Yikes! I messed up. how do I fix it?

[Harryasaboy]

I've already published the story and the ratings really suck. Is there a way for me to go in and make a few quick fixes?

 

[RelentlessOnanism]

You can 'republish' the story.

RejectReality posted these handy instruction:

Here's the editing method for Lit.
Take note of the url of your story/chapter. That's the address appearing in the address bar of your browser when you view the first page of your story. You really only need the last part after the /s/ that represents your title.
Start a new submission.
Use the same title as the original ( or as much as will fit ) plus something such as *EDIT*
Fill in the same category, then fill description and keywords with placeholders, as they don't matter. ( Unless one of these things are what you're editing )
If editing the story text, paste/upload the new text in the "story text" section. You need to upload the whole story/chapter, not just the edited sections. If editing anything else, copy the "notes" section detailed below in order to fill this section.
In the "notes" section, say what you are editing. If story text, then put that. If title, then put the requested NEW title here. You can fill in edited descriptions/keywords/category above, but you'll still want to list any such changes here. It's a good idea to list the url that I mentioned in step 1. This is unique to every story/chapter, and can help eliminate the potential for human error. As mentioned above, if you are editing something other than the story text, copy what you put in the notes section to the "story text" as well. This is simply because there must be something in that section for you to submit.
Click "Review", then "Submit"

 

[Bramblethorn]

Noting that story edits get low priority, so it'll probably be a week or so before any corrections go through. Since readership drops off considerably after your story falls off the "New Stories" page, this means it'll be too late for a lot of readers.

If you're a perfectionist and you feel better having the story corrected, you can still put those edits through, but don't expect it to make a huge difference to the rating.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Tweaking your story isn't going to fix ratings. It is what it is.

Focus on the next story, make it better; the last one is done. You're worrying in the wrong direction.

 

[Hypoxia]

Tweaking your story isn't going to fix ratings. It is what it is.

Focus on the next story, make it better; the last one is done. You're worrying in the wrong direction.

Or if obsessed, take the sneaky way around. Resubmit the same story without text; suffix the title with -DELETE; rewrite and retitle the story, with an Author's Note explaining the change: "Sorry I fucked up WEASEL WANKERS. This new version, WOOLLY WANKERS, is much better." It lets you start afresh with ratings. Submit that and then forget about it and write something else.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Tweaking your story isn't going to fix ratings. It is what it is.

Focus on the next story, make it better; the last one is done. You're worrying in the wrong direction.

I've rewritten a few stories and submitted them to another site. But the originals were posted here more than a year ago, so I've had some time to think about what I wanted to do differently.

By the way, you didn't necessarily mess up things. I've had low ratings I couldn't explain. But I've also had stories I knew would have low ratings - usually because of subject matter - but I liked them so I submitted them anyway.