Paying for Lit ?

[ishtat]

1. As a reader, if a fee was required to read Lit stories would you pay?

2. How much?

3. As a writer who would not be paid, do you think that improved promotional and other services might make it viable for you to continue writing/contributing for no direct return.

4. Do you think that Lit has the skills/capacity/interest to monetize their project?

 

[SusanJillParker]

1. As a reader, if a fee was required to read Lit stories would you pay?

2. How much?

3. As a writer who would not be paid, do you think that improved promotional and other services might make it viable for you to continue writing/contributing for no direct return.

4. Do you think that Lit has the skills/capacity/interest to monetize their project?

If Literotica was paid for readers to read my stories, I'd expect to be paid for writing stories.

That's only fair. That's only right.

I'm sure that there could be some kind of formula devised that would motivate writers to write more.

 

[sr71plt]

No. I rarely read a Lit. story now. And if Lit. charged, I pull all of mine.

 

[Zeb_Carter]

For once I agree with pilot. Fee to read free stories...nope. Outta here.

 

[ChloeTzang]

No. I rarely read a Lit. story now. And if Lit. charged, I pull all of mine.

Totally agree.

 

[HandsInTheDark]

If they charge, I get a cut, or leave.

It won't happen; to charge you need a quality product and some consistency, and Lit is all over the place in terms of quality and categories. They'd also lose what I suspect are their two biggest categories of readers, and handfuls of writers.

Why did this come up? They are already monetized via advertising. The way up for them is probably to attract a better quality of advertisements, and given how adverse businesses are to negative publicity I don't think they'll get it.

 

[ChloeTzang]

If they charge, I get a cut, or leave.

It won't happen; to charge you need a quality product and some consistency, and Lit is all over the place in terms of quality and categories. They'd also lose what I suspect are their two biggest categories of readers, and handfuls of writers.

Why did this come up? They are already monetized via advertising. The way up for them is probably to attract a better quality of advertisements, and given how adverse businesses are to negative publicity I don't think they'll get it.

There's no income in pay for view websites. The one's that charge all lose business. Not even the big newspapers that have gone online can get decent numbers of subscriptions. They all have falling numbers of subscribers and income - look at the NY Times - they're going to go broke the way they're going. All the pay-TV stuff is slowly going down as well.

It was an interesting question but it's not happening. Just look at Wattpad, you have to work out a better business model than pay to view.

 

[NOIRTRASH]

I wont pay for LIT. The quality isn't there. And the navigation is awful.

 

[Bramblethorn]

There's no income in pay for view websites. The one's that charge all lose business. Not even the big newspapers that have gone online can get decent numbers of subscriptions. They all have falling numbers of subscribers and income - look at the NY Times - they're going to go broke the way they're going.

Not so. Yes, newspapers are facing revenue challenges, because print advertising isn't what it used to be. But it's simply not true that digital subscriptions are falling.

From May 2016:

"The New York Times Company reported a $14 million net loss for the first quarter of 2016 as it continued to grapple with how to offset falling revenue in print advertising. Digital subscriptions remained a bright spot for the company, showing robust growth... “This was a very strong quarter for our digital subscription business,” Mark Thompson, the company’s chief executive, said in an earnings call with investors. “The rate at which we are adding subscriptions is continuing to accelerate.”"

And those subscriptions have improved sharply since then. As reported by Fortune: "Donald Trump tweeted on Sunday that the New York Times is "losing thousands of subscribers." As it turns out, that's not true... within just one week after Election Day, the Times saw its digital subscriptions boost by 41,000. "

CNBC reported: "From the election on Nov. 8 through Saturday [Nov 26th], the Times has seen "a net increase of approximately 132,000 paid subscriptions to our news products," the media giant said in an exclusive statement to CNBC."

"This represents a dramatic rate of growth, 10 times, the same period one year ago," according to the statement issued ahead of a CNBC interview Tuesday with New York Times CEO Mark Thompson.

It's not just the NY Times; Washington Post grew its digital subs by 145% year-on-year.

 

[sr71plt]

I wont pay for LIT. The quality isn't there. And the navigation is awful.

And some of the folks who are here are as sour as sour can be.

