Best place to post fanfic

[S'kai]

I have just finished the first draft of a story, and am wondering about the best place to post it once it is done. Many of the sites I have looked at have not been updated in years. I could post it here, of course.

The main thing I would want, other than exposure to everyone in the world , is a counter to know how many people have at least looked at it.

My story is about 11,000 words, technically a novelette.

I think there should be a sticky on this supject, unless of course, it is the view that there is NO POINT in suggesting anyplace but here to post.

 

[hellsgate]

There's Fan Fiction.Net, Hope Station Repository, Trek Writers' Guild & (your own free webspace such as Tripod / Geocities,) & many others.

 

[Admiral2]

fanfiction.net

You get all manner of stats concerning your story, and you can just a link to it in a post here.

 

[SLWalker]

I have just finished the first draft of a story, and am wondering about the best place to post it once it is done. Many of the sites I have looked at have not been updated in years. I could post it here, of course.

The main thing I would want, other than exposure to everyone in the world , is a counter to know how many people have at least looked at it.

My story is about 11,000 words, technically a novelette.

I think there should be a sticky on this supject, unless of course, it is the view that there is NO POINT in suggesting anyplace but here to post.

I second Hope Station Repository. Fanfiction.net sucks. And, you can post it here, too. ;-) And on the Omega Sector BBS.

 

[hellsgate]

http://groups.yahoo.com/group/stnewworlds

You can upload it here as well. In the "Files" area, in Microsoft Word, Apple Works, etc.

 

[Captain X]

http://www.trekonline.org/guardian/

 

[Gibraltar]

HopeStation gives you the freedom to upload your stories at your own pace. Trek Writer’s Guild gets a lot of hits, but there’s very little in the way of feedback from the readership. Also, on TWG it can take weeks or even months for the site administration to format and post your stories, which I can attest from experience is very frustrating.

 

[mthompson1701]

Thanks for the heads up abut Trek Writer's Guild. I've got two of my stories waiting in the wings to be posted, and I was looking for a good place to do it. I might go to HopeStation now.

 

[RevdKathy]

S'kai PMed me today requesting that this thread be pinned. Regulars around here will know my reservations about pinned threads. I'm going to copy my reply to him here (to save me typing it again), to see what you guys think:

As a rule of thumb, I try to avoid sticky notes. They clog up the top of the forum, and people very quickly cease to see them. In other fora, the evidence is that a pinned thread is almost less likely to be read (try the MA forum and see how many poeple read "ALL POSTERS MUST READ THIS BEFORE POSTING"). Once a sticky becomes 'no new entries' it just becomes one more thing to scroll past.

We have the recommendations thread, the contest and the winners, and the reference sites pinned. What about putting 'places to post your fic'? into the reference thread? We could adjust the title accordingly, making it 'fanfic resources' of some sort?

Is that a fair compromise?

I will copy this reply (not your PM!) into the thread, and see what the response is. If others think that's a good idea, we'll go with it.

So does anyone else feel this material merits pinning? And is in a general 'resources' thread a good compromise?

 

[Gibraltar]

I think it’s a great idea. I know that we frequently get people on here asking about a certain fanfic series they vaguely remember or can no longer find, and/or locations for various writers’ resources. Having a general resources page that includes reference sites, favorite fanfic sites, and other assorted resources for readers and writers would save a great deal of space on the board.

 

[CeJay]

Yeah but how many different places to post fanfic are there really? It's not like new places are springing up every day.

Also, I always thought that one of the best places to post Trek fanfic is right here. Why would we tell people to go and look somewhere else?

I'm not opposed to pinning it but I think it would only have merit if we combine it with the resources or recommendations thread as suggested.

My two cents, anyway.

 

[S'kai]

Also, I always thought that one of the best places to post Trek fanfic is right here. Why would we tell people to go and look somewhere else?

Why somewhere else? Well, first of all, being able to format the writing the way you want it. One could put it up on one's own webpage to do that.

Second, exposure. More is better, no?

Third, some sites may have services, statistics, etc. that the writer might make use of.

Not having posted any fiction yet, these are just my suppositions.

 

[RevdKathy]

Ok, I'll leave this a day or two in case anyone comes up with a sterling reason not to, then I'll merge this thread into the other one, and change th title.

