How do you publish a chapter at a time

[SmallTownScandals]

My first submission was rejected as a "partial"
It was the first chapter in a series.
Others have published chap1, then chap 2 a few days later, then chap 3, etc.
How did they do that without having the chapters rejected as "partials"

 

[RejectReality]

Did you title it as "My Title Ch. 01"?

That's the only thing I can think of.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

What? You didn't like the answers in your other thread about this?

Title Ch. 01
Title Ch. 02

Unless your going to have more than 100 chapters, the use 2 zeros and a whole number.

It's not hard, it goes in the title field in the submission form.

 

[Hypoxia]

OR: Write each chapter as a standalone, with a recapitulation up front and a cliffhanger or teaser ending. Example:
_______________________

HELL'S BELLS 03

[Previously: Veronica took on Satan's legions and sent them packing. Meanwhile, Dag's plane crashed in the jungle.]

Pale nervous Dag thought the big iron pot was ominous.
"Don't worry," said the shaman, "this XL-size Idi Amin Hot Tub has room for two adults, three children, and a few pounds of carrots, potatoes, and onions."
The meal was excellent. Too bad Veronica wasn't there to share it.

[Next: Ashley finds a man inside her condom.]
_______________________

EDIT: This is my post #1111. If that was binary, the hex equivalent would be FF, one of my favorites.

 

[StrangeLife]

A title in the format Title Ch. 000000001 indicates a very optimistic author...

 

[JaxRhapsody]

A title in the format Title Ch. 000000001 indicates a very optimistic author...

Kinda like Nora Roberts and the In Death series thats been around since 1994? Bwahaha

 

[SmallTownScandals]

OK, title field said "Journal of Desire"
Description field said "First chapter in Temperance Hill series"

This was the rejection notice I got.

"While we welcome authors to publish shorter fiction on Literotica while promoting ebooks or other offsite projects on their profile page, out of respect for reader's feelings, we would rather not publish partial works as "teasers".

So if I resubmit as Chap 01, then later Chap 02, etc., what do I do to prevent another "partial works" rejection while I'm getting the other chapters ready?
Specific suggestions on how to word the description, etc, would be appreciated.

 

[Ldy_Sea]

Put a comment in the notes, this is one of at least xx chapters.

I once had a non erotic story rejected. Didn't remember the reason given but it was because my story was too short. It didn't meet a minimum word count. It was a short story about a Cowboy and mermaid under 1k words. That might be a reason as well

 

[Zeb_Carter]

OK, title field said "Journal of Desire"
Description field said "First chapter in Temperance Hill series"

This was the rejection notice I got.

"While we welcome authors to publish shorter fiction on Literotica while promoting ebooks or other offsite projects on their profile page, out of respect for reader's feelings, we would rather not publish partial works as "teasers".

So if I resubmit as Chap 01, then later Chap 02, etc., what do I do to prevent another "partial works" rejection while I'm getting the other chapters ready?
Specific suggestions on how to word the description, etc, would be appreciated.

Also make sure you story is longer than 750 words.

Why isn't the Title = Temperance Hill Ch. 01

With a description of Journal of Desire - Timmy gets his blah on.

 

[Aynmair]

Writer's Resources

My first submission was rejected as a "partial"
It was the first chapter in a series.
Others have published chap1, then chap 2 a few days later, then chap 3, etc.
How did they do that without having the chapters rejected as "partials"

This is much too obvious, but have you followed the Writer's Resources link? There are crystal clear, blow by blow instructions of what the editor wants submitted, and the limits imposed (length etc.). They were clear enough that when I submitted my own first story (different name), without having sent it to an editor first, it got accepted without a problem. My point is only that the directions are clear and easy to follow.

 

[SmallTownScandals]

Chapter 1 is 3,646 words long.
Book is 43,000+ words long

 

[SmallTownScandals]

I thank you folks for pitching in on this.

But I still don't know what I did wrong, or what I should do right.

I'll do more research on submissions.

Thanks again

 

[RejectReality]

There's been some serious controversy lately over authors publishing part of a story, then expecting readers to buy the book to see the end. One story in particular had gone over 40 chapters and had many fans.

It was probably over zealous patrolling for that sort of thing. Not having the "Ch. 01" designation, the description, and being a brand new author vaguely hinted that way. Not enough that I would have popped it, but that's neither here nor there. I'm not up after midnight approving 100 stories to go up that day the way Laurel is.

Once you re-submit with the chapter designation, you should have no troubles with the subsequent chapters. Might consider putting something in the "notes" section of the submission form that it was previously rejected as being "partial", but that you have every intention of posting the rest of the story to Lit.

 

[sr71plt]

I thank you folks for pitching in on this.

But I still don't know what I did wrong, or what I should do right.

I'll do more research on submissions.

Thanks again

And you might never know unless you ask the editor, Laurel, directly. You might not have done anything wrong (other than not submitting chapters correctly).

 

[Hypoxia]

Put a comment in the notes, this is one of at least xx chapters.

