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How to do just about anything on Textnovel.com!
How do I:
Use my cellphone to write a story?
Add to my story by MMS text message?
Use my cellphone to read a story?
Get my story to the top of the home page?
Create an account?
Create a new story?
Change whether my story is in progress or completed?
Invite co-authors to help me write a story?
Get futures updates of a story that’s in progress?
Unsubscribe from futures updates of a story?
Vote for a story?
Comment on or review a story?
Create my profile?
Edit my profile?
Upload photos to my profile?
Insert images into my story?
Delete a story?
Delete a chapter?
Make a story private?
Make my profile private?
Change my subscription preferences?
Invite friends to vote for or comment on my story?
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How do I use my cellphone to write a story?
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Easy! If your phone can send an MMS (multimedia) text message, you can do it.
• First create an account. This must be done online or with your cellphone browser at www.textnovel.com
• Go to My Library
• Select Create a New Story
• Give the Story a name, select a genre, a rating and give it a Short Description (like what you'd see on the dustcover of a book)
• Go to My Library and look for the Story Code next to your story name
Now you're almost ready!
• Set up a new contact in your phone called Textnovel. Give it the email address add@textnovel.com
• Send an MMS text message or email to Textnovel
• The subject line must have the following format: Story Code:chapter number
If the story code is 12 and the chapter number is 2, then the subject line should read 12:2. If you want to add a new chapter, then make sure to use the next number in order (so if you already have 10 chapters, to add a new chapter you would use 11 as the chapter number in the subject line).
Hints:
• If you don't include a chapter number, your text will be added to the last chapter
• If you want to add a new chapter and give it a name, add another colon and the chapter name at the end of your subject line. So if the story code is 12 and the chapter number is 2 and you want the title of the chapter to be “Holy Cow,” your subject line should read 12:2:Holy Cow
Here's a link [insert link] to a video on You Tube showing how to add to your story with your phone. |
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| Can you explain better how I add to my story by text message? |
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You have to send an MMS message. This is a multimedia message, the same you would use to send a photo. Some carriers require a data plan to send this kind of message. Make sure to check if there are charges for sending data – there might be! Once you know you can send an MMS message, follow the instructions above |
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How do I use my cellphone to read a story? |
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Textnovel is accessible through the browser of most cellphones. Just open your browser and go to textnovel.com to read through stories. Normal connection and data charges from your carrier apply.
If you are subscribed to get story updates by text or email, then just follow the link in the text or email from your cellphone to the story update. |
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| How do I get my story to the top of the home page? |
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It's pretty easy – just get more people to vote for or subscribe to your story! The home page puts the story with the most total votes plus subscribers at the top. And yes you can vote for your own story. |
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| How do I create an account? |
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Select Sign Up then follow the instructions! You aren't required to enter a cell phone number but if you don't, you won't be add new text from your phone or receive updates by text message. You are required to enter an email address and select a pen name (which can be your real name if you want). |
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| How do I create a story? |
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• Go to My Library
• Select Create a New Story.
It’s self-explanatory from there. Make sure that your Short Description is catchy – this is what readers see next to the title of your story and the only clue they have, besides the title, to draw them in. Write it the same way as you would the story description on the back of your first published novel!
Note that the most popular cellphone novels are published as serial fiction – meaning that the authors send in updates by text or email daily or weekly. This allows subscribing readers to get updates and feel like they are watching an exciting story unfold. You may want to do this with your story instead of putting it all up at once.
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How do I change whether my story is in progress or completed? |
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• Go to My Library
• Select the Story
• On the Story Detail page, select Edit this Section
• Select whether the Story is In Progress or Completed.
Readers can then tell whether to subscribe for future updates or just read the whole story online.
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| How do I invite co-authors to help me write a story? |
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• Go to My Library
• Select Designate under the Co-Authors column.
• Type in the desired Co-Author's pen name, spelling it exactly right! If you don't know the correct spelling, just type in the first letter or two of their pen name and hit search and then select them from the list.
• Make sure to tell your friend you have added them as a Co-Author!
When your friend (the Co-Author) logs in, he or she can now see your story on their My Stories list. And they can add to or edit it the same way you can, online or by MMS text or email.
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| How can I get futures updates of a story that's in progress? |
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Select the subscribe icon  next to the story name. If you are not logged in, the website will prompt you to log in first. Then you will receive updates by email or text or both, depending on how you have set your preferences in My Admin. |
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How do I unsubscribe from futures updates of a story? |
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Select the unsubscribe icon  next to the story name. If you are not logged in, the website will prompt you to log in first. |
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| How do I vote for a story? |
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Select the vote icon  next to the story name. If you are not logged in, the website will prompt you to log in first. |
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| How do I comment on or review a story? |
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Select the story, then select the tab that says “Reviews.” It is self-explanatory from there. The author will automatically receive a notification of your review or comment. |
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How do I create my profile? |
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• Go to My Profile
• Fill in any details you want to provide.
• Upload a photo of yourself or your pet or any image you want – and designate it as your “Primary Photo” (that image will appear next to your name). Upload other photos you'd like to share as well!
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| How do I edit my profile? |
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After you have created your profile, make sure you are logged in and go to My Profile and edit it in any way you want. |
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| How do I upload photos to my profile? |
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• Go to My Profile
• Select Manage Images -- you can upload images from your hard drive or elsewhere and designate one as your “Primary Photo.”
The Primary Photo will appear next to your pen name at the top of your profile and others will appear as thumbnails below it or, if you have a lot, will be available under See More Images.
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| How do I insert images into my story? |
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Go to My Library
Go to Manage Images -- there you will see the following instructions:
First you need to upload any images you want to insert into a story. Once the image is uploaded, you can insert it in any chapter in any story. Here's how: put the name of the image into your chapter where you want the image to appear, surrounded on each side by the symbol *.
So if the image you uploaded was img32.jpg, then you would type in *img32.jpg* in the location in your story where you want the image to appear and select Save.
Keep in mind that whenever you insert an image into a website (such as Textnovel), that image has a certain size or dimension (width and height). Textnovel does not resize the image automatically, so you need to make sure that the image has the width and height you want. If it is too large it will distort your story page. You can resize any image before uploading it to textnovel by using a free tool such as Resizr . Instructions for using Resizr can be found under the "How to Resizr" tab on the Resizr homepage .
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| How do I delete a story? |
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Currently you can't delete a story but you can make it private, which means no one can see it. |
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How do I delete a chapter? |
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We don't yet have a chapter delete function but you can simply go in and rename it and remove and replace all the text in the chapter. We're working on this but it's complicated! |
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| How do I make a story private? |
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• Go to My Library
• Under the column titled Public/Private, select Make it Private
Now nobody can see it but you and your Co-Authors! If you want to make the story public again, follow the same steps and select Make it Public. Remember private stories aren't eligible for the Contest!
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| How do I make my profile private? |
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Go to My Profile
Select Make My Profile Private
If you do this, only registered members of Textnovel can see your profile.
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How do I change my subscription preferences? |
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• Go to My Admin
• Select which preferences you prefer and then Save |
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How do I invite friends to vote for or comment on my story? |
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• Go to My Library
• For any story, select Invite
• Customize the message you'd like to send (a sample is given) – don't mess up the link!
• Type in pen names or email addresses or import your contacts and send invites to as many of them as you like.
The best way to get more attention and increase your chances of winning the Contest is to make sure your story ends up at the top! The more votes and subscriptions you have to your story, the higher ranking you'll get!
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