 

[Bramblethorn]

1. As a reader, if a fee was required to read Lit stories would you pay?

2. How much?

3. As a writer who would not be paid, do you think that improved promotional and other services might make it viable for you to continue writing/contributing for no direct return.

4. Do you think that Lit has the skills/capacity/interest to monetize their project?

#1: Depends on how much, and how. As a reader I wouldn't mind handing over a few bucks a year, but it's not just the money; any feasible payment system has privacy implications.

#3: Hard "no". If you're making money off my work, I want my cut.

 

[Green_Knight]

I'm intrigued as to why you put this up.

Paying for Lit ?
1. As a reader, if a fee was required to read Lit stories would you pay?
It depends on the basis. I read an on-line UK newspaper that is free to view but which invites voluntary subscriptions. It's worth paying to support its excellent journalism and it offers added benefits. I stopped reading another on-line newspaper when it went behind a paywall. If I had to pay for Lit, I would expect it to clear out the dross and insist on much higher quality of stories. And provide vastly improved facilities on the site for readers and authors.

2. How much?
$20 a year wouldn't cause too many issues; $30 a year I'd think about it; $40 a year - thanks but no thanks.

3. As a writer who would not be paid, do you think that improved promotional and other services might make it viable for you to continue writing/contributing for no direct return.
No - if Lit was charging for people to read my stories, I get paid for them or no stories. I'm not a charity and I'm not a mug.

4. Do you think that Lit has the skills/capacity/interest to monetize their project?
I have no idea. In the immortal words of Jeremy Paxman, 'what a stupid question.'

 

[Hypoxia]

No. No. No.

 

[Green_Knight]

No. No. No.

There were four questions. Which one didn't you answer 'no' to?

Or, is it, in the words of the Vicar of Dibley's Jim Trott, 'No, No, No... Yes!!'

 

[Typo Fu Master]

I wouldn't pay for a subscription but I'm willing to donate through PayPal.

 

[lovecraft68]

1. As a reader, if a fee was required to read Lit stories would you pay?

2. How much?

3. As a writer who would not be paid, do you think that improved promotional and other services might make it viable for you to continue writing/contributing for no direct return.

4. Do you think that Lit has the skills/capacity/interest to monetize their project?

1-Considering the hundreds of thousands of stories, all the hot picture threads, the huge forum community I would pay.

2-$9.99 a month for all I pointed out is more than fair

3-I would like to see the site run much better and with thousands of people paying $10 a month? No reason editors couldn't be hired to actually screen stories and answer questions and fix problems right away.

I'd also expect to see more contests with higher pay outs.

4-they have zero interest in doing anything but limping along doing the bare minimum necessary. That's fairly obvious so the answer is no.

Adding that a huge perk of charging? Would be everyone would have to be a registered user and the amount of trolling would be cut in half, maybe even more because most of it comes from anon. Even trolling under a username is too much risk for people.

I also think the trolls would be the first ones not to pay, because they are simply here to spew. So paying would really improve the demographic of reader here.

 

[Nezhul]

1. As a reader, if a fee was required to read Lit stories would you pay?

2. How much?

3. As a writer who would not be paid, do you think that improved promotional and other services might make it viable for you to continue writing/contributing for no direct return.

4. Do you think that Lit has the skills/capacity/interest to monetize their project?

1) no
2) zero. Not worth it. Better buy two or three erotic books on amazon.
3) I don't see a site like lit ever sharing income with authors. They don't care much about authors, because there will always be some. Quantity over Quality.
4) I do believe they monetize it. So that point is kinda lost on me.

 

[oggbashan]

1. Perhaps a nominal annual membership fee if it could be paid by PayPal.

2. 10 dollars a year perhaps.

3. If the payment was more than a membership fee and charged per story I would expect a minimal payment at least. No payment at all? I'd pull all my stories and go elsewhere.

4. Yes. They already do or Literotica would have folded years ago.

IF there was an annual membership fee for Literotica I would expect anonymous voting and comments to be eradicated. Only paid-up members could vote and comment under their membership name. There could be a free trial membership offer for say three months that allows reading of stories and forums but no ability to vote, comment or post.

If there was a notional membership fee, authors could receive a discount for stories posted in the previous membership year. If the fee was 10 dollars? Two stories or five poems give free membership for the subsequent year.