Duh, I forgot about that. My first submissions were two totally-written series, and with each chapter I appended a note: THIS IS #X OF #Z CHAPTERS. No approval problems (once I fixed punctuation). With my next series (3 chapters so far) I only had two written up-front and I didn't include such a note, but they were accepted anyway. That was a few months ago; the environment may have changed since then. But yes, definitely note that more will be submitted soon.

I have a different approach with my current series (in progress). To me, they are Ch.00, Ch.01, Ch.02, etc. To LIT, they are episodes, not chapters: THE BOOK OF RUTH: BEFORE RUTH and THE BOOK OF RUTH: COMING FAST and THE BOOK OF RUTH: DOING RUTH. If I write a fourth, it will be THE BOOK OF RUTH: EATING OUT. If I write a pre-prequel, it will be THE BOOK OF RUTH: ASS IN THE AIR or something like that. The chronological timeline is ordered alphabetically. The first two now (BEFORE and COMING) are posted and are listed as THE BOOK OF RUTH series. I take care that each episode works as a standalone story, with only a bit of teasing for the next episode.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Why isn't the Title = Temperance Hill Ch. 01

With a description of Journal of Desire - Timmy gets his blah on.

Again ^^^^^^^^^^^

 

[SmallTownScandals]

Zeb
Sorry if you don't know what a series is.
The series is Temperance Hill
Then the books within that series are Journal of Desire, Promises to Keep, etc.
A series uses a lot of the same characters against the same background.
Peyton Place, Return to Peyton Place, etc. etc.
But I'm beating a dead horse.
Again, I thank the others for contributing.
I'll find my way.

 

[RejectReality]

So, are you posting each book as a single long submission, rather than dividing the books into chapters?

If that's the case, skip the chapter designation and just explain in the notes section that you plan to post the whole story.

As I said, there's been a big stink surrounding the practice the rejection was for lately, and Laurel is probably being extra cautious ( possibly over-cautious ) to avoid having that rear its ugly head again.

The rejections are always phrased in the form of a question. Laurel is reviewing a lot of stories each night, and she doesn't have time to give any of them a detailed reading. She has to make snap decisions, and they're not always on the money.

Just explain that you're not posting a "teaser", but rather the beginning of a story you plan to complete here, and all should be well.

Be aware that there's no way to group a series on your submissions page if the titles don't have some commonality.

To group them, you'd need to do something such as TH Bk. 1: Journal of Desire.

The common part "TH Bk. 1" would then cause all the stories in the series to list in sequence.

 

[robertreams]

I published the first chapters of alll my serials as stand alone and none were rejected for not saying "Chapter One". It must be sometyhing in the story itself that ends right in the midddle ofg some action or other. Or maybe it is too short. Most of my serials i didn't know I was writing a serial until my readers demanded more. I think the trick is to publish each chapter separately as a stand alone story, but as part of thewhole. That means each one has problem, statement, development, conflict, denoument, resolution, ending. Something like that.

 

[robertreams]

I published the first chapters of alll my serials as stand alone and none were rejected for not saying "Chapter One". It must be sometyhing in the story itself that ends right in the midddle ofg some action or other. Or maybe it is too short. Most of my serials I didn't know I was writing a serial until my readers demanded more. I think the trick is to publish each chapter separately as a stand alone story, but as part of thewhole. That means each one has problem, statement, development, conflict, denoument, resolution, ending. Something like that.

 

[JKendallDane]

Chapter 1 is 3,646 words long.
Book is 43,000+ words long

Are you saying "Journal of Desire" is the book and is 43k words long, or is that number for the entire series "Temperance Hill"?

From your profile:

These stories are excerpts from Journal of Desire, the first book in my Temperance Hill series.

Reading that makes it seem as if you are only posting teasers and if you used that terminology anywhere in your initial submission, I could see why Laurel raised a questioning eyebrow. "Excerpts" doesn't usually denote a full story or chapter.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

Zeb
Sorry if you don't know what a series is.
The series is Temperance Hill
Then the books within that series are Journal of Desire, Promises to Keep, etc.
A series uses a lot of the same characters against the same background.
Peyton Place, Return to Peyton Place, etc. etc.
But I'm beating a dead horse.
Again, I thank the others for contributing.
I'll find my way.

I do know what a series is...it's just too bad that Literotica doesn't support them. My first story was a series - it was called Walker Brigade - Book of Incidents. The first Chapter was the first Incident and contained all the chapters and scenes for that first book.

So to get all your separate books to list under a single item in the lists you will have to rethink what you call each think.

The way you are trying to do it, there will never be an item in the lists called Temperance Hill under which the other times will fall.

You will have a bunch of disparate lists for each book.

ie.

Journla of Desire: A xx part series
Journal of Desire Ch. 01
Journal of Desire Ch. 02
Journal of Desire Ch. 03

Promises to Keep: A xx part series
Promises to Keep Ch. 01
Promises to Keep Ch. 02

Etc. And nowhere will Temperance Hill be listed.

Just trying to help.