Trepidations About Republishing

[ElectricBlue]

But I think the best use of this site, if I want to continue to grow as a writer, is to try to engage readers erotically. I’m defining erotic here to imply an artistic merit higher than porn. If I can write something someone gets off too, that’s a cheap thrill. That’s not bad. It is what it is. But if I can write something that engages someone intelligently and emotionally in a way that stays with them even after they’ve clicked out of it, then I’ve achieved something that takes skill and insight, and that helps me to develop as a “real” writer.

Aim high is a wise approach, aim for the sky.

If you write for the lowest common denominator (ie: predictable, repetitive, same old same old stories), I reckon you just dumb yourself down.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I wish Literotica was filled with people exactly like me.

If the world was filled with people exactly like me, civilization would collapse in a month.

 

[VerbalAbuse]

I wish Literotica was filled with people exactly like me.

We all wish Literotica was filled with people exactly like you.

 

[FidelityBoss]

There are pros and cons to using this platform as a writer. The major benefit is that the reach is insane. I got thousands of views per story when I was publishing here, every time. The most I got was 53k. That's a lot of people! As somebody who wants to write as a career, that's very appealing, because in 2025 one has to build an audience by publishing stuff online for free before one can expect to sell a book, whether in traditional publishing or self-publishing (the term kindle graveyard exists for a reason).

The major con I can see is the fact that this may just not be the right platform for me in particular due to the way that much of the readership seems to read. I'm not saying I can't produce what someone wants to read on here. I'm saying that at large it seems to be that there is a massive confusion about what it means to be a good writer on this website. I'm going to talk about a bunch of things that I've seen readers imply in comments and other writers imply on the forums as well that belie this kind of conflation with writing quality on a technical level and the fulfillment of one personal fantasy (which on the site basically equates to a checklist of genre conventions for each category). It's even implied that writing overall as an action is conflated with writing for the site when readers hate-comment that you're a "bad writer" quote-unquote when all you're failing to do is fulfill their fantasy and appease their tastes (i.e. fulfill a genre convention checklist).

So we have the fact that writing quality is conflated with content choices, but writing quality is also conflated with ratings. I never got a Red H that I could actually keep. I got two and they both lasted a few months but then I got more popular so I got more haters and they downvoted every story on my page. But that's not what I'm trying to discuss in particular, it's really a phenomenon I've noticed all across the board, not just rooted in my own experiences. I wrote a thread on why ratings don't matter a while ago. This is because I did the calculations on my own stories (which I've since deleted from the site) and only 0.4% of the readers on average actually left a rating. 0.4% of the readers is not a big enough sample size to determine the general opinion of your story. I say all this to say I don't think I can get an accurate reading of the quality of any of my writing here from the feedback mechanisms provided, unless 1. a lot more people rate them as a ratio to total readers, which probably isn't going to happen for anyone as the highest we could find in that thread was someone reporting 5%, and 2. people start reading for actual writing quality instead of reading to find specific content and judging your writing quality based on the content you include as I see them do all the time, not just on my own stories but the entire website.

I want to say more about that. I think that readers are grading the stories based on how closely they approximate the Platonic ideal of a genre convention, and I think that writers feel they have to approximate said Platonic ideal (for lack of a better term) of a genre convention in their writing. For me, that would take all of the juice out of the writing, probably because of how personal my creative process is. My ideas are unconventional and the source of them is too particular. I don't think this means that they can't have mass appeal or that there can't be points of relation to my characters by the reader or that there's nothing to be learned from it. It definitely doesn't mean I'm a bad writer. LMAO. But I kind of get the impression that readers (and even sometimes writers) have over time begun to use Lit as a porn site. I don't think that stories should be engaged with as pornography, which is to say nothing about the content, I'm completely fine with erotica obviously, but that the categories shouldn't be viewed as porn categories like, people shouldn't be looking at stories that fulfill their specific quote-unquote "fetishism" and tastes let's say as good and those which don't as bad, and writers who do as good and writers who don't as bad. It's just pure confusion. The underlying cause for that is that people are using this as a porn site. It's not PornHub. The more we feed into this viewpoint the worse the problem will get. We have to actually write things with literary value if we want to prevent this from becoming PornHub in word form, and I'm kind of afraid the damage is already done.

