Please! Post anonymously! I really want to know!

[heidi]

Share this url! I really want answers here...

I was YMing with a friend yesterday about this beta thing we're working on for FA, in search of people who were going to have new fics to upload in the immediately future - like, the next week.

And she said that she knew a bunch of people who *were* finishing fics, but none of them would be submitting to FA.

So it got me wondering...

If you won't submit to FA, why?

Is it the grammar and spelling requirements?
Is it because you think your fic is NC17?
Or is there some other reason that isn't occuring to me right now?

Even if you hate FA and hate me (or even if it's one of the reasons I gave above), be kind for one minute and tell me why you won't submit to FA. Post anonymously. And I'm going to turn off IP logging for the next 48 hours so you don't have to worry that I'll somehow learn who you are. I won't, and nobody else will either.

edited to add: If it's partially the complicated method of submission, would an easier submission process help? Because we'll have one next month...

Comments

FA

[(Anonymous)]

I can't say I'm one of the people you've mentioned, but I see this happen all the time.

I think it might be FA's reputation. Come on, it is rather intimidating. We've got all these fantastic authors, they're a little daunting to be compared to. I, personally, would not want to see my fic in the index next to Barb's or Anna Milton's or yours, knowing that next to all these fantastic authors, mine's not even worth reading. A lot of people submit to ffn and shy away from FA because they think their work isn't good enough for FA's archives. Because FFN has lower standards and less quality fic to be compared to, it's not so scary to submit to, because you won't feel as stupid if your fic isn't a masterpeice.

~ Skye Black, not seeing the point of posting anonymously.

Re: FA

[irinaauthor.livejournal.com]

I think that, if anyone is nervous of posting to FA, it's because of what Skye said. I know that when I started The Rebirth, I had it on ffn for a while before I worked up the nerve to send it in to FA. Even then, I was sure it would be rejected. I have no idea why I thought that, since my grammar and spelling are good, and I had a plan for the rest of the story. I suppose it's because FA is where the most widely-read authors in the fandom post their stuff, which can be intimidating to a new author. People may think, "Why would anyone read my story, when these really popular ones are on the site?"

And now, eight months later, I'm a mod. Will wonders never cease?

Irina

[(Anonymous)]

Well, I didn't want to post to FA because of the tedious procedure of setting up author ids and posting to the review boards first before sending in fics to the mods. Well, that is the main reason I'm not so keen to post to FA. But then again, I ended up posting to FA due to several issues I have with TSTMNBN.

Oh, Heidi, forgive me for not replying to your owl. I have been very busy for the entire week. =)

Rhea Summers

FA's reputation

[til-midnight.livejournal.com]

I agree with Skye Black. The reason I'm hesitant to post at FA is becuase of it's high quality reputation. FF.net's standards are much lower and as a beginning author, I find it less intimidating to have my work hosted along side a lot of crap than along side the best fanfic there is.

Also, when I finally got up the courage to submit my work to FA, nothing ever happened. I got a automatic email, but that was it. I sorta lost my nerve after that.

But I think the main problem is FA's reputation. I think the spelling and grammar (and age) requirments are good, but they can be intemidating and no one wants their work rejected. We get attached to it.

ten miles til midnight

[thepiratequeen.livejournal.com]

For me it's all about the submission process, I'm glad to see that it's being changed. Are you guys switching to an auto-archive program? (just curious)

And while I personally am not daunted by FA's "reputation" I know many who no matter how many times you say it do not see it as an "all ships, all genres" friendly place. I think the whole thing's rather silly but then there are many people in the XF fandom who see Gossamer(the top XF archive) as only Mulder/Scully friendly when it in fact hosts whatever kind of XF-centric fic you could think to throw out it. Fandoms just get silly like that sometimes but I for one think you guys are doing a great job.

[bildungsroman.livejournal.com]

Meh, I actually was anxious to get my fic up on to FA for a while until it came down to it.

At first, I thought: "Hey! If there are all these great fics up here, and people see my fic next to theirs, then they'll surely read it!"

Then, when it came down to actually mailing it in, I had thoughts along the lines of: "What if they don't like me?"

