Lit's Publishing rights

[richard_dark]

While submitting a draft I was intrigued by some of the wording in Lit's publishing rights.

I have no conflict or argument with them and happily consented. This isn't "about me" nor any axe I have to grind.

What I have noticed is writers who will publish chapters here then they will take that material elsewhere - even amazon kindle - and market as a 'novel' and delete the pieces here.

I thought Lit owned those pieces for publishing(?)

 

[SimonDoom]

While submitting a draft I was intrigued by some of the wording in Lit's publishing rights.

I have no conflict or argument with them and happily consented. This isn't "about me" nor any axe I have to grind.

What I have noticed is writers who will publish chapters here then they will take that material elsewhere - even amazon kindle - and market as a 'novel' and delete the pieces here.

I thought Lit owned those pieces for publishing(?)

No. Literotica has only a nonexclusive license to publish the story here. You retain all copyrights, including the right to have it published elsewhere on terms of your choosing.

 

[richard_dark]

Thanks for that clarification, Simon.

 

[PennameWombat]

No. Literotica has only a nonexclusive license to publish the story here. You retain all copyrights, including the right to have it published elsewhere on terms of your choosing.

An additional point about those terms. If you publish on Amazon, you need to be careful about which programs, exclusivity, etc. For instance, KDP Select (which feeds into Kindle Unlimited and other places) means you can’t provide the ‘book’ elsewhere. There are other conditions that might cause the author to remove pieces from Literotica.

But often it comes down to a simple fact. The author wants money for the story and if it’s sitting on Literotica for free, why buy the book?

And if, by chance, you get a ‘deal’ with a traditional publisher, they will often demand you remove any free works related to anything they’re publishing, beyond teasers (this is why Hugh Howey’s keeping online distribution rights for ‘Wool’ is notable.)

 

[KeithD]

But often it comes down to a simple fact. The author wants money for the story and if it’s sitting on Literotica for free, why buy the book?

Except that reality is that they will/do. Go figure.

 

[RejectReality]

Except that reality is that they will/do. Go figure.

I strongly suspect that most buying their naughty stories from a paid platform wouldn't even consider looking at porn sites to discover there's a version available for free. Even those who only grab free or dirt-cheap offerings.

There's a level of safety offered by pay sites that isn't just avoiding the malware so common on the bulk of adult sites. Content limitations and cover image limitations make them safer to browse in public, for example. No ads full of naked people everywhere for another.

If I had to guess, the crossover is probably limited going both ways.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I strongly suspect that most buying their naughty stories from a paid platform wouldn't even consider looking at porn sites to discover there's a version available for free. Even those who only grab free or dirt-cheap offerings.

What people also fail to realise is that Lit and paid platform sites have different products. Lit is content only, whereas the market place has product by way of ebooks, downloads - that is, something a customer can pay for, take away, and keep. These are two completely different things.

I've not seen anything that says you must take content down from Lit if you want to turn it into an ebook or a print book.

 

[KeithD]

What can be done has surprised me through fifteen years of experience with it. Nuff said.

 

[windar]

What people also fail to realise is that Lit and paid platform sites have different products. Lit is content only, whereas the market place has product by way of ebooks, downloads - that is, something a customer can pay for, take away, and keep. These are two completely different things.

I've not seen anything that says you must take content down from Lit if you want to turn it into an ebook or a print book.

I completely agree. Those who buy erotica and those who browse it for free are more or less non-overlapping sets. Which is a very good thing for authors...

 

[PeytonMirabelle]

I've not seen anything that says you must take content down from Lit if you want to turn it into an ebook or a print book.

From Lit, for sure not, since they clearly say it's "non-exclusive." The only thing like that I've seen is Kindle Unlimited. I think the terms of getting into KU stipulate that you cannot offer the e-book version of material at any other location, for free or otherwise (though print books are unaffected).

I completely agree. Those who buy erotica and those who browse it for free are more or less non-overlapping sets. Which is a very good thing for authors...

Yes, this, so why not give it a try? The reading audience here and the audience buying spicy books may have some overlap but I bet it's nowhere near identical.

