Should Literotica have a blog feature for authors?

[Bramblethorn]

If not on @Literotica (which sounds like a good idea but may be difficult to control) where else are people creating their blogs? I sort of use Twitter but that isn't really a blog and more of just snippets of stories promoting what's coming next?

I used Dreamwidth for mine. If anybody remembers LiveJournal before it went to shit, DW is basically that, with erotica-friendly content policies.

It turns out I don't have enough to say to keep an author blog going, I shudder to think how long it is since I last updated that one, but it's a good site if you can get readers to go there.

 

[lovecraft68]

Maybe it's because of my age, or (more likely, I think) my personality, but "a more intimate relationship" with authors doesn't appeal to me at all.
I just want to read (or watch, or listen to) the end product, when the artist thinks it's ready for public consumption, and enjoy the story or whatever as its own thing.

I'm of the same mind, and I'll go one further and say I don't need that close of a relationship with the readers either. I'm a typical writer in the sense I'm anti social. All jokes aside, I barely noticed the lockdowns other than my wife and I couldn't have our weekly date night. I post here more than I speak at work sometimes and most of why I speak at work is to answer questions and tell people what has to get done that day.

My stories I suppose are a way of communicating(as Simon noted) and posting here is kind of social, and much easier because I only reply to who or what I want to. I don't need to start "talking to the readers" UI add a short authors note to each story to say something about the story or anything else I'd like them to know.

And I doubt there will be much of an added relationship with them anyway. The comments to views and vote ratios is sad, they can send private feedback and that's even rarer.
But they're going to respond to a blog?

It will be another one sided relationship, we put in the work for a minimal result.

 

[SimonDoom]

I get what people are saying about it not being their cup of tea, either as a reader or a writer. I've never had a blog and I'm not currently following any writer blogs, although I have from time to time read portions of blogs of authors here.

But if even a small percentage of authors were interested, and if even a fairly small percentage of readers wanted to follow them, it would be a value-added feature. I think there are "fans" who would be interested in hearing what their favorite authors have to say about their processes. There are authors who would enjoy blogging even if they had few followers. I'm not sure if it's something I'd like to do, but I'd probably give it a try.

 

[Duleigh]

A couple of authors I follow have a blog for their thoughts/processes on stories. I've skimmed once or twice. Not something I would go out of my way to do, but if it was just here and built in, I might

One of my favorite authors has a video podcast where he talks about anything that comes to mind, he's not constrained by the story outline of the novel he's writing. He also invites other authors on the podcast and they talk about the events of the day. It's quite interesting

 

[lovecraft68]

But if even a small percentage of authors were interested, and if even a fairly small percentage of readers wanted to follow them, it would be a value-added feature. I think there are "fans" who would be interested in hearing what their favorite authors have to say about their processes. There are authors who would enjoy blogging even if they had few followers. I'm not sure if it's something I'd like to do, but I'd probably give it a try.

This brings it back to Laurel and Manu, they're going to put major work into something only a small percentage may use?

 

[lovecraft68]

One of my favorite authors has a video podcast where he talks about anything that comes to mind, he's not constrained by the story outline of the novel he's writing. He also invites other authors on the podcast and they talk about the events of the day. It's quite interesting

A Lit author or a mainstream author?

 

[Duleigh]

A Lit author or a mainstream author?

Very mainstream - he has over 45 published novels, mostly murder mysteries and SF and has had 4 screenplays filmed, 2 of his novels filmed and he's worked on several television shows. He's been blacklisted by Hollywood which made the sales of his books soar.

 

[SimonDoom]

This brings it back to Laurel and Manu, they're going to put major work into something only a small percentage may use?

That, I think, is the question: would it really be a lot of work? I don't know. I wouldn't think it would be that difficult to set up, and they could pick someone other than themselves to be the moderator for it. I don't think it would have to be moderated as carefully as the stories themselves. There would be no need for a pre-clearance procedure.

 

[Candy_Kane54]

I started out using my bio page to discuss my stories and the proper order to read them in (since I didn't write them in the order they should be read). When I ran out of room on my bio page, I created a "How To Read the Virginiaverse" document with the short description "Your guide to reading the stories in the proper order." I added a section where I discussed my thoughts behind why I wrote my stories. I update the document after each publication and my readers can keep up on my stories.

