Thoughts on Reupping Published Stories

[Debasedher]

When I first started publishing here last year, I submitted my first story in two parts. I’m honestly unsure why I did this, I was finished editing part two only like a day after part one. I guess I wasn’t sure how word count would translate to page count on the site or something, but it was a bad idea I’ve regretted ever since.

1. Part One has basically no sex to speak of, just a long second hand story about sexualized bullying that’s important for character development, but is probably only erotic for people with fairly specific fetishes.

2. While Part One is rated fairly lowly (at least compared to my other stories) Part Two is rated higher but has fewer views than anything else I’ve published aside from my most recent. i suspect people who kight have liked it aren’t reading it because they’re not really vibing with Part One, which is a shame.

3. Most importantly from my perspective, neither part of Purity Ring really hangs together as a self-contained story. With my sequel series, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend jumping in lto the middle, but if someone did they’d still get a full plot with a beginning middle and end, which I’ve since decided is important to me.

So in any event, I keep having the irge to take another editing pass at Purity Ring and rerelease it as a single story. What’s been holding me back is the sense that this would be potentially obnoxious, I don’t want to game the site by submitting “new” stories that aren’t actually new if that annoys people. So I guess this is mostly an etiquette question. Is this something people do and/or something that would be irritating and unhelpful to potential readers? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

 

[Voboy]

I can't think of too many sound reasons for resubmitting an already-published piece, but combining multiple parts into one more-cohesive story strikes me as a pretty good reason.

How many words are involved, total?

 

[BobbyBrandt]

When I first started publishing here last year, I submitted my first story in two parts. I’m honestly unsure why I did this, I was finished editing part two only like a day after part one. I guess I wasn’t sure how word count would translate to page count on the site or something, but it was a bad idea I’ve regretted ever since.

1. Part One has basically no sex to speak of, just a long second hand story about sexualized bullying that’s important for character development, but is probably only erotic for people with fairly specific fetishes.

2. While Part One is rated fairly lowly (at least compared to my other stories) Part Two is rated higher but has fewer views than anything else I’ve published aside from my most recent. i suspect people who kight have liked it aren’t reading it because they’re not really vibing with Part One, which is a shame.

3. Most importantly from my perspective, neither part of Purity Ring really hangs together as a self-contained story. With my sequel series, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend jumping in lto the middle, but if someone did they’d still get a full plot with a beginning middle and end, which I’ve since decided is important to me.

So in any event, I keep having the irge to take another editing pass at Purity Ring and rerelease it as a single story. What’s been holding me back is the sense that this would be potentially obnoxious, I don’t want to game the site by submitting “new” stories that aren’t actually new if that annoys people. So I guess this is mostly an etiquette question. Is this something people do and/or something that would be irritating and unhelpful to potential readers? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I've told this tale many times here...

I originally published four of my stories here (novels) in pieces, either chapters or multiple chapters as parts. They did quite well, but the overwhelming feedback from readers indicated a preference for single, longer stories over pieces. I eventually asked Laurel to replace the parts fo each story with the single file, which she agreed to do.

I lost all comments and scores for the pieces, and the republished whole stories were deemed ineligible for any contests, but the subsequent comments and higher overall score made up for this IMO.

The site won't allow two versions of the same story, so if you want to redo the original, it will have to be replaced with the new version.

 

[Debasedher]

I can't think of too many sound reasons for resubmitting an already-published piece, but combining multiple parts into one more-cohesive story strikes me as a pretty good reason.

How many words are involved, total?

i’d have to dig up the old file which isn’t in front of me to get a precise count. But I’m pretty sure it would be 6-7 pages, which would be in line with the length of my later works.

I've told this tale many times here...

I originally published four of my stories here (novels) in pieces, either chapters or multiple chapters as parts. They did quite well, but the overwhelming feedback from readers indicated a preference for single, longer stories over pieces. I eventually asked Laurel to replace the parts fo each story with the single file, which she agreed to do.

I lost all comments and scores for the pieces, and the republished whole stories were deemed ineligible for any contests, but the subsequent comments and higher overall score made up for this IMO.

The site won't allow two versions of the same story, so if you want to redo the original, it will have to be replaced with the new version.

I’d ideally like to leave the two parter up until the combined story is published, just because I know it can take a few days awaiting approval and I’d like to avoid the gap. If it’s a system issue I’d just call it “Purity Ring Special Edition” or something.

