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PoisonousTiger — How to Submit Literature on DA--Updated 08/2021
#da #tutorialsliterature #editing #pdf #tutorial #tutorials #tutorialhow
Published: 2013-05-30 06:07:56 +0000 UTC; Views: 67526; Favourites: 303; Downloads: 0
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If you want to submit literature on DeviantArt, you have two choices:

(1) Submitting it directly on the dA website as text
(2) Submitting as a .pdf (I tried submitting with a Word doc and it didn't work like it should).

After these two tutorials, I've also created a tutorial how to use Sta.sh Storage feature to edit a work. You can find the link for it in the description (or just go to the next tutorial)

*Side Note for any deviant who's been here for years: DA's latest update prevents veteran deviants (long-time usesrs) from submitting text like we used to a few years ago; however, you can edit older deviations' text the old way by clicking on the pencil icon and then clicking on the pencil icon in the new window and then selecting "edit text" and edit in the text box like you're used to (with all the html code at the bottom to guide you through formatting).

Once you finish, click "Preview" to see if the code worked, or "OK" to submit it, then click the "Update" button at the bottom and you're done.

Okay, side-note over--back to the tutorial:

If you choose to submit it directly onto dA, it’s pretty straight-forward and simple.(I know this looks like a lot of steps, but I had to break them down this way to make them easier to read and understand):

  • Hover over the "Submit" link at the top right of your DeviantArt page. This will give you the options of "Deviation", "Status Update," "Journal," "Literature," "Commission," "Poll," or "DAMuro". Select "Literature".
  • This will give you a Drafting Screen. You can now type a title in the space requested and then click where has a + symbol and “ Start by typing your main text here or begin by adding an image or video.”
    • Type your text directly into this box, or you can type up the chapters on Word or some other word processor (like WordPad, Pages, LibreOffice) and copy-and-pasted the text;
      • Note: While it's nice to be able to type right into this text box, I don't recommend it unless you're writing something quick and short.

        I can't tell you how many times either my internet connection failed me or         DeviantArt was unable to save everything I had typed before I could click on Submit...and I'm not alone. I've had several friends complain about what they wrote getting lost before they clicked Submit and got the message that the website failed to submit their deviations . . . after hours of typing T_T.

        So I strongly recommend typing it up somewhere else and copy-and-pasting.

        Fortunately, DeviantArt heard all of us veteran Deviants regarding this issue and programmed in a fail-safe of sorts: If you're worried about your internet connection, you can click the "Submit" button and then go back and edit later. DA will also warn you if you accidentally click away from your deviation before clicking on that "Submit" button (think if it as the "save" button for DeviantArt's draft window).

