I'm not sure what category is best for me to post in for my sort of story.

[PupTracer]

Hi there, I've just recently started publishing to the site a couple weeks ago. I'm wondering if anyone would have advice on where would be the optimal place to categorize my stories.

My stories involve tons of gay bdsm and kink play, so my first thoughts are either place them into "gay male" or the "bdsm" category.

I guess I'm asking how gay is the "bdsm" category and how much bdsm finds its way into the "gay male" category. I'd love some help and opinions. Thanks!

 

[KeithD]

Gay Male.

 

[BelleCanzuto]

Hi there, I've just recently started publishing to the site a couple weeks ago. I'm wondering if anyone would have advice on where would be the optimal place to categorize my stories.

My stories involve tons of gay bdsm and kink play, so my first thoughts are either place them into "gay male" or the "bdsm" category.

I guess I'm asking how gay is the "bdsm" category and how much bdsm finds its way into the "gay male" category. I'd love some help and opinions. Thanks!

What KeithD said.

The BDSM category is almost always some combination of male and female characters.
And it seems like the gay male category is more forgiving of kinks than BDSM is forgiving of gay stories.
I really wish BDSM (and the other kinds of categories) were more welcoming of gay, lesbian, bi or trans stories, but they don't seem to be.

 

[Enchantment_of_Nyx]

I think that generally speaking, who it is that's having sex is more important for readers than what type of sex they're having. Incest is a squick for many readers, so it trumps other categories the story might fall in. Even though non-con/reluctance isn't a category about who is having sex, it is offensive or upsetting for many readers, so it also trumps most categories. I am not sure it trumps gay male, and I'm not sure why that is. Gay male, lesbian, trans/cross-dresser stories are all very rare in the the NC/R category. I don't think the NC/R stories are rare in gay male.

Once you get beyond incest and non-con, I think the next big thing that sorts out readers is sexual orientation. Even though it's becoming more commonly recognized that some people would like to view stories of a particular type featuring any genders, most people do have a strong preference, and that's how readers sort themselves out.

If you have a story about straight, cis-gendered, non-incestuous, consensual & not reluctant sex, then I think it's just a matter of where it matches best or where, strategically, it is likely to fare the best.

We've had the conversation before about how this ought to work. It ought to be set up where you could check multiple things that interested you, so you could select gay male and BDSM; or gay male, bi-sexual and BDSM. It's the forcing of stories into a single category that's a problem. If we're going to have categories like we do, we desperately need a bi-sexual or pan-sexual category, but to provide comparable ease of access, we'd need bi-sexual BDSM, bi-sexual exhibitionist/voyeur, etc.

There are a bunch of reasons this probably isn't going to happen unless Lit gets stiff competition that provides the parity that Lit doesn't. From a practical standpoint, I think all authors can really do is to be sure to use tags that correspond to the category the story would go in if it was M/F.

 

[Enchantment_of_Nyx]

What KeithD said.

The BDSM category is almost always some combination of male and female characters.
And it seems like the gay male category is more forgiving of kinks than BDSM is forgiving of gay stories.
I really wish BDSM (and the other kinds of categories) were more welcoming of gay, lesbian, bi or trans stories, but they don't seem to be.

I think there's one exception to that when you have three characters. I could be wrong about this, but I think F/m/m, M/f/f, and F/m/f might be well-received. I'm pretty sure there are a fair number of M/f/f stories in there now. I'm less sure about how well M/m/f would be received, although I couldn't explain why.

I dunno. Thoughts?

 

[Salacious_Scribe]

I think that generally speaking, who it is that's having sex is more important for readers than what type of sex they're having. Incest is a squick for many readers, so it trumps other categories the story might fall in. Even though non-con/reluctance isn't a category about who is having sex, it is offensive or upsetting for many readers, so it also trumps most categories. I am not sure it trumps gay male, and I'm not sure why that is. Gay male, lesbian, trans/cross-dresser stories are all very rare in the the NC/R category. I don't think the NC/R stories are rare in gay male.

Once you get beyond incest and non-con, I think the next big thing that sorts out readers is sexual orientation. Even though it's becoming more commonly recognized that some people would like to view stories of a particular type featuring any genders, most people do have a strong preference, and that's how readers sort themselves out.

If you have a story about straight, cis-gendered, non-incestuous, consensual & not reluctant sex, then I think it's just a matter of where it matches best or where, strategically, it is likely to fare the best.

We've had the conversation before about how this ought to work. It ought to be set up where you could check multiple things that interested you, so you could select gay male and BDSM; or gay male, bi-sexual and BDSM. It's the forcing of stories into a single category that's a problem. If we're going to have categories like we do, we desperately need a bi-sexual or pan-sexual category, but to provide comparable ease of access, we'd need bi-sexual BDSM, bi-sexual exhibitionist/voyeur, etc.