 

[TadOverdon]

I post "Tad's" books chapter-by-chapter here after they've been available for sale for three or four months. Pretty sure I've noticed a small bump-up in sales after the first few chapters show on lit. My guess is that, given the low cost of online books, at least a few folks get impatient with one chapter at a time.

Not that there's any gripping, edge-of-your-seat suspense in our stories. They're gonna fuck in this chapter, and the next chapter, and then maybe in the chapter after that they'll do it outdoors or in a crowd...

 

[windar]

I post "Tad's" books chapter-by-chapter here after they've been available for sale for three or four months. Pretty sure I've noticed a small bump-up in sales after the first few chapters show on lit. My guess is that, given the low cost of online books, at least a few folks get impatient with one chapter at a time.

Not that there's any gripping, edge-of-your-seat suspense in our stories. They're gonna fuck in this chapter, and the next chapter, and then maybe in the chapter after that they'll do it outdoors or in a crowd...

I posted a story here that had been on a pay site for years. I did it chapter by chapter, like you. The mods for mysterious reasons objected to Chapter 15, though it had nothing that wasn't in 1-14. So, I cut a few paragraphs and mentioned where the readers could find the uncensored version and resubmitted it. I had a few sales, which I hadn't had in some time. Thanks, Lit Mods!

 

[lovecraft68]

I strongly suspect that most buying their naughty stories from a paid platform wouldn't even consider looking at porn sites to discover there's a version available for free. Even those who only grab free or dirt-cheap offerings.

There's a level of safety offered by pay sites that isn't just avoiding the malware so common on the bulk of adult sites. Content limitations and cover image limitations make them safer to browse in public, for example. No ads full of naked people everywhere for another.

If I had to guess, the crossover is probably limited going both ways.

This is the biggest explanation to me, is that they don't know of lit or other free sites, or as you mentioned, they trust paid platforms more. Also there is a school of thought-not correct-that if its free it must suck.

That's also something some people think of e-books, if someone is constantly giving their work away for free on a pay site, is it because no one wants it?

There's also some people who know of lit,. found authors here and are nice enough to support their work and buy an e-book that's not available here. I have a note on my bio for anyone interested to e-mail me for a list of everything I have for sale that's not on here.

Something that's always made me shake my head is people who are trying to sell, but still write here too, which is fine, but then they go to their social medias and start linking their lit stories.

So let's rehash, you want to make money on you smut so you...link someone to a site that contains thousands of stories in every kink there is...for free?

I'm not a business genius, but always seemed counterproductive.

 

[lovecraft68]

I'll bring this up for anyone who may not know. Lit has a 'rule' that you can't start a series here, but finish it somewhere else for pay, forcing the person to buy it if they want to finish it.

I put rule in parenthesis, because it doesn't seem like it was ever enforced that I heard of, and a very big name here used to do that all the time.

But its worth mentioning because maybe they do occasionally pay attention, or it could be something someone could report if they were pissed off.

 

[lovecraft68]

I posted a story here that had been on a pay site for years. I did it chapter by chapter, like you. The mods for mysterious reasons objected to Chapter 15, though it had nothing that wasn't in 1-14. So, I cut a few paragraphs and mentioned where the readers could find the uncensored version and resubmitted it. I had a few sales, which I hadn't had in some time. Thanks, Lit Mods!

I have a long taboo series here, and the last five chapters went under its own spin off billed as The Finale. It was live for several months and then someone let me know a chapter had been removed, so I saw it was banned.

I wasn't rewriting it, so I pulled the other four chapters and its now for sale as Book 8 of the Broken Series. Broken Books 1-7 comprise what was here for free and still is which is 40 chapters worth, but better editing and a few extra sections here and there.

I'm mentioning this both in reference to your post, and my own where I stated Lits rule about bait and switch. Someone here has tried to allude I break the rules. As usual, they have no idea what they're talking about.

 

[windar]

I have a long taboo series here, and the last five chapters went under its own spin off billed as The Finale. It was live for several months and then someone let me know a chapter had been removed, so I saw it was banned.

I wasn't rewriting it, so I pulled the other four chapters and its now for sale as Book 8 of the Broken Series. Broken Books 1-7 comprise what was here for free and still is which is 40 chapters worth, but better editing and a few extra sections here and there.

