Are we allowed to talk about LE alternatives here?

[EmilyMiller]

But look at the "reads" count for most of those 17. In the low hundreds. Everything else? Meh.

I was getting decent views - then I was assiduously advertizing the site on SM.

Looking now, there is basically the same number of authors now as when I left. Good authors are getting like 4 views on stories.

And the few marquee authors who made it there (one of whom invited me) seem to have given up on the place.

 

[PennyThompson]

I was getting decent views - then I was assiduously advertizing the site on SM.

Looking now, there is basically the same number of authors now as when I left. Good authors are getting like 4 views on stories.

And the few marquee authors who made it there (one of whom invited me) seem to have given up on the place.

I don't think that's entirely fair, the site isn't even on its 1.0 design yet, it's basically still in beta.

New platforms always face a chicken-and-egg userbase problem, especially if they aren't being backed by big money or established structures.

I don't know if it will take off or not, but I really like what it's doing in terms of user interface and writing tools, far more than any other erotica site I've explored!

I'm sad that you had a bad experience with another user on there, but I don't want to rehash that

 

[EmilyMiller]

I don't think that's entirely fair

Whether or not my opinion of the place is colored by my terrible experience of being thrown under the bus by the site owner when doing what I’d explicitly agreed with him I’d do to help him out, my comments on author numbers and views are purely factual.

Erotxt would be in a much better place if they didn’t betray those who were helping them grow in agreed ways. And it’s not even about the morality of not enforcing your own policies, it’s about utter lack of any business sense behind such decisions.

My issue was with the site ownership, not some jerk-circle, single-issue activist, applying purity tests of their own devising.

 

[TheWritingGroup]

or Lit.

Interestingly, you can also find this site at lit.com. (I'm surprised Laurel hasn't sold it to a cannabis supplier yet.)

 

[Nynah]

Erotxt would be in a much better place if they didn’t betray those who were helping them grow in agreed ways. And it’s not even about the morality of not enforcing your own policies, it’s about utter lack of any business sense behind such decisions.

I wasn't going to get involved but this narrative you're constructing around how things transpired there is sorely missing important details.

It was a thread discussing how to best promote the site, and another user gave an opinion that the use of AI art is bad and that the site would be better off without it. They did not at any point mention specific names, and you weren't the only person who uploaded AI cover art to that site. They even said they were addressing their concerns broadly. However, you took that quite personally and accused them of attacking you specifically despite the fact that they stated that they had no quarrel with you and at several points tried to de-escalate. Instead, you threw a temper tantrum so large it rivals the one you had when AMD and Omen gave you a less-than-stellar review in their thread, all because someone else deigned to have a negative opinion on AI art and you saw an opportunity to play the victim and air your grievances in dramatic fashion.

My issue was with the site ownership, not some jerk-circle, single-issue activist, applying purity tests of their own devising.

If you didn't have an issue with this other user, then you wouldn't have made several posts demanding an apology for them "attacking" you.

I think it's funny you've taken your ball and gone home over this because last I checked, AI art for covers was still allowed on that website, so you can still have your cake and eat it too. I just couldn't stand by and spin a story of how you were mistreated without adding context that you, for some reason, left out.

I encourage anyone curious about this to find the website and the discussion on it and judge for yourselves whether this narrative is accurate or not.

 

[EmilyMiller]

I wasn't going to get involved but this narrative you're constructing around how things transpired there is sorely missing important details.

It was a thread discussing how to best promote the site, and another user gave an opinion that the use of AI art is bad and that the site would be better off without it. They did not at any point mention specific names, and you weren't the only person who uploaded AI cover art to that site. They even said they were addressing their concerns broadly. However, you took that quite personally and accused them of attacking you specifically despite the fact that they stated that they had no quarrel with you and at several points tried to de-escalate. Instead, you threw a temper tantrum so large it rivals the one you had when AMD and Omen gave you a less-than-stellar review in their thread, all because someone else deigned to have a negative opinion on AI art and you saw an opportunity to play the victim and air your grievances in dramatic fashion.


