The Rocky Road to Publishing

[underwhere]

My dearest underwhere,

Did I actually say that?

Each time a reader opens your story (or part of your story) you score a hit!

Okay, that answers one of my questions directly. I was a bit unsure as to how that worked. Thanks for the clarification. If they were to read each of my two chapters separately, that would be two hits. If they were to read the whole thing all at once as it is currently, that would be one hit. I'm not sure that is the most useful way to do it for statistical purposes of determining if my story actually has staying power, but I'm not honestly sure how I would make that better.

You can always stick a copyright notice in at the end or even as a revision of previously posted works. Its helpful if you think someone might lift your story word for word and try to pass it off as their own.

Probably nobody ever thinks that is going to happen, but each of us must be careful with such things and do whatever we can to protect ourselves. I guess I should start adding copyright notices to each of my story parts and my story information page just to be safe.

Publishers frown on trying to charge people for something that you've given away for free. Even then, say you've posted the first three chapters of a ten chapter saga, they may well give that a thumbs up if they are getting the exclusive on the whole story. e-publishers who invest much less in publishing a story tend to be laxer in these matters.

I can understand and definitely appreciate that. What prompted me to write that particular response was the fact that if my story received more than ten thousand hits for two story parts, there would seem to be quite a following for the story, and then I got to thinking, "What if there really is a following for this story?" I guess I've been dreaming a bit about planting a money tree with my writing since then.

Paper publishers (the monsters bent on destroying old growth checkered owl habitats) might ask that you withdraw any free e-published versions of the story. That led to a dust up a few years back when ownership changed. the former owner Jinn had no problem pulling an old story pretty much at the authors request. New ownership, not so much. A number of fairly respected writers stopped posting. A direct question to Tiger might help you here, but you're more likely to get a response from Torq.

At some point, I will be sure to inquire if they do not happen to read this thread first.

Ms. King is quite right about pen names, sometimes I feel a distinct need to shorten mine to M. Lews, though savvy perverts are not fooled.

I had pretty much assumed as much, but you know what they say about assuming.....so its good to get feedback on that too. Thank you for your response. It has been helpful to me.

[underwhere]

Apparently, the question of whether stories can be removed or not seems top be a "No" based upon my reading from this FAQ page http://www.bdsmlibrary.com/forums/fa...faq_main_story as follows: "Submitted Story Copyrights
After submitting your story ---you the author still maintain the copyright -all submitting a story to be published on this site does is give the site non-exclusive posting rights---which means you can post or publish your story anywhere else you like ---but the story will not be removed from the site unless it breaks a site policy"

In other words, unless somebody is willing to say something contrary to this and change the appropriate FAQ information, it would seem that removal of stories previously published in the BDSM Library is NOT an option, perhaps something to be considered by people if they should wish to go down this route in light of the previous discussion in this thread.

[Mad Lews]

Yup underwhere, you're right. Thanks for looking it up.

That's the stated policy that predates Torq and may or may not have changed since Tiger took over. It sort of bears on what exactly a copyright means.

If
'you the author still maintain the copyright -all submitting a story to be published on this site does is give the site non-exclusive posting rights---which means you can post or publish your story anywhere else you like ---but the story will not be removed from the site unless it breaks a site policy'

you've granted e-publishing rights in perpetuity to the site.

The lesson being know what you are giving up when you grant permission for someone to publish your work.
Many places use contracts that spell it out. Non exclusive publishing rights are common in free sites and some e-publishers.

Others want exclusive rights or if you republish want you to acknowledge it was first published in their venue. This is especially true if they shell out cold cash for your piece.

There is also a difference in what you post in the forums as opposed to what is posted in the library. By posting a copyrighted piece on a semiprivate forum, say for advice or critique, I don't believe you've given up any exclusivity, it hasn't been 'published'. The forums are more like a notebook than an official publication. Still and all, please add your copyright notice when you post an original work over in the forums.

talk to the publisher or site administrator if you have questions.

If you have questions ask them before you submit, not after.
Actually thats not a bad rule of thumb in this lifestyle anyway.

Mad Lews

[Clevernick]

I can understand and definitely appreciate that. What prompted me to write that particular response was the fact that if my story received more than ten thousand hits for two story parts, there would seem to be quite a following for the story, and then I got to thinking, "What if there really is a following for this story?" I guess I've been dreaming a bit about planting a money tree with my writing since then.

A belated response to this from my own experience.

I published the first few chapters of my novel "From Zealot to Harlot" on this library (under the title "Obnoxious Housemate" though), and for some time was counting library "hits" and purchases at the same time.

During that time, the library version was right up on the front page, and pointed to the "for money" full version, so people were being directed there.

And now the bad news. People who read bdsm stories free tend to be less enthusiastic about paying for them. Although I had very high ratings (9/10), I sold roughly 1 book for every 1000 reader 'hits' shown on the free site. So 10,000 hits is a following, if you don't mind selling 10 copies of your book.

Sad, but there you go. Of course, your mileage may vary.