 

[BobbyBrandt]

I’d ideally like to leave the two parter up until the combined story is published, just because I know it can take a few days awaiting approval and I’d like to avoid the gap. If it’s a system issue I’d just call it “Purity Ring Special Edition” or something.

I didn't make the changes on my own. I communicated with Laurel and let her handle the publishing of the new and removal of the old. There was one of the four stories where she got busy and left the chapters up for almost a week after the new single file version got published.

As long as Laurel understands what you want to accomplish, it should be painless for you. The key is communicating with her in a DM before submitting anything.

 

[Debasedher]

I didn't make the changes on my own. I communicated with Laurel and let her handle the publishing of the new and removal of the old. There was one of the four stories where she got busy and left the chapters up for almost a week after the new single file version got published.

As long as Laurel understands what you want to accomplish, it should be painless for you. The key is communicating with her in a DM before submitting anything.

Okay, that makes perfect sense I’ll do that, thank you for the guidance.

 

[Writer61]

When I first started publishing here last year, I submitted my first story in two parts. I’m honestly unsure why I did this, I was finished editing part two only like a day after part one. I guess I wasn’t sure how word count would translate to page count on the site or something, but it was a bad idea I’ve regretted ever since.

1. Part One has basically no sex to speak of, just a long second hand story about sexualized bullying that’s important for character development, but is probably only erotic for people with fairly specific fetishes.

2. While Part One is rated fairly lowly (at least compared to my other stories) Part Two is rated higher but has fewer views than anything else I’ve published aside from my most recent. i suspect people who kight have liked it aren’t reading it because they’re not really vibing with Part One, which is a shame.

3. Most importantly from my perspective, neither part of Purity Ring really hangs together as a self-contained story. With my sequel series, I wouldn’t necessarily recommend jumping in lto the middle, but if someone did they’d still get a full plot with a beginning middle and end, which I’ve since decided is important to me.

So in any event, I keep having the irge to take another editing pass at Purity Ring and rerelease it as a single story. What’s been holding me back is the sense that this would be potentially obnoxious, I don’t want to game the site by submitting “new” stories that aren’t actually new if that annoys people. So I guess this is mostly an etiquette question. Is this something people do and/or something that would be irritating and unhelpful to potential readers? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

If you do that, existing comments and ratings will be lost.

 

[RejectReality]

Editing or submitting something in a new form nowadays is Russian Roulette. It's up. Be glad. Wince at whatever mistake you made, and move on. If you try to fiddle with it, you're putting it at the mercy of the hallucinating AI detector, and it's going to take a month even if the bot doesn't cough up a flag on you.

 

[Djmac1031]

, I keep having the irge to take another editing pass at Purity Ring and rerelease it as a single stor

my opinion? go for it.

you obviously shot yourself in the foot releasing it in two parts. Hey, it happens.

But as described, the results you experienced are exactly what i would have predicted if you asked.

Your first part alienated readers because it felt incomplete with no sex.

The second part got ignored because unless people already read and enjoyed part 1 they're not clicking part 2.

Give it a good rewrite, make sure it holds together and republish as one story.

 

[feel_the_beast]

The site won't allow two versions of the same story, so if you want to redo the original,

I found this a bit surprising, as I have seen a number of author's story lists that read something like:

'Story XXX, No Anal'
'Story XXX, With Anal'

and the like.

 

[ElectricBlue]

So in any event, I keep having the irge to take another editing pass at Purity Ring and rerelease it as a single story. What’s been holding me back is the sense that this would be potentially obnoxious, I don’t want to game the site by submitting “new” stories that aren’t actually new if that annoys people. So I guess this is mostly an etiquette question. Is this something people do and/or something that would be irritating and unhelpful to potential readers? Any thoughts would be appreciated.

I wouldn't do anything. You've got them in a correctly functioning Series, so they're joined together already. It's obvious they're chapters of the same story, and readers aren't stupid. Trust them to figure it out.

I'd start a new story, rather than futz with something that's already published. That way you'll have a new story - what you're proposing wastes your time, the site's time, and won't get you many new readers. Whereas a new story is a constructive use of everyone's time.

Readers don't care about author's aesthetics for their stories, they really don't. Give them new content, that's what improves the reader experience, not messing about with old stuff.

I've got a current series running - chapter two has twice the number of Views as the first chapter, chapter three has a quarter the number, and chapter four will eventually catch up with the second chapter. And in all this, people aren't going back to read chapter one. So readers are very strange, but very much live in the moment. Futzing about with consolidating chapters won't change this one iota.

