Consultation on Categories

[SimonDoom]

I'd drop that into E&V.

So what if it's got inter-racial? For many readers that's not a kink, but might be offensive to those who don't like kinkifying race, whereas exhibitionism doesn't care about skin colour (except, don't get sunburned.).

It's not going to be offensive to those who choose in the first place to read a story in the Interracial category. It's self-selecting. Those who might be offended can, and probably will, avoid the category and never see the story.

I strongly disagree with those who think interracial stories are inherently racist and the category should be avoided. This, to me, is just kink-shaming. Human psychology is extremely complex and the fact, whether you like it or not, is that there's a huge audience for these stories and for 99% of readers and authors of this kink there's probably no correlation with racist behavior in the real world. The hand-wringing about content at this site baffles me. If you are a regular reader of erotica, how can you NOT understand that there's all kinds of weird shit spinning around in people's heads, and it's not something to get squeamish and judgmental about? Express it. Let it out. Indulge your fantasies. There aren't too many places other than here where you can really do that. The plain, simple fact of the matter is that the readership for interracial stories at Literotica is bigger than the readership for exhibitionist stories. If you have an interracial story that also has exhibitionist elements you should feel free to post it in the interracial category, where there's a good chance it will be appreciated by many people. Don't feel guilty about it and don't get shamed by the advice you get here.

 

[ElectricBlue]

It's not going to be offensive to those who choose in the first place to read a story in the Interracial category. It's self-selecting. Those who might be offended can, and probably will, avoid the category and never see the story.

Point taken - I'd not thought of "self select" out.

I guess I was coming at it from the point of view, inter-racial, who cares? As it's not a kink for me (skin colour, race? shrug) I wouldn't go looking for stories there, for fear of what might also be there.

And you know I don't give a rat's about reader numbers .

 

[RejectReality]

So I have read the nicely done article about categories, and it goes into great depth on a lot. However I have a story upcoming that I am stuck between two non-trump categories and wanted a second opinion.

Story is about a woman who enjoys exhibitionism and in fact starts off with her videoing herself in public and eventually having sex in public.

However….

It had heavy themes of interracial.

I want to put it in exhibitionism (because that is what I was going for) but will it be received poorly or do better in interracial?

Thanks in advance!

Is it themes of interracial, or does it simply involve interracial partners/voyeurs? If it's incidental — even if it's prominent — it's not really going to hit the majority of the IR readership. It needs to be a kink at least on par with the exhibitionism to consider putting it there.

Interracial in E&V shouldn't be a problem. She could even get an extra thrill from somebody different seeing her, whether that's race, age, social class, or whatever. That can all be part of the exhibitionist kink.

Stories can take on a life of their own and switch tracks on you, but if you were aiming for E&V, odds are that's where it belongs. It's the genesis, and it sounds like it's a dominant theme throughout.

 

[MillieDynamite]

I realize I'm not the original poster on this issue, but I've struggled with the issue of where it is best to put my stories. Kink specific doesn't seem to garner as many reads and some nonspecific story categories. BDSM, being taboo, more than likely, can go into Taboo Incest. However, if there is no incest in the story is still acceptable. I'm uncomfortable with happy incest stories. I've never met a person from with incest background who had any happy experience in incest. My relationship with my sperm donor birth father was not happy. My wonderful relationship with my adoptive father has never been sexual. Most of my stories have one type of taboo or another. Prostitution, being one or using one, is a social taboo in America and a goodly part of the world. But where do these stories belong? BDSM isn't filled with a lot of readers. Erotic Couplings is overflowing with writers. Shee-it, what a dilemma, finding a category where those who hate the kink won't hammer the dog fuck out of you but you have readers discover stories.

 

[NotWise]

I/T is pretty much just for incest fantasies. Don't use it for other taboos, and don't use it for realism.

If you're happy with the crowd in EC, then keep putting your stories there. The categories with specific kinks usually do have fairly small crowds, but in those categories the readers are likely to be more engaged than they are in EC, and the feedback is better.

I think just about every category can handle a range of stories, as long as you give them the one specific thrill they're after. So readers in "Anal" won't punish you if there are other varieties of sex in the story. "First time" readers can take the second time or third time, and it can include the first experience with different sorts of sex. "Mature" has a pretty open definition. Sci Fi and Fantasy can take pretty much anything. While "Romance" used to be pretty specific to the Romance formula, they seem to have loosened their standards. Group stories need to have a least a three-way, but they can include one-on-one sex as well. So on and so on.

 

[TarnishedPenny]

I have no experience with E&V, but my experience is Erotic Coupling says the place is a wasteland. There are too many stories and not enough readers. My stories posted there usually get little attention, and all of them are lost once they fall off the New list.

I hesitate to disagree with one so not wise, but I think I’ve done quite well with my yarns in Erotic Couplings. Yes, they seem to have a lower readership than my average, but they’ve scored well enough. Drop ‘em where it suits you.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I hesitate to disagree with one so not wise, but I think I’ve done quite well with my yarns in Erotic Couplings. Yes, they seem to have a lower readership than my average, but they’ve scored well enough. Drop ‘em where it suits you.

Yep, Erotic Couplings has been kind enough to the stories I've dropped there. It's not a hostile audience, they respond, as I see it, pretty much on my 1:100 Vote and 1:1000 Comment rule of thumb.

The wasteland, in my story experience, is Group. Putting a story there is like tumbleweed city, there's virtually no indication of life.