Your followers don't always follow you

[lovecraft68]

If you choose to write in another category.

I'd say the bulk of my followers are from I/T and mature and there is a lot of crossover between the two as in many people who like Mom/son stories also enjoy milf stories. Over the years I have posted in other categories, but those are my mainstays, especially the last few years where I haven't posted as often here as I used to.

Recently I posted a story in Erotic Couplings, my first in that category. I did not receive one comment-from anyone with handle-that I recognize as one of my followers and the numbers in general are I suppose fair for that category, and a first effort in there, but not a fraction of what I'm accustomed to. The score is good, the small number of comments-by my standards-are positive, and views votes are I think on par with the category so on its own? I consider it did well enough for the crowd there.

That's the point, and I'm sure this applies to most who have made a name in a specific category, they don't follow you to other places. This is another way of showing that many readers here just want the same thing over and over. They don't want to read anything out of their sweet spot even if its from a favorite author. Whatever the category they like is, there's new stories there every day and they'll be happy to consume those and skip your latest.

The point of this isn't bitching about it, its nothing I haven't seen others mention over the years, but to let other-especially newer-authors to expect this and don't get upset if you decide that after writing a few stories in one category that you want to try something else if your base doesn't support you in it. The good news is you'll add some people each time you jump around and get new readers, but even they might just be waiting for another in whatever category. If you look around at author's pages I've found that people who jump around and write in a lot of different categories don't have large numbers of followers because they're not building a base in any one place.

It's how this place works in general of course because I'm sure there's exceptions, this site is too vast to have "everyone or no one" on any topic, but it's safe to say its common, so don't get discouraged if you branch out and don't see your 'fans' going over to support you. Their entertainment is more important to them than supporting you in endeavors that would take them outside the preferred genre.

 

[Bazzle]

As many know on here, I am 99% in the fetish category.

I have tried more recently to do other stuff.

There are normally a couple of Anon's who complain that I have strayed from my darkside chainsmoking drunken fetish story route.

So, yes, I can totally understand that situation.

 

[SimonDoom]

This is generally my experience, too. The Literotica readership, by and large, consists of multiple sub-readerships, and in some cases there's not a lot of overlap.

Since I write in both the MOST popular category, incest, and also some of the LEAST popular categories, like humor or letters, I see this to an extreme degree. When I publish a story in a lesser read category I have to adjust my expectations. My humor story from over 13 months ago has about 4,700 views. My incest story from 10 months ago has 280,000.

HOWEVER, I've also noticed my view numbers in lesser read categories, while nowhere close to the numbers for incest stories, are generally pretty good for that category. So I think I am getting some boost from having written stories in popular categories and having gained some following from those stories.

I agree with Lovecraft that it helps to "specialize" in one or a few categories of stories if you want to build a following. And--this is important--you don't necessarily have to specialize in a highly popular category. There are some authors who've acquired many followers by focusing on sci fi (like Tefler) or gay male, or lesbian, or romance, or other categories. My go-to categories have been incest and exhibitionist and voyeur. The followings I've gotten from those two categories boost, somewhat, the views I get for stories when I delve into other, lesser-read categories.

 

[M_K_Babalon]

I figured as much. Most people follow for a specific genre one writes in, or genres. Incest and trans are a lot of what I write, so the folks that follow me for that, probably aren't gonna read the scifi story, unless they get curious enough. It's nothing to worry about, as long as they don't drop you for it. I've seen fanfic writers utterly paranoid over it. I don't worry about it. There's other stuff I wanna write; I've been playing around with a litrpg, my infamous lw story, a satirical high school story.

 

[Cly_Anders]

Sometimes, your audience won't even read your stories of the same category. I have 3 elf stories I'm writing. I post them on other sites as they won’t get much traction here. Between the 3, it's my darkest story that gets the most views anywhere, so that's why it's here. The story I have here gets thousands of view across several platforms, the rest are lucky to get a few. The only real difference? One has non-con, the rest don't. The non-con gets the most views. So, I've more or less stopped writing the fully consensual ones to focus on the one everyone likes. Even though they are all fantasy and along the same vein, the other two are not dark and gritty, so many readers of my main story won't even look.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

This seems to be a common experience.
I remember one of my followers, one who started following me because of my lesbian stories, commenting that he started reading my fantasy stories as well, even if he had never been into that category.
It's a small win when something like that happens, but it also supports what LC said. Readers usually have very specific tastes and are generally unwilling to stray into other stuff.

