How to get a story from Google Docs into the right format for publication?

[mul717ud35]

I've finally finished 4 more chapters for a story I started 5 years ago, and it's time for some serious proof-reading and redrafting. I've been writing in Google Docs but - although I've read the guide - I don't really understand what to do to make sure that what I'm seeing on the screen is close enough to what readers will see. Has anyone worked this riddle out? Can we use Google Docs and successfully publish from that? If so, how?

I have done some searches in the forum but most of what I found was people saying they use Google Docs but not much about the settings to use to make sure the output works for Literotica.

 

[ColtonWrites]

I copy/paste into Notepad or another plain-text editor. That should be the same as what gets posted here.

 

[Erozetta]

You should be able to save/export/download as a .docx that you can then upload to the submission form.

Be careful with copy and pasting to plain text, you'll lose any formatting if you do italics or bold or such. It can also fuck up your paragraphs and create weird line breaks in my experience.

If you copy and paste, read every line to ensure no funny business happened with your formatting.

But I find .docx uploads the easiest to submit.

 

[Bamagan]

I've finally finished 4 more chapters for a story I started 5 years ago, and it's time for some serious proof-reading and redrafting. I've been writing in Google Docs but - although I've read the guide - I don't really understand what to do to make sure that what I'm seeing on the screen is close enough to what readers will see. Has anyone worked this riddle out? Can we use Google Docs and successfully publish from that? If so, how?

I have done some searches in the forum but most of what I found was people saying they use Google Docs but not much about the settings to use to make sure the output works for Literotica.

Lit supports relatively little formatting, so if your text is just text, a simple copy and paste into the submission form is all you need to do.
If you've got italics, bold, centering or so forth, you can either replace those manually or use a search/replace tool to change the instances to the supported html coding.
If you've got lots of other types of formatting, you might be better off considering ways to tell the story without it.
The site has a preview function that (mostly) shows you what readers will see. It fails with some types of formatting, and it doesn't show where the page breaks will be (roughly every 3500 words, give or take a few hundred).

 

[mul717ud35]

Thank you so much for this.

I was hoping to use bullet points once or twice but I'm not sure this is possible so I'll rework those bits.

Understanding that Google Docs italics and bold won't transfer over makes sense but now I understand that I just need to make sure I use html coding to make sure these bits are translated correctly into italics/bold etc.

I like writing in Google Docs but would it make sense that for editing I save to docx and then use LibreWriter and at this stage I add in the HMTL codes for italics and bold and em dashes? I think they're the 3 main codes I'll need to use.

I'm trying to think about a process that makes writing easy - I like using headings in Google Docs etc - but then have a separate process for editing (worth using LibreOffice which I have installed?) to lead on this or might I as well just add the codes in Google Docs?

 

[ChloeTzang]

I write in google docs and just paste it into the submission form on Literotica.

Yiu have to do the html but I just write that into the google doc as I write. The only pain is aragraph spacing - I insert blank lines between paragraphes as the last step - in google docs.

submit and then preview to make sure you haven't screwed anything up.

It's pretty foolproof as long as you take the time to go thru the preview and check it all. Of course, once you submit and it goes live, THAT is when you spot the spelling mistakes LOL

 

[EmilyMiller]

I was hoping to use bullet points once or twice but I'm not sure this is possible so I'll rework those bits.

Bullets are supported (even nested bulleted lists):

<ol><li>This is an</li><li>ordered list</li></ol>

1. This is an
2. ordered list

<ul><li>This is an</li><li>unordered list</li></ul>

• This is an
• unordered list

 

[ColtonWrites]

Bullets are supported (even nested bulleted lists):

<ol><li>This is an</li><li>ordered list</li></ol>

1. This is an
2. ordered list

<ul><li>This is an</li><li>unordered list</li></ul>

• This is an
• unordered list

Wait I can use HTML?!

This changes everything.

If that level of HTML is supported I can export directly from Ellipsus to here. Thats so much easier!

 

[EmilyMiller]

Wait I can use HTML?!

This changes everything.

If that level of HTML is supported I can export directly from Ellipsus to here. Thats so much easier!

@FrancesScott wrote a guide. Though I think she didn’t cover bulleted lists (as above).

 

[FrancesScott]

@FrancesScott wrote a guide. Though I think she didn’t cover bulleted lists (as above).

Thank you for mentioning my essay.

 

[YmaOHyd]

I do my formatting in Word so I can handle most of it with a macro.

