Links in stories

[NoGoodNick]

I wasn't sure where to post this, since I didn't see an Administrator's email I could use to ask the people in charge. I'm preparing to submit some material that's already formatted and complete (already posted on another site so I know it's in good shape). However I've got a specific question.

I know you can't post active links in stories, as the administrator can't guarantee that they aren't virus laden, ads or designed to lure readers to another site. But since I write LONG series and know that many people won't start a story until it's complete, I like to offer my readers the option of purchasing the completed eBook (from a legitimate site).

What's the best way to do that here? (On my other site, I include it either in the end-note or at the very end of the latest chapter in non-active links). Is that considered acceptable here?

Also, on a related note, I've created a discussion group where my readers can discuss my stories which I like to use as an alternative to a standard Blog where I tell the readers about my stories. How do I set that up here? Ideally I'd like to change the Blog entry so it'll link to my discussion site, though I could also simply post a blog entry (as long as I could pin it to the top so readers could find it). Any ideas?

Anyway, thanks in advance for helping a newbie to the site.

 

[1Browneyedguy]

I've seen others post that in

their PUBLIC PROFILES area.

"But since I write LONG series and know that many people won't start a story until it's complete, I like to offer my readers the option of purchasing the completed eBook (from a legitimate site)."

 

[Bramblethorn]

I know you can't post active links in stories, as the administrator can't guarantee that they aren't virus laden, ads or designed to lure readers to another site. But since I write LONG series and know that many people won't start a story until it's complete, I like to offer my readers the option of purchasing the completed eBook (from a legitimate site).

What's the best way to do that here? (On my other site, I include it either in the end-note or at the very end of the latest chapter in non-active links). Is that considered acceptable here?

You can't include a link in your story post, but you can include it in your user profile. I think you can include a note in your story along the lines of "you can also buy this as an e-book, see my member profile for info" but don't quote me on that.

IIRC, Laurel recently mentioned that they're not okay with authors posting incomplete stories on Lit as an ad for the complete version elsewhere - so if your story is up as an e-book, you'd want to submit the whole thing here before including that note.

You could PM Laurel to confirm, but it might be simpler just to try it and see - if the answer is no, you can fix it and resubmit.

 

[NoGoodNick]

You can't include a link in your story post, but you can include it in your user profile. I think you can include a note in your story along the lines of "you can also buy this as an e-book, see my member profile for info" but don't quote me on that.

IIRC, Laurel recently mentioned that they're not okay with authors posting incomplete stories on Lit as an ad for the complete version elsewhere - so if your story is up as an e-book, you'd want to submit the whole thing here before including that note.

You could PM Laurel to confirm, but it might be simpler just to try it and see - if the answer is no, you can fix it and resubmit.

That's fairly standard (not appreciating incomplete or 'teaser' stories, but the story is complete (obviously) and I've got a reputation for posting on a very strict schedule (under another name). Not putting the notice until the full story is posted is pointless, as I started doing it because there are so many readers who simply won't read an incomplete story, or who are afraid of authors who abandon stories.

Anyway, I'll try posting it with a note explaining it, though I'll have to search for Laurel's contact info. As well.

The key, though, is that I'm doing the right thing, and I just want to make sure I do it the correct way.

 

[Eilan]

I'll have to search for Laurel's contact info.

PM this person.

 

[CrumblyWriter]

Update

Well, after several weeks, roughly a week for each attempt, I've given up.

Despite several attempts to get an answer on how to approach the issue, after several revisions of the chapter (never knowing whether literotica can even display it with it's 'special characters') I just got notice that they won't allow ANY mention of a book because they don't allow 'teasers'.

So I guess the only work around is to load the entire 180,000, 25 chapter volume is to load it as a single file? It would be one thing if they allowed me to create a blog page, then I could simply include it there, or if they'd at least tell me HOW I'm supposed to behave, since the FAQ never address these issues.

Anyway, I was looking forward to offering my stories here, but I'm not sure it was a good mix anyway. I've always been afraid that the site focuses a bit much on single chapter stories and that they don't respond to longer continuing stories, especially those that aren't all ASCII text based.

It's too bad, I was hoping to reach a few more readers. I'd write to ask Laurel to remove my account, but I have to assume he'd never read it anyway. Time to find another site, I guess.

 

[MatthewVett]

Well, after several weeks, roughly a week for each attempt, I've given up.

Despite several attempts to get an answer on how to approach the issue, after several revisions of the chapter (never knowing whether literotica can even display it with it's 'special characters') I just got notice that they won't allow ANY mention of a book because they don't allow 'teasers'.

So I guess the only work around is to load the entire 180,000, 25 chapter volume is to load it as a single file? It would be one thing if they allowed me to create a blog page, then I could simply include it there, or if they'd at least tell me HOW I'm supposed to behave, since the FAQ never address these issues.

Anyway, I was looking forward to offering my stories here, but I'm not sure it was a good mix anyway. I've always been afraid that the site focuses a bit much on single chapter stories and that they don't respond to longer continuing stories, especially those that aren't all ASCII text based.

It's too bad, I was hoping to reach a few more readers. I'd write to ask Laurel to remove my account, but I have to assume he'd never read it anyway. Time to find another site, I guess.