If you didn't have an issue with this other user, then you wouldn't have made several posts demanding an apology for them "attacking" you.

I think it's funny you've taken your ball and gone home over this because last I checked, AI art for covers was still allowed on that website, so you can still have your cake and eat it too. I just couldn't stand by and spin a story of how you were mistreated without adding context that you, for some reason, left out.

I encourage anyone curious about this to find the website and the discussion on it and judge for yourselves whether this narrative is accurate or not.

And you think my characterization of events was one sided? The person in question knew exactly what she was doing and she doubled and tripled down on it. You weren’t the only person who witnessed what happened, others drew different conclusions to you.

Why you choose to give her the benefit of the doubt at every point and refuse to extend the same courtesy to me is something of a mystery. You seem to have a problem with me as reflected in other posts. Why you have an ax to grind, .

And if you knew anything about Lit history, my issue with story feedback was a PM in which the other party stated that all of my success in writing was due solely to men objectifying me. I have a saved screenshot. But hey, you probably think I’m fabricating this. Or that I should have just been cool with it. I’m sure you’d have handled it much better than me.

I definitely proved that is not the case BTW, but you’d probably not want to hear that. Easier to just demonize people in the same way.

I’d strongly suggest being fully apprised of facts before being judgemental. If you dislike me, put me on ignore. That’s what I’m about to do with you.

 

[MrPixel]

I encourage anyone curious about this to find the website and the discussion on it and judge for yourselves whether this narrative is accurate or not.

Meaningless statement. I recall the discussion better than the site does - the two postings that were of concern have been substantially edited in the weeks since. The original post was clear in its inference to Ms. Miller's work without naming names.

This is the third instance I am aware of of tracks being covered in messaging on that site. You blessed me out in no uncertain terms in that thread... and the post is now gone. I cannot find it anywhere. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt that the admin was housecleaning the negativity. Just sayin'.

EDIT: I was corrected by @Nynah, and I apologize for my error.

 

[TheRedChamber]

So, in summary, while this rival site doesn't have much in the way of stories or audience yet, it has already succeeded in generating the prerequisite amount of EmilyMiller-fueled drama. I predict a bright future ahead.

(Full disclosure - put a few stories there last month, just to see)

 

[Kumquatqueen]

Archive of Our Own (AO3) – A huge platform that’s decent overall, but not smut-focused,

!!!
I don't know what fandoms you've been reading, but most of them are definitely smut-focused, if not totally smut-obsessed!

The only one I've seen that isn't blatant smut is the Dorothy Sayers fandom, because that's undertones and subtext instead - you have to think about it to notice the smut.

and the interface isn’t great.

For authors, you can paste in rich text or HTML, and edit with html or buttons, and link chapters and works with buttons.
Readers can search by text string, fandom, pairing, length, amount of kudos, date and more.
What do you find an issue with it?

What it doesn't have is much audience for anything that isn't fanfic, but fanfic, sorry, 'transformative works' is what it's for.

1. StoriesOnline – Pretty much the same issues as AO3.

I've not posted there but have looked for stories. There's very little I found that was over 1000 words and better written than the forum posts on alt.sex.stories back in the day - there may be good stuff there but the vast majority seems to be brief scribbles while wanking, with implausibility and misogyny that makes LW look like a friendly feminist convention.

 

[lovecraft68]

I wasn't going to get involved but this narrative you're constructing around how things transpired there is sorely missing important details.

It was a thread discussing how to best promote the site, and another user gave an opinion that the use of AI art is bad and that the site would be better off without it. They did not at any point mention specific names, and you weren't the only person who uploaded AI cover art to that site. They even said they were addressing their concerns broadly. However, you took that quite personally and accused them of attacking you specifically despite the fact that they stated that they had no quarrel with you and at several points tried to de-escalate. Instead, you threw a temper tantrum so large it rivals the one you had when AMD and Omen gave you a less-than-stellar review in their thread, all because someone else deigned to have a negative opinion on AI art and you saw an opportunity to play the victim and air your grievances in dramatic fashion.


