Is "publish a new story" the only way to raise visibility?

[AG31]

Why bother trying to do more on exposure if you don't plan to go beyond seven stories? You aren't planning to make anything more than an "in-the-past" dabble out of this.

Strange question. Because I want people to read my stories.

 

[AG31]

Post a link to every new story in this thread:

New Story Advertisements

Oh! Thanks for that link!

 

[AG31]

I've published seven stories here, and I'm pretty sure I have no more in me. Other threads about visibility contain the advice "publish more," over and over. Is there anything else one can do?

tia
ag

Since starting this thread I happened upon a forum, Story Discussion Circle. I think it's just what I'm looking for. It made me realize that it's not numbers of readers I'm looking for. It's increasing the probability that I'll find a reader who wants to comment. What I'd REALLY like is some sort of discussion of my stories. So I'm posting this link in case other readers of this thread might be interested.

https://forum.literotica.com/forums/story-discussion-circle.14/

 

[ElectricBlue]

Since starting this thread I happened upon a forum, Story Discussion Circle. I think it's just what I'm looking for. It made me realize that it's not numbers of readers I'm looking for. It's increasing the probability that I'll find a reader who wants to comment. What I'd REALLY like is some sort of discussion of my stories. So I'm posting this link in case other readers of this thread might be interested.

https://forum.literotica.com/forums/story-discussion-circle.14/

Don't bother. That forum is pretty much a dead end - look at the age of the threads.

Try the Feedback Forum, it gets more traffic. Not a lot, but some.

Story Feedback Forum

 

[AG31]

Don't bother. That forum is pretty much a dead end - look at the age of the threads.

Try the Feedback Forum, it gets more traffic. Not a lot, but some.

Story Feedback Forum

Thanks. Yeah, I did a little looking and they're all really old.

 

[Rob_Royale]

I've published seven stories here, and I'm pretty sure I have no more in me. Other threads about visibility contain the advice "publish more," over and over. Is there anything else one can do?

Put links to your work in your signature line and then be active on the BDSM forums. It might get you a little activity.

It's increasing the probability that I'll find a reader who wants to comment. What I'd REALLY like is some sort of discussion of my stories.

This is the pipe dream of all of us. Someone who wants to talk about our work. It's the ultimate ego boost. Sadly, that's not why readers come here. But at some point, as a LIt contributor, you realize that's NOT going to happen and you have to decide, am I writing because I enjoy it, or am I writing because I seek attention? As you've already said you've no more stories in you, then you have already answered the question.

In my limited experience here, posting more work in a variety of categories is the best way to get your work to more readers. But really, if you're not going to be a writer anymore, why worry about it?

 

[AG31]

Put links to your work in your signature line and then be active on the BDSM forums. It might get you a little activity.

Thanks!!! That's a great idea. Will do.

 

[AG31]

Thanks!!! That's a great idea. Will do.

Thanks again. And may I take up a little more of your time to see if my new signature works? See if the links were properly constructed?

 

[AG31]

Put links to your work in your signature line and then be active on the BDSM forums. It might get you a little activity.

In my new signature, the current link to my profile doesn't include the biography. The only link to my biography I can find doesn't look like it can be used by anyone but me: https://www.literotica.com/my/#/user/profile

Suggestions?

 

[Bamagan]

In my new signature, the current link to my profile doesn't include the biography. The only link to my biography I can find doesn't look like it can be used by anyone but me: https://www.literotica.com/my/#/user/profile

Suggestions?

Your link only takes one to their own profile. But I believe your biography is live. There's a good deal of text under the 'About' section of your forum profile, anyway.

 

[SimonDoom]

In my new signature, the current link to my profile doesn't include the biography. The only link to my biography I can find doesn't look like it can be used by anyone but me: https://www.literotica.com/my/#/user/profile

Suggestions?

Include a link in your signature to your submissions page. See what I've done and what others have done.

 

[Rob_Royale]

Thanks again. And may I take up a little more of your time to see if my new signature works? See if the links were properly constructed?

They work fine.

 

[JaxRhapsody]

If you're not actively writing, then you just fall off and people find your stuff when they find it. Like your forum sig or the "related" or "you might like these" links on other stories as far as doing little to nothing goes. I kinda didn't really write anything for here during the endless two weeks of covid, I still got people favoriting and following then.

 

[gunhilltrain]

I think we've established that it's hard to gain "visibility" on a site like this. It's like the "crab bucket" analogy, where all of the crabs are climbing on each other to get to the top. A few people can do it here, but most of us are close to invisible. Our presence on AH may or may not indicate our general popularity with readers. Another analogy is that the readers are like locusts who descend on each new story that is published, and then they quickly move on.

