Here and Elsewhere? Or here only?

[joeyjax]

Here and Elsewhere? Or here only? (EDITED)

I have a few different stories in the works (okay, fine, only two, currently but there's another one that just sprouted somewhere in the back of my brain).

Anyway, I'm considering self-publishing that new sprout, mostly as an experiment since I've never done it before. But I'm wondering for those authors who do publish both here and elsewhere, how do you decide what to publish where?

• Do you publish everything everywhere?
• Do you publish only certain things here vs elsewhere?
  • If so, how do you decide what goes where?

Sorry if these are all newb questions (but I'm a newb).

NOTE: I'm NOT asking about other sites, per se. I think that would be inappropriate to do here. I'm just trying to understand how writers decide what to publish here versus elsewhere, or is there even a 'versus' to discuss (meaning, you just publish everywhere).

EDIT: Adding some more context. The specific reason for my question, by the way, was two-fold:

1. My SO has a kindle and would like to read my stories when offline (e.g. the beach, campgrounds, etc.) and on the kindle instead of a cellphone or laptop. But (to my knowledge anyway) LIT doesn't have such options, whereas some other platforms do.
2. I know protecting copyright is for the most part a lost battle for erotic fiction, but would posting my own stories both here and elsewhere at least curb that from happening, since I got there first and set the price to zero? Or is even that a pipe dream?

 

[CoffeeWithMonkeys]

I do here and another place. I get way more reads here. I'm talking under 20 reads there and about 2000 reads here for the same story/chapter.
But I like posting there because I can post it immediately, here I have to submit and wait a few days before it's posted. Also there when I see those typos I can fix them right away, not have to edit and resubmit.

I post more here than there. Not sure why. I have recently started putting everything I have here over there.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I'm duplicating some content on another site which is still in Beta, but it's a very different format (not ideal for writing), and reader response is single digit so far (there are no reader stats). But I'm in on the ground floor, hoping it might get folk buying ebooks eventually (they are developing a shop front).

Other than that, and half a dozen ebooks and print on demand which are available but rarely get bought, Literotica is it for me. The content control rules here keep the unsavoury under-age stuff far away, and I'm of the view that teenage writing sites should be left for teenagers, and shouldn't be invaded by smut writing adults. Some of the other sites look like sewers, I'd never put my content anywhere near them.

 

[jaF0]

Here only, but I do it for giggles and larks, not for bucks like others do. I don't pay attention to reads or views on any regular basis. Maybe only glance a couple of times a year.

 

[joeyjax]

So it sounds like it probably doesn't really matter if you post both here and elsewhere. Unless you're trying to make a buck, in which case, you'd only post those particular stories elsewhere since here is always free.

The specific reasons for my question, by the way, are two-fold (which I'm going to go back and add to my original post now, for better context there):

1. My SO has a kindle and would like to read my stories when offline (e.g. the beach, campgrounds, etc.) and on the kindle instead of a cellphone or laptop. But (to my knowledge anyway) LIT doesn't have such options, whereas some other platforms do.
2. I know protecting copyright is for the most part a lost battle for erotic fiction, but would posting my own stories both here and elsewhere at least curb that from happening, since I got there first and set the price to zero? Or is even that a pipe dream?

 

[KeithD]

I publish in the market first (usually, mostly except for context pieces here), and months later post to Web sites like this one (different Web sites for different types of stories), mostly to free Internet storage of content.

 

[RejectReality]

I'm on two other sites. The differing content rules, organization, and readerships offer options for whatever story pops into my head.

Stories that would be less than 1 Lit page perform just as well ( if not better ) than longer stories on one of them, so most of my Flash and other really short stuff goes there. Sometimes exclusively, though I put out anthologies of them here sometimes. I'm lining up one of those now. That really short stuff just doesn't perform as well here. The effort to reward ratio doesn't quite cut it.

I'm not a poet, but erotic poetry does damn near as well as most prose there. The readership really likes short form.

