SmutHub: Real or Not?

[RavensQuill]

I think it's time to get to the bottom of this. Is it really as bad as people complain it is or not? From now on, every day, I am going to inform you all about the happenings of new releases and trending. How long will I do this? It will probably be a week or so. No promises, though. What I will focus on here is two genres: smut and harem. I have no blacklisting nor set favorites; the site is as is seen without fiddling with settings. Let's start with the latter:

Trending (Daily Top 20)
Date: 2023.August.23​

Spoiler: Top 20

• Harem: 6 out of 20 = 30%
• Smut: 2 out of 20 = 10%

Hey... that is pretty low... Oh well. Let's move on to the new books being uploaded:

Latest Series (Last 20)
Date: 2023.August.23​

Spoiler: Last 20

• Harem: 4 out of 20 = 20%
• Smut: 2 out of 20 = 10%

Again... this is not that bad. So... what's the complaint again I get to read again and again? What are you guys on about?

I admit this impromptu "research" is not rock solid. It relies on authors tagging their novels well. But if you want to complain, go ahead and do a proper one. I will keep posting and updating this every day. Let's see how it fares. If there won't be 20 new books by tomorrow, then I will cut down its numbers but still give you the correct percentage, which is what matters, IMO. For now, we are in the green, I think.

Quick Edit: People who think this is against either of the tags are simply bringing their bias into this. No, this is not against anything but only to satisfy my curiosity. To see if the complainers are right or not. Do smut and harem so prevalent that everything you click on is one of them? I am not here to tell you what to think but to show you what I see and experience so YOU can draw YOUR conclusion. Is "X%" a lot? Or is it not? It's up to you to decide. I present my findings; you make your decision. Case closed.

You can click on the dates below, and it will take you to the post from that day!

• First day: August 23
• Second day: August 24
• Third day: August 25
• Fourth day: August 26
• Fifth day: August 27
• Sixth day: August 28
• Seventh day: August 29

My conclusion after the week: Warning, weak feelings may be hurt here.

Round 2 - Checking the Latest Updates page:

• First day: August 30
• Second day: August 31
• Third day: September 1
• Fourth day: September 2
• Fifth day: September 3
• Sixth day: September 4
• Seventh day: September 5

My 2nd conclusion: Here

I'm gonna speak on this as an author, and someone who's been posting chapters to this site for nearly 3 years now.

Yes, it's a huge problem. It's not the frequency, because as much as I hate to admit it, just planning out the first few chapters of a story takes brain cells and willpower. Most don't have that.

No, the issue lies in the amount of times we see a story with low-quality or unreliable characters hit the trending page. That happens often enough for it to be a real problem. And would you like to guess what most of these stories have in common? Smut. Harems. SMUT AND HAREMS.

Someone once told me "J.R.R Tolkien couldn't make it on this site". They said that to illustrate why most original stories with worldbuilding and long plotlines don't do well here, but really, it's an indicator of how short and filthy most people prefer their fiction.

SmutHub? This is the first time I've heard that nickname used. But it definitely fits.

Edit: Also, the one time I involved sex scenes in a novel, that novel shot up to be my most popular, by a factor of about 5. And that novel has some iffy worldbuilding and plots. Don't believe me? Check out "Nexus" on my page and compare it to the other stories.

 

[Corty]

I'm gonna speak on this as an author, and someone who's been posting chapters to this site for nearly 3 years now.

Yes, it's a huge problem. It's not the frequency, because as much as I hate to admit it, just planning out the first few chapters of a story takes brain cells and willpower. Most don't have that.

No, the issue lies in the amount of times we see a story with low-quality or unreliable characters hit the trending page. That happens often enough for it to be a real problem. And would you like to guess what most of these stories have in common? Smut. Harems. SMUT AND HAREMS.

Someone once told me "J.R.R Tolkien couldn't make it on this site". They said that to illustrate why most original stories with worldbuilding and long plotlines don't do well here, but really, it's an indicator of how short and filthy most people prefer their fiction.