There are a bunch of reasons this probably isn't going to happen unless Lit gets stiff competition that provides the parity that Lit doesn't. From a practical standpoint, I think all authors can really do is to be sure to use tags that correspond to the category the story would go in if it was M/F.

I have a blog where I post my stories, and I can select up to 10 categories for each story, and add as many tags as I want. It's simply #whatever I want.

I wish we could pick 3-4 categories and more tags.

 

[davion2308]

Yet another "Gay" vote

You'll find low scores and anger if you post male-male sex in BDSM. Not from all of us, mind you, but enough to unfairly throw off your score. The combo of MM-BDSM is enough of a kink to invite readers in BDSM and then upset them, despite being more open-minded then, say, the LW category.

Gay male is your best bet with the preface that it's BDSM. You'll draw the right attention with that.

Have fun!

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Yeah, BDSM on Lit is mostly male-female D/S. I posted a story where which is male-female, but they switch roles on each other, and it's SM rather than D/S, and there's passing references to male/male sex having happened.

I warned up front (and the title mentions switching!) so ratings didn't get affected, but it's only had 6k views when later stories of mine have had 50k views.

It couldn't go anywhere else in this site, though. Good to know Gay Male can cope with a bit of BDSM, though, as I'm about to put a long story there.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I think there's one exception to that when you have three characters. I could be wrong about this, but I think F/m/m, M/f/f, and F/m/f might be well-received. I'm pretty sure there are a fair number of M/f/f stories in there now. I'm less sure about how well M/m/f would be received, although I couldn't explain why.

I dunno. Thoughts?

M/f/f would be fine, not so sure about the others. It's been a while since I regularly read there, but my impression is that a significant portion of readers there are hostile to just about anything with m-sub.

 

[Raazor]

Yeah, I sometimes struggle with which category to put chapters in, especially when a chapter covers multiple categories. The 'Michelle' series doesn't have an overall defining category either.

I would have thought the option to put a story or chapters in at least two main categories would be helpful.

Cue someone telling me you can do this and I didn't realise, lol.

 

[Enchantment_of_Nyx]

M/f/f would be fine, not so sure about the others. It's been a while since I regularly read there, but my impression is that a significant portion of readers there are hostile to just about anything with m-sub.

I abandoned the category as a reader quite a while ago. It used to be my favorite. I toy occasionally with the idea of submitting a story there, but I'm really not sold on the idea.

 

[KeithD]

I think there's one exception to that when you have three characters. I could be wrong about this, but I think F/m/m, M/f/f, and F/m/f might be well-received. I'm pretty sure there are a fair number of M/f/f stories in there now. I'm less sure about how well M/m/f would be received, although I couldn't explain why.

I dunno. Thoughts?

How many MMF stories have you written and gotten posted here?

 

[KeithD]

You'll find low scores and anger if you post male-male sex in BDSM. Not from all of us, mind you, but enough to unfairly throw off your score. The combo of MM-BDSM is enough of a kink to invite readers in BDSM and then upset them, despite being more open-minded then, say, the LW category.

Gay male is your best bet with the preface that it's BDSM. You'll draw the right attention with that.

Have fun!

I have BDSM among the 1,200 GM stories I have posted here. No preface warnings provided to that effect; no negative comments that BDSM has been included in GM.

 

[KeithD]

I don't think there's a need for any warning prefaces in the GM category. The readers there don't seem to be squeamish. I've dealt with just about everything in imaginable in that category without any squeamish backlash. I've had a few "this should be in another category" comments, but as those stories were definitely MM, I've just taken that as being from a reader who lacked knowledge of where GM fits in this Web site.

 

[PupTracer]

What KeithD said.

The BDSM category is almost always some combination of male and female characters.
And it seems like the gay male category is more forgiving of kinks than BDSM is forgiving of gay stories.
I really wish BDSM (and the other kinds of categories) were more welcoming of gay, lesbian, bi or trans stories, but they don't seem to be.

I will say that my first MM story posted was quite well received in the BDSM category. It still remains my most viewed story (though of course the views aren't huge, just relatively bigger for me by over 50%), and the ratings aren't bad. Last I saw it has the "hot" tag going on it. I didn't even tag is as gay at all so I was a bit shocked.

I'll share one comment I got that was interesting to me: "Such an exciting read. I write often from the perspective of imagining I am a girl but I also enjoy the pure BDSM that can create such intensity between 2 of the same gender. I wanted that to be me there on the bench and being cared for afterwards."

All that said though, I do agree that my stories probably fit better in the Gay Male category. I may do a bit of back and forth between the categories for a while to feel out the difference in audience. Thanks for your advice.

 

[Salacious_Scribe]

Categories are weird. I posted a mom son story in incest with strong non-con elements and several people complained it was in the wrong category. If I put it in non con I would have been slammed for the incest.

Damned if you do damned if you don't.