Another has the advantage of being organized by tags, rather than categories. That means you don't have the "camps" forming in categories like you do here, trying to mold the category to their preferences. The tags are prominent in every story listing, meaning you don't get the people surprised by "creepy gay stuff" or "lame fake step incest" leaving low scores and nasty commentary. They know what they're getting from the start, so long as you tag your story accurately.

That site also has decent performance for non-erotic pieces — especially fantasy stories. So, that's another option available where I already have a following. If you write any westerns... Woo. They love those there. Sex or no sex.

Having those options means that no matter what I come up with, there's typically a place I can post it and receive a solid response that's worth the trouble of formatting the document. That's my reason for site diversity.

The bulk of my work in all three pen names is still on Lit, though. Nobody can compete with Lit's traffic.

ETA: Both sites offer those offline download options, as well.

 

[gordo12]

My SO has a kindle and would like to read my stories when offline (e.g. the beach, campgrounds, etc.) and on the kindle instead of a cellphone or laptop.

Kindle handles .doc and pdf files just fine. Once it's in the machine you can read offline. You can easily convert .doc to pdf right in word. And then email it.

If she uses her kindle for email she can just save it. Otherwise save it on her computer and use a USB connection to find the file and import it. Or choose the export function on the computer and locate the kindle (USB) which will show up as a drive in your computer.

It's pretty easy.

 

[joeyjax]

Kindle handles .doc and pdf files just fine. Once it's in the machine you can read offline. You can easily convert .doc to pdf right in word. And then email it.

If she uses her kindle for email she can just save it. Otherwise save it on her computer and use a USB connection to find the file and import it. Or choose the export function on the computer and locate the kindle (USB) which will show up as a drive in your computer.

It's pretty easy.

As you can tell I’ve never used a Kindle. This helps a bunch!

I do still wonder if publishing my stories across the board to other sites might help curb thievery (by removing any incentive) but otherwise, this helps alleviate the main thing I was trying to address. Thanks!

 

[oggbashan]

I started by posting in Yahoo Adult groups but Yahoo are changing the rules shortly and ALL my stories will be deleted.

I also post on xhamster but the response is minimal. I have had more impact on specialist fetish sites but not as much as on Literotica.

Since I have been posting stories on Literotica for 17 years, and on Yahoo Groups before that - my stories have been stolen and posted on many sites.

 

[RejectReality]

Nope. It really only exposes you to even more scumbags. Some sites have additional layers of protection...

One actually garbles the text with ascii garbage if it's scraped by an unapproved bot, with the only readable thing in the whole mess being an instance of the stories URL on the site being at the top and bottom. I've actually seen places where the idiots posted that garbled mess on their crappy story stealing site. Whole pages of "new" stolen stories that were nothing but random characters. LOL

... But there's nothing that can actually stop a determined thief. If nothing else, they can open another window and simply type what they see on the screen. If they can read it, they can steal it.

Most of the theft is by single bad actors hoping to make revenue from ads on a hastily assembled and easily replaced websites. While stuff does show up in Ebook form on Amazon and the like, it doesn't happen nearly as often.

It can sometimes be as simple as pointing to the URL where the story is available for free to get it pulled from Amazon — depending upon what agreement the thief signed up for. The one that provides them with the most exposure is the one that doesn't allow cheaper versions, so a lot of them can be whacked with this trick.

The best way to prevent it is to file the copyright, and post it for pay first yourself, though. If somebody's dumb enough to steal something already available from the same seller, it's not going to last long once reported.

As you can tell I’ve never used a Kindle. This helps a bunch!

I do still wonder if publishing my stories across the board to other sites might help curb thievery (by removing any incentive) but otherwise, this helps alleviate the main thing I was trying to address. Thanks!

 

[SimonDoom]

Only here.

I might publish on another platform if I thought I could earn enough money from it that it would make it worthwhile, but from what I've read I have no reason to believe I could do that. And as far as free publishing goes, this site has a bigger audience than others and it would be more time and hassle than it's worth to set up a profile and publish stories elsewhere.