Substack

[Racontica]

Hi - do any authors here use substack for publishing their erotica? I love literotica but also I am entertaining getting work published on substack. Their policy seems to allow for erotica. Thoughts?

From https://substack.com/content

Nudity, porn, erotica

We don’t allow porn or sexually exploitative content on Substack. We do allow depictions of nudity for artistic, journalistic, or related purposes, as well as erotic literature, however, we have a strict no nudity policy for profile images. We may hide or remove explicit content from Substack’s discovery features, including search and on Substack.com.

 

[gunhilltrain]

Hi - do any authors here use substack for publishing their erotica? I love literotica but also I am entertaining getting work published on substack. Their policy seems to allow for erotica. Thoughts?

From https://substack.com/content

Nudity, porn, erotica

We don’t allow porn or sexually exploitative content on Substack. We do allow depictions of nudity for artistic, journalistic, or related purposes, as well as erotic literature, however, we have a strict no nudity policy for profile images. We may hide or remove explicit content from Substack’s discovery features, including search and on Substack.com.

Of course, we all write erotic literature here, not porn, If some reader is sexually aroused by it, then that's not our doing.

Similarly, none of it is sexually exploitative. It's all like Jane Austin except that blowjobs, anal sex, bondage and so forth are depicted. Surely they had such things in 1817 too even if it wasn't discussed publicly.

All nudity has artistic, journalistic, and "related" purposes. If one of those purposes is that somebody gets an erection or damp panties,and then masturbates, than that is also not our problem.

To answer your question: this is the first time I've heard of Substack.

 

[HeyAll]

Interesting idea, thank you for sharing.

I'll check this out as a possible venue.

 

[Jackie.Hikaru]

There are a few substack writers I follow (non-erotic) and I always enjoy seeing the notification pop up in my email whenever they publish something new.

Honest question though, what do you hope to accomplish on substack that you can't on Lite?
Would actually love to see more erotic writers on there but haven't seen any traction and genuinely curious why not.

 

[Lifestyle66]

Honest question though, what do you hope to accomplish on substack that you can't on Lite?

One reason to try other sites would be for more exposure of a story which didn't go anywhere here on LitE.

When I post a story here, and it's attacked by 1-bombing trolls within the first hour and falls off the radar, it's a long slow climb back to anyone ever seeing it again. People just don't click on stories when it's rated 1.6 for the first two days.

Once your stories attract 1-bombing trolls (and in at least one case, another author from this forum) you can either continue to post stuff here and accept the poor readership after the repeated 1's. OR try to find another venue to publish to test if it's a shitty story or a shitty audience. OR create a new profile and post a different version of your stories here under a different name, but why bother? It's easier to post the same story with a profile on another site with a different audience.

 

[ElectricBlue]

There are a few substack writers I follow (non-erotic) and I always enjoy seeing the notification pop up in my email whenever they publish something new.

Honest question though, what do you hope to accomplish on substack that you can't on Lite?
Would actually love to see more erotic writers on there but haven't seen any traction and genuinely curious why not.

One clue might be in the "Top in ..." list down the left hand side of the front page. Top in Politics, Top in Faith, amongst others. It might be a little... puritanical?

They allow erotica but not porn, which begs the question, who decides on that line?

 

[Bramblethorn]

One clue might be in the "Top in ..." list down the left hand side of the front page. Top in Politics, Top in Faith, amongst others. It might be a little... puritanical?

They allow erotica but not porn, which begs the question, who decides on that line?

Substack has become a bit of a haven for people who've worn out their welcome on other social media sites with things like covid/vaccine disinformation, or transphobia. (To put into context what it means to be too transphobic for Twitter... I was recently told by Twitter's safety team that it's not a violation of their ToS to post memes encouraging the hanging of trans people.)

Not that everybody on Substack is like that. It started out as a pretty run-of-the-mill blogging site and there are still plenty of regular folk there. But it's become enough of an issue that its reputation is somewhat sketchy, and some of the folk I follow who used to be on Substack have migrated to other platforms. That kind of thing can become self-reinforcing over time.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Substack has become a bit of a haven for people who've worn out their welcome on other social media sites with things like covid/vaccine disinformation, or transphobia. (To put into context what it means to be too transphobic for Twitter... I was recently told by Twitter's safety team that it's not a violation of their ToS to post memes encouraging the hanging of trans people.)