On another site, there about one guy who remembers me from previous stories.

 

[AG31]

Your link only takes one to their own profile. But I believe your biography is live. There's a good deal of text under the 'About' section of your forum profile, anyway.

Me again. (Your suggestion that I limit tech questions to already existing threads seems to mean that you keep getting bothered by me.... Is that OK, or do you have a suggestion about how to spread the pain?"

OK. Here's my questions (and I have re-read the articles on the story side and the FAQs, etc.). I'm publishing a new story, and I want to put a list of my existing stories at the bottom. It seems I can't paste in a link to those stories with a nicely formatted label. But I do seem able to paste in a URL. Is there a rule against including URLs in your story? I couldn't find one, but I know some places have such rules.

 

[Bamagan]

I'm not bothered, it's just courteous to not fill up the board with a new thread for every new technical question.
I am not entirely sure of the answer for you, because I've never tried to do that. I think you could possibly explain in the 'notes to admin' that you'd like the links to be formatted as the names of the stories (for example). If you're using a word processor and saving as a .rtf file or .doc or .docx file, any of those support hyperlinks and those might get passed along to the mod, although they would presumably disable them if they don't link to a page on LE (which presumably yours do).
But yes, links outside of LE are not allowed, I think the case you want to do is allowed, but I unfortunately can't be positive on the exact details, having never done it. I think @EmilyMiller and @Djmac1031 mentioned they were cross-linking some of their stories, so perhaps they can confirm, expand, or correct my answer.

 

[Bamagan]

Me again. (Your suggestion that I limit tech questions to already existing threads seems to mean that you keep getting bothered by me.... Is that OK, or do you have a suggestion about how to spread the pain?"

OK. Here's my questions (and I have re-read the articles on the story side and the FAQs, etc.). I'm publishing a new story, and I want to put a list of my existing stories at the bottom. It seems I can't paste in a link to those stories with a nicely formatted label. But I do seem able to paste in a URL. Is there a rule against including URLs in your story? I couldn't find one, but I know some places have such rules.

Alternatively, of course, you can just put an afterword that says to click on your name, which is at the bottom of the story page, and will take one directly to your stories and biography. So putting links to all of them might be unnecessary.

 

[Djmac1031]

I'm not bothered, it's just courteous to not fill up the board with a new thread for every new technical question.
I am not entirely sure of the answer for you, because I've never tried to do that. I think you could possibly explain in the 'notes to admin' that you'd like the links to be formatted as the names of the stories (for example). If you're using a word processor and saving as a .rtf file or .doc or .docx file, any of those support hyperlinks and those might get passed along to the mod, although they would presumably disable them if they don't link to a page on LE (which presumably yours do).
But yes, links outside of LE are not allowed, I think the case you want to do is allowed, but I unfortunately can't be positive on the exact details, having never done it. I think @EmilyMiller and @Djmac1031 mentioned they were cross-linking some of their stories, so perhaps they can confirm, expand, or correct my answer.

So short answer: you can link any stories you want; your own, or someone else's.

As long as they're in site links, not links to a different site.

Emily and I have linked both each other's story pages and individual stories at the end of our own, guiding readers to check out the other authors work.

@EmilyMiller may explain the technical way to do it better than me lol.

But yes, it's allowed and can be done.

 

[AG31]

Why bother trying to do more on exposure if you don't plan to go beyond seven stories? You aren't planning to make anything more than an "in-the-past" dabble out of this.

I just noticed I never replied to this. It seems an odd question. Why wouldn't an author want people to keep reading their old stories?

I want more exposure because I want more people to read my stories. The best result is to find people who bother to react to them. Like minded people just because, and people who are not like minded because I'm curious about their tastes and reasons.

 

[KeithD]

I just noticed I never replied to this. It seems an odd question. Why wouldn't an author want people to keep reading their old stories?

I want more exposure because I want more people to read my stories. The best result is to find people who bother to react to them. Like minded people just because, and people who are not like minded because I'm curious about their tastes and reasons.

There is a glut of stories available to be read. I just don't think it's realistic for an Internet website erotica writer to expect readers to keep following them on the basis of seven old stories considering all that's out there and writers are continuing to build.

 

[AchtungNight]

I advise you to do a Category Tour to increase exposure. Broaden your horizons, attract readers into various genres. I’m mostly known for my old Fanfic stories, but recently I’ve posted in Lesbian and Sci-Fi. I have submissions pending for Incest and Masturbation. Ideas for Gay, Fetish, First Time, Exhib/Voyeur and Group Sex are in my possible future plans. I’m not into the other categories, but you might be. Regardless, you can grow as a writer and possibly find readers with similar interests to you. Good luck.