If you didn't have an issue with this other user, then you wouldn't have made several posts demanding an apology for them "attacking" you.

I think it's funny you've taken your ball and gone home over this because last I checked, AI art for covers was still allowed on that website, so you can still have your cake and eat it too. I just couldn't stand by and spin a story of how you were mistreated without adding context that you, for some reason, left out.

I encourage anyone curious about this to find the website and the discussion on it and judge for yourselves whether this narrative is accurate or not.

I appreciate you being one of the few (but growing number) here who calls this poster out with this tired game of here and everywhere they instigate but yet are always a victim.

 

[EmilyMiller]

Meaningless statement. I recall the discussion better than the site does - the two postings that were of concern have been substantially edited in the weeks since. The original post was clear in its inference to Ms. Miller's work without naming names.

This is the third instance I am aware of of tracks being covered in messaging on that site. You blessed me out in no uncertain terms in that thread... and the post is now gone. I cannot find it anywhere. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt that the admin was housecleaning the negativity. Just sayin'.

There was a lot of gaslighting on that thread. It’s spreading apparently. That’s what jerk circle members do, attack, misrepresent, and then plead innocence and victimhood.

 

[Simple_desire000]

I would contact site admin.

I dropped one, and it was pushed back for a couple of minor things. Once I fixed those, it took 2 days, just published

 

[Simple_desire000]

I would contact site admin.

I dropped one, and it was pushed back for a couple of minor things. Once I fixed those, it took 2 days, just published yeserday.

 

[Simple_desire000]

I would contact site admin.

I dropped one, and it was pushed back for a couple of minor things. Once I fixed those, it took 2 days, just published yeserday.

I was looking for that, thru contact us, but got a form that looked like it was for something else, how do I get in contact with admin?

 

[MrPixel]

Meaningless statement. I recall the discussion better than the site does - the two postings that were of concern have been substantially edited in the weeks since. The original post was clear in its inference to Ms. Miller's work without naming names.

This is the third instance I am aware of of tracks being covered in messaging on that site. You blessed me out in no uncertain terms in that thread... and the post is now gone. I cannot find it anywhere. I'll give you the benefit of the doubt that the admin was housecleaning the negativity. Just sayin'.

I was mistaken about Nynah's "missing post" - it was in a thread not the one referenced. I apologize.

 

[EmilyMiller]

I was mistaken about Nynah's "missing post" - it was in a thread not the one referenced. I apologize.

That’s what reasonable people do when they make a mistake and base an accusation on erroneous information or 1% of the picture, they apologize without caveats. Not everyone has your integrity.

 

[EmilyMiller]

And I see the normal shark jumping, relevance-seeking, parasocial obsessives have arrived .

 

[Ianus4]

For me, these are the top three:

1. erotxt – Feels like a modern Literotica, even better in some ways, but it doesn’t have many readers yet.
2. Archive of Our Own (AO3) – A huge platform that’s decent overall, but not smut-focused, and the interface isn’t great.
3. StoriesOnline – Pretty much the same issues as AO3.

Some of SO's search functions are behind a paywall, which is ridiculous. Most of the results from free searches are also fee-based. It can be used to follow authors who have already been found, but it's not really useful for anything else.

 

[old_prof]

I have started also posting on three sites. Part of the difference for me is I'm at the low end of sex content for this site on average.

1. erotxt -- readership is below minimal. There are some nice features on the site.
2. InkItt -- I'm liking the feel overall. I don't like having to slice everything into minuscule chunks (<2K words). There are readers there, but nothing like here.There are better author analytics, but they have some of the same inconsistent numbers we do here.
3. Royal Road -- a big no to anything but minimal sexuality. (I do write some like that, especially my sci fi stuff). Something about the site gives me an odd feel. I think their sweet spot is litRPG which I have no interest in.

 

[kallaikoi]

!!!
I don't know what fandoms you've been reading, but most of them are definitely smut-focused, if not totally smut-obsessed!