        If this happens (accidentally clicking away before saving/hitting submit), you have to intentionally hit the "Discard" button to lose your work. Otherwise, you can hit "Cancel" and go back to drafting on DeviantArt. It's a feature that was a long time coming and will save you hours of working online. (thank you, dA!)
  • After you finish typing it up or copy-and-pasting, click on the bright green "Submit" button in the upper-right corner.
  • This will take you to a “waiting room” of sorts, to add the final touches and make sure everything looks right. Note: You cannot edit your text at this point. You must submit first and then click on the Pencil icon to edit it later (irritating I know, but DA has very good reasons for keeping us from editing at this point).
  • There are now 3 things you absolutely must do to submit the literature:
    • (1) Indicate whether the submission "Contains Mature Content". This you'll find directly below a thumbnail of the text you just entered;
    • (2) Click on and read the Submission Policy link and then click on and read the Terms of Service, Premium Content Terms of Service, and Print Submissions Agreement links. Note: you only have to do this once unless dA updates these terms.
    • (3) Then check the two boxes at the bottom that read, “I have read and agree to the Submission Policy and/or contest rules if applicable” and “I have read and agree to the Terms of Service and to the Premium Content Terms of Service, and to the Print Submissions Agreement, if applicable.”
  • You have the option of adding a description, tags, indicate what inspired the deviation, give a location, and a preview pic. You aren't required to enter any of these, but I recommend them all if you want more views, and consequently, more readers. But if you don’t want to do any of that, skip ahead to step 12. Otherwise, keep reading for how to do each of the previous options.
  • You’ll see a thumbnail that shows a preview of your text. Just below this is the space for your title and description. A description will give your readers an idea of what they're about to read and/or gives you the option of adding comments or hyperlinks. I like to do a little summary of the story or a "hook" listing what the fic is about, and if it's a fanfic, what characters are involved (and any pairings).
    • You have the option of tweaking your title here. Just click in the box and change it.
    • To add a description, click where DA has written "Introduce your deviation. Tell the backstory, add some intriguing accompanying text, or simply give deviants extra information you'd like them to know." DA’s text will disappear and your text will start.
  • Tags are used by dA to recommend your fic to readers when they search on dA, so the more specific and plentiful, the better.
  • A preview pic will intrigue your readers to click on your work, but keep a few things in mind;
    • (1) If you use someone else's art, do your utmost to contact that person and get permission...sometimes this isn't always possible if you just grab art from Google Images or similar, but still do your best to get permission! No one likes their art being used without permission. It's the same as art theft to them (it feels the same as art theft even if you post a link back to their art; just get permission. It'll build a great relationship with that artist and all of that artist's friends).
    • (2) Use your own art/photos if you can or commission someone else to do it for you. You'll have more pride in the work and you'll also not have to go through the hassle of getting permission.
    • (3) Pick artwork that has some connection or association with the content of your writing. Nothing is more irritating or confusing to click on an image of a character and have that character never mentioned once, or for example, to click on a rose and the poem is about slugs. Remember, preview pics are like visual descriptions, so mismatched picture will function the same as if you put gibberish in the description space.
    • (4) Finally, I've found that literature that has full-color, well-drawn preview pics seem to get more clicks than poorly drawn/black & white pics or no preview pic at all.
  • To add the preview pic, click on the pencil icon to the right of your literature image and select "Change preview image". Browse your computer for the image and open it up. You will see a green progress bar to let you know how much time you have to wait.
  • If you’re planning on submitting a lot of the same type of literature submission and you don’t want to have to fill out the optional section over and over, click on the box “Remember these settings”
  • Regardless of whether or not you add a description, tags, and a preview pic, you submit your writing by clicking on the lime-green "Submit Now" button at the top right of the screen or at the bottom of the screen.
    • If you want to “Schedule” your submission time, you’ll need to be come a CORE member to do so, which requires a fee…unless you’re going to be on DA a lot or you plan on using it for commissions or your career, it's probably not something you want to do
    • You also have the option of saving your work and going back to edit later, but only select this option if you're not ready to submit the piece yet. You take this option by clicking any of the links at the top or starting another submission. dA will automatically save your work and put it in Sta.sh.
      Note: saving to Sta.sh will only work if you've hit the first "Submit" in Step #3. Otherwise, dA will ask you if you're sure you want to discard your work, and trust me, you don't want to do that. Once your deviation is automatically saved in Sta.sh (think of it as dA's cloud), you can only retrieve and/or edit, and submit your saved work through Sta.sh Storage.
    • That's it. You're done!

    Submitting a .pdf is similar. I chose this one specifically b/c it keeps all my original formatting whereas copy-and-pasting does not (interesting fact: copy-and-pasting some basic formatting like hard returns/enter spaces but keeps fancy formatting like bold, underling and italics; weird, I know but there it is).

    The main downside to selecting this option is that some mobile devices will not be able to view your work (you'll have to provide them with a hyperlink to FFN or a duplicate that was submitted via the "Literature" option), or they’ll have to click on another screen to preview the file or you’ll have to tell them to go a desktop/laptop to read it, and with the number of mobile phone users out there, you may want to consider the first option over this one:

  • After you finish typing up your document in your word processor, save/export it as a .pdf file; most word processors will allow you to do this (Word does this when you save it; LibreOffice has a pdf button).
  • Hover over the "Submit" link at the top right of your DeviantArt page to get that options of "Deviation", "Status Update," "Journal," "Literature," "Commission," "Poll," or "DAMuro". Select " Deviation ".
  • This will pull up a completely different screen than before. It’ll give you the option to drag and drop the pdf onto the screen where it says "drag and drop your art here” or “Choose a File to Upload” or “Select File from St.ash”; unless you’ve already uploaded a file to St.ash (see below how to do that), you can’t use that final option.
    • In order to drag and drop, you’ll need to “restore down” or tile your windows (it looks like two windows next to each other in a stack) and then drag the icon for your pdf over to the space indicated. Once you drop it, you’ll see a green progress bar start; wait for it to finish before you do anything else. Because restoring down your windows can be a hassle, I prefer to select the Choose a File to Upload” option
    • If you select “Choose a File to Upload”, it will access your computer files, find your file, and open it. When you upload the pdf, a green progress bar will appear; wait for it to finish before you do anything else.
  • Once it’s finished saving, it’ll turn into an “image” that says “PDF No Preview”
  • You’ll then see red text that says “Preview required,” this appears because regardless of whether you chose to "drag and drop your art here” or “Choose a File to Upload,” you're required to have a preview pic (it's not optional), and that pic is only displayed before your readers click on the deviation (after that, it disappears and leaves the reader to look at the pdf). For some, along with the inaccessibility/difficulty for mobile phone readers, this quirk may be a major downside to the pdf method
  • To add the preview pic, click on the pencil icon to the right of your PDF thumbnail and select "Change preview image". Browse your computer for the image and open it up. You will see a green progress bar to let you know how much time you have to wait. Then it will show your preview image in place of the PDF thumbnail
  • After that follow steps steps 6-8 and 12 above in the "Literature" instructions, and you're done.


    • Are you using a mobile browser (phone) or DeviantArt's phone app? Well, this tutorial cannot help you. Go to the description for the link to both of my phone submission tutorials--on the DA app and on your phone's browser (I'm not adding it here; this tutorial is already too long as it is).

    Also, please note: I've been able to include html or hyperlinks in my test literature but doing so sometimes causes issues, like not saving the literature or dA's bot converting it to a Journal instead of a Literature deviation. Your most effective and easiest way to include links for your readers to click on is to put them in the description of the work.

    This tutorial should make it easy to submit literature if you follow it precisely. You shouldn't have issues or end up having your work go to Sta.sh Storage. The only way for that to happen is if you didn't click on the "Submit Now" button at the end of the process (the second submit request). If that happens, dA automatically (and thankfully) saves your deviation to Sta.sh Storage, just in case you didn't mean to leave before clicking Submit Now.

    Again, if you unintentionally exited before finishing the submission but after clicking Submit (the first submit request), and you want to retrieve and/or edit, and submit your saved work, you must now use the Sta.sh Storage. You find this by hovering over your profile icon and clicking on Sta.sh Storage.

    Below in the description is a link to a tutorial on how to use Sta.sh and how to submit via your mobile phone (I used an Android phone--Samsung Note 9--but I assume it will work similarly with an iPhone or other mobile device).

    Hope this helps ^_^

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    Comments: 439

    World-Weaver8 In reply to ??? [2019-09-13 16:10:16 +0000 UTC]

    *yoink*

    👍: 0 ⏩: 0

    LarioLario54321 In reply to ??? [2019-09-08 18:55:05 +0000 UTC]

    How do I Make it a LITERATURE, And NOT A Journal?!

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1

    PoisonousTiger In reply to LarioLario54321 [2020-06-03 10:12:34 +0000 UTC]

    👍: 0 ⏩: 0

    intothisshadow In reply to ??? [2019-08-28 13:55:11 +0000 UTC]

    Thank you very much for writing this up! It was very helpful to me today

    👍: 0 ⏩: 0

    Kululu17 In reply to ??? [2019-08-22 19:44:15 +0000 UTC]

    Hello! You seem to have a handle on how this works. My preview image for literature shows correctly in the "preview" prior to submitting, but not on my DA page. If you click the deviation from my page, then the preview image shows at the top (above the text). Any ideas what I'm doing wrong? Thanks in advance!


