An announcement about my future publishing on Literotica

[MrPixel]

@Kelliezgirl , if you're not part of the solution, you're the precipitate.

Enough. Iggy.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

@Kelliezgirl , if you're not part of the solution, you're the precipitate.

Enough. Iggy.

or perhaps post-cipitate. post, get it?

 

[MrPixel]

Groan.

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

Groan.

My work here is done.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

@Kelliezgirl , if you're not part of the solution, you're the precipitate.

Enough. Iggy.

Well, it seems no one here is in any position to actually solve anything, so there is only one thing to do....

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

Well, it seems no one here is in any position to actually solve anything, so there is only one thing to do....

View attachment 2576656

There's a pub in Dublin on Church Street, near the Howth Marina. It's called The Cock Tavern. How about I meet you there. It's a setting in a story I'm working on, and is high on my bucket list.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

There's a pub in Dublin on Church Street, near the Howth Marina. It's called The Cock Tavern. How about I meet you there. It's a setting in a story I'm working on, and is high on my bucket list.

Will there be a Cock on the Wall?

 

[ShelbyDawn57]

Will there be a Cock on the Wall?

Of some variation, I'll wager. It wouldn't surprise me if one of our cohorts has been there and can give us lurid details.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

Of some variation, I'll wager. It wouldn't surprise me if one of our cohorts has been there and can give us lurid details.

Well, then I'm in... let's hope for no zombies.

 

[Levorotatory]

What else is there, though?

Personally, I used two other websites, and while I still think Literotica is the place that suits my needs as an author the best, I want to share my impressions about the other two places I've also used so far.

AO3 is an insane mess. It's entropy made URL that's flooded with teenagers and their cultural obsessions. It's definitely not a place for me. But I'll also be fair and say that its policy of everything is allowed, and everyone is treated the same way, the absolute freedom of it, is hard to criticize. You paste your story, add the most ridiculous tags if you want, and hit submit, and the story appears there within minutes. I can respect that, as much as the site doesn't suit my taste at all.

Then there's SOL. It's a paying site, essentially. Free users have limitations on which stories they can read and how many per day. The interface is also quite dated. Anyway, I made an account there almost two years ago and started publishing the same stories I had already published on Lit. And when I published my second fantasy series there (they are around 120k words each), I was pleasantly surprised by being awarded a premium membership the next day.

The biggest problem with both is discoverability. AO3 is primarily a fanfiction site, so their top level organization is by fandom and all original stories are in the original work category. Combine that with the limited number of standardized tags and culture of freeform tagging and it can be difficult to craft a search that includes everything you might be interested in while excluding most of what you aren't. With SOL, the most significant paywall limitation isn't the daily limit or that a substantial fraction of the catalog is inaccessible, it is that the search function is paywalled. Both have the advantage of less restrictive content policies than Literotica, but that is largely negated by the difficulty of finding it.

 

[YmaOHyd]

Both have the advantage of less restrictive content policies than Literotica, but that is largely negated by the difficulty of finding it.

And for me, less restrictive content policies isn't a draw. There are kinds of content I don't want to share a platform with.

 

[StillStunned]

As to why the popular authors not speaking up matters, because who do you think Laurel should be more concerned about? The opinions of the popular authors who might actually drive traffic to the site, or all the little people?
Go to a casino, the guy dropping quarters in a slot machine doesn't matter to them. It's the whales they care about, and the AH isn't it.

I've been very clear that the delays in submissions is a problem, I've also been very clear that there is a little doubt that Laurel and Manu are aware and working on it. Crying on the AH isn't helpful.

I did some editing for one of Lit's more popular authors, and my takeaway was that they don't care about writing. They have an idea, they churn it out and bask in the adoration of their fans. The version sent to me for editing was extremely badly written, full of mistakes and inconsistencies and completely lacking in many of the techniques that lift a story from "here's a series of things that happened" to "a properly crafted story that people will remember".

Most of the regulars here in the AH, on the other hand, *do* care about writing, and about their stories in particular. I might complain about the shortage of discussions about the nitty-gritty, but technical aspects of writing come up fairly regularly, and many of the interactions here are about getting the best reception for our little babies.