It was all really selfish reasons for me. But then I mailed it in and have never been happier.

Skye, though, does have a point. Ff.net has lower standards and it's not as intimidating because of it's "brilliance". FA is can seem a little imperious at times; because it's so damn great. I can understand why some people may be a bit nervous about adding their fic to those listed in FA, but my question is Why the hell not? -- FA is a great place and I for one am proud of being archived there.

RamblerAt230am!Jen

FA's reputation

[thena.livejournal.com]

It's not a big surprise that I agree with what the others have said. I don't have trouble with why no one is submitting, actually I am going to submit a new fic and I even got that beta test group email.

But people don't want to submit to FictionAlley because it looks quite intimadating. There are so many well known authors on it. I think FA is the epitome of Harry Potter fanfiction sites. It's a high quality fandom site and that can actually make people think if they are worth being admitted. The submission process actually has reasonable rules but people still get the reinforced idea that FA is a too high quality for them. I don't think it's because it's complicated, you have a lot of dedicated staff who do their best for it in a fairly quick time.

It's just FA's reputation as a whole. It's one of the best HP fandom sites on the web. It's just an intimidation factor.

[(Anonymous)]

Some of my friends and fellow authors don't submit to FA because they feel that's it's too cliquey. One of them actually told me that she feels that certain authors get preferential treatment. I really don't know what to make of this, so I'll reserve judgement.

-A

[castorandpollux.livejournal.com]

Erm, actually, I couldn't wait to get my fic up on FA back in August or so. :) The submission process *is* a little hard, but like you said, there's going to be something new for that soon... It's just a little confusing right now, anyway. I have lots of chapters up, but I *still* have to go to the "Submit" page to remember what sort of info I need to include in the subject and email body.

FA is a very cool place though, because of the diversity. I mainly wanted to submit there in the first place because I thought it'd be cool having my story up in a place where all sorts of other people had their stories up too. I saw it as FF.net, though with better quality and a more fan-oriented atmosphere...

--Gem

[ali-wildgoose.livejournal.com]

Actually, I agree that certain authors get preferential treatment at FA - it's something I've noticed on my own, and from talking to others who aren't as much a part of the "in crowd." Unfortunately, with a site that's run and updated by human beings instead of automated servers, it's a bit inevitable that familiar fics by familiar authors will stand out in the minds of those dealing with them. It's not unheard of for submissions from unknowns to get lost in the general shuffle. I don't necessarily condone this, but I can see why it happens. It's harder to keep track of strangers than it is friends - unfamiliar names are simply more easily forgotten or looked over.

Ah well.

[(Anonymous)]

From AIDAN LYNCH

This post is "anonymous" only because I am not an LJ user so presumably can't log in fully.

Plumeria (aome) mailed me the link to this discussion topic because she knows that I have twice tried to submit my novel-length fic UNTHINKABLE THOUGHTS to FA but have been overwhelmed by the submission procedure both times. UT is currently archived at ff.net, where it seems to have a pretty wide readership. I have not found ff.net to be as unreliable as some, and in fact I have logged on to find it down only 3 or 4 times in the 6 months or so that I have been writing UT, and only one of those times was it actually inconvenient. So I guess as I haven't ever really experienced the problems that must have existed before, I feel less need to boycott the site, which I am guessing (only guessing though!) was the initial reason for FA being established.

Two things need saying here.

One, I am an admitted technophobe, which in itself some may find difficult to comprehend, especially for all of you who have LJs and can put links in your text, and can IM, and know what HTML is, and how it differs from things which aren't HTML, and can design web pages, and dozens of other things which are a mystery to me. This is a source of *major* embarrassment, as other net users immediately assume that as I am an 18yo male laptop owner, I am obviously capable of hacking into the Pentagon. In fact I can't even do text messages on my mobile phone - preferring actually to talk - and the number of times my video machine has recorded the wrong TV show is laughable. The sad truth is that even submitting to ff.net had me worried for a while, and now they've altered that to a two-stage thing (supposedly as some kind of "help") I had to go and have a calming cigarette or three before I got my head even round that. When I first tried to go to FA, I went to the site and found it to be a really cool one, but was flummoxed by the terminology used, and gave up really easily. About a month later I had another go, and the flurry of email between me and Plu as I got more and more frustrated would probably have most of you laughing. But I was totally foxed: register for one thing, set up something else, post a board or a string or something (why? what are they?) then come back another time and do something more, OK, I can't really remember any of the details, but I can remember feeling hopelessly lost. And Plu, ardent champion of FA that she is, was obviously perceptive enough to realise that I am simply too stupid to get my head round it, and - bless her - has never mentioned it since. It must be frustrating for her to be such a fan of FA yet to have a fic she betas archived elsewhere, but hey, if she's willing to put up with that, it just gives me another reason to like her.