 

[Selina Kyle]

Also, I always thought that one of the best places to post Trek fanfic is right here. Why would we tell people to go and look somewhere else?

Well, speaking as someone who has been posting fic for a while now, through various channels, I have two major reservations about posting here. First, I write a lot, all in one go (45,000 words for the latest one). There is no way I would try to post that directly to a message board. Even in segments, it would flood the system. Second, and this may seem trivial to the regulars around here, but every area has its type of story, the gestalt of the local fans, if you will. Almost any writer can tell you, dead silence is often worse than retarded flames, and if you post the wrong type of fic....

Which leaves me sitting on my cracktastic Alt!Tasha story, wondering where to post. I can't put it up on fanfiction.net (aka, the pit of voles) for um... certain content limitations. My own site and journal are fine, but won't get diddly traffic. The usenet groups are all but dead (though I'll probably dump the sucker out there, anyway). Back in the day, that would have been the first choice. Now? *shrugs* After that, we're left with several relatively small (no offense) general trek fiction sites, coupled with 'ship based ones. *waves to CX - yes, I'll send one to GoF* I certainly commend the webmasters of those archives, but I'm over here hoping the new movie manages to pump some new blood into trekfic. The best archives are no good without traffic (and preferably, feedback), but I'm not holding my breath.

 

[Whoa Nellie]

The usenet groups are all but dead

When I read this all I could think of was this scene from Monty Python and the Holy Grail:
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I'm not dead.
The Dead Collector: 'Ere, he says he's not dead.
Large Man with Dead Body: Yes he is.
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I'm not.
The Dead Collector: He isn't.
Large Man with Dead Body: Well, he will be soon, he's very ill.
The Dead Body That Claims It Isn't: I'm getting better.


As a long time denizen of alt.startrek.creative (ASC) the newsgroup for Star Trek Fanfiction (I've been posting there for ten years as of September of 08), I highly recommend it as a wonderful place to post stories. According to my website stats a great deal of traffic is directed from the links on my posts on ASC to my website. Using Google groups makes it as easy as posting anywhere on the net. ASC is considered by many to be the granddaddy of online fanfiction with all stories posted to the group archived at Trekiverse: http://trekiverse.us/ or http://www.trekiverse.org/ ). On alt.startrek.creative there are no restrictions on story content; all types and all ratings are welcome. All stories posted are eligible for the annual ASC awards.

ASC has two sister groups; alt.startrek.creative.all-ages, which is moderated to ensure family friendly content and alt.startrek.creative.erotica.moderated.

Warmest Wishes,
Whoa Nellie


Whoa Nellie's Picard/Vash Romance Fanfiction website:
http://www.geocities.com/TimesSquare/Galaxy/7926/

Whoa Nellie's Sci-Fi Romance Fan Fiction Website is at:
http://www.geocities.com/whoa_nellies2000

 

[Selina Kyle]

Oh, I'm well aware of ASC; it's what I meant using the blanket term 'usenet'. I'm certainly not going to skip it but the numbers don't lie. All a person needs to do is look at the monthly traffic to see how much it's dropped off over the past five years or so. It's gone from a couple thousand of posts per month to barely breaking a hundred. That's depressing. The fandom is definitely hibernating. It's also a pain in the tootie to un-html a fic, but that's another matter entirely. I'll just pretend it's 1997 again.

 

[S'kai]

Is it bad form to post one's fanfic in several different places?

 

[Gibraltar]

Is it bad form to post one's fanfic in several different places?

Not even remotely. The more places you post, the more exposure your stories will get, the greater your potential readership, and the more feedback you’ll receive. In my opinion, you should post as frequently and widely as possible.

 

[S'kai]

I second Hope Station Repository. Fanfiction.net sucks. And, you can post it here, too. ;-) And on the Omega Sector BBS.

What is the problem with fanfiction.net ?

 

[SLWalker]

Is it bad form to post one's fanfic in several different places?

Nope! Different audiences. My suggestions would be here, alt.startrek.creative, and the Omega Sector BBS. This one and the Omega Sector are both supportive and interactive, and while ASC seems to have more lurkers than anything, it still makes you eligible for the ASC awards.