Should I publish to Literotica?

[FeldGasden]

I don't know that I would expect a response from most authors. Not everyone considers this erotica writing thing a social experience.
And myself, for instance, I reply to some comments and talk to people on here, but wouldn't reply to e-mail feedback because I don't want to actually give out my address. (Really wish that feedback could be confined to the website itself)

@RipTieman : That kinda ties into my experiences so far. The only negative things I really have to say are that my comments take a long time to get approved (although that seems to get faster every time), and that some feedback is sent to an email. Very minor complaints in my opinion.

The only reason not to publish here that I can think of is if you're also considering another site, and that site only accepts things exclusively posted there. (I don't know if that's a thing)

That writer told me I've the option of emailing him my feedback so I'm trying that.

 

[RoyalAuthor]

I don't know that I would expect a response from most authors. Not everyone considers this erotica writing thing a social experience.
And myself, for instance, I reply to some comments and talk to people on here, but wouldn't reply to e-mail feedback because I don't want to actually give out my address. (Really wish that feedback could be confined to the website itself)

When I realized feedback could go to email, I just created a new Gmail account specifically for this and check it every few days. Not ideal, but solves the issue well enough.

 

[WittyUserName]

While we're on the subject of praising you, @WittyUserName, I'm going to let you know that while I have several authors on here that I consider to be inspiration, it was your Birthday Pool Party that was the final straw in getting me to try my hand at writing. I read through the chapters that had been completed at that point (last summer) and then started typing the following day. Cheers to you.

For the OP: Go for it. Worst case, it goes poorly, you call it a day. I've been publishing here for a year, 30 stories so far, and one more dropping Sunday, and I've mostly had a very smooth experience. No more than three days' delay from submission to publishing ever, and only one problem in the current crop of issues (my Christmas story was delayed until the latter half of the day, which sucks for exposure reasons since you get a high percent of your reads on the first day). If that happens to me regularly, I might reconsider, but in the meantime, it's really just a speedbump in an otherwise enjoyable tenure here.

Thank you so much! I'm glad you're posting your works!

 

[WittyUserName]

I don't know that I would expect a response from most authors. Not everyone considers this erotica writing thing a social experience.
And myself, for instance, I reply to some comments and talk to people on here, but wouldn't reply to e-mail feedback because I don't want to actually give out my address. (Really wish that feedback could be confined to the website itself)

@RipTieman : That kinda ties into my experiences so far. The only negative things I really have to say are that my comments take a long time to get approved (although that seems to get faster every time), and that some feedback is sent to an email. Very minor complaints in my opinion.

The only reason not to publish here that I can think of is if you're also considering another site, and that site only accepts things exclusively posted there. (I don't know if that's a thing)

I made an email address solely for Literotica, so I don't mind people knowing the address.

 

[YmaOHyd]

I started publishing here not so long ago and I will say that my experience has been very uneven. I’ve been awarded two back-to-back editor’s choice green Es, which I understand is unprecedented; then both were technical essays. I briefly made it to the all time top ten for lesbian stories (only to have my story voted down 0.06 in ratings by people who didn’t think I fitted in with the more exalted company). I dipped my toe in Loving Wives, and now have nine toes; and a competition entry blown out of the water by the cross-contagion.

The forum is a mixture of nice and helpful people, those with a chip on their shoulder, and some who seem to come here purely to be unpleasant to others. It’s the internet I suppose. The draw of Literotica is audience size. But - outside of the Lesbian category - I’ve not really seen a lot of activity. Other authors I have spoken to have said that story views are down. I think it’s very hard to build a following here unless you are churning out new stories on a schedule. So, I’d say, go into publishing here with eyes wide open and not expecting The Garden of Eden. If you have realistic expectations they may be exceeded. If you are expecting Nirvana, you might be disappointed.

I'd say that's about my experience -- minus the critical success part.

Publication volume matters a lot, and it seems like most traffic comes from the front page of New and the category New pages, unsurprisingly. Which means that if you're not on it for whatever reason, your piece just isn't going to get eyes, outside the few categories with big traffic. I made the mistake of putting part three of a five-part series in Erotic Couplings and wasn't on the category's first New page on my publication day; seven months later, that part is 60% lower in reads than part two, 35% lower than part four and 25% lower than part five. The tail effect has been pretty significant, considering how low my overall reads are. Part five of that story is #2 on the all-time Popular list in its category (I don't have the number of ratings to qualify for the actual toplist), and as far as I can tell that's driven maybe tens of eyeballs since May. Long way to say that eyeballs, and ratings and comments, come from regularly putting your work in New, and participating in contests.

A majority of the followers I have came from contest participation, which I found to be a frustrating experience. So the two ways to build that following don't quite jive with the way I like to write. I don't love contests, and I don't have it in me to write in any real volume or on a schedule.

And finally -- this is probably just a me thing, but after I started writing, a bunch of the joy I found in reading fiction here evaporated. There's a few people I'll still read, but most of the stuff I followed prior to starting my own work I've just... let go, I guess. I tried catching up on some of it the other day and didn't feel much of anything. Worth thinking about.

 

[FrancesScott]

And finally -- this is probably just a me thing, but after I started writing, a bunch of the joy I found in reading evaporated. There's a few people I'll still read, but most of the stuff I followed prior to starting my own work I've just... let go, I guess. I tried catching up on some of it the other day and didn't feel much of anything. Worth thinking about.

I’m sorry to hear that. I suppose there is neither the time nor the energy to both write and read sometimes.

 

[YmaOHyd]

I’m sorry to hear that. I suppose there is neither the time nor the energy to both write and read sometimes.

Edited the quoted portion a little to clarify: I mean reading here specifically. I still read dead-tree fiction and nonfiction regularly.

 

[RoyalAuthor]

Edited the quoted portion a little to clarify: I mean reading here specifically. I still read dead-tree fiction and nonfiction regularly.

Yeah, reading here is harder for me now. I think since it's the same genre of what I'm writing, I'm more critical than I used to be and I think about how I'd write things instead. Takes a particularly good series for me to make it past part one here.