And going back to one of Em's complaints - the one-bombing and how the site used to offer writers at least some protection - people who care about those little babies are going to be more upset than writers whose only concern is to pump out low-quality content again and again.

And, from what I gather from Em, it's the bombing and the lack of protection that's the final straw. Will the site care about her leaving? Perhaps not. But it's an understandable reaction from someone who cares as much as she does about writing and her stories to leave. Belittle that all you want, but she's not the only one who feels like their trust has been betrayed.

 

[AwkwardlySet]

It's also worth noting that the most popular authors that frequent the AH aren't complaining about this supposed problem.

As I said previously, I'm not hung up on the issue of malicious voting anymore. I had my fight back then when the whole Stacnash thing blew up, and my stories suffered greatly for it. Suffices to say that I didn't receive much understanding here. In some cases, just the opposite.

Newsflash, AH is selfish as fuck, and if it's not happening to them, it's not happening at all. A few people left Lit back then, and I suspect they would've still been here if the AH were different.

Anyway, back to your question about popular authors. The thing with popular authors is that they are popular.
That means they get many views and, more importantly, more votes. When your story has thousands of votes, trolls can't really bring down the score noticeably. It would take a truly gargantuan effort to affect stories with so many votes.

But if your story only has a hundred votes or a couple of hundred votes? Then just ONE troll with a grudge can bring you down so fast. I know this, I experienced this, and I tested this myself. It's easy.

The simple truth is that less popular authors, those who write in niche categories, are much more vulnerable to trolls.

 

[cw5523729]

As to why the popular authors not speaking up matters, because who do you think Laurel should be more concerned about? The opinions of the popular authors who might actually drive traffic to the site, or all the little people?
Go to a casino, the guy dropping quarters in a slot machine doesn't matter to them. It's the whales they care about, and the AH isn't it.

I've been very clear that the delays in submissions is a problem, I've also been very clear that there is a little doubt that Laurel and Manu are aware and working on it. Crying on the AH isn't helpful.

Sure, we all feel how we feel. So what? Does that mean someone can't disagree? Or must we all march in lockstep? Perhaps we could sit around in a bongo circle, play Kumbaya and cry, "woe is me, Lit is so unfair!"

Lit is a business, if they, as a business, aren't meeting your needs, then find someone else. What we have here is a bunch of people who eat at a restaurant, decide the service was shitty, go home, bitch on the internet about it, then come back the next day and repeat the process.

I don't know how to play the bongo. Can I get assigned a triangle instead? I might be able to handle a tambourine but don't expect much.

 

[Oralinator]

Hi all,

I’ve had a great time growing as a writer on Literotica. I started out writing quasi-biographical stories that relied more on memory than invention. I graduated to more creative works, I began to focus more on plot, and characters, and on dealing with broader themes than just people fucking. I’ve come a long way and my characters have cum an awful lot.

The culmination of this literary journey is my first novel, The Story of Nix. This is something into which I poured every single thing I have learned about writing, along with many of my feelings about the world in 2025.

I’m super proud of the result and even more so of the deluge of positive comments and messages from a wide range of people. I never had any idea that this essentially personal project would resonate with so many, including excellent authors for whom Nix was their first experience of my work. It’s one thing having fans, quite another to reach a wider audience of fellow writers. The response has been truly amazing and humbling.

But, sadly, this writing career peak has coincided with changes at Literotica. The site has never been very writer-friendly. It’s focused on readers and us authors are seen as fungible commodities, and not valued content partners. We provide the product that Literotica sells, and the only recompense is seeing our work appreciated by others.

For years this has been enough. It wasn’t maybe a great deal for good authors, but the views you got allowed writers to ignore how little our basic needs were catered for. But, sad to say, things have gotten worse.

The views have fallen off a cliff edge in many categories. The few pro-author aspects (comp-related sweeps, or the site looking into malicious voting when asked to) have atrophied, and are becoming close to non-existent. The Halloween Competition sweep was something of a joke in its ineffective shallowness. And the site no longer responds to requests to fix clearly malicious votes. The trolls have totally free rein. Literotica is becoming an unregulated, dystopian hellscape for authors. And I know it’s not just me who thinks so.

