Question on Editing and Releasing new chapters on an old story

[levilx]

I took a few years hiatus from writing. I did however continue learning and practicing. My writing has definitely improved and I am inclined to finish some stories I have written.


I want to edit the first 6 chapters that are already published. In fact I am nearly done. I have definitely grown and improved much.

Can I re-release those chapters with the addition of the new chapters? Re-Publish? With my edits? What are the rules on this?
I was unable to find rules specific to this.

If someone could advise me, or point me in the correct direction, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

 

[Bamagan]

I took a few years hiatus from writing. I did however continue learning and practicing. My writing has definitely improved and I am inclined to finish some stories I have written.


I want to edit the first 6 chapters that are already published. In fact I am nearly done. I have definitely grown and improved much.

Can I re-release those chapters with the addition of the new chapters? Re-Publish? With my edits? What are the rules on this?
I was unable to find rules specific to this.

If someone could advise me, or point me in the correct direction, it would be greatly appreciated.

Thank you

You can re-release them in the sense of either submitting the edits to the original stories through your dashboard, or, if you've significantly reworked them and expanded them, you might ask the editor to take down the old ones entirely and submit the revised ones and new stuff separately.

Of course, after your hiatus, some of the people around here will have assumed you abandoned your story and may be squatting in it and molesting your characters. Bring a birch rod for discipline when you examine your old work. (This is an inside joke directed at other regulars who will probably be chiming in later with more advice).

 

[EmilyMiller]

If they are dramatically different, you may be able to publish them as new. But you won’t be able to use the existing names. I’ve tagged some of mine “Redux.”

If they are just regular edits, you need to submit each as and edit as per the FAQ below:

https://www.literotica.com/faq/publishing/editing-published-work

If you go the former route, I’d suggest a friendly convo with @Laurel to explainin what you are doing AND a note in each story you submit to say it’s a rewrite of an existing one.

 

[KeithD]

If Laurel realizes they are two sets of the same story, even if expanded and reworked, they can't both be in the file. You should delete the first set before submitting the second set. You can delete by resubmitting the old set with "Delete" added to the title and explaining in the notes box you want it deleted.

I'm going to go beyond that in advice, though. You indicate this is six chapters of something that's going to be longer. You left your readers in the lurch by not completing it the first time. I suggest you give the readers due regard and not start reposting the replacement until you've completed the work. Don't leave them in the lurch midcompletion a second time. I wouldn't blame any of the readers who remember the first go was incomplete not bothering to give it another chance.

 

[levilx]

The edits are fairly minor. Grammar, punctuation, sloppy sentences, unnecessary adverbs. Small perhaps, but worth improving.

I think... if it does not break any rules, I would prefer to apply the edits to the currently published item.

And then continue publishing the rest.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

Option one:
Submit edits for the existing stories by using the same title in the field, followed by the word "Edit" when submitting. This will result in new versions of the original posts that you can now add onto with subsequent posts. There is now a "Series Manager" tool to help you organize them.

Option two:
Decide if your changes justify a more comprehensive rework of what has been posted already combined with what you will be adding to it. For example, would you now want to combine some of the previous posts to make them longer and provide more logical breaks based upon the modified story? If this is your choice, you can ask Laurel to post your new submissions and remove the old ones that correspond. (I took all of my multi-chapter stories and had her combine them into single posts that combined the chapters into one file). Just be aware that this option will make your original stories ineligible for contests.

 

[EmilyMiller]

The edits are fairly minor. Grammar, punctuation, sloppy sentences, unnecessary adverbs. Small perhaps, but worth improving.

I think... if it does not break any rules, I would prefer to apply the edits to the currently published item.

And then continue publishing the rest.

It doesn’t break any rules. Just use the link I provided above. It’s to the Lit FAQ about editing published stories.

I do it all the time.

A caveat: most of my new stories post in 48 hours, edits to old stories are one week or longer.

Be patient.

Emily

 

[levilx]

Thank you so much Emily. And everyone else that assisted. This seems the best course of action for me.

I appreciate everyone here for always being so warm and welcoming!

 

[8letters]

Here are levilx's submissions:


I'm guessing they are talking about "Being Human Ch. 01-06".

Let me say before I start that I agree with KeithD that you should finish the series before doing anything to the existing "Being Human Ch. 01-06".

Option #1 is to just submit an edit to your original version. Happens all the time. The downside to that is that probably very few readers will remember "Being Human Ch. 01-06" from over three years ago and won't be interested in jumping into the middle of a series.