 

[Erozetta]

This is why I get excited when I see an email or comment on one of mine that starts "I don't normally read this category, but..."

I suspect people just like what they like and only a few brave souls will venture out of their comfort zones, largely for particular authors. I appreciate those readers a lot. Even if they are few and far between, they tell me I'm doing something half decent at least.

 

[THBGato]

Sometimes, your audience won't even read your stories of the same category.

I was just about to make this point. I was really confused why some of my lesbian stories have over 400 votes, but others less than 100. It's the same category! When I come across a writer who is new to me, I tend to read pretty much every lesbian story they've written. It took me a while to realise other readers didn't do the same.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Yeah, I noticed this after I posted a story in I/T. I acquired about 70 new followers (impressive as I had only about 150 beforehand), and doubled my number of views on Lit.

And then with my next dozen stories, I'd gain a few followers from each, but my number of followers didn't go up. I was losing them as fast as I was gaining them, presumably thanks to posting in BDSM, Fetish, Gay Male,.etc. It took well over a year for my follower numbers to go up.

Followers from other categories seem happier to just ignore stuff they aren't interested in. And a precious few of my fans actually appreciate my writing about pretty much anything from a snarky Londoner viewpoint with kinky/queer/disabled undertones.

 

[Trionyx]

I’ve had a few follow me to other categories claiming that they did so only because they like my style, etc. but I get the sense that they are in the minority.

 

[Comshaw]

I'm sure readers want exactly what they want and are loath to try something new. I've had a few stories posted here for a long time but didn't really get serious about writing until I retired in 2016. In those first 16 years I acquired 200 followers. Since then it's gone up considerably but not by leaps and bounds. I'm still somewhat short of 4 digits in the follower count. With every story it clicks up a few more but never more than a dozen at a time.

I think a lot of that has to do with what LC said. I have 57 stories scattered over half a dozen categories. To speculate, maybe they read one of mine, enjoy it and look for another in the same category. If they can't find one, they are faced with reading one outside their preferred material. Some do, most, I believe don't. So they move on to a story by another author that does fit their requirements.

As I said, I don't have a passel full of followers, but I am satisfied with the way it works for me. The ones that do follow me seem to enjoy the stories I write and that's good enough for me. I don't even put tags on my stories. Personally, I don't think it necessary. I believe if it's in a particular catagory that should be enough of a guide.

I will add, as mentioned by others, It tickles me when I see those comments that say, "I normally don't read *** but..." That shows me they enjoyed the story even if it wasn't their preferred reading material.

I think LC hit it, if you want a huge follower count, write good stories and stick to one category. Capture your audience and keep them wanting the next one you post. That doesn't mean they will love everything you post. Audiences (especially here) are fickle. Mention something they don't like in a story and they may voice disapproval. Do it multiple times and the torches and pitchforks appear.


Comshaw

 

[THBGato]

Publishing a story in transgender, and then seeing who commented on it, really revealed a group of readers (16 in number) who are either dedicated fans of mine or have very catholic tastes (or possibly both).

 

[TheLobster]

Publishing a story in transgender, and then seeing who commented on it, really revealed a group of readers (16 in number) who are either dedicated fans of mine or have very catholic tastes (or possibly both).

Catholic as in universal?

 

[lovecraft68]

Catholic as in universal?

There's no Catholics on lit. The underage rule turned them away.