     

    👍: 0 ⏩: 0

    Jay-Fizz In reply to ??? [2019-07-16 03:35:53 +0000 UTC]

    Thank you, kind ma'am, you're a lifesaver!

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1

    PoisonousTiger In reply to Jay-Fizz [2019-08-11 07:52:37 +0000 UTC]

    LOL You're most welcome. I hope this helped you do what you wanted to do here on dA

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1

    Jay-Fizz In reply to PoisonousTiger [2019-08-12 06:56:38 +0000 UTC]

    It certainly has!

    👍: 0 ⏩: 0

    EoinWilliamspollen In reply to ??? [2019-07-15 14:25:34 +0000 UTC]

    Thanks this could help me very much.

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1

    PoisonousTiger In reply to EoinWilliamspollen [2019-08-11 07:52:47 +0000 UTC]

    I'm glad to help.

    👍: 0 ⏩: 0

    Germanyeet In reply to ??? [2019-07-02 02:04:15 +0000 UTC]

    Thanks m8 

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1

    PoisonousTiger In reply to Germanyeet [2019-08-11 07:53:00 +0000 UTC]

    No problem, bro!

    👍: 0 ⏩: 0

    Azulstarry In reply to ??? [2019-06-04 16:21:54 +0000 UTC]

    Very useful. Thanks for this!

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1

    PoisonousTiger In reply to Azulstarry [2019-08-11 07:53:22 +0000 UTC]

    Glad it was useful. You are welcome.

    👍: 0 ⏩: 0

    CyborgRowlet In reply to ??? [2019-05-07 21:35:35 +0000 UTC]

    How to sumbit journal as "prose"?

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1

    PoisonousTiger In reply to CyborgRowlet [2019-08-11 07:54:00 +0000 UTC]

    Um...I don't think you can. I think you must either choose "literature" or a journal. You cannot have both.

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1

    CyborgRowlet In reply to PoisonousTiger [2019-08-11 07:58:20 +0000 UTC]

    Then how do yu save as literature?

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1

    PoisonousTiger In reply to CyborgRowlet [2019-08-11 08:14:13 +0000 UTC]

    You may have to start from scratch if you've already saved it as Journal. Make sure you click on Submit Art or Sta.sh. Don't let dA select your default (which may be a journal which looks like you've done a lot--yes, I checked out your page). They have the bot select your default submission to save you time.


    Once you've got the "Submit Art" window open, open a new tab/window, copy your text, & paste it in the new art, then follow the steps I listed. I know it's TLDR stuff but it'll help you in the end.

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1

    CyborgRowlet In reply to PoisonousTiger [2019-08-11 08:16:30 +0000 UTC]

    Alright thanks!

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1

    PoisonousTiger In reply to CyborgRowlet [2019-08-11 08:20:18 +0000 UTC]

    No prob: Let me know how it goes. 

    👍: 0 ⏩: 0

    Chameleongirl2014 In reply to ??? [2019-05-03 02:09:20 +0000 UTC]

    Thanks! 

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1

    PoisonousTiger In reply to Chameleongirl2014 [2019-08-11 07:53:27 +0000 UTC]

    NP

    👍: 0 ⏩: 0

    CosmicCyclone In reply to ??? [2019-04-28 18:06:05 +0000 UTC]

    I'm having this problem (using method one) where the thumbnail won't auto-generate, so it won't upload. When I provide one, I'm able to upload it, but readers will have to download the text to be able to read it instead of just being able to just click and read, and it's bothering me. Can you help me?

    👍: 0 ⏩: 3

    PoisonousTiger In reply to CosmicCyclone [2019-08-11 08:17:40 +0000 UTC]

    One other thought before I go to sleep: is the pic you chose a jpg? Those are best for the thumbnail.

    👍: 0 ⏩: 0

    PoisonousTiger In reply to CosmicCyclone [2019-08-11 07:57:10 +0000 UTC]

    I don't know if I can. It sounds like it's acting like method #2: with a pdf sometimes it must be downloaded to be read. I think I remember querying this problem before and I believe it all depends on the browser and the extensions or something like that supporting. Try a different browser and see if you get the same results. Let me know if it changes. (it's odd to me that the direct method would be acting like a pdf method...I'll have to investigate this further).

