Is Anybody Trying the "Story Series" Beta Feature?

[ElectricBlue]

As I understand it, @AchtungNight wants to change the story titles, not the series information.

Could be right. Typical thread creep, I guess - my comment was in the context of the Series feature.

People would save themselves a lot of grief (and time) if they thought through things before they submit content, rather than after. There's a whole lot of fixing stuff going on. I don't think readers really care, to be honest, even if they actually notice. Just do it properly next time, I reckon.

 

[AchtungNight]

Ok. Let me get something straight here. I am not meaning to be a creep. Just working out my issues here. Sorry if I offended anyone. I’ll get out of this thread now and seek more welcoming places. Later!

 

[AchtungNight]

They just meant thread creep, as in thread slowly shifting off topic, not that you were being a creep.

Ok thx. Difference was not clear. In any case my issues here are settled. Moving on. Hope people enjoy the new feature and correct its imperfections.

 

[ElectricBlue]

Ok. Let me get something straight here. I am not meaning to be a creep. Just working out my issues here. Sorry if I offended anyone. I’ll get out of this thread now and seek more welcoming places. Later!

Yep, as Erozetta correctly notes, it's the subject in the thread that's wandered off down two separate paths. You're fine .

 

[TarnishedPenny]

I think it's one of the best things to happen lately.

 

[Voboy]

I think it's one of the best things to happen lately.

What's that? @AchtungNight leaving the thread?

That's rude...

 

[AchtungNight]

What's that? @AchtungNight leaving the thread?

That's rude...

As long as I’m mentioned… I’m not going anywhere. But I’ve got what I need here, so quit calling me back, ok?

 

[TarnishedPenny]

I was speaking of the serial feature.

 

[JuanSeiszFitzHall]

@JuanSeiszFitzHall
In case anyone else is struggling and needs a wee cheat sheet:
1.Tap on "my series"
2.Tap on "manage works"
3.Check the box next to the works you want to connect in series
4.scroll to the bottom and check the choice "create new"
5. Fill out the details and tap save. You can add cover art at this point too.

Trouble shooting:
If some works are already in a series, do the same as above except 4. Check the choice "remove". The works will then be available to add to a different series.

To change the order of works
1.Tap on "my series"
2.Tap on the gear icon next to the series you want to reorder.
3. Tap on "series works"
4. Tap on "reorder works"
5. Use the arrows to move the works up and down the ranks as needed.

Ah, I get it now. 'Create New' hadn't shown up on my page as an obvious thing. It was grayed out in a single line with other choices. Messing with it just now made 'Create New' visible. Many thanks, I have now linked the four stories.

 

[Jmanchu]

I'm having a go at collecting some of my stories into a series, but I confess I don't really have my head around it just yet. Is anybody else using this feature? If so, what are your experiences with it?

I'm using it. I think it's a little helpful, but I think there are ways for it to improve and give more flexibility for authors.

First, it's not clear enough. Marking a story as a series is usually up to the author with "Ch.#" after the title since the format of this site favors or is just more easily made for single stories. There's a little stacking symbol underneath the title, sure, but it's just easy to miss.

Second, it doesn't show the title of the series itself in the list of stories(which would help for series-based stories to be clear its a series). I tried that for my current WIP series which I should be getting back into soon enough after schooling and work slows down, "A Ballad of Light and Darkness," but you won't find that series title there at all if you were to look it up or find a chapter in the directory of stories with the current format. If there was some sort of format that allowed the title of the series to show up along with the title of the story or chapter itself as well as the number of the chapter or sequence of the story, it would easily allow for authors to come up with unique names for each chapter or story saga. For when a new story is published and shows up in the list of stories for people to browse through, I mean. This also would make it easier for someone to look up your series by the series name unless your chapters are all named with the same name as the series itself(Which I kind of wish I did in hindsight for my project due to this but now the ship has sailed).

Third, while it does help with organizing your list of stories on your author's page with the series name there, it's only obvious(if you haven't decided to go by the standard name and title chapter) they're part of a series with the little arrow next to it. I think a drop down with an ordered list would be nice. Like on the list of stories for your author's page if there's a series, you click on the series it would be cool to open up with a minimized drop down of the entire order of stories for said series.

With a little tweaking I think it could be helpful. Oh, and an ability to be able to let people choose between the regular list of stories from the site and a section or filter for people wanting to find series(ongoing series, vs complete series) in the directory would be cool. But that's just my thoughts on this.