The policy on referencing Ebooks.

[SisterJezabel]

I haven't read through all of this- I didn't even get through the first post, but I follow quite a few authors and am always getting notifications that they have changed their profile and when I look at their profile they are usually advertising their latest ebook or published story or when something is happening. Surely this is how some people are getting around the 'rules.'

 

[yibala2]

Because, and I can't believe I have to point this out, the number of people who are in the forum is a fraction of the number of people who hit the front end for a quick fix of a story.

I can't believe I have to point this out, but your author profile is on the main site, not the forum. And even if you choose not to place links there, any interested reader can freely contact you and ask for them. Which undermines your theory that Lit is trying to prevent you from selling books. What number of people hit the front end of free stories looking for links to buy books?

And you ignored my question about monopoly. What precise market do you believe Lit has a monopoly in?

-Yib

 

[yibala2]

My comment wasn't about that kind of ad, though - I was talking there about the banner ads that the site runs, the cam shows etc. I have to think the revenue on those is tiny.

Oh, I see. No, I also have never tried those.

-Yib

 

[TxRad]

So yeah.

I know a number of high profile writers who have left Lit-Erotica over this policy, since once you reach a certain level of competency, you start to want to get paid for the effort.

I've been here about eight years longer than you so...

One of the main authors back in the day left to start her own e-publishing company and a few of the top authors went with her. Most if not all of them still have stories here on Lit.

Three authors presently posting stories to Lit also publish in the mainstream and in e-books.

So who are these high profile writers you are referring to?

Like the saying goes, if ya don't like the rules, go somewhere else. Bitching here at us will have no effect one way or the other and you know it. This site is privately owned and the lady who sets the rules wins.

Your argument about a monopoly doesn't hold water. There are plenty of other sites for you to go to. Oh wait, they don't allow advertising your off site for pay stuff either.

I apologize to any dead horses harmed by this post.

 

[Bramblethorn]

You think you know better than an entertainment lawyer who charges $550 an hour?

Yeah, I think I'll take his advice over yours.

oh dear.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I haven't read through all of this- I didn't even get through the first post, but I follow quite a few authors and am always getting notifications that they have changed their profile and when I look at their profile they are usually advertising their latest ebook or published story or when something is happening. Surely this is how some people are getting around the 'rules.'

That's not getting around rules, because it's allowed.

 

[KeithD]

You think you know better than an entertainment lawyer who charges $550 an hour?

Yeah, I think I'll take his advice over yours.

Please don't tell us that you were naive enough to consult a $550-hour entertainment lawyer on erotica e-book publishing.

 

[ChloeTzang]

I've been here about eight years longer than you so...

One of the main authors back in the day left to start her own e-publishing company and a few of the top authors went with her. Most if not all of them still have stories here on Lit.

Three authors presently posting stories to Lit also publish in the mainstream and in e-books.

So who are these high profile writers you are referring to?

Like the saying goes, if ya don't like the rules, go somewhere else. Bitching here at us will have no effect one way or the other and you know it. This site is privately owned and the lady who sets the rules wins.

Your argument about a monopoly doesn't hold water. There are plenty of other sites for you to go to. Oh wait, they don't allow advertising your off site for pay stuff either.

I apologize to any dead horses harmed by this post.

Let me beat it a little more. I have a couple of things published as ebooks and I do see my Literotica profile drives some traffic that way - I get emails from readers who’ve bought my books telling me. Readers who like your stories to want more will search you out and find you if they like your writing enough. I get that all the time and I make the effort to pint readers who contact me to my Facebook page. I don’t do any real marketing or self promotion but I have a lot of fun, because I’m not trying to make a living from this. Who knows, at some point I might, and I’ll be grateful to Literotica for giving me a place to learn to write, but they don’t owe me anything at all and I don’t expect them to help me. Laurel runs thi site the way she wants to, and I respect that.

Now if you look at Wattpad, they have a different approach. They allow links and they allow an author to promote themselves in their profile but in general it’s much the same as Literotica. And they’re way bigger with way more users. So I don’t see anything wrong with Literotica’s approach to this. You’re not going to drive sales or traffic from Literotica beyond what you’re getting. The real answer is just to write well enough that readers will want to read more eagerly enough to go looking. That’s it in a nutshell and Literotica allowings links in your stories isn’t going to make any difference to that.

 

[KeithD]

When I have readers ask me where they can find more stories of mine that are in a series like the Sam Winterberry one (I have several such series running), if they are available for a free read somewhere, even if also in the marketplace, I reference them to the free read version (as I did here with Sam Winterberry). I do mention the names they can find my works under in the marketplace too, but I index the free read whenever possible. The more thoughtful ones then go buy books as well. There isn't a significant amount of money to be made on erotica e-books. Making money isn't why I write and publish.