Your Highest Rated Stories - Sex Or No Sex

[gordo12]

If you only write stories with sex in them, then please don't respond.

If you write stories with sex or without sex, which stories are scoring higher here on Lit?

 

[KeithD]

No sex, in an account that provides only nonerotic stories.

 

[gordo12]

Sorry K, I just assumed everyone would realize I meant on Lit. My bad! Edited my post

 

[KeithD]

Sorry K, I just assumed everyone would realize I meant on Lit. My bad! Edited my post

The account I refer to is on Literotica. Will I identify it? No. I'd like to keep the high ratings.

 

[gordo12]

The account I refer to is on Literotica. Will I identify it? No. I'd like to keep the high ratings.

Ahh, perfect!

 

[RejectReality]

There are only a handful of categories on Lit where a non-erotic story won't get completely ignored/trashed. I don't see where you're going to get much data out of this.

That being said, in Sci-Fi&Fantasy, a story can have minimal/no sex for long stretches of time and pull down exactly the same numbers as sex heavy stories. Comments about skimming the sex to get back to the story are common in the category.

You can't really compare it to most other categories because the scores skew to the high side, so they're naturally going to have an advantage. Non-Human is about the same.

You can write stories in LW with no sex, but the scores are going to be depressed because that's what happens in LW. All the scores are depressed, skewing any comparison you might try to make.

Non-erotic is low-traffic. If you have an account that writes nothing but non-erotic as KD suggests, you could do reasonably well. If you have a mixed account, odds are you're going to take some hits from regular readers who are used to erotic content, and that's going to depress your scores, because there aren't many votes to cushion even a 4. The same would be true of How-to, Reviews, Letters, etc.

KD's example is another pitfall. He does well in non-erotic, which is representative of his talent, but trying to compare to his erotic content fails, because the non-erotic content is hidden, thus shielding it from all the troll voting he gets as a result of the forum.

In short, trying to do this based upon Literotica experiences just isn't going to go anywhere. There are some sites where erotica and non-erotic have more comparable datasets, but Lit ain't it.

 

[lovecraft68]

I have one without sex, and its highly rated and won a monthly. Its on my page, the only one I have in Romance. Unlike others I like to be able to prove my claims.

Everything else is erotic and I'm not sure I have one as high as that one, but a couple that are within .04 or so.

 

[gordo12]

There are only a handful of categories on Lit where a non-erotic story won't get completely ignored/trashed. I don't see where you're going to get much data out of this.

That being said, in Sci-Fi&Fantasy, a story can have minimal/no sex for long stretches of time and pull down exactly the same numbers as sex heavy stories. Comments about skimming the sex to get back to the story are common in the category.

You can't really compare it to most other categories because the scores skew to the high side, so they're naturally going to have an advantage. Non-Human is about the same.

You can write stories in LW with no sex, but the scores are going to be depressed because that's what happens in LW. All the scores are depressed, skewing any comparison you might try to make.

[deleted]

In short, trying to do this based upon Literotica experiences just isn't going to go anywhere. There are some sites where erotica and non-erotic have more comparable datasets, but Lit ain't it.

Actually, on a data set of 1, my own personal experience doesn't agree. Especially the LW part. But as I say, that's 1!

But I'm not looking for much data—just a general sense. I've seen multiple comments over the years, and it made me curious.

Somebody commented on another thread that they got pissed off because the romance books always cut out the details. Sex just happens.

That made me think. those publishers have enormous data sets, and other than laws, it's hard to believe they would cut out sex scenes if it made the books sell better than they already do.

 

[Comshaw]

Actually, on a data set of 1, my own personal experience doesn't agree. Especially the LW part. But as I say, that's 1!

But I'm not looking for much data—just a general sense. I've seen multiple comments over the years, and it made me curious.

Somebody commented on another thread that they got pissed off because the romance books always cut out the details. Sex just happens.

That made me think. those publishers have enormous data sets, and other than laws, it's hard to believe they would cut out sex scenes if it made the books sell better than they already do.

I think that those who read romance books want the bodice ripping suggestion of sex, but are either too inhibited or embarrassed to want the down and dirty blow by blow (pardon the pun) description of it. Think the prime and proper Sunday school teacher type. They will allow themselves to go only so far in reading about it. Can't be caught reading smut you know!

