Has Literotica been used as the "free" part of a freemium way of sharing erotica?

DevinRush

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Has Literotica been used as the "free" part of a freemium way of sharing erotica?

I've stumbled upon Literotica over the years and read stories here and there. Now that I see how much community is here, I guess I wish I'd signed up for an account a long time ago. As it is, I only just recently considered sharing the erotic fiction I've written, and I only just signed up today.

I have a multi-part series of stories that could easily turn into the equivalent of an entire short novel if I ever finish it. I'm deciding how much to share with people and how/where to do it.

I have a couple of questions not really addressed in the FAQ...

1.
Have people used Literotica to share two or three select chapters of an erotic novel, then made the full novel available for purchase at some other place? I don't see any reason why someone couldn't do that. There's a policy that stories shouldn't contain hyperlinks, but authors' biographies can. Has anyone done this, and have they found it to be a successful way to share their erotic fiction?

What do I mean by "successful"?
Successful could include just posting for free on Literotica and enjoying whatever feedback you receive.
Successful could also include selling erotic fiction online and making a small but measureable amount of money each month.
Successful, for me, would not include going to all the hassle of putting your fiction behind a paywall and then having three people buy it in ten years.

Please note: I respect the community aspect of Literotica. I do NOT consider my work to be better than that of the many people here who have made their good work available for free. I just want to know what precedent there is and what options there are.

2.
I haven't seen Literotica stories in which there are illustrations placed within stories (in the style of Six Times a Day http://six.clubetchi.com/6td/part-001). Is there a way of doing that here? I'm guessing not, but let me know if I'm wrong.
 
1: Yes it can be done and has been done but the result were not good when people (readers and the management) figured it out.

Your first two options under successful is done by many here.

2: I do believe there is an Illustrated story section. I haven't used it. I have used the stories with audio.
 
1.
Have people used Literotica to share two or three select chapters of an erotic novel, then made the full novel available for purchase at some other place? I don't see any reason why someone couldn't do that.

It's been done, but deliberately posting an incomplete story with no intention of completing it here is kinda sleazy and your story is likely to get taken down here if any of the readers here report that you've done it.

There's a policy that stories shouldn't contain hyperlinks, but authors' biographies can. Has anyone done this, and have they found it to be a successful way to share their erotic fiction?

Depends what your standards for "successful" are, but I've certainly sold a few stories this way. I post them free on Literotica, make them available on Smashwords for a few dollars, and Lit readers who feel like tipping me or want something formatted for an e-reader occasionally buy 'em.

What do I mean by "successful"?
Successful could include just posting for free on Literotica and enjoying whatever feedback you receive.
Successful could also include selling erotic fiction online and making a small but measureable amount of money each month.
Successful, for me, would not include going to all the hassle of putting your fiction behind a paywall and then having three people buy it in ten years.

FWIW, I've had about 50 sales on Smashwords in the last four years. That's with zero work on promoting them beyond making a cover and writing blurbs, and with only four stories published in that time. Authors who write faster and put more into promotion would presumably do better.

2.
I haven't seen Literotica stories in which there are illustrations placed within stories (in the style of Six Times a Day http://six.clubetchi.com/6td/part-001). Is there a way of doing that here? I'm guessing not, but let me know if I'm wrong.

https://www.literotica.com/faq/05238710.shtml#06028542
 
As TxRad notes, if you do your 1 (ie: post teaser chapters to get a following and then say, "right, you can now pay to see the rest of it") you won't be popular. It's basically spam, which is a site no-no. Readers will likely vote it down and flame you.

"Successful" - what the others say.

Illustrations - yes, you can do this, the limitation is the story defaults to the "Illustrated" category rather than a targeted content category.
 
Follow up question on the illustrated part.

I’m not artist and don’t have anyone to model for me. Can you use publicly available pictures from google images in your story? I assume no, but was wondering.

I would love to write a collection of short stories that start with a picture and then tell what’s going on. I believe there was a thread in the writers challenges area about this.
 
Follow up question on the illustrated part.

I’m not artist and don’t have anyone to model for me. Can you use publicly available pictures from google images in your story? I assume no, but was wondering.

