Is it bad to have a variety of categories / topics / pairings on one author account? Would you annoy or lose your followers?

[RainyDayPen]

That's basically it, the title. In your experience, will you upset your readers if you typically write straight romance and add in some gay romance? Or closer to what I write, have both femdom (F/m) and maledom (M/f) BDSM or Fetish stories? Or if you typically write Incest and you throw in some Erotic Horror (with no incest at all) just for fun. You get the drift.

I don't have a ton of followers compared to some of you old pros on here, so maybe the lack of a big readership would work in my favour for now. But I am just wondering how it typically works out and if I'd really be upsetting the applecart.

 

[RejectReality]

It only becomes a problem if you're known for something, and take too long of a pause in delivering the next one of that thing — and then only for a portion of your audience. The exception is Loving Wives, which can bring nastiness and low votes down on your whole catalog if you offend the locals there enough.

So far as gathering followers goes, the wider you cast your net, the more you catch. The more variance you have in your categories, the less it matters where you choose to put something.

 

[alohadave]

If you mean different stories that are in different categories, no you'll be fine.

Readers will read what interests them, and will pretty much just ignore stories in categories that they don't like.

 

[AchtungNight]

Some readers, sure. Others may be pleased at your diversity and expansive imagination. That’s what I’m hoping anyway as I continue my current writing projects.

 

[SimonDoom]

I don't see it as a problem. It's possible you might lose a few followers hear and there, but you'll probably gain more. As RR says, the wider net catches more fish. I think more overall visibility is better than visibility divided into author subidentities.

 

[RainyDayPen]

I don't see it as a problem. It's possible you might lose a few followers hear and there, but you'll probably gain more. As RR says, the wider net catches more fish. I think more overall visibility is better than visibility divided into author subidentities.

Truly, if anyone would know haha. I've seen your wild follower count! Congrats again on your contest win!

 

[SimonDoom]

Truly, if anyone would know haha. I've seen your wild follower count! Congrats again on your contest win!

Thanks! I published a bunch of incest stories my first year and the follower numbers grew fast when I did.

 

[KeithD]

I covered nearly all of the categories in my original, sr71plt, account. When I split the accounts to split major categories being offered, my ratings went up a bit in all.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Is it bad to have a variety of categories / topics / pairings on one author account? Would you annoy or lose your followers?​

I write in a wide range of categories. And I annoy readers all the time. I doubt it’s my category selection though:

1. A Loving Wives story about a lesbian marriage
2. Another about a married hooker
3. A non-con / reluctance that’s about a woman sublimating herself to her crappy boyfriend as she has low self-esteem and doesn’t think she deserves any better
4. Another non-con / reluctance that’s a femdom satire of the genre
5. Oh and a 60k space opera (over three episodes) which has pretty much every type of sex included (save Gay Male - one day)

Em

 

[ronde]

I write in several genre and I don't find that the stats on my stories change much relative to the genre. I do tend to stay away from the genre that result in lots of controversy though.

 

[ElectricBlue]

That's basically it, the title. In your experience, will you upset your readers if you typically write straight romance and add in some gay romance? Or closer to what I write, have both femdom (F/m) and maledom (M/f) BDSM or Fetish stories? Or if you typically write Incest and you throw in some Erotic Horror (with no incest at all) just for fun. You get the drift.

Most category aficionados stick to their category of choice, and won't care what you write outside their favourite category.

If you mix it up too much in one story though, you'll piss someone off, for sure. Some of your examples are going to squick some marshmallows, but if their mother isn't here to hold their hand, they're probably not adult enough to be here in the first place. There's no real point maxing out multiple kinks in any one story - you'll end up pleasing no-one.

 

[JaxRhapsody]

If you write with a range, no. If you're a one or two trick pony; possibly. Nothing wrong with a broad catagory usage. I've written in a few of them, not gonna restrict myself.

 

[oneagainst]

Written bondage, D/s, tease and denial, twincest, cuckqueaning. That was just the first story in my list; the stuff that came after has branched out from that narrowly-defined base. Followers have built consistently over time even swinging from F/f romance to maledom to fetish. I wouldn't worry... just make sure that what you write is in the proper category and tagged accurately and the readership is generally forgiving if you wander away from their usual pastures as you've made sure they've got enough info to make the call.

