Cross-posting hell

[ratherastory]

I just cross-posted a fic for the first time in months. Cross-posting takes forever, and since I'm relatively prolific I'm always worried I'm spamming communities and that people are just rolling their eyes and going "Oh, God, not HER again!"

Yes, neurotic, I know.

It's also time-consuming, as I mentioned. Ten minutes on average per community, because they all have their own posting templates, even if I let myself play fast and loose with the ones that aren't as draconian about their guidelines. So given the number of communities I tend to post to, it can take up to an hour to cross-post everything.

Or else I try to cross-post over the course of a few days, and THEN I forget which comms I posted to and spend even more time double-checking to make sure I'm not posting to the same comm twice, and GAH.

I know some of you, dear flist, cross-post a good deal. Do you have a trick for it? Or do I just have to suck it up and deal?

In short, I hate cross-posting. Meow.

Comments

[embroiderama]

When I cross-post (which is to say, when I have stories that are finished, unlike the last FOREVER), the only thing I change for every community is the tags. I do the specific subject line for supernaturalfic, and I try to switch my icons around for each comm--that's about it. As long as you have a header with the normal info in it, you should be fine. I'd guess my cross-posting takes 1-2 minutes per comm.

[tifaching.livejournal.com]

What embroiderama said. Except for supernaturalfic, I don't change up my subject or header info at all.

Also I don't crosspost all at once, though that has its own drawbacks, one of which you mentioned in the forgetting which comms you've already posted to headache. Another of which is that, though crossposting all at once may take up a good bit of a friends page, at least they're all out there and a few days later the same people aren't seeing the same fic on a different comm and saying "Oh, god not her again." like I feel they might be doing for my fics. :)

[peppervl.livejournal.com]

Well, the comms I post to don't tend to care too much about their template, but the LJ Txt app lets you post multiple places at once. So I put it in the most stringent template, check all the comms I'm posting to, and click post once.

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

LJ Txt app? What's that? Is it web-based?

[greeneyes-fan.livejournal.com]

Posting is annoying, it's a fact.

The best thing about commentfic? When it's done, you just post it. No html, no lj-cut, no templates, no headers. Just post and done.

And then realize you want it up elsewhere and kill an hour doing that.

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

*takes notes*

Thank you!

[peppervl.livejournal.com]

My thought is that if you follow multiple comms that specialize in the same things, you should expect cross posting. I follow something like 8 J2 comms. Does this mean that sometimes the same fic shows up 8 times on my f'list? Yep. But you know what? I expect it. And I use my nifty scroll bar and scroll on by.

[peppervl.livejournal.com]

I got the name wrong. It's the LJ-net. http://www.livejournal.com/download/?platform=Windows

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

Boo, looks like it's Windows-only. I shall go check out the other LJ platforms and see if one of those works for me.

Thanks for the tip!

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

Hear, hear.

Ah, comment-fic. So easy to write, such a pain to pull into good shape later. ;)

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

Yes, this.

I watch a TON of h/c communities. That means I see a lot of the same fics go by.

I just hold myself to a double-standard, as usual. ;)

[sagaluthien.livejournal.com]

Where and how much you post a story is and shall be up to you. If the story fit the community you should not hesitate to post it there if you want it there. You do hope someone shall read it and you are pround of your work. Would it be so that the same story trurns up x times in your friends list after that you have posted it to several coms it is only because that they have choose to be member/watch the community and then know stories can turn ups several times. Its ther choose to be in the com.

How to post If the community not demand that you post the whole story I satisfy with do the header and the link to my own journal and the story. After the first post to a community I do copy the entry and post the same to all, only change the tags after the com.
Doing it that way also made that the eventually comments you recive for the story is all in the same place.
I have noticed by myself I'm quite bad to post to different communities, but do so only makes that I have a small group of followers/readers.

I'm sure that you will find a way that suit you, and how you do it is the most important.

[roque-clasique.livejournal.com]

I cross-post every time, and I'd say it takes me an average of 15 seconds per community, no joke. WHAT are you doing that takes so long????

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

I have no idea. Presumably I'm obsessing that I'm not violating some posting guideline that will make them ban me forever or something. Not that I'm paranoid, or anything like that. :P

15 seconds? Damn, woman.

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

Yeah, I haven't yet found a community that insists on my posting the whole fic there, so I usually just put in teh header with a link back to my journal, because I'm a little OCD about trying to keep all my comments in the same place. ;)

Thanks for the encouragement!

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

You and I apparently need to form a support group. ;)

I know that my flist are all awesome people who wouldn't bitch about something as trivial as this, especially when I myself don't mind simply scrolling past multiple entries, and yet I manage to convince myself that it's somehow completely different when I start cross-posting.

I have forbidden myself to go anywhere near the anon meme, because it brings out the worst aspects of my paranoia.

[phorenice.livejournal.com]

I don't get the bitching. Crossposting is about bringing a fic to the attention of readers who might be interested, right? People watch comms with themes they like to read. So if a fic pops up on a lot of comms you're watching it means it has a lot of things you like in it and that should be a reason to celebrate. If it makes your f-list explode use filters. Not everybody watches the same comms, which means some people might only see it once. Shouldn't they get the chance to read it too?

Of course it's annoying if you see a fic with a great summary, it turns out to be bad!fic and then it keeps popping up making you all excited until you realize it's that one again... But how often does that happen?

So if you want, keep posting and let the bitchy bitches bitch. Why should you care what they think.

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

Intellectually, what you are saying makes total sense. It's just that the bitching is paranoia-inducing.

I totally know what you mean, but it doesn't happen THAT often that I've noticed. This fandom has pretty good writers for the most part, and I've been around long enough that I can usually spot the bad!fic writers and avoid them now, unless I'm really in the mood for whatever they usually produce.

[phorenice.livejournal.com]

I think anonymous bitching is especially paranoia-inducing. I you knew who they are, maybe you could just hand-wave it. Now you probably feel like at least one of the anons might be someone whose opinion you care about, and they're talking about you specifically.

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

Exactly! That's why I banned myself from going to the anon meme. It's for my own sanity, really.

[roque-clasique.livejournal.com]

I just copy/paste... thus the time crunch. Supernaturalfic is the only comm I post to with any real rules.

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

Right. I think I must be too focused on trying to adhere to all the different comm guidelines.

[primrose-1.livejournal.com]

I cower in fear and terror at the thought of cross posting.

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

Any reason in particular?

[primrose-1.livejournal.com]

First of all, people might READ something I posted. Second of all, the whole getting the format right, and technical side of things is a little daunting :)

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

LOL

Isn't the point of posting getting people to read what you wrote?

I hear you on the format thing. I've been on LJ for years (since 2002), so the technical side isn't all that daunting for me anymore. Practice makes perfect, and I just ask people for code when I don't know how to do something. :)

[primrose-1.livejournal.com]

I didn't say it was rational! :)

[ratherastory.livejournal.com]

Hee!

We should form a support group. You, me and hansons_angel. ;)