Making a second account for different stories?

[OddLove]

Question for those who write a wide variety of stories that span across different categories.

Do you upload all your stories on the same account? Or on different accounts?

I can imagine a list of pros and cons for either way, but I'm curious what others do. I'm well aware that there's no one and only 'correct' way to go about it, but I feel indecisive, so hearing other peoples thoughts on it would be helpful in making a decision.

 

[MrPixel]

These are called "alts".

It's been discussed off and on, especially relative to Loving Wives. The theory (and likely reality) is that the malignancy in that category metastasizes into an author's other stories once that author publishes an LW story, by virtue of the "follow" feature. Separate account for LW could possibly act as a firewall.

I'm personally ambivalent whether or not it's cheating the system, but understand the possible need. There have been bad actors especially here in the forums who use alts to troll.

 

[AnthonyT0715]

I published all my stories on another website but I have them in my docs

 

[IWroteThis]

I just have the one account, but at one point I did seriously consider creating multiple ones to split up my stories by category.

I don't see it as much now, but it was always painful to watch the success of a new story drive the ratings down on my stories in other categories. I'm sure part of it is that my older stories now have a much larger vote base to lessen the impact of new votes, but whatever the reason, I haven't felt any urge to split things up for quite a while.

These are called "alts".

It's been discussed off and on, especially relative to Loving Wives. The theory (and likely reality) is that the malignancy in that category metastasizes into an author's other stories once that author publishes an LW story, by virtue of the "follow" feature. Separate account for LW could possibly act as a firewall.

I'm personally ambivalent whether or not it's cheating the system, but understand the possible need. There have been bad actors especially here in the forums who use alts to troll.

While the higher voting rate in Loving Wives made it less severe, my Loving Wives story experienced the same type of drops when I posted new stories in other categories.

 

[OddLove]

When it comes to Loving Wives category, I would feel that it's absolutely reasonable and makes sense to have the 'firewall' like MrPixel mentions. If someone writes and gains followers from LW, then posts a femdom story about a powerful woman who is the so called 'Alpha' of her relationship with her male partner, those followers would probably flood that story with 1-star bombs before it ever had a chance to reach people who would genuinely enjoy it. And with a rating like 3.1 or whatever just days after being published, it will discourage lots of people in the proper category to give it a real chance.

For me personally, I would never post in LW though. For an 'alt' account, I would just like to post in sci-fi/fantasy, humor, non-human, and non-erotic type categories. Since I've stayed clear of LW though, an alt might not be very necessary. It's maybe more about feeling organized, you know, one account for the femdom and gay bdsm stuff, and another account for crazy stuff like alien abductions, space thrillers, prehistoric cavemen orgies, mermaids and pirates, or post apocalyptic type stuff. Mashing all that into the classic femdom/gay stuff feels messy and wrong.

 

[StillStunned]

If I had to create a new alt every time I published something "different", I'd probably make up half the AH by now. Just write your stories and see who likes them. If they're good enough, they'll do fine.

 

[Bamagan]

If I had to create a new alt every time I published something "different", I'd probably make up half the AH by now. Just write your stories and see who likes them. If they're good enough, they'll do fine.

So you aren't an alt of @Stunned2704?!

 

[TheLobster]

I'd probably make up half the AH by now

Sir...

 

[TheNovelist2000]

These are called "alts".

It's been discussed off and on, especially relative to Loving Wives. The theory (and likely reality) is that the malignancy in that category metastasizes into an author's other stories once that author publishes an LW story, by virtue of the "follow" feature. Separate account for LW could possibly act as a firewall.

I'm personally ambivalent whether or not it's cheating the system, but understand the possible need. There have been bad actors especially here in the forums who use alts to troll.

I’ve thought about it. Out of the nine stories I’ve published, only three have scored above four, and all three happen to be non-LW stories. So there’s a trend there. It feels like there’s a glass ceiling preventing my LW stories from doing well. When I only had a few stories under my belt, the numbers didn’t bother me. But now, if someone comes and looks at my story page, all they’re going to see are two reds and a bunch of low-scoring stories. I’m afraid this might discourage them from trying out my new stories. If only people would recognise that almost all my stories are LW stories, and that this is an issue with the genre rather than with my writing quality.