Add to this the current submission crisis, and Literotica has become much less author-friendly; and that decline is from a starting position that was already very low. For me at least, things have reached a tipping point where the benefits of publishing here have dropped below the hassle factor.

For that reason, the story I have already written for the Winter Holidays Competition will be the last new one I publish. I’m not doing anything as dramatic as deleting my back catalog - to do so would be punishing my loyal readers, rather than the site - but part of me feels that I should, to be entirely consistent.

I’m not so stupid to think that a lack of new Emily Miller stories will bring Literotica to its knees, but I’m no longer comfortable contributing even 0.00001% to the site’s revenue, when the most basic of courtesies and protections are no longer extended to authors.

Maybe there is a crisis of some sort at Literotica Towers. Illness, disability, old age catching up with the principals, a decision to sell the site, the technical infrastructure crumbling… who knows? Absent any communication about this, I see no need to extend the benefit of the doubt to the site.

What is indisputable is that the basic hygiene factors no longer exist, and it feels as if the level of respect towards the other half of what ought to be a symbiotic relationship has evaporated. Authors never mattered much, now they don’t matter at all.

While I won’t post any new stories here (unless things change radically - and I’m not holding my breath), I might consider completing some series in deference to my readers. But any new stories will be published in different ways.

I’m not quitting the forums, I’ll still be here to annoy a range of people as much as always. So if the aim of attacking my work was to make me leave, then fuck you! I’ll also continue to promote my back catalog here from time to time, and to comment on the work of other writers.

I apologize to my regular readers. This isn’t about you, it’s about the environment for authors here becoming intolerable. I’m fine, I don’t need messages of support. If you want to do something positive, consider messaging @Laurel and @Manu asking them to treat authors with greater respect. Not that I anticipate this leading to any change either. The site doesn’t listen to its users and the death spiral - whatever caused it in the first place - already seems well-established.

Thank you to those who have enjoyed my work and said so. You’re the best. I’m not going to stop writing, but I’m no longer going to provide Literotica with a revenue stream when I get little in return.

Love

Emily

PS I’m not going to argue with anyone on this thread. Feel free to call me a spoiled princess, or a drama queen, if you feel like it, I really don’t care.

Emily, I am saddened to hear of your withdrawal from from Lit. I have enjoyed your stories, and watching you grow as an author. Please don’t let the AH trolls keep you from continuing to write. You have a creative mind and natural writing talent.

Like so many good things Lit has become a victim of its own success. Personally, I don’t know how they could balance the need for absolute privacy, protecting authors from obnoxious trolls, and a regulated ranking system. At some point they become inherently contradictory. And as always there are always a few rotten apples that spoil the party for everyone. Unfortunately the anonymity of the internet gives the AHs a perfect platform to spew there mindless venom. Maybe someone can devise an AI filtration system but that is way out of my realm of expertise.

Thanks for all your great stories. And please keep writing. Your talent must be allowed to flourish.

 

[And4778]

Hi all,

I’ve had a great time growing as a writer on Literotica. I started out writing quasi-biographical stories that relied more on memory than invention. I graduated to more creative works, I began to focus more on plot, and characters, and on dealing with broader themes than just people fucking. I’ve come a long way and my characters have cum an awful lot.

The culmination of this literary journey is my first novel, The Story of Nix. This is something into which I poured every single thing I have learned about writing, along with many of my feelings about the world in 2025.

I’m super proud of the result and even more so of the deluge of positive comments and messages from a wide range of people. I never had any idea that this essentially personal project would resonate with so many, including excellent authors for whom Nix was their first experience of my work. It’s one thing having fans, quite another to reach a wider audience of fellow writers. The response has been truly amazing and humbling.

But, sadly, this writing career peak has coincided with changes at Literotica. The site has never been very writer-friendly. It’s focused on readers and us authors are seen as fungible commodities, and not valued content partners. We provide the product that Literotica sells, and the only recompense is seeing our work appreciated by others.