Two, when I first started writing UT it was really important to me that as many people as possible read it as possible. But now the writing is so important and personal that I am completing UT more for experimenting with the actual process of writing than for the aim of it being read. Now I know that seems strange - why bother to go to all that trouble (currently over 100k words) and not be bothered if anyone reads it or not? But there is a factor of time here. I am online for only perhaps half an hour a day, and not every day, and as it is I do not have enough time to correspond enough with all the people who have mailed me about UT from its being archived on *one* site; if it went to another site and the email load doubled, I would just sink under the strain. Hell, I'm supposed to be doing my A levels in four weeks. But I guess that's just an excuse for not having attempted FA submission a third time, because I'm pretty sure that if someone said to me, hey mail me all the chapters of UT and I will format them and submit them for you, while you sit back and smoke and get on with your exams, I would probably say yeah, cool, thanks.

In summary: I tried to get my head round FA submission, and I was found wanting. That made me think, a) I'm stupid, b) this site is stupid, and c) well, ff.net is good enough for me anyway.

Excuse the rambling, I can't help it. It's how I think.

Aidan Lynch
spitzbergen1234@hotmail.com

[stormy-lolita.livejournal.com]

Well, A's mentioned reason is partly why I won't submit to FA; I don't like the idea of being part of a mainstream clique. Also, it does seem like you tend to favor... but that's not really something I'm bothered by.

I like FFN because it's easy. All you have to do is click several buttons and your fic is online, no waiting required.. unless their bloody server's down again :)

Re: FA's reputation

[owlman.livejournal.com]

If you are the author of 'What If' then your fic is in the queue to be uploaded to Schnoogle and should be uploaded later today.

I apologise for the delay - I ended up with a temping job this week and included in this was an 11 hour working day on Tuesday (which was followed by 3 hours of computer work for orienteering league updates) and a 9 hour working day on Wednesday (which was followed by a 3 hour meeting in the evening - connected with the orienteering league updates I had been doing on Tuesday). These meant that I had little free time for most of this week and only managed to have the opportunity to look at your fic a couple of nights ago.


Good luck with the test.


Simon

[(Anonymous)]

Actually the first reason I stopped submitting was cause I got massive writers block. The second was cause I didn't want anyone to read the next thing I wrote... It was a bit confusing even when I read it over and would probably end up severely embarrassed. Should probably reminded to ask someone to pull off the rest of my story, anyway. The third reason I probably wouldn't post another fic there is cause I find the uploading system VERY v. v. v. v. confusing. It's impossible to understand. You've got like an entire page on how to do this. If you had done the entire thing point form and with quick, to the point directions, I wouldn't have stared at them for so long the first time and then went to ask both John and Simon, who could hardly help me themselves.

- Kim, who hardly cares about anonymously answering things

[shakespearessis.livejournal.com]

The main reason why I'm holding off posting to FA at the moment is time issues. I'm working on a novel-length fic, but the rate at which I get chapters out varies widely. It wouldn't be an issue except for the fact that, to submit to Schnoogle (where I'd like my fic to be housed), I have to combine 2-3 of my chapters into one document to meet the minimum chapter length requirements. It's a bit of a headache for an in-progress fic, so I'm just waiting until I'm done to mess with any of it.

And, to agree with others - FFN is my place of choice to post stories - as a site, it's below par, but the easy of posting is very convenient. FA takes more commitment to post to - but as a result, I'm seeing better fics there. There's also the fact it's easier for me to access my reviews, too.