The only time I've seen a drop in the follower count was Loving Wives to femdom. As you can imagine, the LW follower spike shed a bunch with the new territory. I guess some categories' readers are more proscriptive in their tastes than other categories.

 

[EmilyMiller]

There's no real point maxing out multiple kinks in any one story - you'll end up pleasing no-one.

Apart from maybe yourself, hun .

Em

 

[AchtungNight]

Written bondage, D/s, tease and denial, twincest, cuckqueaning. That was just the first story in my list; the stuff that came after has branched out from that narrowly-defined base. Followers have built consistently over time even swinging from F/f romance to maledom to fetish. I wouldn't worry... just make sure that what you write is in the proper category and tagged accurately and the readership is generally forgiving if you wander away from their usual pastures as you've made sure they've got enough info to make the call.

The only time I've seen a drop in the follower count was Loving Wives to femdom. As you can imagine, the LW follower spike shed a bunch with the new territory. I guess some categories' readers are more proscriptive in their tastes than other categories.

Great. I’m big on female empowerment, always have been. I don’t diss men either, but… thank goodness my Loving Wives story is a one-off. Still waiting for Laurel to approve the Erotic Horror prequel at this time.

 

[Rob_Royale]

Nah. I've dipped my toes in 9 different categories over 17 stories. I've never gotten a complaint. A reader that likes your work won't mind and it will help you reach more readers.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Apart from maybe yourself, hun .

Em

There is that!

 

[lovecraft68]

I have everything under one pen name. Hasn't seemed to hurt, and all the numbers are mine, not split between multiple accounts.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I think this is ‘wisdom.’ I learned this lesson when I got to chapter three of a story and MM suddenly happened. That precipitated a few pointed comments from the readers (who’d made it that far into the series).
But it was in Fetish, where most of my stuff is. And my (uninformed) sense of that audience is that they’re pretty tolerant. That chapter leveled off at 4.8. Can’t bitch about that. But I did subsequently learn about adding warnings at the beginning of stories (if needed).

Yep, MM is the number one "freak people out" thing, when it pops up unannounced.

There's a fairly strong homophobic undercurrent in Lit, I think. You know, all those guys who are terrified someone "might try to make me gay," who go read chapters twice just to check their reaction. But in Fetish, you should see less of that. I reckon most folk with a hard-over fetish or kink are going to be fairly tolerant of other proclivities.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I write across several categories, and I'd back what others have said - even the readers who faithfully follow everything I post in one category will often be reluctant to check out my stories in other categories. Which is a bit of a nuisance when I have a story that fits in more than one, and I know some of my readers who'd enjoy it for (say) the lesbian romance angle will never see it because I put it in SFF which they aren't following.

 

[AchtungNight]

The category system is Lit’s thing, not mine. I have also been allowed to connect my stories across categories here. Therefore, if readers are limiting themselves by only reading certain categories of my work I don’t think I’m the one with the problem. No offense intended, people can read what they like.

 

[EroticCupcake]

I worry about "brand" more than category. I wrote a Romance as a palette cleanser after some difficult content.

I'm probably going to rewrite it around the edges to give MMC and FMC more internal conflict or communication issues, but much less compared to other categories.

 

[JaxRhapsody]

I think this is ‘wisdom.’ I learned this lesson when I got to chapter three of a story and MM suddenly happened. That precipitated a few pointed comments from the readers (who’d made it that far into the series).
But it was in Fetish, where most of my stuff is. And my (uninformed) sense of that audience is that they’re pretty tolerant. That chapter leveled off at 4.8. Can’t bitch about that. But I did subsequently learn about adding warnings at the beginning of stories (if needed).

Another piece of that wisdom is it can be often hard to figure out where to even put such a fantasia of fucking.

 

[JaxRhapsody]

I have everything under one pen name. Hasn't seemed to hurt, and all the numbers are mine, not split between multiple accounts.

Same, but if course I only had one account to begin with. After I finish up here, I'll be exclusively using my shiny new account for all my smut, leaving this one a born again virgin... or lying politician. "I have not wrote sexual relations with that phone."

 

[oneagainst]

Picking your category is the key, per story, I think. Though, it's hard to categorise a FFM romance that also includes themes of quantum mechanics. Boy oh boy, did the LW trolls not take well to that one.