 

[AwkwardMD]

She said "Human Centipede is a tour de force!"
I think Holy shit, I'm gonna be the main course!

 

[TheLobster]

The only pain is aragraph spacing - I insert blank lines between paragraphes as the last step - in google docs.

Reduce the paragraph spacing in GDocs, so that you are forced to insert those extra lines as you go or everything looks too dense.

Or just, you know, write in a plain text editor if you are not using any styling anyway ;P

 

[ChloeTzang]

Reduce the paragraph spacing in GDocs, so that you are forced to insert those extra lines as you go or everything looks too dense.

Or just, you know, write in a plain text editor if you are not using any styling anyway ;P

I like google docs - I can share with my editor and with my publisher. THAT is the most useful feature to me

Used to use Word but they upgraded it with features and more features to the point where it screwed me up all the time so I switched to Google Docs

 

[Kumquatqueen]

If it's in Google Docs, and there's no special formatting needed (or you add it with a html tag), then you can just copy and paste the whole thing into the Lit submission box, and then you can preview it to check the formatting is OK.

There's often a couple extra paragraph breaks which sneak in or get lost. Direct posted submissions used to get processed faster, too.

 

[TheLobster]

I like google docs - I can share with my editor and with my publisher. THAT is the most useful feature to me

I use GDocs for sharing with beta readers, too; I just copy-paste it from my editor Perhaps it's inconvenient for rapid back-and-forth, but since I prefer self-contained rounds of feedback I'm fine doing it this way.

 

[mul717ud35]

I'm usually on Windows. Is Notepad the obvious plain text editor to use?

 

[TheLobster]

I'm usually on Windows. Is Notepad the obvious plain text editor to use?

It's obvious, but there are much better options. I personally use Ghostwriter and like it a lot.

 

[ColtonWrites]

I use GDocs for sharing with beta readers, too; I just copy-paste it from my editor Perhaps it's inconvenient for rapid back-and-forth, but since I prefer self-contained rounds of feedback I'm fine doing it this way.

I love Ellipsus for sharing with beta readers and also just for my own use - I can flip between desktop, tablet, and phone without a pause.

 

[FrancesScott]

I’ve been meaning to add a section on bulleted lists to my essay. Prompted by this thread, I’ve now done that and submitted an edit. Who knows how long that might take to get published.

 

[redgarters]

I just download from Google docs into a Word file, check that everything's in place and submit the Word doc.

 

[Voyeurkenneth]

I’ve been meaning to add a section on bulleted lists to my essay. Prompted by this thread, I’ve now done that and submitted an edit. Who knows how long that might take to get published.

Interesting. I didn’t know there was an HTML tag for bullets. I used the Unicode for a bullet and that worked as well.

 

[AwkwardMD]

I just download from Google docs into a Word file, check that everything's in place and submit the Word doc.

This.

 

[FrancesScott]

Interesting. I didn’t know there was an HTML tag for bullets. I used the Unicode for a bullet and that worked as well.

This won’t render properly here for two reasons (a. It’s copied from the Preview pane, which doesn’t render bulleted lists properly, and b. posts in the forums don’t support what you can do on the story side), but this is an approximation to the new text.

Bulleted Lists

Both ordered lists (bullets labelled 1, 2, 3, etc.) and unordered lists (bullets with a leading dot) are supported and you can nest one list (of either type) inside another.

The code for an ordered list looks like this:

<ol><li>Red</li><li>Green</li><li>Blue</li></ol>

The <ol> opens the list, the </ol> closes it. The <li>…</li> parings define each bullet. The above gives you:

1. Red
2. Green
3. Blue

There is a line break thrown after the last bulleted item, so adjust the following text to achieve the line spacing you want.

An unordered list is exactly the same, as in:

<ul><li>Red</li><li>Green</li><li>Blue</li></ul>

The <ul> opens the list, the </ul> closes it. The above gives you:

• Red
• Green
• Blue

To nest one list inside another you can use:

<ol><li>Colors<ul><li>Red</li><li>Green</li><li>Blue</li></ul></li><li>Shapes<ul><li>Triangle</li><li>Square</li><li>Pentagon</li></ul></li></ol>

The above gives you:

1. Colors
   • Red
   • Green
   • Blue
2. Shapes
   • Triangle
   • Square
   • Pentagon

I realize that this can get rather complicated, and preview doesn’t render the indents, so please double check your code before submitting.