There’s no problem with me retracting it; it’s just the impression I got the two times I gave it a chance, so I could very well be wrong about this.

What do you find an issue with it?

Configuration options or features are one thing, but I was referring to the visual aspect. I find it unattractive, which may make my point clearer. As a reader, I just haven’t been able to want to read there. That said, I’ve listed it as a decent (relatively speaking) alternative because I know that last point is entirely subjective. Setting that aside, I think it’s an interesting website.

Some of SO's search functions are behind a paywall, which is ridiculous

Yes, that sucks. Honestly, if I’m being sincere, today I wouldn’t recommend any website other than erotxt or AO3.

the largest identifiable readership is looking for IR, attributable to a well-trafficked IR author on Patreon who writes only in that genre and was an early contributor to erotxt.

I have the two most-read stories, both IR, because I promoted them on Reddit a few times

 

[dirk2024]

I was looking for that, thru contact us, but got a form that looked like it was for something else, how do I get in contact with admin?

Afterr logging in, click on your profile and a drop down menu will open. At the bottom, click on "Support" and a report form will open up for you.

 

[MrPixel]

I have the two most-read stories, both IR, because I promoted them on Reddit a few times.

Ah. Explains it, and that you're the second earliest to post, just after it went live.

I don't have any social media presence, so no opportunity to toot my horn that way, or even just generally promote the site.

 

[Simple_desire000]

Afterr logging in, click on your profile and a drop down menu will open. At the bottom, click on "Support" and a report form will open up for you.

Thank you

 

[metropolinational]

my reviews to date:

1. Inkitt. Very fun. Publishing platform is outstanding, a full decade ahead of where LE/Lit is now. Publication happens within 24 hours, and most often, nearly instantly. You can also edit your works in real time. Social networking side - forum, groups - is underdeveloped and possibly just an afterthought. The rating/reviewing/feedback system is superb and actually helpful. You can really interact with readers there as an author, and vice versa. I get the sense the readership there is huge, but it's heavily geared towards romance and fantasy. The erotica readership is just a fraction of what it is here, and even that is still fantasy/romance/daddy issues oriented. There is nothing remotely equivalent to the LW readership here, so for me, it is simply not a substitute. I am uploading Botched there when I have time, and it has been nicely received, but by a dozen people, not hundreds or even thousands like here.

2. Erotxt. Got as far as uploading a single chapter up there. Site is nice. I had a glitch when uploading and the admin was incredibly helpful and responsive. Publication was fast too -within 48 hours. However, I had nearly zero reads and no reactions at all. So it's a beautiful void, but still a void. Hopefully that changes in the future. They have a featured story carrousel on the front page that never, ever rarely changes (edited since @MrPixel provided more current info). That gives you a sense that they are not getting new stories that often either. I wish @EmilyMiller would forgive them and keep helping them grow. We really need an alternative to LE. It will be good for LE, too. It will benefit everyone.

3. AO3. I just can't get my mind around the site. I've made an account. I just can't find stories there. There is no way to make sense of the ratings. The tagging system requires a PhD in symbology. I just can't. I'm probably too old. If LE keeps sucking, Erotxt does not improve, and Inkitt goes away, I will have to with AO3, but I know it will require a steep learning curve. I also suspect the non-fandom erotica audience is simply not there, even if I could figure out how to find it.

 

[MrPixel]

Erotxt. ... They have a featured story carrousel on the front page that never, ever changes.

It does change, but for a while there was something in the selection algorithm biased toward certain content, creating an apparent feedback loop featuring a specific genre. That changed significantly in the past few days, with five different genres and six authors now represented. Was 5:1 of one genre for about three weeks, featuring three authors.

Nonetheless, several of us feel the carousel currently doesn't work for us because of the feedback problem - if something is "trending" by counting click-ins, then content promoted on the front page is going to gather more clicks. "Favorited" stories might be part of it, too; I just noticed a connection. With so little content overall and so small a readership, nothing is statistically significant enough at this point to be using activity to determine featured works.