I doubt it's gonna happen because of the drawn lines between the three sites but I would really like a combined stream for all three story sites.
It could be a good feature to get more premium members and I think it would certainly add visitors to the Finestories and Sci-Fi stories sites.
Maybe a RSS feed that's only published on SOL?
It's an interesting idea, but the execution would be tremendously difficult.
While it seems that all the sites are the same, mostly because of the unified logging in, they're truly separate sites and no one site can access the data from the other sites.
I accomplish the logging in with a separate server that each site can access through an API.
To aggregate the updates from all three sites (and any other sites that I may create) I would need something like a story & blog server that holds the data independent of each site.
Huge project to say the least.
Although, I do have it in mind as I already started, but due to the amount of work required, not much progress has happened as I focus on the book sales site.
Thank you. I realize that the sites are separated with individual databases and a aggregated overview would be difficult. It's just something I think a lot of readers would appreciate and I'm sure it will increase traffic to Finestories and Sci-Fi Stories. I'll wait patiently until you can find some time to create this feature.
I'll wait patiently until you can find some time to create this feature.
Cue the music: "In the year 2525, if man is still alive, if ..."
edit to add; Lazeez has a lot of higher priority stuff first, thanks - like the simplified story lodgement process to allow upload to multiple sites at once, after the sales site is done.
Lazeez has a lot of higher priority stuff first, thanks - like the simplified story lodgement process to allow upload to multiple sites at once, after the sales site is done.
Actually, this is the same thing (except for blogs). Finishing the implementation of the unified story storage required for multi-site posting, would facilitate the multi-site stream.
I'm building a site where authors can sell their ebooks.
That's old news, or so I thought.
Thus removing the need for certain authors to decamp to Patreon?
Patreon is a different animal. For now I'm working on selling ebooks just like amazon and a ton of other sites. I don't know if I'll ever build the equivalent of Patreon for authors.
I don't know if I'll ever build the equivalent of Patreon for authors.
As a reader who's tried to use Patreon, I find it mostly unusable. To find an author on Patreon you have to know ahead of time that the author is there and precisely what name the author is using. Then - if you're willing to pay the monthly fee - you can see what that author has to offer.
For all the other authors - the ones where you do NOT know their names - it's almost impossible to find them.
SOL is a lot better than Patreon; it's not a site anybody should wish to copy.
As a reader who's tried to use Patreon, I find it mostly unusable.
I have to agree that Patreon is the last site you would want to copy. It's the ultimate display of the worst there is on the net. But what I think is an even bigger danger is that a lot of authors will move to a paid SOL equivalent and SOL will lose a large part of it's reader base. It's totally different from an ebook store which will be a great asset for SOL and it's authors.
As a reader who's tried to use Patreon, I find it mostly unusable. To find an author on Patreon you have to know ahead of time that the author is there and precisely what name the author is using. Then - if you're willing to pay the monthly fee - you can see what that author has to offer.
Part of this is intentional. Patreon has been under severe pressure from credit card processors to purge content of which they do not approve (read anything to do with sex beyond fairly traditional limits). As such, creators of that kind of content purposefully hide their work behind the paywall and make little (or no) reference to the 'offensive' (per the cc processors) content.
There was a 'crackdown' about a year ago where they advised everyone to remove ANY content which was not 'soft-R' from public view, which resulted in a certain well-known author replacing his main image with a woman in a niqab.
I will absolutely make use of Lazeez's eBook sales site, but patronage is a different animal altogether.
Personally, I'm hoping SubscribeStar survives and continues to make improvements.
Patreon is a parasite - it's of little use to authors unless they also use sites like SOL to garner publicity.
Once SOL has a mechanism for authors to be financially rewarded for their work through book sales, I'd like to see a clampdown on patreon adverts.
AJ
Once SOL has a mechanism for authors to be financially rewarded for their work through book sales, I'd like to see a clampdown on patreon adverts.
There are two different sets of people (at least) - those who want to buy digital copies of my books and those who are (and I mean this literally) supporting me in my writing. I'd have to sell 500 (or more) copies of my books every single month to earn the same amount, and I do not think that is even remotely possible.
I don't want a total ban. As I've said, I'm fine with occasional discreet requests for donations and mentioning a patreon account isn't much different.
What I object to is authors who are 'in your face' about it, mentioning their patreon accounts at every opportunity, and making blog posts about what their patreon supporters are getting that SOL readers aren't.
AJ
What I object to is authors who are 'in your face' about it, mentioning their patreon accounts at every opportunity, and making blog posts about what their patreon supporters are getting that SOL readers aren't.
Understood. I'd hope you'd send me a private note if you felt I was offending the community standards. As one of the first to jump into Patreon, I feel a bit responsible.
I'd hope you'd send me a private note if you felt I was offending the community standards.
We're holding a philosophical discussion which, in the scale of things, is small potatoes compared to management policy.
If I thought authors were offending community standards (which, in your case, I don't), I'm not sure a private note is the way to go. I'd rather discuss the issues on the forum in a non-personal way to determine whether there was a consensus.
However, I have to say, every time you write 'cirque du Steve' rather than 'cirque de Steve', it reminds me of 'The Chad' in 'Charlie's Angels'.
AJ
However, I have to say, every time you write 'cirque du Steve' rather than 'cirque de Steve', it reminds me of 'The Chad' in 'Charlie's Angels'.
Blame Jorge - he coined the (inaccurate French) phrase. Given his demise, changing seemed wrong. :-)
Then again, a patron and a purchaser are two different things. Many patrons are afford some incentives, often limited creation control or early access. A purchaser can just read and has limited distribution rights.