Moving a story to a different section

[Chris7sw]

Hello folks,
I have a story - "Chris's Creamy Cookies" - that I entered under the Gay Male section but it hasn't been received particularly well.
So I want to shift it to the Comedy section - it is written very much tongue-in-cheek, so it may well fit better there.
But I don't know how to move it.
I've sent requests three times to the powers-that-be over the last six months and haven't had a single reply, nor has my story been moved. My message is obviously being ignored, as have all my messages to them in the past.

Any ideas will be appreciated.....my best thought would be for me to relist it (with EDITED in the title) and to change the section myself. Is that the best solution?

I've tried searching the forum but I get a message back - "Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 268435456 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 72 bytes) in /home/literot/literotica/forum/search.php on line 1030", which doesn't help at all....

Cheers,

Chris

 

[Sammael Bard]

Hello folks,
I have a story - "Chris's Creamy Cookies" - that I entered under the Gay Male section but it hasn't been received particularly well.
So I want to shift it to the Comedy section - it is written very much tongue-in-cheek, so it may well fit better there.
But I don't know how to move it.
I've sent requests three times to the powers-that-be over the last six months and haven't had a single reply, nor has my story been moved. My message is obviously being ignored, as have all my messages to them in the past.

Any ideas will be appreciated.....my best thought would be for me to relist it (with EDITED in the title) and to change the section myself. Is that the best solution?

I've tried searching the forum but I get a message back - "Fatal error: Allowed memory size of 268435456 bytes exhausted (tried to allocate 72 bytes) in /home/literot/literotica/forum/search.php on line 1030", which doesn't help at all....

Cheers,

Chris

Gay Male is a trump category, i.e., if your story has Gay Male sex, it's going into Gay Male category. Period.

If you've submitted it in any other category (Sci-Fi, Incest), it'll stay there unless the theme of the story only revolves around homosexual male sex. Usually some reader reports it and Laurel swings to the rescue.

As a word of advice, shifting it to any other category won't work as your story will not appear in the new story list. You won't get new views on your story as you might be expecting, and it'll sit down amongst the pile. The best thing to do would be to delete your story and submit it afresh, this time in H/S category.

It all boils down to how Laurel interprets your story. She's the only one approving/disapproving/banning stories on Literotica.

Good luck!

 

[sr71plt]

The submissions editor keeps to herself the privilege of category assignment. What you mark is only a suggestion for her (usually accepted, though). But, yes, Gay Male is a trump category. If it includes gay male sex, expect to have it placed in that category.

 

[slyc_willie]

I've found there's no such thing as a trump category. I have a story that includes heavy amounts of man-on-man action (incestuous, even) and the story was placed where I wanted it, in Erotic Horror.

So, ix-nay on the ump-tray. If you make a strong enough case to have your story in the category you want, I'm pretty sure Laurel will put it there.

I'd suggest sending a PM (not an email) to Laurel and list the story in question, what category it's currently in, and what category you want it moved to. Explain why you want it moved. If the reasons are valid enough, there's a good chance Laurel will agree with you.

 

[Chris7sw]

Many thanks!

Cheers Fellas,

Despite your disagreement with each other's views, your comments make quite a lot of sense and some interesting reading.
However, as I posted this question, so I also wrote to Lauren - who actually replied(!!) and who directed me back to the submissions instructions. The clear indication is that I either delete and resubmit my story or simply advise them that I've edited the story, which will then be placed where I indicate.
And I've also been given a PM address in case my preference is not resolved.

I will therefore most probably follow the deletion guidelines and hope that Laurel lets me choose my category.

To The Soulful Bard - my story contains gay sex but there's a lot of 'normal' sex too so neither category is 'the right one' unfortunately. I'd gone for the Gay Male category simply because there's probably something like 60/40% gay stuff (and a bit of lesbian stuff too, for that matter) so I guess that Lauren would have agreed with my first category selection.

Whatever, thanks again - at least I now know what others suggest.

Chris

 

[RejectReality]

You're talking about a whole different animal when you get into Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Non Human, and Erotic Horror. For the most part, trump rules don't apply when your story revolves around those themes, and you choose one of them as a category.

The genre wins over the sexual content -- a different kind of trump.

Try to put a story with incest in romance, no matter how romantic it is, and it's likely to go to Incest. From what I've seen, the same applies to a GM romance.

I've found there's no such thing as a trump category. I have a story that includes heavy amounts of man-on-man action (incestuous, even) and the story was placed where I wanted it, in Erotic Horror.

So, ix-nay on the ump-tray. If you make a strong enough case to have your story in the category you want, I'm pretty sure Laurel will put it there.

I'd suggest sending a PM (not an email) to Laurel and list the story in question, what category it's currently in, and what category you want it moved to. Explain why you want it moved. If the reasons are valid enough, there's a good chance Laurel will agree with you.

 

[slyc_willie]

You're talking about a whole different animal when you get into Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Non Human, and Erotic Horror. For the most part, trump rules don't apply when your story revolves around those themes, and you choose one of them as a category.

The genre wins over the sexual content -- a different kind of trump.