Comshaw

 

[gordo12]

I think that those who read romance books want the bodice ripping suggestion of sex, but are either too inhibited or embarrassed to want the down and dirty blow by blow (pardon the pun) description of it. Think the prime and proper Sunday school teacher type. They will allow themselves to go only so far in reading about it. Can't be caught reading smut you know!

Comshaw

I think you're right.

 

[Bramblethorn]

Overall, I don't see much difference for mine between no-sex, low-sex, and moderate-sex.

Somebody commented on another thread that they got pissed off because the romance books always cut out the details. Sex just happens.

I don't know which romances they're reading, but I have never had that problem with Courtney Milan! The sex scenes in hers would not be at all out of place here, except perhaps being a little shorter than typical for Literotica.

That made me think. those publishers have enormous data sets, and other than laws, it's hard to believe they would cut out sex scenes if it made the books sell better than they already do.

Don't overestimate the wisdom of big business. Companies are capable of making choices contrary to their own interests for all sorts of reasons.

 

[KeithD]

I don't see much difference. I think that, on average, the scores of my three Non-Erotic stories are similar to those with sex.

For Keith,
Do you expect that the difference between your Non-Erotic and Erotic stories is because of the accounts, or because of content?

I think it's the interests of the relative reader sets for my category-compartmented accounts. I think the readers in the nonerotic category are more prone to give high marks than the readers in the other categories I keep separate accounts for.

And the account name for my nonerotic account doesn't post to the discussion board. I think that there's a lot of voting involved with posters to the discussion board that has nothing to do with the content of their stories.

 

[Voboy]

I don't write "no-sex," but I definitely write "less-sex." One of the comments on my Leinyere story is that there's not enough bumpin' uglies, and I actually agree with that... but shoehorning more sex into there would have felt inorganic to me.

It's certainly not hurting its performance.

Especially once you reach a certain point of recognition here on Lit, I don't think the amount of sex matters all that much in your ratings.

 

[Comshaw]

Overall, I don't see much difference for mine between no-sex, low-sex, and moderate-sex.



I don't know which romances they're reading, but I have never had that problem with Courtney Milan! The sex scenes in hers would not be at all out of place here, except perhaps being a little shorter than typical for Literotica.



Don't overestimate the wisdom of big business. Companies are capable of making choices contrary to their own interests for all sorts of reasons.

Absolutely! All I have to do to verify that in my mind is think of "FireFly". A fabulous cast, great stories and a well done end product. Yet it was canceled after 14 (only 12 were ever aired) episodes. Another one was "All Rise". I watched it for both seasons. It was well written and doing well, but because of political opposition they canceled it.

Comshaw

 

[Kumquatqueen]

How are we defining 'sex'? I've got a few that don't involve appendages entering orifices, but the conversation is filthy.

Little difference in ratings between those and others, fwiw.

 

[NC_Coastal]

How are we defining 'sex'? I've got a few that don't involve appendages entering orifices, but the conversation is filthy.

Little difference in ratings between those and others, fwiw.

Quickly calling up Kumquat's stories.
All of my stories have vivid sex scenes, as far as I can remember.

 

[TadOverdon]

I don't know which romances they're reading, but I have never had that problem with Courtney Milan! The sex scenes in hers would not be at all out of place here, except perhaps being a little shorter than typical for Literotica.

Totally true.


I don't know which romance publishers still "cut out the sex." I don't know anyone who'd buy the books. Women are looking for sexual adventure in escapist fiction as much as men are.

A certain amount of sex has been pretty common in what are called "bodice rippers," ever since Rosemary Rogers and Jennifer Wilde were topping the dead tree best seller lists. And Harlequin, that traditionally most chaste of publishers, has two eBook lines, Dare and Blaze, that feature multiple explicit sex scenes in every volume.

Like, this is from a Harlequin romance a couple of years ago (A Sinful Little Christmas, for anyone curious):

In response, she heard a low growl emanate from his throat, and he put his hands on either side of her head and pulled her closer. She opened her mouth, and took him again. This time, with his hands, he encouraged her—without being forceful—to take all of him. He pulled her back, then did it again. Over and over. Soon he began thrusting his hips, while he moved her head back and forth in tandem. She’d lost any upper hand she thought she’d had. But as he thrust his dick into her mouth, fucking her lips, she didn’t care. She took all of him, and she still wanted more.



BTW, I love Firefly and still watch my DVDs, but Fox cancelling it wasn't "contrary to their interests" at all. Just because people who like a show really, really like it and think it's great doesn't mean that it's making money for a network or that they might not find another property with more promise of financial reward to move that money to. The bean counters are utterly unsentimental about such shit.

