Posting a short on my web site

[Brigid Barry]

Hey, sorry if this is the wrong place.

I did a short story and someone suggested I could post it on my site. I'd like for it to be something that they can only read on the site without copying or downloading. Is this a thing with Weebly sites? I have no idea how to do this.

Thanks!

 

[ChaseJxyz]

There is no such thing lol. If it is visible, someone can take a screenshot of it (or take a photo with their phone) and then scan the image for text, which they can then put on their clipboard and put into whatever.

You can do what they do with captchas and make it non-machine-readable by putting ridiculous colors/shapes/filters on it, but that's a giant middle finger to your readers with any sort of vision problems.

By posting it on your site, who do you want to read it? Anyone on your site? Only select individuals?

 

[Brigid Barry]

There is no such thing lol. If it is visible, someone can take a screenshot of it (or take a photo with their phone) and then scan the image for text, which they can then put on their clipboard and put into whatever.

I figured. I steal documents at work all the time.

You can do what they do with captchas and make it non-machine-readable by putting ridiculous colors/shapes/filters on it, but that's a giant middle finger to your readers with any sort of vision problems.

By posting it on your site, who do you want to read it? Anyone on your site? Only select individuals?

It was meant to be for anyone who visited the site.

ETA: of course it's pretty presumptuous to think anyone would want it. lol.

 

[Unimportant]

Hey, sorry if this is the wrong place.

I did a short story and someone suggested I could post it on my site. I'd like for it to be something that they can only read on the site without copying or downloading. Is this a thing with Weebly sites? I have no idea how to do this.

Thanks!

You sell it to a magazine that makes its content available on the web. Then on your website you brag about the story, give a short teaser, and put a link to where readers can go to the magazine and read it. Win-win!

 

[Brigid Barry]

You sell it to a magazine that makes its content available on the web. Then on your website you brag about the story, give a short teaser, and put a link to where readers can go to the magazine and read it. Win-win!

Yeah, first I'd have to find someone to take it. No bites.

 

[Unimportant]

Doesn't have to be a paying market. Just anything that'll get eyeballs on it. Submission Grinder has heaps of markets listed....

(And if needed, you can always throw it up in SYW for final editing suggestions.)

 

[Yportne]

I'd be happy to build an HTML file of your (short) story for $Free (unless it's novel) and the HTML on your home page with a link to the HTML for your story. You'd have to upload the HTML files to your server, of course, so you'd need Filezilla or some way to get your website host to do that for you. Let me know if you'd like that kind of help... [email protected]

 

[ChaseJxyz]

I'd be happy to build an HTML file of your (short) story for $Free (unless it's novel) and the HTML on your home page with a link to the HTML for your story. You'd have to upload the HTML files to your server, of course, so you'd need Filezilla or some way to get your website host to do that for you. Let me know if you'd like that kind of help... [email protected]

I mean...it's not THAT hard to do. You just copy/paste the text from Word and put into https://wordtohtml.net/ and then you're good to go. But if you know how to FTP a file onto your server to publish a file to your website, you probably don't need someone to turn the story into an HTML file for you. If the story is written in Scrivener, you can export it to HTML using the compile feature (though the HTML code it makes IS super ugly and gross, but who actually looks at that?)

Also maybe edit your post to not include your email? Don't want spammers to scrape it.

 

[Brigid Barry]

I've been thinking about what Unimporrant said and I guess if I'm going to give it away for free I'll go through Slush whatever and find a magazine. Is it still a writing credit if it's an unpaid magazine?

 

[Unimportant]

I've been thinking about what Unimporrant said and I guess if I'm going to give it away for free

Try first giving it away for money. Start at pro rates and work your way down; just skip the ones that have really slow response times.

I'll go through Slush whatever and find a magazine. Is it still a writing credit if it's an unpaid magazine?

Yep.

Lady Churchill's Rosebud Wristlet (or something like that, can't remember the name) is now a paying market, but back ten-twenty years ago it was 4-the-Luv but was still considered one of the top ten prestigious markets in its genre.

 

[cmhbob]

File for reference: this is the kind of thing you give away for newsletter signups. You can set up Mailchimp or MailerLite to have someone sign up for your NL, then they get the free story.

 

[Yportne]

I mean...it's not THAT hard to do. You just copy/paste the text from Word and put into https://wordtohtml.net/ and then you're good to go. But if you know how to FTP a file onto your server to publish a file to your website, you probably don't need someone to turn the story into an HTML file for you. If the story is written in Scrivener, you can export it to HTML using the compile feature (though the HTML code it makes IS super ugly and gross, but who actually looks at that?)

Also maybe edit your post to not include your email? Don't want spammers to scrape it.

Lots of ways to get from Word to HTML. Calibre, for example, can convert DOCX files to HTML but the code is very difficult to modify after conversion unless your familiar with HTML. It is free, however, whereas Word to Html is not, and I think it's a monthly, not just a one-time fee? Another possibility for the OP is to upload the story to Smashwords. Good distribution and unless they've changed their options, you can offer it for $00.00. Just a thought.

 

[ChaseJxyz]

Lots of ways to get from Word to HTML. Calibre, for example, can convert DOCX files to HTML but the code is very difficult to modify after conversion unless your familiar with HTML. It is free, however, whereas Word to Html is not, and I think it's a monthly, not just a one-time fee?

The link I provided is 100% free. One of my projects is an HTML interactive fiction, and part of my process of getting the text out of Scrivener and into a finished webpage is putting it into wordtohtml.net. Calibre, meanwhile, is something that you have to install. What I linked is a website, so it's very quick to use.

If you're seeing things telling you to pay, then you must not be using an adblocker, because I've never seen (or even noticed) such a thing.

Another possibility for the OP is to upload the story to Smashwords. Good distribution and unless they've changed their options, you can offer it for $00.00. Just a thought.

That's good for an eBook. But why would you "sell" a short story as an eBook? Sticking it on a webpage is a lot quicker/easier for everyone involved. Frankly, if I had to sign up for a Smashwords account, download the Smashwords app to my phone, download the eBook, and then read it and it was only a 3,000 word short story, I'd be pretty pissed, because it would be such a colossal waste of my time. Why couldn't the author just stick it on their own website? Or even AO3 for that matter? I wouldn't need to download anything or sign up for accounts. It's just text, the actual size of it is small, so there is no reason it has to be packaged up as a PDF, ePub or MOBI.