Good furry-related writing platform?

[Ricky_P]

I’m somewhat experimenting with all the well-known sites that typically feature furry lit to see which one(s) would be good for such things.

From what I’ve browsed through here, the general consensus seems to be that FA is the worst, for many reasons, and SF is the better option. Through what little, first-hand experience I’ve had so far, SF, Weasyl, and DA all seem like the better options. The usability and submission process for those three seem user-friendly, and I know DA and SF has group pages I can submit to if I wanted. WordPress has also been a great platform for me too, from my experience.

So my question is: what’s your preference? I don’t know how much most of you submit online anymore, as it seems that most people here are already published.

[Huskyteer]

I much prefer reading on, and publishing to, SoFurry. The formatting suits me better (on FA and Weasyl I seem to end up downloading PDFs half the time, as they won’t open for me online), and I like the ability to browse by tags. There are also official and unofficial writing competitions, which are a good way to get noticed. Having your work chosen as a Featured story, ditto.

Haven’t used InkBunny, but people who do seem to rate it highly as a writing platform.

[Poetigress]

I’m probably not the best person to answer this, since I read almost nothing on furry sites anymore and post very little, but…

None of them are ideal, but feature-wise I do think FA ends up at the bottom. That said, I started out on FA and still post there for now because that’s where my readers still tend to be. I have a Weasyl account as a backup, and I like their folder system and how the stories display, but even though things have picked up a little, there’s still not a lot of traffic there, especially for writers. Inkbunny I had an account on when they got started, and liked them well enough, but their “no humans in adult works” policy, plus the reputation they gained shortly after, both turned me off. I avoided SF because of their reputation back when they were Yiffstar of being mostly an adult story site (and I never could stand the word yiff, let alone their “I came” feedback button). Thankfully things have changed there to some degree, and I would probably have an account on SF now, but at this point I don’t feel like it’s worth the time and trouble for me to set up yet another furry gallery when I’m tapering off participation on the furry galleries I’m already on, and trying to move my attention to things like my mailing list and my blog.

At this point, all I post to FA/Weasyl is reprints; I don’t get enough feedback anymore to make it worth posting original work that I could sell elsewhere first, and I admit I’ve gotten a little disillusioned that most of the audience I worked hard for years to build was (or is) apparently just there for the free stuff. (Well, that in itself wasn’t really a surprise, given that I follow tons of artists I’d never commission or buy prints from, but the percentage still disheartened me a bit.) I think a lot of my followers from the Thursday Prompt days have moved on, and since I don’t read and comment there nearly as much as I used to, I also don’t get nearly the faves and comments there on my own work that I used to get. Everything runs its course, I guess (and I guess that also goes back to what Ocean was saying in the other thread about not expecting followers to translate to sales)…

Ideally, I’d advise just cross-posting to several sites, but that’s far more difficult for writers than artists. As far as I know, there’s no single file format a writer can easily post to FA, Weasyl, and SF without having to alter the formatting in some way.

[Kyle]

I started with FA. There, it’s taken me over a year to get 10 followers, and none comment on my stories. The most views I get are from my short stories with adult content, or when I do a piece for a contest.
One of my artist friends suggested (this May) I start a SF account, as it’s more writer friendly. I did. In a month, I had more followers, page views, and comments than on FA.
Now, I have 27 followers, over 4000 page views, and have even had a follower buy my book because he liked my stories so much.(big thrill for me.) I get regular faves, votes and some notes.

I also have accounts with both Weasyl and Inkbunny. I have not had anyone follow me on Weasyl, and Inkbunny doesn’t allow adult related content involving humans at all. I have not posted anything to Deviant though I have an old account with them that I only use to view art.

As of the 17th, I also started posting to WritersCafe.org, mostly so my family can read the stories without the furry environment. I got my first review a story a day after I posted it. That site isn’t quite as user friendly as SF or FA, but it is only for stories.

Good luck with whichever you choose!