Try to put a story with incest in romance, no matter how romantic it is, and it's likely to go to Incest. From what I've seen, the same applies to a GM romance.

Maybe, maybe not. It would depend on how the story is written as to whether an incestuous story, if handled the right way, could be placed in Romance. It would be an extremely rare occurrence, I admit, but I think it could be done.

By your own admission, you say that trump rules don't apply in certain circumstances. I'm only going a step further to say that trump rules are not, and probably never will be, absolute in any case.

 

[RejectReality]

Maybe not absolute, but there's enough precedent of Laurel changing the category of stories with certain content to expect that content to determine your category. ( Sometimes at submission, and sometimes after the fact when reported by readers )

Maybe, maybe not. It would depend on how the story is written as to whether an incestuous story, if handled the right way, could be placed in Romance. It would be an extremely rare occurrence, I admit, but I think it could be done.

By your own admission, you say that trump rules don't apply in certain circumstances. I'm only going a step further to say that trump rules are not, and probably never will be, absolute in any case.

 

[slyc_willie]

Maybe not absolute, but there's enough precedent of Laurel changing the category of stories with certain content to expect that content to determine your category. ( Sometimes at submission, and sometimes after the fact when reported by readers )

Considering that Laurel isn't allowed much time to peruse a story before it's posted, I gather she looks for certain key words and phrases to see if the requested category is appropriate or not. And, I imagine, in the case of long-standing authors with good reputations, she probably trusts their judgment and goes with what the author wants.

But sure, there are cases in which a story is posted to a different category because (and this is my assumption) Laurel feels it is either more appropriate to the different category, or the story would receive a better response from that category.

Unless Laurel actually posts here about this, though, all we have is conjecture as to the reasons why changes are made.

 

[sr71plt]

The reason why it would be changed is obvious--Laurel thinks it's better in another category. That stories sometimes get their category changed from what the author requests is also obvious, as there have been forum threads on it happening. (I've had a few bounced back into GM that I tried to put in another category myself.) So, the why and whether and the "can she do this?" don't seem to be arguable. the "how often?" is, but this seems to be one of those issues that needs to be taken on in the specific, not the general--and to be taken on directly with Laurel via PM.

 

[lovecraft68]

You're talking about a whole different animal when you get into Sci-Fi & Fantasy, Non Human, and Erotic Horror. For the most part, trump rules don't apply when your story revolves around those themes, and you choose one of them as a category.

The genre wins over the sexual content -- a different kind of trump.

Try to put a story with incest in romance, no matter how romantic it is, and it's likely to go to Incest. From what I've seen, the same applies to a GM romance.

Exactly

BY nature those categories bend reality itself so it stands to reason its anything goes over there and the readership is the most open minded.

One of the best stories here of all time-one of the few that have an EHW-is from Paco fear, its in Sci fi but features sister/sister incest.

But in straight up erotica categories, Incest, GM and non con are pretty "trump" and mixing any of those in another category can lead to some bad votes from ticked off readers.

 

[slyc_willie]

The reason why it would be changed is obvious--Laurel thinks it's better in another category. That stories sometimes get their category changed from what the author requests is also obvious, as there have been forum threads on it happening. (I've had a few bounced back into GM that I tried to put in another category myself.) So, the why and whether and the "can she do this?" don't seem to be arguable. the "how often?" is, but this seems to be one of those issues that needs to be taken on in the specific, not the general--and to be taken on directly with Laurel via PM.

I agree. Specific instances constitute exceptions to the perceived rule. For the most part, there is the perception of "trumpism," but it can't be convincingly argued to work 100% of the time. I still attest that a good writer is capable of bridging the gaps between supposed trump categories, thereby rendering trump value moot. But those instances are, of course, rare.

Hmm . . . it kind of presents a challenge, doesn't it?

 

[sr71plt]

Probably the main reason why it doesn't work all of the time--the same reason some other consistencies aren't holding--is that the submission editor doesn't actually read most of the stories so is picking up whatever she does in a superficial scan.

 

[LesLumens]

That's why I brought up the change after the fact. I've seen a buttload of stories get moved for content reasons after the initial submission.

Not every move is a "scaring the straights" one, though. Laurel does recognize a story that would get a larger, more enthusiastic audience in another category sometimes. That's what introduced me to the Mature category.

The astronomical increase in numbers on that story compared to similar previous ones in Erotic Couplings ( what I'd chosen ) left me floored.

 

[slyc_willie]

I wouldn't expect Laurel to read every single submission that comes across her desktop on a daily basis. No one has that much time in a day. So she does as well as she can and probably relies on a few programs to look for certain words and phrases.

That she's willing to change a story's category after the fact attests to her willingness to support the authors on this site, though. It also shows she listens to the readers. Both good things.

 

[RejectReality]

And bringing in help to approve stories isn't necessarily the solution, either.

Lush was always 1 day turnaround, and now it's up to as much as 5 days despite having at least a dozen people vetting the stories.

No matter what you do, it's always going to be a struggle between timely approval and quality control. And that's on top of the numerous issues that come up when you farm out duties of your site to someone else you only know through the internet.