 

[lovecraft68]

I don't think it would have to be moderated as carefully as the stories themselves. There would be no need for a pre-clearance procedure.

My guess is they would disagree with this. All they need is someone thinking the blog has different rules and start talking about the 16 year old characters they really see their 18 year old MC's as being.

I don't know if you have ever checked out the fetish forums, but the mods there are the hardest working on the site. The stuff people will come out with despite repeated warnings is eye rolling.

There was-maybe still is-and incest is best thread full of smoke blowers who constantly talked about how they had sex with everyone in their family and knocked them all up, and again constant under age, and disturbing non con content.

My point is if the blog were live with no screening process, they're going to be running around deleting reported posts on a daily basis.

If you look at the authors who frequent here, its not much of an issue, we all know the rules and have no trouble staying within them, but we're a small fraction of writers here, and we can't assume everyone colors within the lines.

 

[Duleigh]

I started out using my bio page to discuss my stories and the proper order to read them in (since I didn't write them in the order they should be read). When I ran out of room on my bio page, I created a "How To Read the Virginiaverse" document with the short description "Your guide to reading the stories in the proper order." I added a section where I discussed my thoughts behind why I wrote my stories. I update the document after each publication and my readers can keep up on my stories.

I've been thinking about doing the same thing, and updating the document as my series matures, however it takes forever for updates and edits to be posted here... maybe post updates in what appears to be a second part to that document and when it goes up, pull down the original.

 

[Bramblethorn]

My guess is they would disagree with this. All they need is someone thinking the blog has different rules and start talking about the 16 year old characters they really see their 18 year old MC's as being.

Or using the blog for spam. Every blogging site I know of has to fight a perpetual war against spammers, and I can't see Literotica blogs being the exception.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

I think I have an idea how the whole thing could be implemented, without the need for much or any additional work for Laurel and Manu, except the initial setup.

First step: The beginning: Setup the whole thing, but do not enable this feature for any author or member by default.

Second step: Getting a blog feature: Every author needs to request this feature to be enabled for them. By doing that they would accept the responsibility to post according to Lit rules or face ban. I guess Laurel and Manu can decide about criteria who can have this feature enabled and who can't. It makes sense that some established authors here wouldn't allow themselves to do stupid things on their blog. They would also be in charge of approving readers comments on their blog posts according to same rules.

Third step: Community control : Every author's blog would have a simple option to get reported if in breach of Lit rules. The only ones able to report such things would be authors who already have their own blog approved, thus eliminating false report spam and allowing that same group of authors to self-monitor, as it is in their best interest for this blog option not to be abused and possibly get removed.

 

[lovecraft68]

Or using the blog for spam. Every blogging site I know of has to fight a perpetual war against spammers, and I can't see Literotica blogs being the exception.

Good point. I'll see your spam and raise you the inevitability someone starts talking politics.

 

[JuanSeiszFitzHall]

The author 8letters already runs threads in Story Feedback on what are referred to as extended notes on the stories the author has published on Lit. Maybe a look at these threads will give some idea of whether this works like an author blog. Meaning no disrespect, I haven't looked at those threads, because a writer writing about writing really doesn't interest me.

I think a blog also runs the risk of "Obviously, what I meant was..." justifications.

 

[lovecraft68]

The author 8letters already runs threads in Story Feedback on what are referred to as extended notes on the stories the author has published on Lit. Maybe a look at these threads will give some idea of whether this works like an author blog. Meaning no disrespect, I haven't looked at those threads, because a writer writing about writing really doesn't interest me.

I think a blog also runs the risk of "Obviously, what I meant was..." justifications.

Interesting you bring him up because very recently he became an example of sometimes you should just stop talking.

I like you're final point. I'm someone who doesn't have to know everything and sometimes likes to draw my own conclusions about stories and endings and I love how three people can read the same story and all come away with different opinions on the story, the characters, the ending, its part of the fun of reading.