    👍: 0 ⏩: 0

    CosmicCyclone In reply to CosmicCyclone [2019-04-29 01:51:12 +0000 UTC]

    turns out my paragraphs upon paragraphs of text is too big for dA to handle, so i had to shorten it to publish it
    sorry for bothering

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1

    PoisonousTiger In reply to CosmicCyclone [2019-08-11 08:22:07 +0000 UTC]

    It's not a problem. I'm here to help. It's good to know this: I'll feature your comment so that I can find it again in case someone else has the same issue as you. Thanks for updating me on the problem. (^_^)b

    👍: 0 ⏩: 0

    RedTrain1 In reply to ??? [2019-04-22 15:51:55 +0000 UTC]

    I like to upload a story that I made out of dream I have when I was sleep but there thing you said I do not know if that as my story/dream and as will be my 1 time do anything like as

    I do not know if story/dream as Contains Mature Content or not how do I find out?

    👍: 0 ⏩: 2

    PoisonousTiger In reply to RedTrain1 [2019-08-11 08:09:18 +0000 UTC]

    dA has discussed this in their Etiquette Policy : "deviations which contain images, subject matter, or other themes which some viewers may find offensive, distasteful, or otherwise undesirable to view or to read. The most common 'undesired' viewing material may include, but is not limited to, images containing artistic nudity (see details below), large amounts of simulated blood and gore, or generally violent themes. DeviantART strictly prohibits the submission of materials classified as pornographic or obscene. There is no exception to this prohibition."


    TLDR: if it's something that would get a PG-13/R rating (M for TV shows), then you should tag it as "Mature". If it's ideologically offensive, you should also tag it with the mature tag:


    An example would be my friend's Civil War Hetalia fanfic, Call Me Connie--Ch. 2--APH USXfem!US Civil War fic , which is told from the Confederacy's POV. Some readers might find it offensive how the Southerners view slavery or that the main protag is a sympathetic character. So she tagged it just to be on the safe side and then explained her reason for tagging it in the details.

    👍: 0 ⏩: 0

    CosmicCyclone In reply to RedTrain1 [2019-04-29 00:13:16 +0000 UTC]

    www.deviantartsupport.com/en/a…

    The current mature content choices and the explanations of when to apply them are listed below;

    • Nudity: Fairly self explanatory. While not all nudity requires a tag, if your work displays a penis, testicle, vagina, (female) nipples or anus you should assign this tag.
    • Sexual Themes: Use of clear sexual terms or references, including sexual based humor. This category may also cover images involving models in explicitly sexual poses or erotic scenes.
    • Violence/Gore: This refers to overtly bloody or violent imagery, generally associated with the horror and macabre genres, but could also pertain to photojournalism or written work. This should mainly be applied toward graphic depictions of violence or gore etc, that are portrayed in a "realistic" manner as opposed to the zany or exaggerated cartoon violence.
    • Strong Language: Profanity, vulgarity, and otherwise coarse or offensive language. This particular mature content tag is always considered to be optional as strong language is not otherwise regulated anywhere else within the DeviantArt community
    • Ideologically Sensitive: If your work may be construed as offensive toward a person or group of people due to a religious, political, social, or other belief, please assign this tag to it. While DeviantArt does not allow the submission of hate propaganda or hate art, we do recognize that often works motivated for political, religious, or other personal beliefs can be seen as offensive by those holding opposing beliefs.

    If your story feels like it may contain it or you just feel cautious, you can mark it as it does, and that it's moderate, along with check-marking which ones feel like it contains

    👍: 0 ⏩: 0

    OutgoingSummer In reply to ??? [2019-04-16 14:45:11 +0000 UTC]

    You have no idea how long I've been trying to figure out and lol thank you much! ^.^

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1

    PoisonousTiger In reply to OutgoingSummer [2019-08-11 08:10:04 +0000 UTC]

    LOL they are tricky. the one that took me the longest to figure out was inserting URLs as clickable links. Oh boy that was a doozy.