So let me get this straight: you're worried that not as many people will read your stories unless it's complete all at once, even though no series posted here is posted all at once, and it's pretty obvious that they do well. In order to avoid the situation of having some people not read your stories, you've decided to make it so that no people here can read your stories. Isn't one person reading your story here better than zero?

Here's a solution. Begin posting the chapters, and put a link to your homepage in your profile. Put a generic message in your stories' footer, such as, "If you like my work, check out my homepage! There's a link in my profile!" People interested will go, find it, and learn about the entire story. People uninterested wouldn't have cared anyway. I think you're acting rashly by just abandoning the entire endeavor because of a minor setback. It's free to post here, and you'd get an audience. There's a special category even dedicated to novels, so you could easily post there, and I think Literotica does a pretty good job with letting people post series.

 

[CrumblyWriter]

No, it's the opposite. I'm being told that I CAN'T to a 'tease', although I've provided evidence that I won't, and I've asked how best to approach it, UNLESS I post the entire story all at once.

I'd like to post the entire 25 chapter story, one at a time, but because I can't talk to anyone about whether I Literotica can even display the story properly (it is, after all, primarily a simple ASCII text based site), and I can't determine the proper way to submit material, I've decided that this isn't really a good mix for me.

I'd LOVE to post my story, and I'll do whatever is required for me to be able to do it, but I can't play a guessing game, trying to imagine what the admins MIGHT want me to do, only to spend weeks trying to submit something that only gets rejects, or even worse, will finally be accepted but won't be readable, making me look like a complete imbecil.

I have no idea what the problem with the site's communication is (though I suspect they've been overwhelmed with SPAM attacks, and have been forced to quit responding to email entirely), but I have no idea about how to proceed from here.

The problem isn't just the one link. It's the lack of communications. I don't know whether ANY of the various things that I want to do will work, and Literotica seems designed to not allow any features until you're already published.

But the reasons why I hadn't posted here before was that I wasn't sure it was a good fit years ago when I first started posting. I decided to reinvestigate it, hoping it might be a better fit now, but unless I know whether I even CAN post, spending weeks playing games trying to guess what's accepted and what's not is pretty pointless. Especailly if it produces the results that the admins insist they DON'T want, namely that I'll be forced to abandon the story because I can't do what the story requires. I'd rather NOT post a story I'll be forced by the site to abandon, rather than damage my overall reputation.

 

[Bramblethorn]

On 'special characters': I've seen ManyEyedHydra give the alphabet a workout with names like Cέrμləa and Mamǝḵā Bēyˁṯān, so unless you're doing something really bizarre it should be possible. I recommend submitting as a Word attachment with a note mentioning special characters - this is how I handled it when I needed to use some Greek letters, and I had no problem.

 

[CrumblyWriter]

OK, that's useful. The FAQ merely states to submit a WORD document and alert the admins about any italics or boldings, as if anything more complex isn't even considered.

Aside from italics (I don't use any foreign text in this story), I also use indents (to offset different types of information, like broadcasts, reference works, etc.), smart quotes (I post stories using html) and em and en-dashes (to denote interrupted speech). One kind of gets spoiled once he knows he can use more advanced publishing marks.

So that let's me know that I can publish my story here, which is a major hurdle. The only problem with the link was that, since I couldn't create a blog until I'd actually posted something, I couldn't be sure I could accomplish that. (I'd included a note on my first submission, explaining why I included the link, which the admins seemed to accept, so I didn't duplicate it when I resubmitted it, which of course caused it to be rejected.

Knowing all of that, I'll resubmit it, removing the link and alerting the admins to all the special formatting (I only use the indents once in the first chapter and once in the 10th).

I suppose it would be easier (and faster) to only post the few chapters that require indents via WORD submissions, though that would produce a marked contrast between the ASCII and formatted chapters.

Thanks for the info. That's what I was trying to find out from the admins, and I wasn't sure whether anyone else used those 'special characters' in their stories.

 

[glynndah]

Do not even bother with an email. It won't get through. Send a PM to Laurel, the one who vets all the stories and let her know your concerns.

 

[CrumblyWriter]

Rejected again!

Nope. I removed all the links, all the mentions of there being more chapters to come, all references to blogs. But despite an clear explanation in the submission notes, the story keeps being rejected over and over again for being a 'teaser', which it's clearly NOT.

I realize it's being rejected by a story process Bot, which is why I'm SO frustrated that I can't reach any humans on the site to discuss how to proceed.

So I've submitted it once again, though I doubt it will get through as I have no clue why it's been rejected for the last 6 times. However, this is the LAST time I'm doing this, as I'm now convinced that there's NO WAY I'll be able to establish a working relationship with Literotica. I may be wrong, but the lack of any kind of sensical response leaves me doubting that anything is going to change.

There are plenty of sites that WANT my material, and there's really no point is wasting weeks of effort trying to guess a computer program that rejects my stories for no apparent reason.

Can you tell that I'm a bit frustrated?

 

[Bramblethorn]

I'm not clear from the comments above on whether you've PMed Laurel yet. If not, you should do that.