 

[M_K_Babalon]

Sometimes, your audience won't even read your stories of the same category. I have 3 elf stories I'm writing. I post them on other sites as they won’t get much traction here. Between the 3, it's my darkest story that gets the most views anywhere, so that's why it's here. The story I have here gets thousands of view across several platforms, the rest are lucky to get a few. The only real difference? One has non-con, the rest don't. The non-con gets the most views. So, I've more or less stopped writing the fully consensual ones to focus on the one everyone likes. Even though they are all fantasy and along the same vein, the other two are not dark and gritty, so many readers of my main story won't even look.

Well yeah. My incest fans might like my bro/sis stories, but not my mom/son. They might not even like the bro/trans sis story I'm working on.

 

[Dark_Kumiko]

If you choose to write in another category.

I'd say the bulk of my followers are from I/T and mature and there is a lot of crossover between the two as in many people who like Mom/son stories also enjoy milf stories. Over the years I have posted in other categories, but those are my mainstays, especially the last few years where I haven't posted as often here as I used to.

Recently I posted a story in Erotic Couplings, my first in that category. I did not receive one comment-from anyone with handle-that I recognize as one of my followers and the numbers in general are I suppose fair for that category, and a first effort in there, but not a fraction of what I'm accustomed to. The score is good, the small number of comments-by my standards-are positive, and views votes are I think on par with the category so on its own? I consider it did well enough for the crowd there.

That's the point, and I'm sure this applies to most who have made a name in a specific category, they don't follow you to other places. This is another way of showing that many readers here just want the same thing over and over. They don't want to read anything out of their sweet spot even if its from a favorite author. Whatever the category they like is, there's new stories there every day and they'll be happy to consume those and skip your latest.

The point of this isn't bitching about it, its nothing I haven't seen others mention over the years, but to let other-especially newer-authors to expect this and don't get upset if you decide that after writing a few stories in one category that you want to try something else if your base doesn't support you in it. The good news is you'll add some people each time you jump around and get new readers, but even they might just be waiting for another in whatever category. If you look around at author's pages I've found that people who jump around and write in a lot of different categories don't have large numbers of followers because they're not building a base in any one place.

It's how this place works in general of course because I'm sure there's exceptions, this site is too vast to have "everyone or no one" on any topic, but it's safe to say its common, so don't get discouraged if you branch out and don't see your 'fans' going over to support you. Their entertainment is more important to them than supporting you in endeavors that would take them outside the preferred genre.

Thank you for sharing o/

That helps alot. I think I haven't decide yet in which category I should settle. I'll figure it out soon enough.

Have a great day.

 

[crookedletter]

This makes a lot of sense to me, and doesn't really surprise me. I imagine genre writers at all levels face this. Stephen King is probably a bad example because he's so popular, and many of his fans so into him that they probably would follow him if he wrote, say, a whodunit murder mystery, or a romance. When JK Rowling stepped out of the fantasy genre she did it with a pen name -- maybe because she thought it an interesting experiment, or maybe because she suspected Harry Potter fans might not respond well to her follow-up being a series of crime novels.

I imagine any writer who has success, but maybe not that level of success -- someone who's known maybe for writing fantasy or horror or romance -- would find if they pivot into some new genre they don't take a number of their fans with them.

 

[lovecraft68]

This makes a lot of sense to me, and doesn't really surprise me. I imagine genre writers at all levels face this. Stephen King is probably a bad example because he's so popular, and many of his fans so into him that they probably would follow him if he wrote, say, a whodunit murder mystery, or a romance. When JK Rowling stepped out of the fantasy genre she did it with a pen name -- maybe because she thought it an interesting experiment, or maybe because she suspected Harry Potter fans might not respond well to her follow-up being a series of crime novels.

I imagine any writer who has success, but maybe not that level of success -- someone who's known maybe for writing fantasy or horror or romance -- would find if they pivot into some new genre they don't take a number of their fans with them.

Not that I have any type of fame, but when I went into the erotic horror genre, I used a different pen name, then another when I put some straight up horror content out there.

 

[Rob_Royale]

As a reader following over 100 writers this is very true. I don't have time to read everything. So if Marty McWriter posts something, I'm going to check the title, the description, the category and the tags. If it doesn't seem like my thing, I move on. I don't care who it is.

I'm positive most readers are the same.