For years this has been enough. It wasn’t maybe a great deal for good authors, but the views you got allowed writers to ignore how little our basic needs were catered for. But, sad to say, things have gotten worse.

The views have fallen off a cliff edge in many categories. The few pro-author aspects (comp-related sweeps, or the site looking into malicious voting when asked to) have atrophied, and are becoming close to non-existent. The Halloween Competition sweep was something of a joke in its ineffective shallowness. And the site no longer responds to requests to fix clearly malicious votes. The trolls have totally free rein. Literotica is becoming an unregulated, dystopian hellscape for authors. And I know it’s not just me who thinks so.

Add to this the current submission crisis, and Literotica has become much less author-friendly; and that decline is from a starting position that was already very low. For me at least, things have reached a tipping point where the benefits of publishing here have dropped below the hassle factor.

For that reason, the story I have already written for the Winter Holidays Competition will be the last new one I publish. I’m not doing anything as dramatic as deleting my back catalog - to do so would be punishing my loyal readers, rather than the site - but part of me feels that I should, to be entirely consistent.

I’m not so stupid to think that a lack of new Emily Miller stories will bring Literotica to its knees, but I’m no longer comfortable contributing even 0.00001% to the site’s revenue, when the most basic of courtesies and protections are no longer extended to authors.

Maybe there is a crisis of some sort at Literotica Towers. Illness, disability, old age catching up with the principals, a decision to sell the site, the technical infrastructure crumbling… who knows? Absent any communication about this, I see no need to extend the benefit of the doubt to the site.

What is indisputable is that the basic hygiene factors no longer exist, and it feels as if the level of respect towards the other half of what ought to be a symbiotic relationship has evaporated. Authors never mattered much, now they don’t matter at all.

While I won’t post any new stories here (unless things change radically - and I’m not holding my breath), I might consider completing some series in deference to my readers. But any new stories will be published in different ways.

I’m not quitting the forums, I’ll still be here to annoy a range of people as much as always. So if the aim of attacking my work was to make me leave, then fuck you! I’ll also continue to promote my back catalog here from time to time, and to comment on the work of other writers.

I apologize to my regular readers. This isn’t about you, it’s about the environment for authors here becoming intolerable. I’m fine, I don’t need messages of support. If you want to do something positive, consider messaging @Laurel and @Manu asking them to treat authors with greater respect. Not that I anticipate this leading to any change either. The site doesn’t listen to its users and the death spiral - whatever caused it in the first place - already seems well-established.

Thank you to those who have enjoyed my work and said so. You’re the best. I’m not going to stop writing, but I’m no longer going to provide Literotica with a revenue stream when I get little in return.

Love

Emily

PS I’m not going to argue with anyone on this thread. Feel free to call me a spoiled princess, or a drama queen, if you feel like it, I really don’t care.

You have to follow your gut and trust in your decisions going forward. If you don't take care of yourself and your needs first and foremost, no one else will do it for you.
This world we inhabit now has changed and not always for the good. I wish you luck and I hope to follow in your footsteps someday soon. Keep going strong and don't look back, somebody might be gaining on you!!!
Andrew

 

[EmilyMiller]

I’d planned to respond individually, but up to my eyes in alligators at work.

Can I just say thank you for the close to unanimous understanding and support . Thank you also for the lovely messages, PMs and emails .

While there are too many unpleasant people in the world, it’s good to recall that the majority are kind and interested in the well-being of their fellow humans.

I’ll explain more here as and when I can find the time.

And again, I’m not quitting these forums, too many friends here. And I’m still interested in helping other authors. I need a break after writing after Nix anyway .

 

[Kelliezgirl]

I don't know how to play the bongo. Can I get assigned a triangle instead? I might be able to handle a tambourine but don't expect much.

We have a tambourine with your name on it!

 

[Kelliezgirl]

As I said previously, I'm not hung up on the issue of malicious voting anymore. I had my fight back then when the whole Stacnash thing blew up, and my stories suffered greatly for it. Suffices to say that I didn't receive much understanding here. In some cases, just the opposite.