I would love to write a collection of short stories that start with a picture and then tell what’s going on. I believe there was a thread in the writers challenges area about this.

You must have the copyright on any photos or drawings from the way I understand it.
 
You must have the copyright on any photos or drawings from the way I understand it.

"You must have a legal right from the copyright owner to post any images - i.e. photographs/drawings that you yourself created and/or have a license or other permission to post."

By my reading, that would cover cases where the owner has released the image for public use, and some of the more generous Creative Commons licenses (although certain attribution requirements may clash with the "no URLs/advertising" rule).

Finding erotica available under those licenses is another matter...
 
It's been done, but deliberately posting an incomplete story with no intention of completing it here is kinda sleazy and your story is likely to get taken down here if any of the readers here report that you've done it.

Depends what your standards for "successful" are, but I've certainly sold a few stories this way. I post them free on Literotica, make them available on Smashwords for a few dollars, and Lit readers who feel like tipping me or want something formatted for an e-reader occasionally buy 'em.

Hi TxRad, Bramblethorn, and ElectricBlue. Thanks for your advice.

Bramblethorn, I like the idea you suggested -- of just posting all my stuff on Literotica for free, while leaving open the option of publishing an e-book later that has the same content. The e-book could be a way of "tipping," as you say.

Additionally, since I like the idea of adding illustrations to my stories but I also know that is a lot of work that I may never get around to doing (I am a better writer than I am an illustrator), I like the idea of sharing my stuff for free now, with the option of possibly putting together some illustrations later for a published e-book.


Okay, so I was wrong about this not being in the FAQ. I think I must have noticed the illustrated category at one point in the past, but I completely forgot about it. Thanks.
 
I do it the other way around. I publish to the marketplace and at some time in the future post it for free use. That way it's established who published it first.
 
I do it the other way around. I publish to the marketplace and at some time in the future post it for free use. That way it's established who published it first.

FWIW, I'm pretty sure Pilot's approach makes more money per book than mine does, and if you're looking to approach writing as a business it's probably a better example to follow.

The reason I've taken a different approach is based on my personal circumstances. I need a relaxing hobby more than I need a third job, so for me it's better if I don't treat writing as a business. I enjoy the non-paying readers here on Literotica, and on the occasions when somebody does go buy a copy I think of that as a bonus. It's what works for me; other people's mileage may vary considerably.
 
I don't treat writing as a business. My publishers probably do, but that would be their problem. I write what I want to write as a retirement activity. If it makes money, that's just a bonus. I would write it anyway if it didn't. My method of publishing to the marketplace first probably comes from working in the industry and having drilled into me that if you give it away for free to begin with, that's what you've valued it at--zero. Some place like Amazon certainly wouldn't let you publish through them if they knew you had given it away for free to begin with. (That's what courts will value it at too if you make it to a court with something you started off publishing for free--so you can forget protection your proprietary rights from the get go.)
 
I've stumbled upon Literotica over the years and read stories here and there. Now that I see how much community is here, I guess I wish I'd signed up for an account a long time ago. As it is, I only just recently considered sharing the erotic fiction I've written, and I only just signed up today.

I have a multi-part series of stories that could easily turn into the equivalent of an entire short novel if I ever finish it. I'm deciding how much to share with people and how/where to do it.
:
Are you asking "Is publishing stuff on Literotica a great way to start my career as a writer?" If so, then the answer is no. Very few writers have parlayed their success on Literotica into a writing career. But then again, I don't know of any better way of starting a writing career.

My advice is to publish on Literotica with the assumption that you'll never receive financial benefit from your writing.
 
Freemium: the first taste is free, but for the premium content you have to pay.

A time-honored practice among dope pushers for generations. Also used by CBS for it's new Star Trek: Discovery television series.
 
A time-honored practice among dope pushers for generations. Also used by CBS for it's new Star Trek: Discovery television series.

It's especially noxious in the world of social computer games. Back when I was a kid, software companies would release demo versions - you could try out a few levels of a game for free, and then if you wanted to keep going you had to pay maybe $50 to get the full version, or some fixed-rate monthly subscription.