Not that everybody on Substack is like that. It started out as a pretty run-of-the-mill blogging site and there are still plenty of regular folk there. But it's become enough of an issue that its reputation is somewhat sketchy, and some of the folk I follow who used to be on Substack have migrated to other platforms. That kind of thing can become self-reinforcing over time.

Ahh, I see. Not somewhere I'd even consider.

I posted some of my Lit stories on PleazeMe, which has aspirations to be a safe haven. For writing, it's tumbleweeds, virtually zero feedback, no engagement. It's all vids and influencers, with an attention span of about a minute. I gave it a go, but gave up. It's a brave try, but an uphill battle to get traction.

It did result in my The Fantastic Hotel story, which I wrote for the owner, so not a complete loss.

 

[gunhilltrain]

One clue might be in the "Top in ..." list down the left hand side of the front page. Top in Politics, Top in Faith, amongst others. It might be a little... puritanical?

They allow erotica but not porn, which begs the question, who decides on that line?

That's what I was saying in a tongue-in-cheek way above. All we write is erotica, correct?

 

[gunhilltrain]

Well, Patti Smith writes for them and does videos and other things; I guess that counts for something. So far, I haven't found their editorial guidelines - like what erotica is, for example.

 

[JGittes]

Substack began a few years ago as a site that would allow high-profile bloggers to monetize their output through monthly paid subscriptions. They initially paid a few well know writers to sign up, and in subsequent years many others have followed.

Matt Yglesias was someone I followed when he wrote and did podcasts for Vox. I'm making an assumption that he left Vox over editorial issues and started a Substack column. He publishes a free weekly newsletter but has paid subscriptions for daily material. I signed up for his free stuff and don't want to get it anymore, but there isn't any way to cancel that I can find.

Over the past year or so, Substack has become a haven for, as Bramblethron mentioned above, more conspiracy theories and anti-everything hate.

It was originally something like Patreon, but for writing. It aspired to be more literary and intellectual, which is something of a lost cause these days.

 

[lovecraft68]

Over the past year or so, Substack has become a haven for, as Bramblethron mentioned above, more conspiracy theories and anti-everything hate.

Hate to break the news, but you just described twitter. The only difference is most of the hatred there is from the alleged progressives, but I know, their hate is okay.

The entire internet is full of hate and division because as a society of brain dead lemmings we have let the media and politicians do it to us. Hate if fine because the 'other side' deserves it.

I know I'm wasting my breath, but I get tired of the holier than thou attitude of "oh, the hate" when its not the hate, its who you hate and who they hate.

I've found that just like in religion, the ones calling out the sin are most guilty of it, but being self righteous and all, its cool when you do it.

 

[lovecraft68]

I know people here look for other venues to get some eyes on their work, and some do it in the event that lit for whatever reason decided to close up shop.

But for me, this is it, the only other places I post is for sale. This site can give me enough headaches, I don't need more.
And let's face it, if you've had your stuff on here for awhile, odds are its all over other sites anyway.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I know people here look for other venues to get some eyes on their work, and some do it in the event that lit for whatever reason decided to close up shop.

But for me, this is it, the only other places I post is for sale. This site can give me enough headaches, I don't need more.
And let's face it, if you've had your stuff on here for awhile, odds are its all over other sites anyway.

Headaches can vary. Three sites are the most I can handle. (I have no idea if any of my stories from Lit are on those.) One site has looser age restrictions, which gave me a venue for a coming of age story that wouldn't fly here. However, they have a number of moderators (all volunteers, I think) and once in a while you'll get an unexpected curve ball about something besides age.

I don't know what the religious restrictions on Lit are now, but I've heard they've become tougher. Thus I have a series involving the Catholic Church that I didn't put on here. Yet I am writing a single story for Lit that does have some religious issues. Now I'm curious to see the reaction it gets from the moderator here.

 

[MillieDynamite]

Substacks offer payment, probably similar to the way that Simily and Medium pay. However, on Medium, you must have 50 followers to receive payments, Simily doesn't require followers, but neither one pays much per individual read. Medium is based on how long people stay on your story, while Simily is based on views. It looks pretty difficult to drive people to your stories, and there is no advertising on site to help with that. My point is, don't expect to get rich quickly doing any of these sites. If your goal is having readers, there are better options than paysites like those.