 

[Bramblethorn]

BTW, I love Firefly and still watch my DVDs, but Fox cancelling it wasn't "contrary to their interests" at all. Just because people who like a show really, really like it and think it's great doesn't mean that it's making money for a network or that they might not find another property with more promise of financial reward to move that money to. The bean counters are utterly unsentimental about such shit.

I'm not sure how much of Firefly getting cancelled was actually about poor ratings, and how much was about Fox not really getting the show and how to promote it, and how much might have been about Whedon being Whedon. I get the impression he's not the best person in the world to work with.

I loved the show when I first saw it - aside from "Objects in Space", which I should've taken as a warning - but in the last few years I've avoided re-watching. The more that comes out about Whedon's RL behaviour, the harder it is not to think about certain aspects of his storytelling that would ruin my enjoyment. I'm better off enjoying it nostalgically in very soft focus.

Sometimes I think cancelling it early was the best thing that could've happened to its legacy, and I'm glad that cancellation happened before the planned gang-rape episode :-/

But even if that example doesn't work for you, there are plenty of other cases of big business making terrible choices through not understanding what their customers wanted.

 

[TxRad]

My highest rated story with sex is 4.82. My highest non-erotic is 4.79. 390 votes for the first and 203 for the second.

 

[Kumquatqueen]

I think that those who read romance books want the bodice ripping suggestion of sex, but are either too inhibited or embarrassed to want the down and dirty blow by blow (pardon the pun) description of it. Think the prime and proper Sunday school teacher type. They will allow themselves to go only so far in reading about it. Can't be caught reading smut you know!

Comshaw

I used to wonder if romances were mainly read by short people who couldn't reach the Black Lace novels on the top shelf in stations nor porn on the top shelf of dodgy newsagents.

Thrillers and bonkbusters tended to have more detail of sex but still only a few sentences of vivid imagery per 400 page book. Sidney Sheldon, Virginia Andrews, Arthur Hailey, Shirley Conran etc.

All the women I know who read 50 Shades and enjoyed it (as opposed to those forced to read it by a sadistic dom with a sense of humour, or who skimmed it until their eyes went on strike) swear it's just a fantasy wealthy-man novel, with pretty crap sex scenes and what they suspect were worse kink scenes.

Which suggests local mums are reading better porn somewhere.

 

[oggbashan]

My highest rated are in Reviews and Essays. the only other thing that comes close is a poem...

 

[Zeb_Carter]

My highest rated stories are in Sci-Fi and have no sex in them at all. It's all adventure and fighting aliens.

It's a series and one part is rated at 4.89 / 779 votes.

My highest erotic story is in erotic couplings and has a lot of sex in it.

It is also a series and one part is rated at 4.79 / 268 votes.

 

[BarracudaSwordfish]

Fifty of my fifty-two stories to date feature a lot of sex and much of it quite graphic and explicit. My top ten (rated 4.81 to 4.86) are basically all full-on. Five are currently in the all time lists for their categories.

Of the two that have little or no sex, one is middling at about 4.6 and the other, which is the first part of an 11 part series is my fourth lowest at 4.4. In it, the only sex is the main character listening to her father's girlfriend having sex through a hotel room door. All other parts of the series are more raunchy and are all red H's.

I have two similar stories with almost identical ratings, but one has 150k views and one has just reached 10k. The 10k story has more favourites. Go figure.

I tried to look for trends for a year or so then gave up and just went with what I wanted to write.

 

[jaykaythree]

Highest rated for me:
With -- 4.7
Without -- 4.74

Strangely enough, one of mine With has a 4.13. I don't know how I dropped the ball on that one. Oh well, it's just numbers; it's also my second most read, and fastest read so far.

 

[PennameWombat]

If you only write stories with sex in them, then please don't respond.

If you write stories with sex or without sex, which stories are scoring higher here on Lit?

Do you mean with so little sex in them they're in Non-Erotic? Or in other categories but with little explicit sex?

I have one of my 750 word stories I moved into Non-Erotic, after mis-categorizing it. It has low scores . That's my only story (at this point) in that category.

As has been commented elsewhere, I have a small number of stories in SF&F which have little explicit sex (as I've described them, barely 'R' rated) that are highly rated. I also have a story I moved to N&N because it has little (but some) explicit sex (but definitely 'R'). My top rated stories (sex-heavy and otherwise) are all clustered together score wise, these amongst them.