Write something new!

 

[IWroteThis]

I found this a bit surprising, as I have seen a number of author's story lists that read something like:

'Story XXX, No Anal'
'Story XXX, With Anal'

and the like.

Ah, semantics…

The two stories you listed are truly alternate versions, making them different stories.
Reposting a series as a single entry is just alternate formatting of the same story.

 

[IWroteThis]

I'm not disagreeing with your suggestion to leave it be and move on to something new, but I don't fully agree with everything you said.

I wouldn't do anything. You've got them in a correctly functioning Series, so they're joined together already. It's obvious they're chapters of the same story, and readers aren't stupid. Trust them to figure it out.

That's not the issue. The issue is them finding it. The series approach clearly failed to fully capitalize on its time in the new stories list, so now it's relegated to mostly tag searches and folks who follow the author. A fresh take means a fresh appearance on the new stories list and renewed exposure.

I'd start a new story, rather than futz with something that's already published. That way you'll have a new story - what you're proposing wastes your time, the site's time, and won't get you many new readers. Whereas a new story is a constructive use of everyone's time.

I had several teachers who required students to correct tests and rewrite papers because you learn more from fixing your mistakes than being told you made them. It's only a waste of the author's time if the revised edition is no better than the original.

Whether the readers are new or not does not seem overly important. What's important is whether or not they have a better overall reaction to the new version.

Readers don't care about author's aesthetics for their stories, they really don't. Give them new content, that's what improves the reader experience, not messing about with old stuff.

Breaking a story into a series is a bit more than just aesthetics. Sure, people will bail out at pretty much any point in a story, but it's not all the same. If two readers, who hold equal views on the quality of the story so far, reach the end of a chapter, the one who's presented with an option to load the next chapter is more likely to bail than the one who is in the middle of a Lit page and can just keep reading.

While both series and complete stories have decision points at the bottom of each Lit page, only series add additional decision points at the end of each chapter.

I've got a current series running - chapter two has twice the number of Views as the first chapter, chapter three has a quarter the number, and chapter four will eventually catch up with the second chapter. And in all this, people aren't going back to read chapter one. So readers are very strange, but very much live in the moment. Futzing about with consolidating chapters won't change this one iota.

I must say, that is interesting. Is it truly a series of chapters, or is it episodic? Is it plot driven, or mainly a stroker?

Also, views are a somewhat meaningless stat. How does the active engagement compare?

Write something new!

Write what you want to write. You're not getting paid, so it's a hobby, not a job.

 

[ElectricBlue]

I must say, that is interesting. Is it truly a series of chapters, or is it episodic? Is it plot driven, or mainly a stroker?

It's sequential, so it's chapters of the same story.

It's typical EB, an intimate stroker with three characters. It's about three people who fuck, as couples then a threesome, mood not plot.

Also, views are a somewhat meaningless stat. How does the active engagement compare?

About the same for each chapter. The second chapter and subtitle went straight for the stroker community, it wasn't at all subtle. It might have been a lot of people reading it twice, I don't know, but not many went back to the first chapter. Which is odd. Usually the second chapter views drop right off, but this one is the reverse.

 

[IWroteThis]

It's sequential, so it's chapters of the same story.

It's typical EB, an intimate stroker with three characters. It's about three people who fuck, as couples then a threesome, mood not plot.

About the same for each chapter. The second chapter and subtitle went straight for the stroker community, it wasn't at all subtle. It might have been a lot of people reading it twice, I don't know, but not many went back to the first chapter. Which is odd. Usually the second chapter views drop right off, but this one is the reverse.

So, it's sequential but episodic enough to last as a pure stroker?

In that scenario, it makes sense that the chapter with the best hook would have the best numbers. Since there's no real plot readers need to go back and catch up on, along with most people not needing multiple chapters in a single stroke session, it makes sense they would read the one that caught their attention, then look for something new for the next time.

As a series, a plot-driven sex romp is going to perform differently than a plotless stroker, so your results aren't really surprising.

 

[AStrangeDesire]

I just finished reading both of your series @Debasedher (independent from this thread).

IMO it would be better to have all 5 stories in a single series, because they should be read in sequence to get the most out of them. But really, it all made sense and I wasn't confused with what order to read them in. I'm not sure how much better the stories would do if did the work to put the first series together as a single story.