Story Builder documentation

Publishing

Publishing puts your book in the Story Builder library, where anyone can read it. It is how you publish a web novel online: release chapters one at a time, on your own schedule, and take the book back whenever you choose.

What publishing does #

A published book appears in the library, where anybody can read it, signed in or not. Only chapters are published. Character sheets, notes and the rest of your workings stay private. Publishing is per book, and it is reversible.

What readers see about the book — the title, description, genres, rating, languages, credited creators and the poster — is edited on the book's own page. The Publication screen is where you decide when it goes out: the switch that publishes the book, the chapters you release, and how the book is doing once it is out there.

How do I publish a web novel online? #

  1. Fill in the book's public details on the book's page. A book needs a name, a genre and an age category before it can be published; the publication screen tells you which are missing.
  2. Open Publication in the project's sidebar and flip the switch from Draft to Published. Confirm, and the book appears in the library.
  3. Release the chapters you want readers to have, as described below.

Releasing chapters one at a time #

Once a book is published, you release its chapters individually. The publication screen lists them under Published Chapters, Next to Publish and Unpublished Chapters. Select Publish beside a chapter, or Publish All to release everything waiting.

Readers see the chapters you have released and the book's cover, and nothing else: an unpublished chapter stays invisible to them even though the book is public, and the project's other images stay private.

Can I schedule a chapter to publish later? #

Yes. When you publish a chapter, turn off Publish right now and pick a date and time. Until then the chapter shows Publishing scheduled for with the time it goes out.

Updating a chapter after it is published #

Readers read the version you published. When you edit a published chapter, select Update published chapter content beside it: you see what changed, and confirming sends the new version to readers. Changes to the book's own details go out the same way, with Update published content.

Age ratings #

Every published book carries a rating. Mature-rated books are shown only to signed-in readers who have confirmed their age, and they are kept out of search engines.

Rate honestly. Misrating adult content to reach a wider audience breaks the terms, and readers can report it.

What readers get #

A reader can Subscribe to a book and be notified when a chapter arrives, by email right away, daily or weekly, as they choose. They can rate the book and comment on it, and their place is remembered, so Continue reading works across devices.

What you get back #

The Analytics tab on the publication screen shows reads, reading time, subscribers, ratings and shares, and reads for each chapter, so you can see how far people got and where they stopped. It is aggregate: you can see that forty people stopped in chapter three, never which forty.

Will my book show up on Google? #

Yes. Published books are indexed by search engines. Each has its own address, a description and a cover image for link previews, and search engines are told the book's title and author. Chapters are linked from the book, so search engines can reach all of them.

Mature books, library search results and readers' shelves are not indexed.

Unpublishing #

Flip the switch on the publication screen back to Draft and confirm. The book leaves the library, its pages and its cover stop opening, and you can publish it again later. A cover address someone already copied keeps working. To take back a single chapter, select Unpublish beside it.

Search engines take a while to notice. Keep that in mind if you are unpublishing because something is wrong.

Tips #

  • Schedule the next few chapters ahead of time, so readers get new chapters on a steady rhythm.
  • Check reads for each chapter in Analytics to find where readers drop off.
  • Have the poster and description ready before you publish; they appear in link previews when someone shares your book.
  • Publish each volume of a series as its own book, with its own title and rating.
  • After a round of edits, update the published content so readers get the corrected text.