Using your Biography to keep your readers updated on your writing status

[8letters]

It was a hint from one of my readers. I put just now into my Biography, >>>I've sent "A Week At The Lake With My Sister" to my editor<<<. Readers who follow me will see in their feed that I've updated my profile. If they click on the link, they'll see that I've sent a story to my editor. Or at least that's how it's supposed to work.

 

[Omenainen]

Personally I once un-followed an author because I got fed up with the constant updates on their profile. Followers will be notified if you publish a new story, and for me that is advertisement enough. I don’t want my “feed” full of “author X updated their profile” announcements. Similarly, I limit modifying my own profile to only the Most Important Stuff.

But to each their own, of course.

 

[KeithD]

Personally I once un-followed an author because I got fed up with the constant updates on their profile. Followers will be notified if you publish a new story, and for me that is advertisement enough. I don’t want my “feed” full of “author X updated their profile” announcements. Similarly, I limit modifying my own profile to only the Most Important Stuff.

But to each their own, of course.

How do profile updates come to your attention? I'm not notified of any (not that I want to be).

 

[SamScribble]

It was a hint from one of my readers. I put just now into my Biography, >>>I've sent "A Week At The Lake With My Sister" to my editor<<<. Readers who follow me will see in their feed that I've updated my profile. If they click on the link, they'll see that I've sent a story to my editor. Or at least that's how it's supposed to work.

Some of you have some very strange ideas about this scribbling business. But I guess it takes all sorts.

 

[NotWise]

How do profile updates come to your attention? I'm not notified of any (not that I want to be).

You're notified on your home page when an author you've followed updates their profile.

 

[ChloeTzang]

I use my bio when I publish something on Amazon. Otherwise that's it. Followers get a notification for a new story on Lit, and my bio also includes a link to my FB page, where I yap all the timeabout anything and everything. I tell anyone who's interested to friend me there. That's what it's designed for, unlike Literotica. So the only people that get all my yap yap yap are people that willingly sign up for it.

 

[KeithD]

You're notified on your home page when an author you've followed updates their profile.

Thanks. I'm not wild about the notification system (and don't do much with favoriting). Beyond the fact that I post stories so often that I regret the annoyance caused by notifying anyone who favorited me each time I do so, I've found that favoriting is a good way for one's trolls to know when you've posted a story so they can strike it.

 

[SimonDoom]

I probably won't do this for the reason O gave: I don't want to over-clutter people's feeds. But personally I DO appreciate getting notification of another author's story, and that's why I have followed so many authors.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I probably won't do this for the reason O gave: I don't want to over-clutter people's feeds. But personally I DO appreciate getting notification of another author's story, and that's why I have followed so many authors.

I suspect that few readers, even one's followers, look at the author profiles very often. There is another site with allows authors to maintain a blog on the site. They don't have "story hubs" per se; there is one big list where everything appears in chronological order. The blog posts show up in that list. It's sort of a nice thing to have, I suppose. Usually, I post to my blog to announce a new story and perhaps make some comments about what I had intended to accomplish with the story or chapter. Readers can also respond directly to the blog, which a few will do.

 

[PennameWombat]

It was a hint from one of my readers. I put just now into my Biography, >>>I've sent "A Week At The Lake With My Sister" to my editor<<<. Readers who follow me will see in their feed that I've updated my profile. If they click on the link, they'll see that I've sent a story to my editor. Or at least that's how it's supposed to work.

Yeah, I get notifications for accounts I follow when they update their profile. I do provide on my Biography a 'suggested reading order' for my stories, especially the ones in shared universes. But I also highlight stand-alone and one-off stories there for people who happen across it and just want 'a story'. I update it, uh, every so often. Usually after I've added a couple of stories, I'm not obsessed about it. As to this purpose, I'm not sure why or what interest anyone who follows me would have about a story being sent to an editor, or such. I don't have an audience for stories outside of here at this point, so don't have such followers Out There.

That said, I do usually use my personal Twitter account to tweet when a new story gets published, and the Literotica Twitter account is good at retweeting those. So the folks who follow me there will know about the stories, but again, I don't usually post 'in progress'. And... I can't say I see huge bumps in views from this.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I probably won't do this for the reason O gave: I don't want to over-clutter people's feeds. But personally I DO appreciate getting notification of another author's story, and that's why I have followed so many authors.

I've done it a few times, when I managed to get a story into an Anthology. But then I realised the next story made the bio out of date, so I stopped. Duh.

But telling your fans a story has gone off to an editor? That's a bit precious, isn't it? That's a bit like telling someone you've been to the shop to buy bread.

 

[Agiel]

I've found that favoriting is a good way for one's trolls to know when you've posted a story so they can strike it.

There is no doubt in my mind that some trolls follow writers so they know when the writer posts a new story. They don’t want to miss the opportunity to bomb it.

 

[KeithD]

There is no doubt in my mind that some trolls follow writers so they know when the writer posts a new story. They don’t want to miss the opportunity to bomb it.

But some are so clumsy about it--favoriting an author whose categories quite obviously don't appeal to them--right after dumping on them on the discussion board that they make obvious they are only favoriting so that they'll know whenever that author posts a story that they have no interest in other than trolling it.

 

[SimonDoom]

I've done it a few times, when I managed to get a story into an Anthology. But then I realised the next story made the bio out of date, so I stopped. Duh.

But telling your fans a story has gone off to an editor? That's a bit precious, isn't it? That's a bit like telling someone you've been to the shop to buy bread.

This reminds me of this meme that basically explains all of social media, in donuts:

 

[gunhilltrain]

This reminds me of this meme that basically explains all of social media, in donuts:

I was going to comment on social media in relation to a statement above, "That's a bit like telling someone you've been to the shop to buy bread." But the line between parody and reality is getting thinner.

I never read on Facebook or whatever about somebody visiting their parole officer or applying for food stamps. Maybe those do exist and I've just missed them so far.

 

[SimonDoom]

I was going to comment on social media in relation to a statement above, "That's a bit like telling someone you've been to the shop to buy bread." But the line between parody and reality is getting thinner.

I never read on Facebook or whatever about somebody visiting their parole officer or applying for food stamps. Maybe those do exist and I've just missed them so far.

It is. This meme is rather old, so it's missing some things:

TikTok: Here's how I shuffle dance to donuts.

OnlyFans: Pay $9.99 and see how I get kinky with a donut.

Reddit: I have something to say about this chick who's charging $9.99 on OnlyFans to get kinky with a donut.