Newsflash, AH is selfish as fuck, and if it's not happening to them, it's not happening at all. A few people left Lit back then, and I suspect they would've still been here if the AH were different.

Anyway, back to your question about popular authors. The thing with popular authors is that they are popular.
That means they get many views and, more importantly, more votes. When your story has thousands of votes, trolls can't really bring down the score noticeably. It would take a truly gargantuan effort to affect stories with so many votes.

But if your story only has a hundred votes or a couple of hundred votes? Then just ONE troll with a grudge can bring you down so fast. I know this, I experienced this, and I tested this myself. It's easy.

The simple truth is that less popular authors, those who write in niche categories, are much more vulnerable to trolls.

Yeah, funny how it was perfectly acceptable to disagree with you when you began criticizing Lit...


Lemmings gotta lemming I suppose.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

I did some editing for one of Lit's more popular authors, and my takeaway was that they don't care about writing. They have an idea, they churn it out and bask in the adoration of their fans. The version sent to me for editing was extremely badly written, full of mistakes and inconsistencies and completely lacking in many of the techniques that lift a story from "here's a series of things that happened" to "a properly crafted story that people will remember".

Most of the regulars here in the AH, on the other hand, *do* care about writing, and about their stories in particular. I might complain about the shortage of discussions about the nitty-gritty, but technical aspects of writing come up fairly regularly, and many of the interactions here are about getting the best reception for our little babies.

And going back to one of Em's complaints - the one-bombing and how the site used to offer writers at least some protection - people who care about those little babies are going to be more upset than writers whose only concern is to pump out low-quality content again and again.

And, from what I gather from Em, it's the bombing and the lack of protection that's the final straw. Will the site care about her leaving? Perhaps not. But it's an understandable reaction from someone who cares as much as she does about writing and her stories to leave. Belittle that all you want, but she's not the only one who feels like their trust has been betrayed.

Your contention is the most popular authors on Lit don't care about writing and aren't any good anyway? You sure you don't want to put that in the controversial opinion thread?
It's also kind of self serving to add, but the people in the AH are the ones who REALLY care about their writing.


So, people want to be "protected" from a system that lets people vote the way they want?
Everyone who has posted on Lit has gotten a 1 vote. I've seen changes in my scores that were only mathematically possible from getting a 1.
So what?
Not everyone is going to like your story.
There have been discussions here where people trash FAR better authors than we have on Lit, and that's totally OK.
If you think it's OK for someone to express the opinion that Hemingway or Dickens suck, then it's totally OK for a reader to rate your story a 1.
If so much of a person's ego is tied up in their scores on this site they can't handle that, the problem isn't with Lit, it's with them. Laurel is running a business, and part of her business isn't protecting fragile egos.

 

[cw5523729]

Not everyone is going to like your story.

There have been discussions here where people trash FAR better authors than we have on Lit, and that's totally OK.
If you think it's OK for someone to express the opinion that Hemingway or Dickens suck, then it's totally OK for a reader to rate your story a 1.

Heck, I bashed Stephen King and yet I'm pretty sure his bank account is still doing better than mine.

 

[Kelliezgirl]

View attachment 2576716

Heck, I bashed Stephen King and yet I'm pretty sure his bank account is still doing better than mine.

 

[EmilyMiller]

View attachment 2576716

Heck, I bashed Stephen King and yet I'm pretty sure his bank account is still doing better than mine.

Interesting, this thread brings a much more recent Taylor Swift song to mind

 

[cw5523729]

Interesting, this thread brings a much more recent Taylor Swift song to mind

You need to calm down. Just shake it off. I knew you were trouble trying to be the Anti-Hero with your next Love Story and you don't want to get any bad blood with Laurel lest Karma get you. Don't be all ME! ME! ME! about it.

 

[EmilyMiller]

You need to calm down. Just shake it off. I knew you were trouble trying to be the Anti-Hero with your next Love Story and you don't want to get any bad blood with Laurel lest Karma get you. Don't be all ME! ME! ME! about it.

Keep going - you’ll get it eventually