I just want a place to share all of my darkest, deepest, dirtiest, most unique and transgressive creations where they will actually be read but at the same time they will actually be read as stories and not judged in this way to where "oh, you didn't properly approximate my 'fetish', or yours is somehow offensive, so you must be a bad writer." Like, that's bullshit. I've demonstrated why it's deeper than individual taste, so I'm not even saying the line of 'just because one reader doesn't like the story doesn't mean you're a bad writer.' I'm saying quality doesn't equal approximation to consumer tastes on the site as a whole, and the way that the site is used contributes to the way in which the tastes of a few have been conflated with writing quality overall.

It's a rock and a hard place because I'd be hard pressed to find another site where I get 53k views and I'm not even famous yet. I don't write so I can make anyone cum; that would just be an incidental benefit. But where else can I find 53k views?

You’ve hit on a huge tension for writers on platforms like this massive reach vs. the struggle to be taken seriously as a storyteller, not just a content machine. It’s frustrating when readers (and even some writers) treat stories like a checklist of tropes or fetishes instead of engaging with the craft. But you’re right: writing quality isn’t the same as ticking boxes for genre conventions or reader fantasies.

The challenge is finding a balance, using the platform to build an audience while staying true to your unique voice and vision. Maybe the key is to keep pushing for stories with literary value, even if it means sifting through the noise. And hey, 53k views is no small feat, it shows your work resonates.

 

[FidelityBoss]

Yeah, I have to agree with AwkwardlySet... you ARE overthinking it. All of it.

Personally, I believe that 0.4% of readers voting IS a big-enough sample size. Because I believe that people vote for one of two reasons: Either they hated it so much they felt compelled to downvote your work, or they loved it so much they felt the need to let you know. If your story is a solid 3/5, people shrug and move on to the next part. Not to forget the sizable chunk of people who, after discovering they don't like your story, simply move on without even bothering to finish reading it.

And coming to a site where (subjectively) 80%-90% of the submissions amount to little more than masturbation fantasies, and expect a readership that evaluates your work based on craftsmanship and storytelling, is just delusional. Sorry, but it simply is.
The rating system on Lit doesn't range from "Badly written" to "Best story I've ever read". It ranges from "HATE IT" to "LOVE IT". It asks people to rate our stories based on how they liked it. And that means: If you write about a kink that the majority doesn't enjoy, then the majority will perceive it as bad, and they are asked to rate it accordingly. THAT'S why you shouldn't care about ratings if you write for the craft.

You have no basis to complain either way. If you post here, for free, to an audience who didn't ask for it, it was YOU who misread the market, and you can blame the audience as much as you want... but nobody is required to like our work.

Personally... I don't think Lit is a good place to publish at all if you're in it for the money. Fact is, I published my books on other sites that go to great lengths to promote the finished versions to everyone who wanted to read them, and it worked out rather well. Meanwhile, when I posted one to Lit, it garnered MAYBE two dozen sales. Why? I think that publishing on Lit is the literary equivalent to working for exposure. It has the potential to reward you with a huge following... sadly, that following consists of people who are used to getting all their stories for free, and that entitlement shows.

You’re spot-on about the reality of platforms like this, it’s a double-edged sword. The audience here is often looking for specific content, not necessarily craftsmanship, and ratings reflect personal taste more than writing quality. If you’re writing for the craft, you can’t take the ratings too seriously.

And yeah publishing here is like working for exposure, it can build a following, but that following might not translate to sales because they’re used to free content. If you’re in it for the money, other platforms with better promotion might be the way to go. At the end of the day, it’s about knowing your goals and understanding the audience you’re writing for.