Stub Warning or Genre

[LazyFloof]

It would be nice to have a Stub Warning or Genre.

So you know what you are getting into when you open a story, read three chapters, and then see the "on amazon"

Personally I think a warning would be the better choice.

I tried search but didn't find a dedicated thread.

 

[Dec]

Maybe instead of a genre (as this is not one), visible information somewhere on the main page of the story that shows automatically the moment the author checks the appropriate field when deleting/hiding chapters.
Yes, some authors add that info in the synopsis, but let's be honest here -- who reads it all? Unless it is on the very top, almost no one will see that info, and then become sad because Amazon Exclusive.

 

[Alski]

Yes, some authors add that info in the synopsis, but let's be honest here -- who reads it all? Unless it is on the very top, almost no one will see that info, and then become sad because Amazon Exclusive.

Not putting that info in plain view is a good way to lower your star rating, because after they get sad at the amazon exclusive they are more inclined to give it a bad rating.

 

[LazyFloof]

Maybe instead of a genre (as this is not one), visible information somewhere on the main page of the story that shows automatically the moment the author checks the appropriate field when deleting/hiding chapters.
Yes, some authors add that info in the synopsis, but let's be honest here -- who reads it all? Unless it is on the very top, almost no one will see that info, and then become sad because Amazon Exclusive.

as a content warning it would make filtering easier, but an additional feature would be harder to implement unfortunately.

It isn't a genre, but people often only look at Genre and Tags.

Not putting that info in plain view is a good way to lower your star rating, because after they get sad at the amazon exclusive they are more inclined to give it a bad rating.

Another issue I have with Stubs, is that they often start at the beginning. Often before you get anywhere near the real story.

 

[ElijahRyne]

It would be nice to have a Stub Warning or Genre.

So you know what you are getting into when you open a story, read three chapters, and then see the "on amazon"

Personally I think a warning would be the better choice.

I tried search but didn't find a dedicated thread.

You can set the status of your work, Ongoing, Hiatus, Dropped, and Completed if I remember correctly. Adding stubbed to that list might be better.

 

[LazyFloof]

You can set the status of your work, Ongoing, Hiatus, Dropped, and Completed if I remember correctly. Adding stubbed to that list might be better.

good idea, but in that case move it up, since warnings and status are on the bottom of the story pages, below the chapters

 

[ElijahRyne]

good idea, but in that case move it up, since warnings and status are on the bottom of the story pages, below the chapters

It is above them for me, unless you mean on advanced search.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

If there are only a few free chapters and the rest is behind a paywall, maybe add a "Promotional" tag - "This is a promotional/sample of a story available elsewhere"?

 

[tiaf]

You can set the status of your work, Ongoing, Hiatus, Dropped, and Completed if I remember correctly. Adding stubbed to that list might be better.

There is no dropped status. I made a feature request thread for a “discontinued” status back in 2021, but no response.

 

[melchi]

If people number their chapters then it would be really obvious.

Is putting stubbed fictions even allowed on scribblehub? I know that there are many on here already but it might be considered a violation of the rules using scribblehub to funnel traffic to anther site.

 

[Valmond]

If people number their chapters then it would be really obvious.

Is putting stubbed fictions even allowed on scribblehub? I know that there are many on here already but it might be considered a violation of the rules using scribblehub to funnel traffic to anther site.

You can divert traffic to another site, so long as you post the full chapter. You cannot post a preview.

 

[LazyFloof]

It is above them for me, unless you mean on advanced search.
View attachment 37032

In mobile it is below, or in half window.

There is no dropped status. I made a feature request thread for a “discontinued” status back in 2021, but no response.

dropped is only a status on your reading list. but discontinued or dropped for story status would be nice.

If there are only a few free chapters and the rest is behind a paywall, maybe add a "Promotional" tag - "This is a promotional/sample of a story available elsewhere"?

Stub implies the rest is somewhere else, so would cover that too.

 

[ElijahRyne]

In mobile it is below, or in half window.

dropped is only a status on your reading list. but discontinued or dropped for story status would be nice.


