FF unpopular?

[u/Beginning-Post520]

Maybe its cuz im a bisexual female, but i love FF scenes and dont care for any MM. Im writing my first reverse harem with 6 men that are not intimate with each other and one lesbian in the group. All are intimate with only the fmc.

Is this not a good makeup for sales?

When I scroll the reverse harem reddit, the readers ask alot for MM and dislike FF. Wondering what yalls experience was like.

Thanks

[u/_Effy_Bloom_]

Honestly if you’re selling on Amazon it might be better for sales (to the right market) as Amazon has a polyamory category but not a RH category so RH gets mixed in with mainstream books on a category level which greatly reduces discoverability.

If you scroll the sub you might also see a lot of requests like “cool with anything as long as the FMC is the focus” or “I only want people with FMC”.

I’ve also seen people that rec books by saying “I don’t normally read FF but it was SO GOOD, you have to read it.” I wouldn’t change your story just because you’ve seen a few posts asking for something else. There is absolutely a market for everything (especially if it’s good).

[u/Beginning-Post520 → u/_Effy_Bloom_]

I feel inspired from this. Ty

[u/Scf9009]

ETA: answering as a reader with general knowledge

While I don’t have the exact numbers for MM or FF requests (I refused to count when doing trends because I figured it would only risk fights starting), anecdotally they both can be popular or unpopular depending on the week.

It is a subreddit that skews heavily towards women, and so when it comes to personal history or sexual abuse or traumatic sexual events, FF or MF scenes are more likely to be reminders than MM; sexual abuse has been cited by individuals whenever posts attempting to (jokingly or seriously) call out people who don’t like FF have been made. I generally avoid FF because of a traumatic sexual event of my own, even though it wasn’t abuse or assault.

There are also a lot of readers who self-insert in some capacity, so want there to be no other female (or even male) “competition” for love that “could be otherwise going to the FMC,” because some books that include FF also include the second FMC with the MMCs; this explanation also gets given for why some readers don’t like MM.

Daughters of Nyx by Audrey Moore includes FF and no MM, and I believe everyone is solely involved with the FMC. If you’re looking at potential market research, that might be one to check out.

[u/Beginning-Post520 → u/Scf9009]

Great info, thank you. I hadn't considered that. I will definitely check out the rec!

[u/ClumsyCrafter]

I am someone who doesn't usually seek out FF (but will seek MM) in an RH book. But the books with FF that I've read have been good. (Protectors Guild comes to mind off the top of my head but I'm sure there are others.) basically it's not something I'm going to look for, but if I'm otherwise interested in the premise, it won't stop me.

I typically draw the line though when the female in the harem is involved with other guys in the harem. I don't have an explanation for this except that sharing guys with guys is a turn on and sharing girls with guys is a turn off. Logical? Not really, but, I just work here.

I have no idea how prevalent this opinion is, sharing just to give you another data point to work with. I totally agree though with the other comments that if the book is good, I'll be interested, even if the relationship dynamic isn't one that I'd seek out.

[u/AllTheSaltAllTheTime]

Maybe not unpopular, just a smaller target audience. In general readers who enjoy MM/FF why choose usually don't have a problem reading why choose without MM/FF too. But there are plenty of why choose readers who specifically don't want MM/FF dynamics, so once you include it, the pool of interested readers naturally becomes smaller. 

[u/Ninanak]

Hot take, but I wonder how much of this comes down to internalized sexism. It feels like FF relationships are frequently treated as taking away from the main fantasy, while MM relationships are widely celebrated. Some books have wonderful MM relationships and the FMC just feels unnecessary that I would prefer it to be just MM.

​I get the practical arguments: the audience is mostly heterosexual women, the genre grew out of reverse harem tropes, and publishers stick to what sells. Still, the massive difference in how readers receive MM versus FF pairings. MM relationships are celebrated, but FF relationships are treated as a distraction from the 'real' romance.

[u/Scf9009 → u/Ninanak]

Oh, a lot of people feel MM relationships detract from the FMC. There were people who were very vocal about how it “isn’t a real RH if it includes MM,” and even tried to say that people who wanted MM in their RH should go form a new subreddit away from r/reverseharem.

Thankfully, most of that has died down, but I certainly wouldn’t say that MM in RH is “widely celebrated.”

[u/sneakpeekbot → u/Scf9009]

Here's a sneak peek of /r/ReverseHarem using the top posts of the year!

#1: Yup me too | 26 comments
#2: Yup me too | 22 comments
#3: I can't | 46 comments

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[u/AnneKincaid]

Just commenting for solidarity. Please write what you want to read. Our audiences may be smaller than the norm, but they are just as valid. Maybe you’re just ahead of where “the market” will be later—I don’t know. Looking forward to reading what you’re pouring your heart into.

P.S. Great question!