|
Congratulations, you're now a Member of the Site!
So now what do I do?
From the reader's point of view
You can now comment on other peoples fiction, start rating stories, and use bookmarks.
Comments are given by clicking the Comment button in the reader. If the writer allows it, your comment will be messaged to the writer, and possibly even other members if you select them out of the comment writer's reply table.
Quality. Whenever you read a story, at the bottom of the reader control is a brightly lit collection of bars which lets you cast your vote on how good the story is. No one but you yourself will know about what you have voted, unless you pick one of the top three bars, which will cause it to appear in the "New Fiction Picks" section of your profile.
Bookmarks. When the boss starts walking down cubicle row and you don't want to be caught reading fiction online (not that he'd believe it if he saw it) yet you don't want to lose your place in the middle of a story, click the bookmark button and close the window. When you return to DigitalPulp.org, a list of your bookmarks will appear in the navigation sidebar (over to the left). Clicking the story's title takes you right back to the page you left on. To remove a bookmark, simply click the bookmark button again.
From the writer's point of view
You get to work on your profile and add your stuff to the site! All of which uses the links in the navigation sidebar.
Edit Profile. At base the profile tells other users of the site something about you. While the page itself is pretty self-explanatory, be sure not to miss the Icon Generator - which takes the picture you uploaded and helps you make an icon out of it, the Featured Story box - which allows you to display in your profile the story that you feel is the best thing you've ever written, Journal Header and Footer - which can be used to build a stylized frame around your journal entries, and Communication Method - which allows you to faucet on and off the amount of correspondence you get from other members.
Note that profiles also have something called Shouts & Whispers on it. It allows people to send you a public message anyone can see, and is usually used for saying Thanks for fiction picks. If anyone ever posts something you don't want, click the minus button which accompanies it.
Reader Settings. This page controls how stories will appear in the reader, as well as what rated stories will appear on the site. Only your own fiction contributions will not be filtered out by the ratings.
Submit a Story. Probably the most important link on the page. It allows you to add fiction to the site. Unlike previous incarnations of Digital Pulp, there is no editor working behind the scenes, accepting or rejecting the stories you post. As soon as you click Submit it appears online. It also sends out an announcement about itself to everyone watching you - so make sure it's ready to be read before sending it out!
Track a Manuscript. Digital is good but Print is still where it's at in the world of fiction. By uploading a story and hiding it you can use the website to keep track of where your manuscripts are at, where they have been, how they are doing and more.... To get started, upload a manuscript and click the History button which appears wherever it does.
Bind a Book. New to DigitalPulp, this feature allows you to gather together the stories you have online and make a short story compilation out of it. The book binder, however, only works for subscribed members!
Write a Journal. Journals are a way of communicating to the people watching you on the site. When you post a new one, they get a message about it. Use it for anything you might want to tell your fans about.
Write about what you are Reading. Because it's fun to talk about such stuff!
Add a Link. This page allows you to add links to other websites through your profile.
Watch Your Statistics. Our statistics pages tell you more than you want to know about your writing as well as what people are coming to the site to see.
Sign Out. It should be known that DigitalPulp.org will keep you signed into the computer you are using indefinitely!!!!! So if using a public computer, be sure to Sign Out before leaving. If you have a hard time remembering passwords, check the email address you gave us, we sent it a small email containing your userid and password.
And that's it in a Nutshell!
As a free member you aren't limited to the amount of stuff you can post online, but you are limited in its frequency - three stories and five journals per month. Being a subscribed member removes this restriction and also allows you to use the Book Binder. Most of all, being a subscribed member helps keep Digital Pulp afloat and moving forwards. Your $10 a year does not go to a beer fund, it goes mostly to advertising - meaning you'll be helping bring more people in to see your work. We do run ads on this site, but they bring in only pennies per day, so membership is our only real source of funds.
And most of all...
Enjoy!
That's what the site here for.
Hope to read you soon on DigitalPulp.org.
|
