Loving Wives Theory

[Yesarub]

I'm nine submissions into my "I Want You To Seduce My Husband" series.

I started it as an experiment and to test a theory:

THEORY: There are a lot of men with an extremely wounded pride, perhaps from a cheating spouse in their own personal lives, who are quick to damn, 1-star and post negative comments on Loving Wives stories in which the woman cheats (without the man knowing it). These men are drawn to the category, like moths to a flame. Even though they hate these stories, they will read from that genre -- going so far as to continue reading the entire series -- and posting negative anonymous comments after every read about the lecherous wife.

HOW THE EXPERIMENT WAS CONDUCTED: Start the series OUTSIDE the Loving Wives category (I used Erotic Couples), and when the story line eventually turns around to actual infidelity (on the wife's part), start placing the story in Loving Wives. I've done in two series: the shorter "Nanny for a Week" 2-story, and my now longer "Seduce My Husband" series.

RESULTS: Although I don't think my writing style changes all that much, my earlier Erotic Couples stories consistently score better than the later Loving Wives stories in the same series. Significantly better, even while the earlier stories were rubbish, filled with typos (I've gotten better at self-proofing!). The earlier "Erotic Coupling" stories draw interesting comments, the "Loving Wives" stories in the same category draw comments filled hatred and venom.

My take away is that the guys who hate these stories hate the women who cheat, but they really don't care about the husbands who cheat. There is a lot more writing I need to do to validate my assumptions, but it sure feels that way at this early stage.

UNEXPECTED RESULTS: I was unprepared for how much readers disliked it when I put chapters in different categories. Really, that's quite bothersome to some people. I did it, because I wanted to hit readers with different interests -- I went out of my way to introduce an anal story, and filed it under Anal, both to attract new readers to the series and well, that's the story my muse wanted me to write. Readers freaked out, not because it was anal, but because the series was jumping around in different categories.

I wonder if they hate it because when cheating wives are in other categories, it makes it harder for them to find those stories, and rain hatred and 1-stars down upon them!

 

[SimonDoom]

I can't recall anyone else reporting that they tried something like this as an experiment. I'm not at all surprised by the results you report.

I didn't read the stories but I scanned them to compare the data.

The most interesting thing I saw was the popularity of your anal chapter, both in terms of a big jump in views from the previous chapter published under Exhibitionism, and the next three chapters published under Loving Wives. What was especially interesting was that these chapters came many months after you had started the story, so you already had lost your initial, less committed readers. You actually acquired many new readers with the anal chapter, and the score took a big bump up as well. I'm very surprised. Anal apparently is a very popular category (I'll have to try it).

My preference is to publish all chapters in a series in the same category, because I think it's the best way to target the core and most probably appreciative audience, but your example doesn't track the conventional wisdom.

 

[HeyAll]

On a side note, I'm pretty sure Loving Wives gets more monthly votes than Incest. I saw that based looking at the 30 day Top List for each category. It's suprising because doesnt sound like a big market to an average reader.

 

[Desiremakesmeweak]

It's not an hypothesis I would reject...

: )

...at the same time I'm just plain not in the boat of those people who are agitated by what sexual demeanor someone has, or what their mis-demeanors might then later on at some point likely come to be. Seriously, I personally have a lot of difficulty even understanding the phrase 'to cheat on' or 'cheating.' This is the human race we are talking about here, right?

This is the mob, after all, the Jesus Christ aka God Himself laughed at on this subject with the words 'anyone like to cast the first stone, anyone - ANYONE?'

No doubt though, there are both atheists now as well as committed religious people of all brands, who have graduated, evolved, into 'a new being' ready for the purity of the heaven for which they possess the blue-print we must all live in without any further input of our own about it.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

I once wrote a series of LW stories, from the husband not knowing right up to a true BTB story. Just to see what happen in the comments and voting. I think I proved my point. There are at the least three camps of haters for LW stories. The guys that who were burned by their current wife or ex-wife. The guys who are willing cuckolds. And the guys who like sharing their wives with others.

There are of course outliers. The guys who like reading about cheating or sharing wives but have had the guts to find out if she is or to ask her to cheat on him. etc. etc.

Most of those stories are still up, but I have turned off voting and some I have turned off comments.

 

[Hypoxia]

There are at the least three camps of haters for LW stories. The guys that who were burned by their current wife or ex-wife. The guys who are willing cuckolds. And the guys who like sharing their wives with others.

There are of course outliers. The guys who like reading about cheating or sharing wives but have had the guts to find out if she is or to ask her to cheat on him. etc. etc.

For statistical analysis, plot counts of LW views vs hateful comments. I suspect the percentage of haters is vanishingly low. Those pitiful few are loud beyond their numbers, vastly swamped by the overwhelming mass of pleased readers. Much of the LW I've read includes well-written dramas -- even some 'cuck' / wittol / willing wimp tales that I consider fruminous fantasies.