 

[Five_Inch_Heels]

Some of the more prominent AH dwellers have more than one, but not necessary by category.

Might use one for historical stories, one as a female author, another as a Dom type for BDSM, maybe one for SciFi/futuristic stuff. They may all post in more than one category, but the main difference is the overall writing style.

 

[RejectReality]

I've got three. The first, Darkniciad, was primarily for a set of connected fantasy stories all set in the same world. When I started venturing into real world stuff and edgier categories, I created Les to publish those. Then I wanted to see how I could do without name recognition, and also wanted a place to dump ideas that were only half-baked and mostly just sex scenes with a setup. So I created this one, and kept it secret for a couple of years.

I personally like the organization, but I undoubtedly cost myself as far as author ranking and probably in votes as well. There's not a huge amount of crossover between my follower lists. Most certainly all three names suffer from my long droughts, but would look far less inactive if there was only one account, and the one would look far more productive during the feast periods.

It's a call you have to make for yourself. Loving Wives is probably the one thing I'd say would tip the scales toward multiple accounts, as others have mentioned.

 

[DanDraper]

I can see the reasons some people may try do this. Besides the reason for Loving Wives already mentioned here, there might be categories some authors don't normally associate with and want to try writing stories there under a different name. Some authors do this professionally with their books, so it makes sense some people try it here as well. There are even some journalists who do this. The only cons I see about this were the ones already mentioned here; it's kind of like cheating because of how the stories are measured by success by their ratings, and some people do this to anonymously troll other people's works and not have it linked back to their main accounts.

I guess using alts to write in different categories isn't so bad when you think about it. You're not sure if writing in certain categories fits with the type of stories you're already known for, then go ahead and try writing there. You could always have those stories removed later on and publish it under your main account if you fee like it. But as long as you're not one of those people using it for trolling, then it should be just fine.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

If I had to create a new alt every time I published something "different", I'd probably make up half the AH by now. Just write your stories and see who likes them. If they're good enough, they'll do fine.

I've published under the same account into 7 different categories. From I/T to LW to How To and N/N. The only significant effect of different categories was with I/T when my first story there boosted my followers by hundreds and drove more views to all my others stories.

I have never seen a drop in ratings for stories in a category based upon something that I published in another. That cross-over effect has never hit me.

 

[ElectricBlue]

If only people would recognise that almost all my stories are LW stories, and that this is an issue with the genre rather than with my writing quality.

You made your choice, there's little point complaining about it now.

 

[Katie_Mae]

Question for those who write a wide variety of stories that span across different categories.

Do you upload all your stories on the same account? Or on different accounts?

I can imagine a list of pros and cons for either way, but I'm curious what others do. I'm well aware that there's no one and only 'correct' way to go about it, but I feel indecisive, so hearing other peoples thoughts on it would be helpful in making a decision.

I've considered this relatively recently also.

There are considerations for using different pen names, but I don't consider "writing in different literotica categories" necessarily enough to make it needed, though different people have different priorities.

I think there's two main reasons to use different pennames
1) to separate your real identity from certain works. (A concern for yourself)
2) to separate your differing audiences. (Being considerate of your readers)

The first, a good example of this is few of us use our full legal names here on lit, but might have used our real names for non-smut writing elsewhere. Maybe we're not comfortable with a future employer googling our name and coming across A Gangbang with Santa and ALL his Elves.
So let's say you write tame romances, including some published on Amazon under your real name, and lit is where you blow off steam and write incest or non-con or whatever, and you don't particularly want people at large to know about your dirtier smut, then having differing pen names for your tame romance and other stuff might be what you want.

The second, the classic example is if you write children's books and hardcore porn, you might want to use a different pen name to separate those audiences, so parents or children don't accidently end up with an inappropriate story.

Here on lit, I post non-con. I am working (slowly in the background) on a non-erotic coming of age story. I'll probably dump it on Lit once it's done. It's the back story of a major character in one of my lit stories. I'll dump it here (on this account, I only have the one) because some readers might be interested, I don't expect it's the sort of story that "will do well" so to speak.

