Site Tip Revisit: Cia's Torturing Me
Entry posted by Renee Stevens in Writing Tips
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Reminder: Voting for the Secret Santa Story Contest ends TODAY! Don't forget to PM your votes, for your favorite Secret Santa Story, to A.J. before 2:00 PM EST. Now, what do we have for you today. Lately, I've been revisiting some of the old blog posts. The site is growing every day, bringing in more readers and more authors. With the influx in newer authors, I thought it would be a good idea to revisit Cia's blog post on some of the highest occurring mistakes that authors make when posting their stories for the first time. For the newer authors, I hope you find this post informative. For those who have been here a while, it never hurts to have a reminder.
Cia’s Torturing Me!
by
Cia
If you’re an author, I’m sure you’ve thought that at least once, right? I swear, it’s nothing personal! GA’s posting system is complicated, and there is always a learning curve for new authors to figure out the ins and outs of posting here. I'm also the primary staff member that reviews the Stories submissions, so I am not picking on any one person if you receive more than one PM; I'm simply the staff member that reviews everything in the queue unless I am away from GA for some reason. That being said… there are a few things that will get you on my hit… uh, kindly message list.
Posting Issues Most Likely To Trigger a Moderation PM:
Posting More Than One Chapter
: New stories should always be posted with a single chapter only. These should be properly edited, ready to go live, chapters. A prologue is okay, as it auto-posts with the first chapter, but more than a single chapter in a new submission floods the announcement listing. Additional chapters CAN be posted, but only if you post-date them. You can read about the post-dating system in the faq
here
.
Paragraph Spacing
: This might be the most common mistake I see.
Check your story content after you post, please.
Some writing programs, browsers, and or machines (tablets/phones) are not compatible with the text editor. It can either strip out or add extra spaces between the paragraphs. Reviewing your chapters allows you to fix that before I find it in the queue. A fix in Word can be found in the faq
here
.
If you use other writing programs, like Google docs, tablets, etc… try posting with a new browser or placing your text in another program before you copy to
GA
until you have the correct spacing. We can't always tell you what the exact problem is in these cases to fix the spacing issue.
Flash Fiction and Poetry
: Short stories under 1k in length, such as prompt responses, or poetry must be placed in a ‘collection’. This is as simple as creating a title that implies a collection, such as ‘My Shorts or My Haiku’ and then posting a single submission as the first chapter. Then subsequent posts would be made as chapters to that ‘collection’. The chapter titles can be edited and notes can be placed in each chapter as a description, if you choose. You may have more than one collection, within reason, to separate types of poetry or stories if you have a large number of varied content available.
Posting a Series Title
: If you are posting a story that isn’t a follow up story to one already existing on
GA
, you do not have a series. Please don't use this field. Once you post the 2
nd
story in your series you can go back and edit the first story to include the series information for the search engine. Also you can never have story 0 of a series.
Content
: Yes, we have a basic quality expectation. If you don’t know the word ‘I’ should be capitalized, or how to use a basic spellcheck, you will be placed under review and your story may be rejected until you can edit it up to a minimum level of readability. Yes, we allow stories with erotic content. We also allow stories that show drug use, suicide attempts and actual suicides, abuse, rape, etc… but there are criteria for each that must be followed, such as not glorifying the acts and adding content warnings to the story/chapter notes for extreme content. Erotic content must be integral to the plot and cannot be more than half the story plot. There is a narrow band of acceptable incest and bestiality themes, but necrophilia is NEVER ok.
Various Fields Filled Out Incorrectly
: We have a 3 step rating system for stories for authors to use. They include Everyone, Teen, and Mature. Teen and Mature ratings apply for stories containing content like sex, violence, abuse, or suicide stories. Mature would mean any ‘on-screen/graphic’ content. Teen includes it, but it might occur in the backstory or off-screen such as a ‘fade to black’ sex scene not actually written in. Everyone means no graphic content.
We have a story status system that has 3 levels. In Process means you’re still posting the story (even if you have it complete, until you post the last chapter it is not complete on
GA
) and On Hold means you’re not posting the story for whatever reason. Make sure you post to the right category for your story. There is a long drop menu with many options, so please check them all to ensure the best search engine results.
And more… This is why we ask that authors read the entire “New Author Help: How to Post a Story” faq before they post.
Any story deemed suspect for any reason will be placed under review and discussed by the forum moderation team to ensure a fair team decision on acceptability. I am not a dictator with the only say in what does and does not get approved.
Questions I Get The Most From Authors:
Why are you checking my stuff in a moderation queue?
We check to ensure proper posting procedure is followed, that the content falls within our guidelines, and that you’re not a plagiarist. The fact is, we’ve been burned before with people stealing stories and posting on
GA
. We don’t always catch it, but we try our utmost to protect authors’ rights on this site.
How long does the queue take?
Typically 24 hours, at the most. I say this because I check the mod queue once a day. Usually I attempt this between 5-10 AM, Pacific Standard Time, but I do have a life and things sometimes crop up. If you post at 9:00 AM and I already checked the queue, and something comes up the next day and I don’t get to it until the afternoon… you may wait longer than 24 hours. Sometimes I can review and approve submissions several times a day. Anything with questionable content triggering a team review can take up to 72 hours.
Also, because we ask that authors only post a maximum of 2 chapters spaced out (morning/night, for example) if you have 2 stories or chapters waiting in the queue, I will only approve one. I might approve the second several hours later, or it might end up waiting until the next day. Please don’t overwhelm the queue, as that only makes my job harder to ensure that your stories and chapters are posted with a fair timing without overwhelming the announcement listing.
Please remember I’m one person who dedicates time every day to this process, but I am not perfect. In the past we’ve found bugs with the posting system when author’s work didn’t post to the queue properly as well. IF your submission remains in the queue for an unreasonable amount of time without any contact from me, you can
PM
me.
How long am I in the queue?
There is no set time limit in the queue, but there is a cut-off point. You must have 75 likes on your forum content, stories, and chapters before you no longer face the queue. Once you have achieved that level, your updates will post when you publish them. So, it behooves an author to be active, posting consistently, and interacting with readers and other members on our forums as well.
Is your decision the sole factor in submission approval?
No, it’s not. As I said before, any story deemed suspect for any reason is reviewed by the forum moderation team for a fair discussion and consensus.
Why can’t I edit my story/chapter or why did I get an error message when I tried to edit my story/chapter?
The system has a fail-safe set in place to prevent large amounts of text in a chapter or story from being removed. We expect that you post your best work that has already been edited. If there is a serious problem, or you do not take advantage of the offer, I will remove the story/chapter content for you to repost if you
PM
me.
Why can’t I delete my story/chapter(s)?
Again, there’s a fail-safe built into the system to prevent that from occurring. Authors can place their work unpublished so no one but the author or staff can see it, but they cannot delete. No, we will not refuse to remove your work, but you must PM me to ensure complete deletion from the system. I will usually want to know why, because if there’s a problem with the story, posting, or a moderation issue with another
GA
member, a cooling off period and discussion can sometimes resolve the issue without the story actually being deleted.
I’m so confused! How do I find help?
We have a faq you can find under the ? tab in the red menu bar. The topic titled,
“New Author Help: How to Post a Story”
not only has our posting and content guidelines, it also has a chapter that explains what each field is for in our story submission form as well as various things unique to our system. If you’ve read the faq, and still don’t know the answer to your questions, please feel free to
PM
me. It can often be easier to ask ahead of time than to sort out posting issues after you attempt to post.
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