Here's a thing:
I am massively grateful to Erin and all the others who contribute to the running of this site as they have given me place to put some of my writing for the world (or at least that part of the world with enough discernment and good taste) to read.
I know there are other sites out there that offer similar things, like for instance Stardust. My questions (mainly) to other authors are:
1) Do you publish the same stories to other sites?
2) Is there an easy way to do so - eg link the other sites to stories hosted at BCTS or vice versa?
3) Which other sites (if any) are good places to post/link?
I'm not sure if I'm straying over a line in posting this. I mean I feel a sense of loyalty to BCTS since I have received such a great welcome here as well as a lot of support and encouragement in taking my baby steps. I'd just really like to know what other authors do.
i sent some of my stuff to fictionmania
and haven't bothered lately. I would not recommend just posting a link, but I am not sure if there is an actual rule against it.
"Treat everyone you meet as though they had a sign on them that said "Fragile, under construction"
dorothycolleen
Post Elsewhere, Post Often!
As a person whom runs a TG Fiction site (TGFiction.Net), let me take this chance to offer a bit of advice.
If you want to get the most readers, post to multiple sites.
Some authors like to post all their stories at all the sites, some only post at sites they really like, and some like to write special stories for different sites. It all comes down to what you feel the want/need to do.
BigCloset is one of the fastest growing TG Fiction sites on the internet, FictionMania is one of the oldest... StorySite is accepting Submissions, but won't be posting them for a while to come still. My site, TGFiction.Net has found a small niche audience, but none of the traffic volume that BCTS, FM and SS have.
I would definitely recommend posting to multiple sites, because something catastrophic could always happen, and BCTS or FM or whatever site you are posting on, could disappear. It happens. If it does, your readers are without your stories, and don't know where to go to find them when you start posting again somewhere else.
Each site, tries to grab the same or similar audience with their own features and ways of doing it. Erin has brought in a sense of community and social interaction. FM, well FM has a HUGE frikkin archive, with great search functions. I personally, have been trying to innovate with offering different formats for stories, and a combination of the self publishing that BCTS offers, and the search functions of FM. I just added the ability for users to download their favorite stories in ePub format (Authors now have the ability to turn this feature OFF for their stories if they wish).
Now, I admit... I gave you some advice and wrapped it in a shameless plug for TGFiction.Net, but I think it's good advice none the less.
At the very least, both Erin and I have added the ability to our sites, to link to stories on other sites (Erin calls them "Story Links" I call them "Off Site Stories/Recommendations"). This helps draw users to each others sites, but does not do much for helping authors survive disaster.
-HuGgLeS-
-P/KAF/PT
I Agree with Piper
Posting to multiple sites will expand your audience and give you a form of online failsafe backup. Piper's site is quite nice (if you aren't familiar with it). As a warning, as near as I can tell, Fictionmania's story comments (reviews) are un-moderated and can be quite brutal. I do think that you are a fine author and that your stories will be well received wherever you post them.
FM reviews are moderated
I know because I moderate 'em!
A bad review will show up in the reviews section as soon as it is posted, but they are also sent to me. I read each review and delete the ones that are abusive. I'm not perfect and sometimes I'll give a pass on a marginal review, it's a judgment call.
If the author of a story doesn't like a review, they can just ask me to delete it and I will.
Write to: [email protected]
Just address your request to me.
Mr. Ram
thanks for the link
I just joined your site hon. expect a flood of stuff from me soon....
"Treat everyone you meet as though they had a sign on them that said "Fragile, under construction"
dorothycolleen
At this point...
While I've posted a few things elsewhere... The vast majority of my writing is posted here, and will continue to be posted here. I don't write well enough to make multi-site posting worth while.
My 2 cents worth (and we all know what we can buy with 2 cents, today.)
Anne