So to have something where the author just definitively says "This is X and this was Y and this is what I meant" sort of takes the fun out

Less is more.

 

[pink_silk_glove]

So to have something where the author just definitively says "This is X and this was Y and this is what I meant" sort of takes the fun out

Agree. It's one thing if someone asks you about it, but if you feel the need to explain it later, you missed something while writing it.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I think I have an idea how the whole thing could be implemented, without the need for much or any additional work for Laurel and Manu, except the initial setup.

First step: The beginning: Setup the whole thing, but do not enable this feature for any author or member by default.

Second step: Getting a blog feature: Every author needs to request this feature to be enabled for them. By doing that they would accept the responsibility to post according to Lit rules or face ban. I guess Laurel and Manu can decide about criteria who can have this feature enabled and who can't. It makes sense that some established authors here wouldn't allow themselves to do stupid things on their blog. They would also be in charge of approving readers comments on their blog posts according to same rules.

Third step: Community control : Every author's blog would have a simple option to get reported if in breach of Lit rules. The only ones able to report such things would be authors who already have their own blog approved, thus eliminating false report spam and allowing that same group of authors to self-monitor, as it is in their best interest for this blog option not to be abused and possibly get removed.

This would depend on a couple of things:

1) authors like one another (and have enough time) to be reading one another's blogs.
2) authors are nevertheless willing to report people they know and like for rules violations, even if they might not agree with those rules.

Can we rely on both those things happening at once?

Pre-moderation (all comments go to moderator for approval before being visible) is a lot of work on a popular blog, and can stifle discussion if the mod isn't there to approve stuff 24/7. Post-moderation (all comments go through automatically but moderator can delete spammy ones) means that spam etc. stays up until the mod notices it, which could be a long time.

 

[ElectricBlue]

This would depend on a couple of things:

1) authors like one another (and have enough time) to be reading one another's blogs.
2) authors are nevertheless willing to report people they know and like for rules violations, even if they might not agree with those rules.

Can we rely on both those things happening at once?

It would be nice to think responsible adults can do a bit of self-policing, to a) avoid the need for moderation in the first place; and b) be capable of civil discourse, which can be a little problematic at times.

But if authors set their own blog content standards, and are allowed by others to keep them (we've all seen the dismissive comments made in the past when people say, I delete junk comments), then it might work. But I err on the side of "possibly not".

 

[AwkwardlySet]

Those are all reasonable points, but I think it could be worth a try at least. (Pre)Moderating comments on his/her blog page should always fall on the author himself, so how "Live" the blog will be will depend on author's own activity. I suppose some would want to chat with readers often, some only rarely. Either way it should certainly bring more traffic to the website, that is why I think Laurel and Manu might be interested.

 

[maryanek]

I would love to have blog, that's a great idea! I hope it will happen!

 

[jsmiam]

I have a blog using the service Wordpress.com, which uses the software Wordpress. It’s very easy to use.

In close to five years, 4.5 of them sheer neglect, two people total ever provided any feedback. But I’m a geek at heart who had fun making it, and I probably take my writing less seriously than many. So I’m not complaining. I got out of it what I put into it.

Translation: pedal really hard, even while going downhill with a tailwind, and you’ll probably get something out of a blog. Let it sit, hardly anything will come of it.

Incidentally, I saw a person who very smartly updates their story-side lit profile with their latest news. Followers get notified (I think) when a profile updates. They are cautious to not update frivolously. I liked the idea so much I plan on using it. Just as soon as I write another story.

 

[JGittes]

I've been thinking about doing the same thing, and updating the document as my series matures, however it takes forever for updates and edits to be posted here... maybe post updates in what appears to be a second part to that document and when it goes up, pull down the original.

Back in October, I posted an edited story, and it took three weeks and two days to publish. Just after Christmas, I posted another edited story and it only took three days to publish.

 

[Edey]

I would love that

 

[PastMaster]

It would be nice to have somewhere you can communicate with the readers. I use my profile but for some reason nobody seems to read that. I can tell this because i get so many questions about things that are posted on my profile. You can't even tell people to look at your profile in your submissions, because that will get the submission rejected.
So - it's rock and hard place.