SmutHub? This is the first time I've heard that nickname used. But it definitely fits.

Edit: Also, the one time I involved sex scenes in a novel, that novel shot up to be my most popular, by a factor of about 5. And that novel has some iffy worldbuilding and plots. Don't believe me? Check out "Nexus" on my page and compare it to the other stories.

Sounds like projecting and being elitist.

I got into trending with my original, long novels multiple times and I have seen other unique, and well-written books are up there time after time.

 

[HungrySheep]

I'm gonna speak on this as an author, and someone who's been posting chapters to this site for nearly 3 years now.

Yes, it's a huge problem. It's not the frequency, because as much as I hate to admit it, just planning out the first few chapters of a story takes brain cells and willpower. Most don't have that.

No, the issue lies in the amount of times we see a story with low-quality or unreliable characters hit the trending page. That happens often enough for it to be a real problem. And would you like to guess what most of these stories have in common? Smut. Harems. SMUT AND HAREMS.

Someone once told me "J.R.R Tolkien couldn't make it on this site". They said that to illustrate why most original stories with worldbuilding and long plotlines don't do well here, but really, it's an indicator of how short and filthy most people prefer their fiction.

SmutHub? This is the first time I've heard that nickname used. But it definitely fits.

Edit: Also, the one time I involved sex scenes in a novel, that novel shot up to be my most popular, by a factor of about 5. And that novel has some iffy worldbuilding and plots. Don't believe me? Check out "Nexus" on my page and compare it to the other stories.

No, I'm pretty sure Tolkien could make it on this site easily if he kept the plot and changed all the protagonists to hot anime girls or something. No smut needed, just cute girls.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

I'm gonna speak on this as an author, and someone who's been posting chapters to this site for nearly 3 years now.

Yes, it's a huge problem. It's not the frequency, because as much as I hate to admit it, just planning out the first few chapters of a story takes brain cells and willpower. Most don't have that.

No, the issue lies in the amount of times we see a story with low-quality or unreliable characters hit the trending page. That happens often enough for it to be a real problem. And would you like to guess what most of these stories have in common? Smut. Harems. SMUT AND HAREMS.

Someone once told me "J.R.R Tolkien couldn't make it on this site". They said that to illustrate why most original stories with worldbuilding and long plotlines don't do well here, but really, it's an indicator of how short and filthy most people prefer their fiction.

SmutHub? This is the first time I've heard that nickname used. But it definitely fits.

Edit: Also, the one time I involved sex scenes in a novel, that novel shot up to be my most popular, by a factor of about 5. And that novel has some iffy worldbuilding and plots. Don't believe me? Check out "Nexus" on my page and compare it to the other stories.

 

[beast_regards]

Of course!
But do not fret. There is Royal Road, where mods are pure and devoid of sin, under the watchful eye of the Big Brother Google and God Emperor Bezos!

 

[RavensQuill]

A well-thought reply. How can I argue with that face xD

No, I'm pretty sure Tolkien could make it on this site easily if he kept the plot and changed all the protagonists to hot anime girls or something. No smut needed, just cute girls.

That's very true, I apologize. Cute anime girls do work as well.

 

[Bartun]

I never understood how 'trending' works and how to get more readers. I've been posting my story here since 2020 and it is still nearly invisible. I'm not complaining, I am the only one at fault for not being consistent, and I understand the genre I write isn't the most popular.

 

[Corty]

I never understood how 'trending' works and how to get more readers. I've been posting my story here since 2020 and it is still nearly invisible. I'm not complaining, I am the only one at fault for not being consistent, and I understand the genre I write isn't the most popular.

Trending is a mystery.