I'm mentioning this both in reference to your post, and my own where I stated Lits rule about bait and switch. Someone here has tried to allude I break the rules. As usual, they have no idea what they're talking about.

I finished the story here, though it's missing about 300 words out of 65,000, but that's Lit's fault not mine.

I got quite a few comments asking for more similar stories, but the rules here are too unclear and the enforcement is arbitrary. My stories are multi-chapter and getting most of the way through and then being told "No"-well, fool me once shame on you, fool me twice...

Your point about people who read a lot of stories for free occasionally buying one to show their appreciation is a good one. And you get something that looks like a book, not a blog post and that you can download and know will be there (as long as you don't forget to back up your hard drive!).

 

[Javahead]

What people also fail to realise is that Lit and paid platform sites have different products. Lit is content only, whereas the market place has product by way of ebooks, downloads - that is, something a customer can pay for, take away, and keep. These are two completely different things.

I've not seen anything that says you must take content down from Lit if you want to turn it into an ebook or a print book.

I’ve bought several ebooks that were first published here for free, some of which are still up in their original form. And bought several more books from authors who still publish some of their work here.

As you noted, they’re related but different products - I may want the permanent copy, or just want to throw a little money to the authors.

 

[PennameWombat]

I'll bring this up for anyone who may not know. Lit has a 'rule' that you can't start a series here, but finish it somewhere else for pay, forcing the person to buy it if they want to finish it.

I put rule in parenthesis, because it doesn't seem like it was ever enforced that I heard of, and a very big name here used to do that all the time.

But its worth mentioning because maybe they do occasionally pay attention, or it could be something someone could report if they were pissed off.

I was going to mention this in my posting up thread, but I did a reasonably thorough search of the site’s FAQ and other ‘publicly’ accessible materials and couldn’t find it mentioned anywhere. So I left it out…

But I’ve seen it mentioned in this Forum more than once. If there’s any actual documentation I’d love to know where, or if it’s been a statement made to someone. And as you say, whether or not it’s ever been enforced.

 

[Bramblethorn]

I was going to mention this in my posting up thread, but I did a reasonably thorough search of the site’s FAQ and other ‘publicly’ accessible materials and couldn’t find it mentioned anywhere. So I left it out…

But I’ve seen it mentioned in this Forum more than once. If there’s any actual documentation I’d love to know where, or if it’s been a statement made to someone. And as you say, whether or not it’s ever been enforced.

https://forum.literotica.com/showthread.php?s=&threadid=175666

Grounds for rejection include "Were there URL links, site addresses, or other advertisements within the story? Quite simply, you may not link off-site. You may not put email address in the body of the story--yours or anyone elses. Literotica has email forms in place for your audience to reach you."

This seems to be interpreted fairly broadly:

Chapter one (Which was titled with ch. 01 after the title) of a story was rejected because I put a note at the top: This is a teaser of a much longer story that I am still working on.

Because the rest of the story wasn't done and ready to go, I considered it a teaser, so 100% my fault on that. It's about 4.5k words.

I just wanted to make sure "teaser" here meant what I thought it meant. I've been wrong before and clarification never hurts. But, I'm pretty sure my note just flagged it for auto-rejection and resubmitted sans note. Hell, I only included the note because I ended the first chapter in a slightly mean way and was hoping to avoid pissing people off, lol.

 

[RejectReality]

I was going to mention this in my posting up thread, but I did a reasonably thorough search of the site’s FAQ and other ‘publicly’ accessible materials and couldn’t find it mentioned anywhere. So I left it out…

But I’ve seen it mentioned in this Forum more than once. If there’s any actual documentation I’d love to know where, or if it’s been a statement made to someone. And as you say, whether or not it’s ever been enforced.

The standard rejection has been posted by people a couple of times. I don't think it's actually in any of the FAQs anywhere, but there's a line item specifically for that in Laurel's rejection reasons list. I'm too tired to try to Google-Fu one of them right now.

Of the two times I can think of, one of them was an obvious one where a note flat out said it was part one of a published story. Bad wording on the author's part, because they intended to publish the whole thing here, but that note on part one got it bounced the first time. They edited to make that clear, and it went through.

