitable 1-bombs and hateful comments.

 

[MajorRewrite]

I’m thinking LW may be rewarding, if you can ignore the inevitable 1-bombs and hateful comments.

You can approach LW as an interesting challenge.

I read a lot of the stories and thought for a long time about how to fashion a story that wouldn’t piss off either of the extreme groups that reside in the category. And still have a hot, fun tale of course.

I was pleased with the result. The positive response from readers made me feel clever.

After coming up with a winning “formula” with that first LW story, my second was pretty easy and enjoyable to write. It has an even better rating and very nice comments, although not nearly as many views.