But overall I think that charging anything for Literotica would destroy it. If there was a charge, without some payment for authors the stories would stop coming.

 

[Green_Knight]

1. Perhaps a nominal annual membership fee if it could be paid by PayPal.

2. 10 dollars a year perhaps.

3. If the payment was more than a membership fee and charged per story I would expect a minimal payment at least. No payment at all? I'd pull all my stories and go elsewhere.

4. Yes. They already do or Literotica would have folded years ago.

IF there was an annual membership fee for Literotica I would expect anonymous voting and comments to be eradicated. Only paid-up members could vote and comment under their membership name. There could be a free trial membership offer for say three months that allows reading of stories and forums but no ability to vote, comment or post.

If there was a notional membership fee, authors could receive a discount for stories posted in the previous membership year. If the fee was 10 dollars? Two stories or five poems give free membership for the subsequent year.

But overall I think that charging anything for Literotica would destroy it. If there was a charge, without some payment for authors the stories would stop coming.

Sound points.

 

[yukonnights]

1. Perhaps a nominal annual membership fee if it could be paid by PayPal.

2. 10 dollars a year perhaps.

3. If the payment was more than a membership fee and charged per story I would expect a minimal payment at least. No payment at all? I'd pull all my stories and go elsewhere.

4. Yes. They already do or Literotica would have folded years ago.

IF there was an annual membership fee for Literotica I would expect anonymous voting and comments to be eradicated. Only paid-up members could vote and comment under their membership name. There could be a free trial membership offer for say three months that allows reading of stories and forums but no ability to vote, comment or post.

If there was a notional membership fee, authors could receive a discount for stories posted in the previous membership year. If the fee was 10 dollars? Two stories or five poems give free membership for the subsequent year.

But overall I think that charging anything for Literotica would destroy it. If there was a charge, without some payment for authors the stories would stop coming.

I would go for something like this. There are pro's and con's for such a change, but overall I think being a member-based site would provide more benefits than not. There might also be a way to do some form of co-op formula for an equitable share of any profits...remembering that income is not the same as profits. Also, as a co-op the members would have a vote in the decisions. When one considers that many people are currently buying digital erotica now, and many authors on here are in that market already...it is at least feasible to think that such a pay-for experience here might be cheaper for them in the long run (add the option to purchase a digital copy of any favorites and the author has another potential income stream).

As to the concerns mentioned about copyright infringement: I doubt it would take too much investment in order to do it, since it's not all that complex to do a digital search for published stories. Plus, ensuring a short lived career for anyone found guilty of even one infraction would clear the ranks of offenders pretty quickly once they realized it wouldn't fly here.

 

[oggbashan]

...

As to the concerns mentioned about copyright infringement: I doubt it would take too much investment in order to do it, since it's not all that complex to do a digital search for published stories. Plus, ensuring a short lived career for anyone found guilty of even one infraction would clear the ranks of offenders pretty quickly once they realized it wouldn't fly here.

I'm sorry. That could work ON Literotica but only there.

My stories have been stolen from here and posted on sites all over the world. International copyright is unenforceable. If the story is posted on a site outside UK jurisdiction I have no effective redress - and that includes the US. The US, historically, has been home to the worst copyright thieves - ask Charles Dickens, Rudyard Kipling, Conan Doyle.

US copyright doesn't exist for a UK based author unless I register the work IN the US and pay the legal fees. Even then I have no real way of enforcing that copyright IN the US.

Whether a free site or a paid for site makes no difference to story theft. If you post your work anywhere on the internet someone can steal it.

 

[sr71plt]

Not too many writers here are going to give pay-in information to this Web site that leads to the real them. I have it set up with blind cutouts, but it isn't easy.

Also, there's nothing you can do about copyright other than bluff in the United States (and this is a U.S.-based site) unless you actually file for and buy a formal copyright. That's not going to happen with people writing stories here. It doesn't matter how many lawyers the Web site gets (and they don't come cheap).

But it wouldn't matter to me, because I'd be gone. I'm not posting stories here for someone else to charge for them--and take the profit. And it doesn't matter anyway, the folks who own this Web site are barely stretched enough to provide what's here--lingering nonfunctional features and all. They aren't going to get into the convoluted requirements and demands of a subscription site.

Is this another procrastination dream flight to avoid writing?