But the newer stuff doesn't have that hard boundary between demo and paid. You can do everything for free, in theory... but it's designed so the difficulty starts ramping up, and it gets more and more attractive to spend maybe a dollar on a one-time boost to make it easier. It doesn't feel like cheating because people know they could do it without the help, it's just saving them a little time.

Then the difficulty gets harder and they want a few more boosts, and those dollars really start adding up. Some people end up spending hundreds or thousands a month: https://venturebeat.com/2013/03/14/whales-and-why-social-gamers-are-just-gamers/
 
I've stumbled upon Literotica over the years and read stories here and there. Now that I see how much community is here, I guess I wish I'd signed up for an account a long time ago. As it is, I only just recently considered sharing the erotic fiction I've written, and I only just signed up today.

I have a multi-part series of stories that could easily turn into the equivalent of an entire short novel if I ever finish it. I'm deciding how much to share with people and how/where to do it.

I have a couple of questions not really addressed in the FAQ...

1.
Have people used Literotica to share two or three select chapters of an erotic novel, then made the full novel available for purchase at some other place? I don't see any reason why someone couldn't do that. There's a policy that stories shouldn't contain hyperlinks, but authors' biographies can. Has anyone done this, and have they found it to be a successful way to share their erotic fiction?

What do I mean by "successful"?
Successful could include just posting for free on Literotica and enjoying whatever feedback you receive.
Successful could also include selling erotic fiction online and making a small but measureable amount of money each month.
Successful, for me, would not include going to all the hassle of putting your fiction behind a paywall and then having three people buy it in ten years.

It's worth remembering that not every potential reader of erotic fiction reads Literotica. There are a great many people out there who enjoy erotica and only read what they can purchase on Amazon or Smashwords or other e-reader based sites.

Putting a novel or partwork for free (entirely) on Literotica and then putting it on Amazon, Smashwords etc. (or vice versa) isn't going to mean nobody will buy your book because they can get it for free - the only demographic you are potentially excluding from buying your work are people who both buy erotica and browse Literotica. If you imagine it as a Venn diagram, the majority of potential readers are probably in one or the other circle, with only a smaller portion coming into both.

So I personally don't see publishing here as something which might hurt potential sales, unless you are a stalwart believer in never giving anyone anything for free and want your work only to be made available if people are willing to compensate you financially, in which case, why share it on Literotica at all? Just publish for e-reader and work hard on marketing it and getting it out there to paying readers and don't rely on a site like Lit to do your marketing for you.

I have seen authors who publish stories here (in their entirety) and then sell them as well and it doesn't seem to have hurt them too much to do that. DH Jonathan's 'The "Volunteer"' seems to be doing alright on Amazon and even in bookshops in spite of the fact that it was originally available for free in its entirety here for several years.

I suppose if you wanted to draw freebie readers into becoming paying readers you could emphasise a difference between a paid-for work and its free equivalent - for example, posting a work here first and then re-working it, perhaps expanding it (adding more chapters, or improving what is already here) before making available on Amazon and Smashwords. That way, readers who enjoyed the work for free might feel willing to spend a couple of bucks because they are getting a bit more, but those who just read the story here don't feel cheated or forced into paying just to find out what happens.

Or you could post as a partwork on a regular schedule here, and publish on Amazon/Smashwords a little way into that? That way, Lit readers know they will get the story without being forced to pay, provided they are patient, but those who can't wait and want to read the ending before you get it on here can buy the book to do so. That's slightly better for the audience than putting 3 chapters here and then saying "the only way to find out how this ends is to pay me".
 
Amazon is known to check for "copywriter" issues, to "protect the actual author", pulling any material they find appearing in whole or in part on other sites until the issue can be cleared up. So, posting a part of your work here can cause you problems on Amazon.
 
Amazon is known to check for "copywriter" issues, to "protect the actual author", pulling any material they find appearing in whole or in part on other sites until the issue can be cleared up. So, posting a part of your work here can cause you problems on Amazon.

I think "check for" is going too far. Amazon reacts to challenges given them--and then in only a very narrow way. If a couple of authors point out specific works by an "author" belong to them or already were published to Amazon by someone else, Amazon will maybe pull those but it will leave 45 other obviously stolen works by the thief on Amazon.
 
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