Fan Fiction: Saving & Storage

[slyprentice]

Useful Resources For:
...saving and storing your fan fiction online...
Saving Your Fan Fiction:

• Delicious - (Online) - Bookmarking, Organizing, and Sharing - one of the most popular social bookmarking sites, it allows you to bookmark, add a brief summary, tag every link with topics of your choice, and share with others. It also allows you to download a plug-in for your browser so you can save and search without having to go to the delicious homepage every time. Highly Recommended. 
• Read It Later - (App) - Multi-Use For iPod/iPhone/iPad/Firefox, etc. - an app. that is somewhat similar to the delicious bookmarking site with the exception that it archives a copy for later and allows you to read it off-line. Apparently has paid features that you can use as well.
• Google Bookmarks - (Online) - Bookmarking, Sharing - a newer bookmarking site that works with your google account; allows you to bookmark, make lists, and share with friends.
• Blinklist - (Online) - Bookmarking, Organizing, and Sharing - another site that allows you to bookmark and share your links; doesn't seem as popular as it once was with the fan fiction crowd but still a decent alternative.
• Diigo - (Online) - Bookmarking, Organizing - once known as Furl, this bookmarking site is similar to delicious but goes a step further by allowing you to highlight, make notes, take screen shots and more. I haven't personally used this but I do believe there is a size limit for storage space.
• easyBM - (Online) - Bookmarking, Organizing - unlike the previous bookmarking sites, easyBM is not about social bookmarkings, it's about keeping your bookmarks private. Easy, fast, and free to use, this site allows you to hide your links behind a password protected page that only you (or someone you allow access to) can see.

There are other site options for saving your fics but the above sites are the only ones I've found that allow you complete control over your bookmarks. Furthermore, I'm not a fan of sites that allow anyone to add a link (read: digg) or sites the promote user voting on said links so you won't find them on this list.

Recommendation: I highly recommend delicious for bookmarking; it's easy to use, search, and has a large collection of fan fiction readers that you can friend and share links with.

Storing Your Fan Fiction:

• 4shared - (Online) - Storage, Limited Organization - 10GB Free; Paid Accounts Available - a popular online storage and file sharing site that allows you to upload anything from music to fan fiction files. Works just like a desktop with the ability to create folders and sub-folders, make folders public or private, and has the ability to work with your google log-in (though it's not necessary to have a google account). Maximum files size for free account is 200MBs a file. Files don't expire unless you delete them or your account is closed.
• Mediafire - (Online) - Storage, Limited Organization - Seemingly "Unlimited" Space; Paid Accounts Available - another popular online storage and file sharing site that allows you to upload your files and organize them with folders. Maximum file size 200MBs for free accounts. This site is good for temporary use but it's notorious for deleting accounts and files for no particular reason.
• Megaupload - (Online) - Storage, Limited Organization - storage space for free accounts isn't specified; Premium Accounts Available - mostly used for file sharing, this site can easily be used for storage for your fan fiction. Premium accounts are highly recommended.
• Box.net - (Online) - Storage, Limited Organization - 1GB Free; Paid Accounts Available - a simple site for file storage that allows you to organize with folders, share with friends, and collaborate with other users. Maximum file size is 25MBs for free accounts.
• Dropbox - (Online/Program) - File Back-Up - 2GB Free; Paid Accounts Available - different from the sties above, Dropbox is an online file back-up, syncing, and sharing site that can work great for fan fiction files that you want to save online but still keep on your computer. Excellent for those who work on multiple computers.
• divshare - (Online) - Storage, Limited Organization - 5GBs Free; Paid Accounts Available - another site that can be used for file storage or sharing; it allows you to organize your files with folders and sub-folders as well as allows you to embed documents onto other sites.
• GSpace / GSpace - (Firefox Add-On/Program) - Storage, File Back-Up - Up to 7GBs - this is an extremely useful Firefox add-on that allows you to use the empty space in your GMail account (7GBs) as file storage. It acts as an online drive so you can upload files from your hard drive and access them anywhere there is internet to login to your account. 
• Amazon Cloud Drive - (Online) - Amazon Account Required - Storage - 5GBs Free - This is a brand new addition to Amazon Services (unveiled 3/29/2011) that allows users 5GBs Free storage for their files. It's easily upgradeable for a fee (US Users: Buy any MP3 album under $1USD and it will upgrade to 20GBs) and has a basic upload system for your files. Can handle files up to 2GBs.  

My suggestion to those of you looking to store you fan fictions online would be to try each of the above options and see which works for you. I use multiple sites for my online storage needs including an account on each of the above - obviously, not all of it is for fan fiction, but I'm familiar with each and can give the pros and cons of all of them.

Recommendation: Those looking for simple storage with no fees should check out 4shared. It's one of the best I've found and doesn't delete files without notice.

Other Useful Links:

• Winrar - (Program) - Archive Manager - an easy to use and popular archive manager, this program will allow you to compress and 'zip' your fan fiction folders into smaller and more manageable collections. Compression folder is .rar but this program can also handle .zip and more. Don't allow the 'trail version'  to fool you: the program works well beyond its trial period and you only have to buy it if you're so inclined. 
• 7-Zip - (Program) - Archive Manager - another archive manager that works for Windows OS, 7-Zip will compress and zip your fan fiction folders. This program works with a multitude of extensions including plain .zip and .rar files. Freeware.
• 7zX - (Program) - Archive Manager - an archive manager for Mac OS; compresses folders into smaller and more manageable sizes.  

If anyone has any other options for saving or storing your fan fiction, please don't hesitate to comment with recommendations or opinions.