Looking for advice - MC's gender.

[Arkares]

Title. For context, I am close to releasing a story I've been working on for quite a while. A mixture of harem/smut and dungeon delving. The thing is, that even this far in, I am not sure which gender would be best for my MC. So far I've written him as a 'he' since that seems to be the norm.

I write characters before I write genders, so changing genders is not an issue - character works perfectly either way - just a bit time-consuming. I was wondering which one of them (Male MC, female MC, futa MC) has the biggest possibility of being a hit. I understand the basic pros and cons., and for the record, I want to write stories with all of them, so writing what I want it's not the issue here lmao

Male MC - biggest market share, easy marketability, can post in a lot of places and sell on Amazon, but way more saturated
Female MC - extremely popular here since girls' love is a thing, but not so much elsewhere. Way harder to market, still can be posted in a lot of places, would most likely flop on amazon. Less saturated tho.
Futa MC - extremely niche, but way less saturated and easier to get your name around. Too much of a fetish to post in stuff like Royalroad or amazon

So yeah, just having doubts. For the record, I do want to make a living out of this eventually, if that affects anything. Hoping some more established authors can give me some advice on which one is best. Thank you in advance if you do.

 

[Kalliel]

First thing first, I'm quite skeptical about how your character works with either gender, but that's not the question.
Second, the tag itself is not too much of a fetish to post on RR, I posted, worked just fine. It's not popular on there, but it works.
And finally, for the question, I think either female or futa works better, based on what I've seen. I might be biased because my MCs are all females.

 

[SailusGebel]

How much do you plan to earn? This also matters.

 

[CarburetorThompson]

Why not just choose all options and make it a gender bender story? Those always do pretty well oh SH

 

[Rhaps]

flip a coin to decide, thats how I did it.

 

[Kamelingil]

Female and Male MC is good and average.

Just decide what's the gender of your mc is gonna be but don't just make a FUTA gender because it's for... You know? A little too weird, and also trap gender

 

[DemonOppai]

We don’t need more female mc’s. We have so much. So much girls love…. So much….. haha

 

[Corty]

If your decision about your MC's gender and the whole story's structure comes down to market shares and profitability and not to what makes the story work, you are lost beyond help.

 

[Roseofblades]

If your MC is as fluid as you claim, I would try writing multiple variations. It's easy enough to copy and paste everything, then just Find/Replace everything with the different names and pronouns. If you choose a name that is more non-binary you wouldn't even have to change it. So, write everything with the MC being a guy, read through it, see if you like it. Then make another version where the MC is a girl... and do the same thing. If you're worried about appealing to a specific audience just release whichever version you think would do better on there.

Now, all that said, I will say that I do find it highly unlikely that your character is as fluid as you claim. When we write a character, we unintentionally put our own biases on how they would act, how they would think, and how they would feel. Gender plays a tremendous part in that. Unless you have specifically aimed to make the character as gender fluid as possible, your character will probably be more likely to be written as whichever gender you had in mind for them when you wrote stuff.

There's a reason I only write female main characters. I have zero idea how men think... so all my characters are implicitly going to be more feminine without me even meaning to.

If you truly want to be able to switch it at a whim, go back through your writing and make sure that everything is as fluid as you claim.

We don’t need more female mc’s. We have so much. So much girls love…. So much….. haha

No such thing as too much girls love

 

[APieceOfRock]

flip a coin to decide, thats how I did it.

It'll be futa when the coin lands vertically

 

[Akaichi]

I advice the exact opposite, if you novel works either way, just don't reveal the gender!
I think this is the best choice.

 

[Arkares]

If your decision about your MC's gender and the whole story's structure comes down to market shares and profitability and not to what makes the story work, you are lost beyond help.

First thing first, I'm quite skeptical about how your character works with either gender, but that's not the question.
Second, the tag itself is not too much of a fetish to post on RR, I posted, worked just fine. It's not popular on there, but it works.
And finally, for the question, I think either female or futa works better, based on what I've seen. I might be biased because my MCs are all females.