    👍: 0 ⏩: 0

    sayakoichimura In reply to ??? [2019-04-09 00:03:26 +0000 UTC]

    Awesome stuff. Thanks a lot 

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1

    PoisonousTiger In reply to sayakoichimura [2019-04-14 03:45:47 +0000 UTC]

    You're welcome ^_^

    👍: 0 ⏩: 0

    GlorysiaMelodyYT In reply to ??? [2019-03-28 12:49:07 +0000 UTC]

    Um, hello. I need your help, I tried submitting a story that I wrote a few years back after I revised it today but instead of it submitting as a story its submitting as a journal entry, and I don't want it like that and I've tried many times getting it to submit as a story but its not letting me for some reason, can you help me?

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1

    PoisonousTiger In reply to GlorysiaMelodyYT [2019-03-30 19:10:37 +0000 UTC]

    Are there any hyperlinks in it? That's usually what makes the system think that it's a journal entry and not literature.

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1

    GlorysiaMelodyYT In reply to PoisonousTiger [2019-03-30 22:31:46 +0000 UTC]

    I don't have any hyperlinks.

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1

    PoisonousTiger In reply to GlorysiaMelodyYT [2019-04-07 03:54:24 +0000 UTC]

    Hmm. Could you note me the text? If not, you can send it to the email address I'm going to give you through a note. That way I can see what's causing the problem

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1

    GlorysiaMelodyYT In reply to PoisonousTiger [2019-04-07 05:41:40 +0000 UTC]

    Oh okay.

    👍: 0 ⏩: 0

    macktoshwrites In reply to ??? [2019-03-24 05:52:30 +0000 UTC]

    Thank you very much! This site is not the most intuitive. 

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1

    PoisonousTiger In reply to macktoshwrites [2019-03-27 02:01:00 +0000 UTC]

    You're welcome. I noticed that too, which is why I created the tutorial.

    👍: 0 ⏩: 0

    bottlegirl-firemagic In reply to ??? [2019-02-23 02:41:50 +0000 UTC]

    Honalulu's Sh*t, Thanks. You don't know how long I've been waiting on a tutorial for this.

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1

    PoisonousTiger In reply to bottlegirl-firemagic [2019-03-11 03:10:26 +0000 UTC]

    Um...you're welcome? I'm glad I could help you out.

    👍: 0 ⏩: 0

    PugetTheHarborSeal In reply to ??? [2019-01-27 22:04:11 +0000 UTC]

    i tried submitting a story i wrote a few years back after i revised it today but instead of it submitting as a story its submitting as a journal entry and i don't want it like that and i've tried getting it to submit as a story but its not letting me for some reason 

    👍: 0 ⏩: 2

    PoisonousTiger In reply to PugetTheHarborSeal [2019-03-11 03:11:20 +0000 UTC]

    Are there any hyperlinks in the story? That usually makes the system think that it's a journal entry not a story. Basically, what we've learned is there can't be any links in it: put those in the description.

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1

    PugetTheHarborSeal In reply to PoisonousTiger [2019-03-11 22:21:13 +0000 UTC]

    i got it fixed, and thanks for the info

    👍: 0 ⏩: 0

    EyonSplicer In reply to PugetTheHarborSeal [2019-02-03 13:10:52 +0000 UTC]

    same here

    👍: 0 ⏩: 2

    PoisonousTiger In reply to EyonSplicer [2019-03-11 03:17:49 +0000 UTC]

    Are there any hyperlinks in the story? That usually makes the system think that it's a journal entry not a story. Basically, what we've learned is there can't be any links in it: put those in the description.

    👍: 0 ⏩: 0

    PugetTheHarborSeal In reply to EyonSplicer [2019-02-03 15:58:34 +0000 UTC]

    i got the story published if you'd like to read it, its here: She's Like A Mother To Me, Latios TF, Revised

    👍: 0 ⏩: 0

    momo-malt-gern In reply to ??? [2019-01-12 18:10:23 +0000 UTC]

    Thank you so so so much!!! You really helped me!

    👍: 0 ⏩: 1


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