Also, this is just a random suggestion - one thing that I would love to see at FA is perhaps a section of Schnoogle devoted to authors of merit - authors with consistently impeccable grammar, spelling, writing quality, etc. FFN is impossible to navigate when one is in search of fics for the lack of such a section.

:) Love Gordon

Three things..

[tobymalfoy.livejournal.com]

One: I'm going out on a limb and comment on your guess that FA was founded to boycott ff.net.. I'm not one of the people who made FA happen, but I have lurked on the sidelines since way before it was thought up. From what I've seen/read, boycotting ff.net was never an objective here. Yes, there were some things ff.net did that made quite a few people a bit angry, but that was only one reason to start FA. Many authors submit their fics to both. Other reasons included the very frequent downtime of ff.net during the first 8 or so months of last year and the desire not to be forced to click through tons of not-very-good stories full off spelling and grammar errors. I guess Heidi or one of the other FA people could go into more detail.
Two: You can see from the comments here, that you are not the only one having problems with the submission process. I don't know what Heidi and the gang are working on, but perhaps you could try again after they reworked the submission process.
Three: I love UT and I owe you a review. *shuts ears in oven* Need. to. let. people. know. that. I. liked. their. fics.

[morrigan-veela.livejournal.com]

Here's my story. I didn't consider even TRYING to post a fic on FA til after one of the Veelas was accepted. My biggest problem is that all of my fics, save one, are NC-17s. I've got a dirty mind, yanno. But I thought, what the hell, and submitted the first chapter of SitV. I was really amazed when it was accepted, although I was a bit daunted by all of the caveats I was given. It's not that I don't understand all the legality issues surrounding such things - I spent 3 years working at an internet co that did hosting and domain regs and spent a lot of time talking to lawyers. And I had one law class in grad school. *looks brightly at Heidi* I know you're impressed now. (yes, I'm making fun of myself) I know there has been some talk about an NC-17 FA, somehow, and I'd personally dearly love to be a big part of that if it ever becomes possible. But anyway, back to the point.

Some people have mentioned that FA is intimidating, or that it has a lofty reputation. Well, GOOD, says I. Any old plebe can post to FF.net. I want to be special. I sincerely hope that you don't make the submission process too easy, or that you stop having the fics read before they're accepted. FA is mostly quality, and I like that. I like to think I'm in good company.

And now I'm off to work on chapter 3 of SitV so I can finally submit it to FA, now that I have my comp again. Woohoo!

[morrigan-veela.livejournal.com]

I just had to tell you that I luuuuuuurve your icon. But I won't steal it, no I won't... *itches* ;)

[nascosi.livejournal.com]

A few FFN friends I chat to on AOL sometimes haven't submitted anything to FA because the submission process is a bit confusing for new authors. I think that's actually a reason I hesitated before submitting to FA... Certainly not because of the intimidation though. God knows I'm far too arrogant to be easily intimidated ^^

-- Caly

Great comments. What would you change?

[queerasjohn.livejournal.com]

Hi folks, I'm John, one of the FA Admins. I'm currently starting a rewrite of the FictionAlley Submission Guidelines (http://www.fictionalley.org/submit.html) for ease of use, clarity and simplicity. So -- what would make it easier for you? What could we make clearer? What should we change? What should we leave the same? What would you do?

There's an LJ thread in my LJ (http://www.livejournal.com/talkread.bml?journal=johnwalton&itemid=45958) or you can drop me an email at john@fictionalley.org with your reply.

Cheers,

--John

woobie

[covergrlgoddess.livejournal.com]

who could hate you?

To answer this: the reason I haven't uploaded is that I need to beta the hell out of my fic, because I wrote it when I first came into fandom, forgot about it, read it over a month ago and it sucked. Whenever I get around to betaing it or get a very loyal beta reader that won't kill me for all the mistakes, I'll upload to schnoogle.

love,
Mantha- who is lazy!