Option #2 is to delete the current version of "Being Human Ch. 01-06", submit the cleaned-up version, and then submit the new chapters. This would get you the most readers for your new chapters but will result in all of your old comments being deleted. Edit: This also breaks any bookmarks readers had to the original.

Option #3 is to do as EmilyMiller suggested and submit the new version of "Being Human Ch. 01-06" as "Being Human Ch. 01-06 redux", and then submit the later chapters. This will keep all your comments on the old version and, hopefully, the readers will make the transition to the new chapters even though they have a slightly different name. I have two versions of the same story in my current library.

Option #4 is to ask Laurel if she will do for "Being Human Ch. 01-06" what she did for "Breeding the Help Ch. 01". That story was published on 7/29/15. Depravio got in touch with Laurel, and the story was republished with all of its comments just before Depravio submitted the three chapters to finish the series.

 

[SoCalAshley]

I think this is the right thread to ask this question. I wrote a story (Pirate's Cove) a while ago, thinking it would be a stand alone story. Now I want to add a new chapter. How do I now incorporate a new chapter and make it a series?

 

[Bamagan]

I think this is the right thread to ask this question. I wrote a story (Pirate's Cove) a while ago, thinking it would be a stand alone story. Now I want to add a new chapter. How do I now incorporate a new chapter and make it a series?

If you name it Pirate's Cove Ch. 2 or something like that, it will probably automatically create a series and put them both in it. If the lack of a Ch. 1 on the first installment prevents that, though, you can manually create a series on your dashboard and then add stories to it once they're published, re-sequence them, etc.

Edit: The manual option would also be used if you want to name it Pirate's Harbor or Buccaneer's Bay or anything else.

 

[StillStunned]

I think this is the right thread to ask this question. I wrote a story (Pirate's Cove) a while ago, thinking it would be a stand alone story. Now I want to add a new chapter. How do I now incorporate a new chapter and make it a series?

In your control panel, you'll see an option on the right that says "Series (Beta)". Click "+New Story Series". You can add works from there. This happens either automatically (if you submit the stories with something like "ch. 1" or "part 1" in the title) or manually. If you choose to do it manually, you'll get a warning that you can't undo that choice. It seems like a big deal, but it isn't. Just remember to add new chapters to your series when you submit them. It's easy to forget, and the button that you have to click is easy to overlook.

 

[SouthernCrossfire]

With the edits stated to be relatively minor, I recommend doing the edits first (since edited versions don't appear in any New lists) and then publish the new chapters after the existing edits are published. New readers who decide to read the whole story (and readers of the original version who decide to reread the early chapters) will be treated to the improved grammar, spelling, etc., and will be less likely to be turned off by mistakes that might be assumed to carry over into the newer works. A note at the beginning of the edited work explaining the minor extent of the edits would allay any concerns of those who might have read the original version more recently.

Perhaps even more important, since the original works were left unfinished for some time, it might be good to have the story complete before starting to publish again and note that the story is now complete and will be published on whatever schedule is planned. If a story is published piecemeal after a long break, many readers will note the time lag and may not give the continuation a chance.

 

[SoCalAshley]

In your control panel, you'll see an option on the right that says "Series (Beta)". Click "+New Story Series". You can add works from there. This happens either automatically (if you submit the stories with something like "ch. 1" or "part 1" in the title) or manually. If you choose to do it manually, you'll get a warning that you can't undo that choice. It seems like a big deal, but it isn't. Just remember to add new chapters to your series when you submit them. It's easy to forget, and the button that you have to click is easy to overlook.

Thank you so much!

 

[ElectricBlue]

If you name it Pirate's Cove Ch. 2 or something like that, it will probably automatically create a series and put them both in it. If the lack of a Ch. 1 on the first installment prevents that, though, you can manually create a series on your dashboard and then add stories to it once they're published, re-sequence them, etc.

Edit: The manual option would also be used if you want to name it Pirate's Harbor or Buccaneer's Bay or anything else.

The story title
The story title Ch.02
The story title Ch.03

- always works. You don't need Ch.01 for the auto-series compilation to work.

 

[DonnerBBQ]

I've got some published stories that are really part of a series (the Kim stories). I'm considering using the manual option to create a series. Can someone confirm that if I do that, that I don't lose all of the associated metadata such as ratings, comments, views, or make it become removed from readers' favorite lists?

 

[ElectricBlue]

I've got some published stories that are really part of a series (the Kim stories). I'm considering using the manual option to create a series. Can someone confirm that if I do that, that I don't lose all of the associated metadata such as ratings, comments, views, or make it become removed from readers' favorite lists?

You don't lose any metadata, everything stays as it was. The only difference is, the stories will be linked together.

 

[DonnerBBQ]

Thanks much!