If your MC is as fluid as you claim, I would try writing multiple variations. It's easy enough to copy and paste everything, then just Find/Replace everything with the different names and pronouns. If you choose a name that is more non-binary you wouldn't even have to change it. So, write everything with the MC being a guy, read through it, see if you like it. Then make another version where the MC is a girl... and do the same thing. If you're worried about appealing to a specific audience just release whichever version you think would do better on there.

Now, all that said, I will say that I do find it highly unlikely that your character is as fluid as you claim. When we write a character, we unintentionally put our own biases on how they would act, how they would think, and how they would feel. Gender plays a tremendous part in that. Unless you have specifically aimed to make the character as gender fluid as possible, your character will probably be more likely to be written as whichever gender you had in mind for them when you wrote stuff.

There's a reason I only write female main characters. I have zero idea how men think... so all my characters are implicitly going to be more feminine without me even meaning to.

If you truly want to be able to switch it at a whim, go back through your writing and make sure that everything is as fluid as you claim.

No such thing as too much girls love

I should have probably worded it better. Is not as easy as a he/she switch, obviously, nor do I tend it to be. Some passages will change, as well as scenes and dialogue. However, the main motivations and decisions of the MC will not change. Obviously the details will change depending if it is seen though the lenses of a male or female mc. But what I am trying to say is that since the conflicts, motivations and arc of the MC are not gender related, it is not an impossible switch to make, and that said switch will not change any of the story/plot elements already written. I'm just trying to make the best of what I already have.

How much do you plan to earn? This also matters.

Just enough to make a living, honestly

 

[APieceOfRock]

I should have probably worded it better. Is not as easy as a he/she switch, obviously, nor do I tend it to be

Imma just put it here. Replacing he/she is easy. It's a nightmare to replace his/him and her.

 

[Arkares]

Imma just put it here. Replacing he/she is easy. It's a nightmare to replace his/him and her.

Yeah, I'm probably gonna die a few times doing the rewrite lmao

 

[SailusGebel]

Just enough to make a living, honestly

Bruh. How much is enough for you? 1 thousand $? 2 thousands $? 3 thousands$ ? 10 thousands $? The thing is, if it's between 1 or 2 thousands, you can try making your MC female or futa, and rely on SH and some other sites. But if you want to earn more, it stops being about gender. Your whole story should be different, and you should first and foremost cater to RR audience, and rely on RR and Amazon.

P.S. This is a simplified explanation.

 

[Arkares]

Bruh. How much is enough for you? 1 thousand $? 2 thousands $? 3 thousands$ ? 10 thousands $? The thing is, if it's between 1 or 2 thousands, you can try making your MC female or futa, and rely on SH and some other sites. But if you want to earn more, it stops being about gender. Your whole story should be different, and you should first and foremost cater to RR audience, and rely on RR and Amazon.

P.S. This is a simplified explanation.

Then it seems like I can do either. Between 1-2k works where I live. Thank you btw

 

[Sergeandgreen]

I think you ahould choose the gender you can write the best. I mean, as a male i can easily write a romance story with a male mc because i can relate to that character better. While its not necessarily a requirement to have the same gender as the mc you write it certainly helps if this is your first novel.
I think the same is true for the readers. I think the only reason girls love stories are so popular are because men can understand how loving a woman is like. It makes the character relateable. And as far as iknow SH has a overwhelmingly male reader base.

On the other hand, i think you should just focus on writing a good story instead of trying to earn money. It will only cause the story to suffer. So in that case i would agree with @Corty.

Ps.: genderbender stories are weird and in most cases the gender bender tag keeps me from reading it. But that is just my personal opinion.

 

[HelloHound]

if you go with a girl do not effin make it a genderbent story

 

[Anon2024]

Futa does better here than male MC.
Gender bent girls love does well for smut as well.

 

[MatchaChocolate69]

Option 4, Male MC with female genitals.
That's pretty rare in novels.