[resmiranda.livejournal.com]

Two reasons:

One, I am a brand-spankin'-new fanfic writer. I've been a member of the HP fandom for less than a year (I'm slow, so sue me), and only recently got into fanfiction, and only VERY recently (like, 4 days ago) decided to write a fiction for the first time in my life. I don't know if it's good or not, and FA's reputation scares me to death - being put up alongside Barb and Cassie and Rhysenn and Viola and Al and god knows who else with their own yahoo groups with 50,000 members and fanart is extremely daunting. I like that FA has this reputation - I know that I can always go there if I'm sick of clicking through FFn, but it's gonna take quite a while before I get up the courage to submit.

Two, it's VERY cliquey. I like this, it's more of an intimate, most-people-know-each-other, laid back sort of feeling. (I don't see any "Orwellian" aspects, so I don't know WHAT is going on with that sort of speculation.) But when you're a brand new member, it's easy to feel kind of on the fringes of things without knowing any of the jokes or past problems. There's no way to "fix" this, and frankly I don't want that to change. It's just another intimidating aspect of FA that discourages me (for now) from submitting a fic.

Res, submitter of vaguely unhelpful comments

[datta.livejournal.com]

Complicated method...plus VERY low review to chapter ratio.

Fanfic

[(Anonymous)]

Okay, well, I've written a couple of fanfics, and I had one in the works, but I've never posted at FA for a couple of reasons. I don't really understand everything that I would have to do to set up a comments system and all that just to post my story. My stories aren't really that good, and there's such a tradition of excellence that I don't want to ruin that. I haven't worked on any fanfiction for a while because I've been working on a novel, and that along with school and band and attempting to sell our house, that just takes up most of my time. I probably won't ever post something to FA, because fanfiction was just a way of warming up my writing juices until I could start writing something original.

I stayed on topic for the most part - it starts out slow but I get somewhere.

[someisa.livejournal.com]

I haven't been in the FA community very long, I admit. I came in before you moved the boards. I kind of looked at it as a nice relief from the video gaming and web design community in which there's nothing but stupid fights over mindless nonsense, there are certain things you can't say and can say, certain people are worshipped over excessively and you get flamed for saying a suggestively unworshippy opinion about one of them, wars occurred daily, and your true friends were the ones who recognized the insanity and elitism of the all of it. Unfortunately, after hanging around FA for quite a while, now I'm beginning to think that even though the focuses might not be the same, I really didn't leave the video gaming and web design community at all. I agree that FA is very, very "cliquey," and that there is a strong amont of favoritism and bias amung the more popular authors and the admins of the Park and etcetera. As Gambalerina pointed out in an IM she and I had a while back -- she remembers Jedi Ginny when she was a Newbie, now she's a Mod. She's also pointed out how Rex caused trouble before he was a Mod numerous times, which is an interesting history for a Mod, and brings up the question of "why?" which further down the line points to favoritism. Nostry was afraid of no one reading the first three chapters of his fanfic because Draco Vertias was placed smack first at the top of the updates (then he remembered his story would be shown in the next days updates but that's not the point ;pp). Obviously, there's some favoritism there, and the whole "Staff and Favorites Fanfics Go First" thing is kind of.... elitist. All of FA is also pretty much biased and in total favortism and bum kissing of one another, there's even such petty battles between the House Elves. In example, Stacey mentioned that all songfics are alike, but if someone else she favored wrote a songfic, suddenly it wouldn't be alike all other songfics. As for the main topic, why wouldn't you want to submit to FA - the submission *is* confusing when you look at how it's written: it's kind of discouraging almost to think you're not good enough for even the submission process. I'm not calling anyone stupid, or saying that you didn't explain it better, but FF.net's uploading system is a lot more convienent since it goes quicker. Also, if a person with a short, general, non-romantic, not so humorous and non-romantic fanfic were to submit to FA, they'd probably be discouraged by the fact that the Four Houses house the former mentioned; you might want to think of mentioning shorts that have no real focus are welcomed to the Dark Arts, or allowing them to Schnoogle? Also, some people might not just discouraged by FA's submission and selectivity, but rather, the amount of "uber-fics" that're there.... it's kind of a psychological thing: "why should I submit there when they already have all those much better fanfics there and mine would just get ignored and left to rot?" A lot of authors also think their fanfics are crappier than the ones currently at FA, so there's the whole "reputation" thing too. Anywho, whatever. I gotta run.......

Someisa
Honest Bitch Forever