Using favorites as a personal featured list?

[kngelol]

I decided to ask about this since I did not find a clear answer after a few minutes of searching.

Is there any specific rules against adding your own stories to your own favorites list? Like, there is the text of "These are not submissions written by this member" on that page but it does not exactly forbid it.

So my main question is if other authors use it to highlight their "best stories." And if not, how do you handle having all your stories in an alphabetical order. Like, at least I'm starting to get increasingly bothered by not having the ability to at least arrange them by date or feature the "best ones" on top of my page.

 

[RejectReality]

There are no rules or prohibitions. You can use those lists in any way you choose.

Once the full lists features roll out with the updated member profiles, You'll probably even be able to create a list that says it's your personal favorite stories from your catalog.

 

[LAHomedog]

I vote on my own stories. Never thought to make one a favorite. Why? Do people search that list?

 

[ElectricBlue]

Some people Fave their own stories, but you'd have to ask each one who does so, why. No-one else will ever know their reason for doing so.

 

[kngelol]

I vote on my own stories. Never thought to make one a favorite. Why? Do people search that list?

People like to look at "featured lists" when they are faced with long lists with limited information.

Sure you could say that the H marks show what are the "better stories" but there are authors on this site who have over half of their list with H. And I would imagine most readers do not have infinite time to check out the works of a new author they found. And if they pick that one story that is filled with errors/issues you wrote 4 years ago but has a high score because age or luck, they might not give another of your stories a chance.

And sure, having your own story on the favorites tab would not have the same effect as being on the actual featured stories list but at least it gives a minor chance that a reader who is looking at your page picks one of your "better stories." Like, I have done that a few time, read a story I liked, go to the author page, see a long list, check the favorites tab and pick one of the 1-5 they have there. Like they have to be good if the author listed them. But the bad part about that to the author is that, none of them are their stories.

 

[Agiel]

If I’ve read a story and enjoyed it I usually check out the writers favourites list. If they’ve got 50, 100, 200 favourite stories that’s the end of it. Someone recording every story they’ve read as a favourite means nothing. I’ve seen on some writer’s list they’ve put their own stories. If they’ve done so, whatever the reason, it’s up to them.

In 5 years I’ve accumulated 11 stories on my favourites list all of which I’ve enjoyed reading initially and like to occasionally read again. It’s never entered my head to put my own stories on that list. Why? Because all my stories are favourites of mine. Because they were written by me.

If someone has read one of my stories enough to check me out further then it’s up to them if they want to read more. I don’t think adding my own stories to my own list would make any difference to their decision and I wouldn’t want it to.

 

[JGittes]

On the story side of Lit, under the member (author) biography page is something at the bottom 'A few words from *.' The * being the author's Lit handle. I've seen several authors use that section to make announcements of new stories, help navigate new comers through interconnected multiverse stories and to make recommendations where to start if they have a large backlist. That section could easily be used to list the personal favorites of the stories the author has written.

It is accessed in the Options, My Profile page, on what I think is what others here have referred to as an author's control panel (again, story side, not forums side.)