How do you think your stated/implied gender impacts how much your readers like your stories?

[HopelessDreams]

I expect that presumed female authors can get away with writing content that might seem too disturbing from a male, and that women get rewarded for writing about fantasies that a lot of guys are into but that guys have a relatively hard time finding women who are also into.

 

[TadOverdon]

Most of what I've published are such raunchy male-gazey things that I don't think anyone questions the male pen name. Although, I would like to think that most people pick up on the tongue-in-cheek nature of the pseudonym and get that it doesn't imply much about the identity of a specific real person or persons.

 

[SimonDoom]

I don't know, but I doubt much. My sense is that readers have ideas about the content they are looking for and are less interested in the identity of the authors. I've received good and critical comments from male and female readers alike. My sense is that the alleged/assumed gender identity of the author plays a relatively small role in whether stories get read, overall. That may not be true in some categories. Perhaps readers of Lesbian Sex stories will be less interested in reading a story by an author that has adopted an obviously male pseudonym. I have not yet written a story in that category, but I plan to.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I don't know if it matters.

I've had people comment, "Could have sworn you were a woman, from your writing." I've also had people comment, "Thank you both for sharing", obviously thinking two completely fictional characters were autobiographical. I think the words are more important than the pseudonym.

 

[AWhoopsieDaisy]

Despite being made with my own two hands my stories have fuck all to do with me. The idea that any part of the self is painted a story is deeply confusing to me. My existence is irrelevant to the work I produce.

You can't even say my characters are reflective of my sexual interests as my aim is not to describe beauty but to say something about their personality or the world they live in. Pointing out when a character is bad at shaving or describing some objectively terrible outfit choices. I'm talking T-shirt, bluejeans, blazer, shoulder length mullet bad. Why? Because you can't look me in the eye and tell me any real human being looks put together and coordinated without actively putting in effort and having an unreasonable amount of money to curate a wardrobe.

So like if anyone clings to "Daisy" in AWhoopsieDaisy and figures out I'm a woman... I doubt it's going to be received differently. I'm not in the story. The hand of the author doesn't make an appearance.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

I don't think that really makes a difference.

I do notice that when I write a story concentrating on the experience of a woman and not mentioning much about the man's experience, or god forbid, where the man doesn't get off, some people will complain about that and what the woman should have done differently. I get the impression those people are men.

 

[stickygirl]

I expect that presumed female authors can get away with writing content that might seem too disturbing from a male, and that women get rewarded for writing about fantasies that a lot of guys are into but that guys have a relatively hard time finding women who are also into.

imho everyone here is disturbed. Welcome aboard

 

[SimonDoom]

imho everyone here is disturbed. Welcome aboard

Yes, and in this respect what we have in common is far more important than our gender differences.

 

[yowser]

imho everyone here is disturbed. Welcome aboard

Spoken like a true Lit author.

 

[TallGlassOfSarcasm]

As a general (but not absolute) rule I like stories written by women because they tend to focus more on the nuances of a woman's reaction to sexual stimulus than make writers do.

Male writers TEND (not always) to write more of a porno scene and women tend to include more of the "she could feel the heat increasing between her legs...a cold sweat came over her as she wondered if the rest of the library could tell how aroused she was....bolts of electric pleasure courses through her body.....etc etc etc"

Since I enjoy watching the female orgasm in gernal, those details hit me nicely. Women tend to include them more often and write them more accurate when they do.

Also I like exhibitionist and masturbation stories about women. Specifically I am turned on by how she feels a out being naked and having someone watch her so a story written from a woman's perspective is just a good fit for me.

Other story catagories may work better with a male writer but I don't spend much time reading those to have a valid opinion.

 

[yukonnights]

I don't know, but I doubt much. My sense is that readers have ideas about the content they are looking for and are less interested in the identity of the authors. I've received good and critical comments from male and female readers alike. My sense is that the alleged/assumed gender identity of the author plays a relatively small role in whether stories get read, overall. That may not be true in some categories. Perhaps readers of Lesbian Sex stories will be less interested in reading a story by an author that has adopted an obviously male pseudonym. I have not yet written a story in that category, but I plan to.

Go for it Simon. I've written a couple or maybe three Lesbian themed stories. A well crafted story will most always get a good reception. I've also written some transgender stories, and I'm not Trans — but did have some "Sticky" help on some

 

[Bramblethorn]

I expect that presumed female authors can get away with writing content that might seem too disturbing from a male, and that women get rewarded for writing about fantasies that a lot of guys are into but that guys have a relatively hard time finding women who are also into.

OTOH, I think a lot of dudes are more touchy about negative portrayals of men when coming from somebody they see as female.

 

[lovecraft68]

OTOH, I think a lot of dudes are more touchy about...

Snipped to where it applies to just about everything.

 

[Athalia]

I'm sure that people approach my work in a different way than they would approach the work of a man... different expectations, different kinks, different licenses given to some sorts of sex.

What continually confounds me is how readers assume that the characters I create are representative of me personally. Do men get that? Do you guys get things in your message saying, "You sound like a really hot stud! I'd like to take you out somewhere and fuck your brains out" or something like that? The fact that I'm female seems to throw a switch in some readers' brains.

(FWIW, I never get messages from women saying that. Maybe I'm just not appealing to that kind of woman.)

 

[jehoram]

Do you guys get things in your message saying, "You sound like a really hot stud! I'd like to take you out somewhere and fuck your brains out" or something like that?

Never have. In fact, I had to write myself as a character into one of my stories to make that happen. I guess I'm not fooling anybody into thinking that I'm a stud.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Do you guys get things in your message saying, "You sound like a really hot stud! I'd like to take you out somewhere and fuck your brains out" or something like that?

I had a few, a couple of years ago saying, "I'd like to get to know you," and I looked at their profile photos. Some very nice looking boys, all dark and swarthy, who clearly hadn't read any of my stories.

Because if they had, they'd have known they were the wrong sex. So I sent them down the corridor to KeithD, for his book covers.

My EB moniker seems to confuse some people, on first blush they're not sure. Just the other day, in a thread here, I was referred to as "they", which is the first time ever for me. Gosh, I might be ambidextrous! Maybe those boys were right, after all .

 

[AWhoopsieDaisy]

Gosh, I might be ambidextrous!

I'm sorry this is the funniest misuse of the word I've ever seen.