 

[Snake99]

I have read about this, this is a problem that exists even before wed novels, those who write lewd content have always been considered low status by writers of other genres, and they get upset when a lewd content writer is successful and popular

 

[Deleted member 84247]

I have read about this, this is a problem that exists even before wed novels, those who write lewd content have always been considered low status by other writers of other genres, and they get upset when a lewd content writer is successful and popular

It is just like they are representing envy

 

[Lysander_Works]

The ratio doesn't really matter, does it? That will change over time as well as more non-smut authors join and contribute to the site. SH is one of few remaining last bastions of hope for those who do write smut, since lots of sites more often ban anything remotely in range of adult content. However, I've seen some people a bit fed up with the manner in which filtering between them is handled, and to a degree it is understandable. I'm sure SH has some idea in mind if they really wanted to change this or determine how content shows up.
Belletristica for example handled it in an interesting manner. They dedicated an entire section of their website to smut-only content (they called it The Underworld), so that readers who wanted adult content had a central nexus to go to, where readers not wanting that simply didn't go there.

I wonder if something like that is in planning on this platform. Either way, it should still be possible to just use filters each time you search to find or avoid such material. Yap Yap

 

[tiaf]

The ratio doesn't really matter, does it? That will change over time as well as more non-smut authors join and contribute to the site. SH is one of few remaining last bastions of hope for those who do write smut, since lots of sites more often ban anything remotely in range of adult content. However, I've seen some people a bit fed up with the manner in which filtering between them is handled, and to a degree it is understandable. I'm sure SH has some idea in mind if they really wanted to change this or determine how content shows up.
Belletristica for example handled it in an interesting manner. They dedicated an entire section of their website to smut-only content (they called it The Underworld), so that readers who wanted adult content had a central nexus to go to, where readers not wanting that simply didn't go there.

I wonder if something like that is in planning on this platform. Either way, it should still be possible to just use filters each time you search to find or avoid such material. Yap Yap

I rather not have two separate sections. Tapas had it, but basically had it hidden because it was only accessible with the desktop version and you had to be logged in. This naturally had a huge impact on the views since mobile app users hsd no access to those titles unless they had added them via desktop to their library. Not surprising, they eventually nuked the mature section.

Currently the tag/genre filter take care of this issue, but it is a bit cumbersome for new users. Having a simple mature filter toggle like mangadex or deviantart would make it easier.

That aside, yes, SH is one of the few sites that have true freedom of content. Having smut and harem scattered across the site is really not that big of an issue. JUST USE THE DAMN FILTER SYSTEM.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

I rather not have two separate sections. Tapas had it, but basically had it hidden because it was only accessible with the desktop version and you had to be logged in. This naturally had a huge impact on the views since mobile app users hsd no access to those titles unless they had added them via desktop to their library. Not surprising, they eventually nuked the mature section.

Currently the tag/genre filter take care of this issue, but it is a bit cumbersome for new users. Having a simple mature filter toggle like mangadex or deviantart would make it easier.

That aside, yes, SH is one of the few sites that have true freedom of content. Having smut and harem scattered across the site is really not that big of an issue. JUST USE THE DAMN FILTER SYSTEM.

Preach fishy!

 

[Deleted member 84247]

Currently the tag/genre filter take care of this issue, but it is a bit cumbersome for new users. Having a simple mature filter toggle like mangadex or deviantart would make it easier.

You can actually exclude tags you don't want already.

JUST USE THE DAMN FILTER SYSTEM.

Damn, I am trolling.

 

[Corty]

The ratio doesn't really matter, does it? That will change over time as well as more non-smut authors join and contribute to the site. SH is one of few remaining last bastions of hope for those who do write smut, since lots of sites more often ban anything remotely in range of adult content. However, I've seen some people a bit fed up with the manner in which filtering between them is handled, and to a degree it is understandable. I'm sure SH has some idea in mind if they really wanted to change this or determine how content shows up.
Belletristica for example handled it in an interesting manner. They dedicated an entire section of their website to smut-only content (they called it The Underworld), so that readers who wanted adult content had a central nexus to go to, where readers not wanting that simply didn't go there.

I wonder if something like that is in planning on this platform. Either way, it should still be possible to just use filters each time you search to find or avoid such material. Yap Yap

People just need to put the smut tag on ignore and those novels will never appear. Easy. SH is fine as is.

