Useful tip: Link to a new automatic series

[TheLobster]

A second installment of one my ongoing stories published today. Since I titled it appropriately (with "02" at the end), I expected it to eventually become part of a(n automatic) series that Lit would create based solely on titles.

I heard that this might take a while, since stories do not "visibly" become part of series until 24h+ after they are published. There seems to be some processing task on the server that does this job periodically.

What I discovered, however, is that series are actually created immediately. Once you publish a "Ch. 02" story, you'll have your series created AND you can link to it -- it's just not yet visible in your profile.

As of this writing, my public profile still looks like this:



i.e., the story appears as standalone. However, in my admin panel (the Series (Beta) page) I can already see the series having been created (note the "2 Stories" part):



Curiously, this means you can actually link to such brand new series, which is what I've done in my signature (again, as of this writing).

This is how you do it:

1. Click on that gear icon above, in your admin next to the freshly created and "invisible" series.
2. Note the URL in the address bar of your browser; it will be something like https://www.literotica.com/my/#/series/stories/edit/494351988 . That number is your series ID; take note of it (copy-paste somewhere).
3. A public address of any series is in the format: https://www.literotica.com/series/se/<SERIES_ID>, where <SERIES_ID> is the aforementioned number.
   So, you can join the prefix with the ID and you get something like https://www.literotica.com/series/se/494351988 .
   This is now the address that anyone can access and they'll see your new series.

Like I said, I mostly find it useful to put in my forum signature, but of course you could take that URL and post it on X, BlueSky, etc. as soon as your second installment is live.

 

[iwatchus]

A note for everyone with this. Be careful to be absolutely consistent with your titles. And if it might go beyond 9 chapters, be sure to use a zero on the start our number. Or be prepared to manually order the stories.

I ran into a problem with a series a few days ago. I ended up reading the stories out of order because I just followed the next story link on the side. But the author was not careful with the spaces used, so parts 3 and 4 come after 5 and 6. I left a comment for the author about the issue and sent them a PM broadly outlining how to fix the issue. Their other series is even worse for being out of order.

As of now, the author has not fixed the series ordering. It's a shame because the series is very good, but reading it out of order kind of ruins it.

 

[TheLobster]

Be careful to be absolutely consistent with your titles.

Also bear in mind that the automated algorithm is very simple and inflexible. It works for simple series with a handful of numbered chapters, but even outside of the sorting issue it's really rigid in what patterns it recognizes.

I've seen several instances of series getting titles like "Mom's Backseat Adventure Ch." -- yes, with the "Ch." -- because author used nonstandard naming scheme.
Or if an author published "Stud's Harem: Alex & Barbara" and "Stud's Harem: Alex & Chloe", it's very likely the resulting series will be titled "Stud's Harem: Alex &".

In other words, be prepared to babysit your series and turn them into manual one if you ever need something more complicated than "My Magical Boobs Pt. 42".

 

[ElectricBlue]

A second installment of one my ongoing stories published today. Since I titled it appropriately (with "02" at the end), I expected it to eventually become part of a(n automatic) series that Lit would create based solely on titles.

I heard that this might take a while, since stories do not "visibly" become part of series until 24h+ after they are published. There seems to be some processing task on the server that does this job periodically.

Correct. I've observed that the auto-series algorithm is a daily run, I assume as part of the midnight (somewhere in the US time) server run, when stories go live and the algorithm runs. That's been the way it's worked ever since I've been here.

What I discovered, however, is that series are actually created immediately. Once you publish a "Ch. 02" story, you'll have your series created AND you can link to it -- it's just not yet visible in your profile.

I don't know for sure, but I reckon that pre-build (to give it a name) visibility came in when the Manual Series capability was introduced, about three years ago (or whenever it was). It's tied in with the lag mentioned above, I reckon.

I vaguely recall noticing that an auto-run "date created" field is also now visible since the Manual Series change was made, and it always seems to be in the recent past. Which suggests an on-going refresh mechanism running constantly, possibly when you open a new page and get a new build. It was one of those, "Oh, that's interesting," things, but not of much significance really, so I didn't look more deeply. It's doing it's job, so the detail is not important.

 

[PrimalDual]

In other words, be prepared to babysit your series and turn them into manual one if you ever need something more complicated than "My Magical Boobs Pt. 42".

Link, please? I am not finding this.