As for scores: I wiggled one series between Incest and EC and they all did quite well. The last episode went to LW and dropped nearly a point... even though the cheating wife died. Moral: Ya can't please everybody.

 

[Tio_Narratore]

My one entry in Loving Wives, Visitors, drew some very nasty comments and PMs from men, but quite a few positive comments (plus a few requests for private stories) from women.

 

[donaldelliott11]

I'm very surprised. Anal apparently is a very popular category (I'll have to try it).

Use a lot of lube, and report back to us....

 

[kurrginatorX]

I've never written an LW story and don't know that I ever will. I have read a lot of complaints from writers about 1-stars and diatribe where LW stories are concerned, but hell, I, like many other writers, face that with anything we write. Legitimate or not, I have had readers tell me they 1-starred a story because of how I chose to describe a character (readers want beautiful people to the point of perfection), because of how one character treated another (perhaps the male lead saying the female lead was just a fuck and nothing more) or even because it ended in a Happily Ever After kind of way, or as was the case with Cleaning House, that I had the son murder his father to protect his sexual relationship with his mother. Then there are those readers who follow us simply because they do not like us and they want to 1-bomb anything we write without the benefit of ever reading it.

The way I am, if I don't like a particular story I will still give it at least three stars. If I just simply hate it, I will not even bother giving it one or two as I deem those scores as spiteful and nothing more.

All I am saying is that whether it is LW or something else, people will always justify a reason for treating the story poorly, and this is because they do not look at how well written something might be, but at the subject matter alone. Perhaps one day s/he will learn to separate him-/herself emotionally from the piece. Then again, maybe one day bananas will learn to fly.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

For statistical analysis, plot counts of LW views vs hateful comments. I suspect the percentage of haters is vanishingly low. Those pitiful few are loud beyond their numbers, vastly swamped by the overwhelming mass of pleased readers. Much of the LW I've read includes well-written dramas -- even some 'cuck' / wittol / willing wimp tales that I consider fruminous fantasies.

As for scores: I wiggled one series between Incest and EC and they all did quite well. The last episode went to LW and dropped nearly a point... even though the cheating wife died. Moral: Ya can't please everybody.

That was kinda my point without saying it.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

I think what they were really after was a daily adrenaline rush, achieved by being "outraged" and "telling someone off."

I suspect most of the nasty reviews come from a small group of people dedicated to the same "outrage high."

See also newspapers and their comments pages and clickbait headlines. Not for nothing is the Daily Mail known as the Daily Hate...

 

[Djmac1031]

I still have a LOT of confusion about the "Loving Wives" category, frankly.

What exactly IS a "Loving Wife?"

Is it a wife who sleeps with other men with her husband's permission? I'd call that Swinging or Erotic Couples.

Is it a wife who cheats, IE fucking other men (or women) behind hubby's back without his permission or knowledge?

Is the husband a "cuck" only if he's present, watching while she fucks someone else? Or is it just she's having an affair and he is aware of it?

I've only written one story involving a married couple who openly engage in picking up other partners for sex. They did it together, openly and consensual. Sometimes they'd bring home a man for the wife, sometimes a woman for the husband. In my story, they pick up a partner for each of them.

Although technically it was not an orgy, (the husband has sex with the new girl while the wife fucks the new guy, but they're not all fucking each other in a group thing) I filled it under Group Sex because:

1: to me, it didn't seem to fit the category, and
2: I know how toxic publishing in that category can get.

I wrote an 750 word story that wound up in LW because it did involve a cheating wife, and boy did it get some negative feedback because I didn't "burn the bitch," only the guy she cheated with.

That story was an experiment, one I learned from. In general, I have no interest in writing stories with negative consequences to the sexual activity. I don't see the fun in it, personally.

But to each their own, of course.

I have considered writing more swinging / open marriage type stories but if I do I highly doubt I'd publish in LW even it technically it fit the category.

 

[RejectReality]

Anal is easily in the same tier as mature in my experience. I've always pulled big numbers there. Rim Fire getting a W has catapulted it over 3k votes, 350k views, and darn near 600 favorites.

 

[lc69hunter]

I believe that I am an outlier. I am among the top 30 commenters on stories. If I view a story and a page later have no interest or don't like where it is going, I don't vote or comment (very few of these). If I read the story, I rate the story (I don't give 1's, 2's instead, as I believe they are wasted votes, and probably give out too many 5's). If I read and rate a story, 90% of the time I will make a comment, maybe on content, character development, or grammar. For example, this morning I read a beautifully written sharing story, good characters, good activity, and a happy ending, the kind of story I am a sucker for. However, I could not give him a 5, because the sex was so clinically written. So in my comments, that is what I told him, but in a gentle and good way. I wish more readers would approach the stories the same way. It would give the author a much better picture of what what the reality is.