 

[Piisfun]

I never understood how 'trending' works and how to get more readers. I've been posting my story here since 2020 and it is still nearly invisible. I'm not complaining, I am the only one at fault for not being consistent, and I understand the genre I write isn't the most popular.

I can actually give you a partial answer to that:

The primary metric that trending uses is spikes in reader activity above the 30-day rolling average for your story, as a percentage.
A few other metrics are probably used to smooth things out, but this is the big one.

There is two other rules:
Trending only changes once a day, at 00:00 UTC.
A series cannot be on trending two days in a row.

You would think that such a simple criteria could be easily exploited, right?
But as many authors here can attest, it is actually surprisingly resilient!

 

[AstreiaNyx]

While there are a lot of smut stories, I don’t think it’s fair to call Scribblehub ‘Smuthub’.

The general SH readers tend to be much more open to a variety of content, rather than giving a low rating to a story that simply doesn’t appeal to them. They appear to ignore stories they don’t like and move on, making it a more welcoming environment for all kinds of stories, whether alternative or not.

 

[prognastat]

I enjoy the variety that comes with this website.

I don't tend to like novels that are just smut with no real plot or characters to speak of. However I also prefer a story that isn't completely sanitised as if sex just doesn't exist in the world of the novel. Like let's be honest it's a major influence and motivation for most people between the ages of like 12 and 70. It or at least things tangentially related to it. That doesn't mean I need a graphic sex scene, but some places are so prude that even allusions to sex seem to be avoided as if everything needs to be made for kids.

Some websites are currently so puritanical that even some great fiction series that had no problem being printed would never be allowed on them if written today simply because they also happen to feature graphic content. There was a time where we all seemed to at least agree that written works should have a different standard than pictures and videos. I'm happy SH still seems to adhere to that.

 

[Deleted member 166076]

I'm gonna speak on this as an author, and someone who's been posting chapters to this site for nearly 3 years now.

Yes, it's a huge problem. It's not the frequency, because as much as I hate to admit it, just planning out the first few chapters of a story takes brain cells and willpower. Most don't have that.

No, the issue lies in the amount of times we see a story with low-quality or unreliable characters hit the trending page. That happens often enough for it to be a real problem. And would you like to guess what most of these stories have in common? Smut. Harems. SMUT AND HAREMS.

Someone once told me "J.R.R Tolkien couldn't make it on this site". They said that to illustrate why most original stories with worldbuilding and long plotlines don't do well here, but really, it's an indicator of how short and filthy most people prefer their fiction.

SmutHub? This is the first time I've heard that nickname used. But it definitely fits.

Edit: Also, the one time I involved sex scenes in a novel, that novel shot up to be my most popular, by a factor of about 5. And that novel has some iffy worldbuilding and plots. Don't believe me? Check out "Nexus" on my page and compare it to the other stories.

I posted 3x stories all on the same day all originals with system LitRPG elements and a female lead. One of them has fewer chapters than the others and is in third place popularity-wise, the one reverse harem + smut story is in second place, and the cutesy heartwarming no real romance involved dungeon story is the most popular. For the record, the third place is still barely below the second place while first place has nearly double the views of the other two. Since I devoted the same time, resources, etc. and am the same author we can assume the quality is similar across the board. My take away? Smut + Harem tags do not automatically get you more popularity. The premise of the story and the overall genre still has more of an effect on how much potential your story has than a few extra love interests or smut does.

 

[TheEldritchGod]

I posted 3x stories all on the same day all originals with system LitRPG elements and a female lead. One of them has fewer chapters than the others and is in third place popularity-wise, the one reverse harem + smut story is in second place, and the cutesy heartwarming no real romance involved dungeon story is the most popular. For the record, the third place is still barely below the second place while first place has nearly double the views of the other two. Since I devoted the same time, resources, etc. and am the same author we can assume the quality is similar across the board. My take away? Smut + Harem tags do not automatically get you more popularity. The premise of the story and the overall genre still has more of an effect on how much potential your story has than a few extra love interests or smut does.

THANK YOU for taking the time to systematically test rather than making an "educated guess" or just going with your feelings and biases.