I also post on another site, which allows smut but isn't specifically a sex site. I've posted my non-con there, and I'll post my non-erotic coming of age story there too, but I'll post it under another pen name.

Why? Because that site isn't a sex site.
I feel that on that site a reader who checks out my other works hasn't necessarily consented to stumble across non-con smut.
Here on lit, it's not unexpected that people post sex. My non-con stories are correctly categorised/tagged/content warned. I don't expect my coming of age story to drive many people to check out my back catalogue, but if they do, they're on a sex site, I feel like they've been warned. No need for separate pen name for that story here.

Outside of that, the pros and cons of splitting your work depends on what you care about. If you're just looking to help your readers locate what they're interested in, and feel that titles, taglines and categories are not enough, you can always use your profile to create lists or something.

 

[VerbalAbuse]

Why, you haven't told us what other kind of stories do you want to post...

 

[Britva415]

I'm personally ambivalent whether or not it's cheating the system

Who's harmed by it?

Anyway, the only "system" is Laurel's, and she 100% knows people use alts and who a lot of them are. She clearly doesn't have a problem with it. There's no rule or agreement being subverted, which I think is a condition of "cheating."

 

[VerbalAbuse]

100%

a pretty big number. the largest there is.
basically, you say she's god.

 

[Britva415]

a pretty big number. the largest there is.
basically, you say she's god.

this one goes to 110%

 

[Britva415]

a pretty big number. the largest there is.
basically, you say she's god.

maybe I'm god for 100% knowing she 100% knows

Ever think of that!?

 

[VerbalAbuse]

maybe I'm god for 100% knowing she 100% knows

Ever think of that!?

I bow to thee, o mighty one.

 

[OddLove]

I think there's two main reasons to use different pennames
1) to separate your real identity from certain works. (A concern for yourself)
2) to separate your differing audiences. (Being considerate of your readers)

Yeah, you pretty much got to the core of my main concern. Since I exclusively write Femdom or Gay in the BDSM category, I don't want to feed much different stories to those people who followed for that specific kind of content. It's a consideration about making sure I deliver what followers are sticking around for, but it's also consideration for myself in the sense that I don't want to risk those followers immediately firing off low ratings when I post a story about zombie gangbangs while they're waiting for part 'whatever' of the femdom story they're invested in.

It sounds like some people here have not experienced that when posting in all different categories, and some people have. So there's for sure a certain level of risk even if it hasn't backfired for some or most.

-----

In regards to splitting up my followers instead of having one big following, I don't think that's a con for me because I don't have much followers.

Also, I really don't think people following me are following 'Me', I think they're following an account that publishes femdom/bdsm/gay stories.

But for people with much bigger followings who have actual 'fans' who specifically follow them for them rather than the categories, I could see alts being a bad choice.

 

[old_prof]

I did create an alt because I thought it might be a way to encourage me to write stylistically differently. It was also a bit of a joke, because the pen name is the pen name used by one of my characters (from my first novel) to write erotica. I published a couple of things, but it didn't help me separate away from my own writing as much as I thought it might. I read about a different approach and I decided to try that to push me forward, still under the iwatchus/old_prof account. I may go back there and write something else one day, but that author will more likely just fade away.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I’ve thought about it. Out of the nine stories I’ve published, only three have scored above four, and all three happen to be non-LW stories. So there’s a trend there. It feels like there’s a glass ceiling preventing my LW stories from doing well. When I only had a few stories under my belt, the numbers didn’t bother me. But now, if someone comes and looks at my story page, all they’re going to see are two reds and a bunch of low-scoring stories. I’m afraid this might discourage them from trying out my new stories. If only people would recognise that almost all my stories are LW stories, and that this is an issue with the genre rather than with my writing quality.

I see that you have six stories in the LW category (Several of which might have fared better in Interracial, but that was your choice)

The average rating for your non-LW stories is 4.41, while the average for your LW stories is 3.00. That 1.41 difference is far off what I have seen with my LW stories being .35 lower than the average for all others in different categories. Your two red Hs are in the I/T category, so if ratings are what you seek, I think you have found your answer.

 

[TheWritingGroup]

If Stephen King can create an alt (Richard Bachman), I guess anyone can.

--Annie