themightyxloph
Mighty Cool Dude
- Joined
- Aug 28, 2013
- Posts
- 28
I have decided to stop publishing on Literotica, effective immediately.
This was not an easy decision, especially since it means that a squel in series I started now won't appear here. But I've had enough.
I am sick and tired of the way Literotica treats its authors, which over the years has gone from firm-but-reasonable to arrogant to downright Kafkaesque.
I have been publishing here for more than twelve years. I've submitted 34 stories, one of which has a 4.6 star rating, the rest all 4.7. and 4.8+. During that time I've had only one story being rejected upon publication, for reasons that were made clear at the time, and the corrected version was accepted upon resubmission. However, in recent years I've had stories being taken down several times, months or even years after they had been accepted and published. In all cases the cited reason was a generic violation of Lit's publication policies causing the story to be 'sent back'.
It appears that whenever anyone (literally anyone) clicks the 'report submission' option, that story is automatically taken down. Just like that. The author isn't notified; he/she has to stumble across the problem by accident, or by checking on a weekly basis to see if all submitted stories are still online! The reasons given for the rejections (if any reasons are given at all) are so brief as to be useless; an author has to go through the story, guess at what might be the offending plot element / passage / sentence / word (any is possible), make changes, and hope for the best.
Then the revised story has to be entered as a new submission, which typically takes 5-10 days to be processed. All ratings, comments etc. associated with the previously published version are gone. Meanwhile Literotica staff will not respond to questions, requests for clarification or other enquiries, nor will they provide any insight as to what the problem is this time.
I understand Lit has to have policies on goes and what does not. It's their website; they get to decide. That's fine. And legally, the buck stops with them, so they have to cover their asses. I get that. I also understand that sometimes policies have to be updated. That's life. Even the fact that this happens without any notice and that authors have to check for themselves every time there's a day in the week is something I could live with.
But here's the thing. The owners/operators run Literotica for a living. They derive revenue from it. They need good content to do that, and authors provide that content free of charge, for no other reward than the satisfaction of sharing their stories with others. That's cool, but when people work for a pat on the back, don't repeatedly kick them in the nuts instead.
Writing good stories can be hard work, and Literotica makes good money off their authors' submissions. Yet they treat their authors as if they're a nuisance, and they act as if publishing on Lit is a privilege that gives them the right to slap down everyone who doesn't toe the line, even when that line changes without any notice, warning or feedback.
There have to be rules. I get that. But if you want to continue to make a living off free submissions, at least treat your authors like they mean something and don't be a PITA when they try to give you the free content that is your bread and butter.
So I'm calling it a day. Too bad. It's been fun. Or rather, it used to be.
This was not an easy decision, especially since it means that a squel in series I started now won't appear here. But I've had enough.
I am sick and tired of the way Literotica treats its authors, which over the years has gone from firm-but-reasonable to arrogant to downright Kafkaesque.
I have been publishing here for more than twelve years. I've submitted 34 stories, one of which has a 4.6 star rating, the rest all 4.7. and 4.8+. During that time I've had only one story being rejected upon publication, for reasons that were made clear at the time, and the corrected version was accepted upon resubmission. However, in recent years I've had stories being taken down several times, months or even years after they had been accepted and published. In all cases the cited reason was a generic violation of Lit's publication policies causing the story to be 'sent back'.
It appears that whenever anyone (literally anyone) clicks the 'report submission' option, that story is automatically taken down. Just like that. The author isn't notified; he/she has to stumble across the problem by accident, or by checking on a weekly basis to see if all submitted stories are still online! The reasons given for the rejections (if any reasons are given at all) are so brief as to be useless; an author has to go through the story, guess at what might be the offending plot element / passage / sentence / word (any is possible), make changes, and hope for the best.
Then the revised story has to be entered as a new submission, which typically takes 5-10 days to be processed. All ratings, comments etc. associated with the previously published version are gone. Meanwhile Literotica staff will not respond to questions, requests for clarification or other enquiries, nor will they provide any insight as to what the problem is this time.
I understand Lit has to have policies on goes and what does not. It's their website; they get to decide. That's fine. And legally, the buck stops with them, so they have to cover their asses. I get that. I also understand that sometimes policies have to be updated. That's life. Even the fact that this happens without any notice and that authors have to check for themselves every time there's a day in the week is something I could live with.
But here's the thing. The owners/operators run Literotica for a living. They derive revenue from it. They need good content to do that, and authors provide that content free of charge, for no other reward than the satisfaction of sharing their stories with others. That's cool, but when people work for a pat on the back, don't repeatedly kick them in the nuts instead.
Writing good stories can be hard work, and Literotica makes good money off their authors' submissions. Yet they treat their authors as if they're a nuisance, and they act as if publishing on Lit is a privilege that gives them the right to slap down everyone who doesn't toe the line, even when that line changes without any notice, warning or feedback.
There have to be rules. I get that. But if you want to continue to make a living off free submissions, at least treat your authors like they mean something and don't be a PITA when they try to give you the free content that is your bread and butter.
So I'm calling it a day. Too bad. It's been fun. Or rather, it used to be.