( That one had the "no teaser" and "no other websites" rejections on it from what I remember. )

The other Laurel read wrong, and it was published unchanged from what I remember.

I think I remember a couple getting bounced after publication as well, but those complaints didn't directly quote the rejection.

 

[SimonDoom]

I'll bring this up for anyone who may not know. Lit has a 'rule' that you can't start a series here, but finish it somewhere else for pay, forcing the person to buy it if they want to finish it.

.

I haven't published elsewhere, so I'm unfamiliar with how these rules play out. Can you do this:

Publish chapters 1-9 of a story here at Literotica.

Publish the entire story, all chapters, at another site, including chapter 10, and require pay for it there.

Have no links in your literotica story to the story at the other site.

But refer to the other site in your public Literotica page information.

You CAN do that, right? Or am I mistaken?

 

[windar]

I haven't published elsewhere, so I'm unfamiliar with how these rules play out. Can you do this:

Publish chapters 1-9 of a story here at Literotica.

Publish the entire story, all chapters, at another site, including chapter 10, and require pay for it there.

Have no links in your literotica story to the story at the other site.

But refer to the other site in your public Literotica page information.

You CAN do that, right? Or am I mistaken?

Lit's rules tend to be made up as they go along. Which I find problematic and a reason why I won't post more stories here, certainly not any more novella-length ones, because I don't feel right about starting something I may not be able to finish because Laurel was having a bad day on one chapter or another.

I feel your scenario, whether allowed or not, is unfair to the reader, hooking them with a freebie and then making them pay for the ending. I think it's fine to post a story here and say, "If you want more stories of mine, then look here..." There's no obligation to have your complete works here or on any site. But I think if you start a story somewhere, you ought to finish it there.

 

[SimonDoom]

Lit's rules tend to be made up as they go along. Which I find problematic and a reason why I won't post more stories here, certainly not any more novella-length ones, because I don't feel right about starting something I may not be able to finish because Laurel was having a bad day on one chapter or another.

I feel your scenario, whether allowed or not, is unfair to the reader, hooking them with a freebie and then making them pay for the ending. I think it's fine to post a story here and say, "If you want more stories of mine, then look here..." There's no obligation to have your complete works here or on any site. But I think if you start a story somewhere, you ought to finish it there.

Please keep in mind, this isn't something I am currently doing, or have any intention of doing. I agree with you. I'm asking as a hypothetical because, like many, I suspect, I'm trying to figure out what the rules are, just for the sake of knowing.

 

[windar]

Please keep in mind, this isn't something I am currently doing, or have any intention of doing. I agree with you. I'm asking as a hypothetical because, like many, I suspect, I'm trying to figure out what the rules are, just for the sake of knowing.

Here's the problem in a nutshell, Simon. There is no clear, prominently displayed set of rules. If you look in the FAQs under "My story was rejected," they refer you to a post in the Editor's Forum from 2003 by someone named "KillerMcMuffin". You don't post on other sites; I do and I can assure you this is highly unusual, to say the least.

Then there's the issue of enforcement, which is a total crap shoot. How could it be otherwise when there are 50-100 stories/day all supposedly looked at by one person? Maybe that worked back when the site was much smaller, but it's just not realistic right now.

 

[SimonDoom]

Here's the problem in a nutshell, Simon. There is no clear, prominently displayed set of rules. If you look in the FAQs under "My story was rejected," they refer you to a post in the Editor's Forum from 2003 by someone named "KillerMcMuffin". You don't post on other sites; I do and I can assure you this is highly unusual, to say the least.

Then there's the issue of enforcement, which is a total crap shoot. How could it be otherwise when there are 50-100 stories/day all supposedly looked at by one person? Maybe that worked back when the site was much smaller, but it's just not realistic right now.

I realize this, and it's partly why I am much less bothered and concerned about seeming inconsistencies at this Site than some are. It's a Mom and Pop operation. It always has been. I have no idea whatsoever what's involved with Laurel and Manu operating this Site, or how they do it, but the result is it's the world's biggest and best erotic story website and it offers a great platform for me to publish stories and have them read. So I enjoy the ride and I put up with the bumps.