Stub implies the rest is somewhere else, so would cover that too.

I am on mobile and I use landscape not portrait, granted I am on a tablet and not a phone. So perhaps that is where the difference lies.

 

[LazyFloof]

I am on mobile and I use landscape not portrait, granted I am on a tablet and not a phone. So perhaps that is where the difference lies.

I used a regular phone in portrait, so that might really be the issue.

 

[naosu]

You need to give and take a little. That's my 2 cents. There's obvious cases where there's abuse. Like withholding where its just a teaser. But its VERY difficult to even not starve as a writer now. :S Many industries have so much economic problems that you need to let them have mercy. So please forgive them if they say hey I've got a book on Amazon. (Have mercy! Its difficult!)

But I'm under the mindset, you put up a real story here. And you really give and reciprocate. So if its done right and not abuse, you WILL see the story get expanded on here. And chapters go up. And if people don't look there might be misunderstandings. Like I might say hey check out my book list on Amazon, but the ones on Amazing are NOT the stories I have here.

So I guess to me there's a right way to do it that's giving to people. And there's a wrong way to do it that could make people feel duped.

I like that you asked about this.

But you know, I LOVE IT when a reader sends me a note and they're like hey I really love that story, please do more. Or just anything for appreciation. That's what really makes me want to write more. its not about money. Its about making people happy.

 

[Ultrabenosaurus]

I have nothing against stubbing in general if required for authors to publish their books, personal hate for Amazon specifically aside, and don't begrudge authors monetising their work. I don't think stubbed series should be banned from Scribble Hub as existing readers keeping up with the current releases would be shafted.

That said, if I can't even read the first volume / book here, I want to be able to easily spot and avoid such series. I don't want to read 3-5 chapters then get hit with a 200+ gap.

Especially as plenty of authors on SH don't number their chapters for some reason, so it can be impossible to spot just by looking at the ToC.

Bit of a tangent, but I don't even understand the business sense behind this. Surely Amazon would get more KU subscribers and authors would get more paying readers if people could at least get started with the series properly with the first book in full before hitting the paywall?

Some sort of obvious flag put in the title or before the synopsis by the system would be great, not leaving it to authors where and how (or if) to state it, especially with the info panel being hidden so far down on mobile. And make it a violation of the rules for authors to not disclose stubbing in order to not get the flag on their work.

 

[EphemeralEmperor]

Wouldn't it make sense first book free, second onwards is pay to read. Maybe first few chaps of next books are free to read too? Something like that?

 

[Dec]

Wouldn't it make sense first book free, second onwards is pay to read. Maybe first few chaps of next books are free to read too? Something like that?

What parts of the books are stubbed and what not depends only on the publisher, not the author.

 

[Ultrabenosaurus]

There is no dropped status. I made a feature request thread for a “discontinued” status back in 2021, but no response.

On this topic, I've recently made a userscript that emphasises the story status next to the title, which also adds a custom "abandoned" status and you can set how many months since the last update is considered abandoned.

SH Series Status

Add series status (e.g. hiatus, ongoing) next to the title.

greasyfork.org

Unfortunately has no way to highlight stubs yet, but I'm looking into it ?

 

[Ultrabenosaurus]

Unfortunately has no way to highlight stubs yet, but I'm looking into it ?

Unfortunately, this doesn't seem to be possible in a reliable way. My chapter number userscript uses a hidden "order" number against each chapter in the ToC list, but there doesn't seem to be a gap when chapters are deleted for stubbing:



In theory, I could try to detect if the number of chapters in the ToC matches the author's number if they include it in the chapter title, but that would be really inconsistent even among authors who include numbers. Some use Roman numerals, some do parts of chapters as 12.5 or "12 part 2", some are like "Book 3 Chapter 4", etc.

I might experiment with various pattern-matching rules for numbers, "kindle unlimited" and "KU" to see how good it is, but I don't have high hopes or a lot of free time to do so right now. Another thing for the To Do list...