gwern comments on Post ridiculous munchkin ideas! - Less Wrong

55 Post author: D_Malik 15 May 2013 10:27PM

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Comment author: gwern 10 May 2013 09:32:46PM 11 points [-]

Why I think this will work: A while ago I posted a romantic/erotic story to Reddit (which is 3/4 male). I hadn't seen the fantasy represented in any romance/erotica I'd ever read, so I figured I was alone in desiring it. Imagine my surprise when two women sent me unsolicited PM's asking me to role-play.

But on the other hand, writers are routinely surprised by the audiences their material finds - and don't find. So you need some way of evaluating your current audience to see if your ideal mate is actually likely to be in it, or if your cute pony show turned out to have many nerdy male fans instead...

Comment author: Omid 10 May 2013 09:47:05PM *  4 points [-]

I think most MLP fans are in the intended demographic. Teenage male fans are simply more salient than grade-school female fans.

Comment author: gwern 11 May 2013 12:54:07AM 3 points [-]

If nothing else, the 'unexpected' fans are reducing your yield and may be driving out potential matches.

(If you were into little girls, would you be happy or unhappy about bronies? If you wanted money, maybe happy, if chicks maybe unhappy because on the margin, little girls may be skeeved out by bronies and not become regular readers. You know what, I should've chosen a better example for this topic than MLP.)