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Attracting reviewers?

Sgt Shock

Goldsmith
    • 385
    Posts
    15
    Years
    I've been having problem attracting people to actually read my fan fictions. Every site that I have an story actually posted, I cannot seemed to attract reviewers. So what can you suggest? T_T I'm at my wits end (almost). Here is a excerpt from Black Night Clouds. I figure one of my problems is lengthy chapters but I've been kind of reluctant in making thirty or more chapter fan fictions when I can make it in twelve. I just don't know. :(

    "Guilt had seemed to have seeped into his skin finally. His icy expression that was frozen on his face for so long had melted into a pool of sweat that dripped from his face. It was something painful, if he had a knife, he would have taken it to his throat. It was like a planned camisado; like guerrilla troops had finally shot him in the side on his temple with a corkscrewing bullet labeled "sin"."



     
    I know what it is. I tend to have the same problem. And I haven't been able to figure it out. Its like not even the good usage of words is enough to attract people to read and review.

    But that's what I'd recommend. A well structured fanfiction - from evenly separated paragraphs to good usage of words - is good, but I guess people need to see more than the routinal stories, and also, dunno, laugh a bit with it or be marked by it.

    This is my guess, anyways. I'm a disaster explaining things. T_T
     
    D. Lawride said:
    I know what it is. I tend to have the same problem. And I haven't been able to figure it out. Its like not even the good usage of words is enough to attract people to read and review.

    But that's what I'd recommend. A well structured fanfiction - from evenly separated paragraphs to good usage of words - is good, but I guess people need to see more than the routinal stories, and also, dunno, laugh a bit with it or be marked by it.

    This is my guess, anyways. I'm a disaster explaining things. T_T
    Click to expand...

    Actually, it was explained quite well. :p
    I guess it some kind of magic that I cannot possess at the moment. I never really viewed structure as a problem with me. But I have to see how I can change things. O_o

    Thanks for the response.
    Anyone else can respond if they like.
     
    Metal Coat went through sixteen chapters and a prologue before anyone bothered to comment on it, so it could be worse.

    For starters, you could link to the story in your signature. Don't expect people to just walk up to the fics; you've gotta advertise, baby! Oh yes, and also don't forget to review other people's stories. Reviewing tends to go by a 'you scratch my back, I'll scratch yours' policy here - I learned this much too late, after Metal Coat ended. xD Anyway, yeah. Big, shiny words and story composition means nothing if nobody knows that you're writing a story, and it isn't often that people will just happen to stumble across it. I've never tested this method for obvious reasons, but I've heard from some other people that it works fairly well. (It also helps to keep writing more stories, as some people may be suspicious of first-time writers. Maybe consider writing a few one-shots along with your main story to introduce your style a bit more?)
     
    Well, maybe part of it is the subject manner. Trust me, in FFnet and Serebii mostly, shipping fics get the most reviews, even if they're not top quality. D:

    Yeah, like Giratina said, start advertising! Not post spam mentioning your fic but do it in your signature! Maybe have a fic banner by requesting to someone. Here at PC there are quite a lot of great graphic designers here. ;) Also yeah, start reviewing some fics so that you can get your name out there. Also, post often at the Fanfic Lounge since that's where most of us are hanging out. XD
     
    This is how it tends to work in a lot of fanfiction communities. Not all of them work this way, but most of them do, especially in this fandom:

    1. You have to actually be a well-known regular in the community to get reviews. That is, participate like none other, review, that sort of thing. It's okay to put a link to your fic in your sig, but if you don't post anywhere, then, yeah, you don't really get anywhere. As a note, sometimes, this doesn't work, too. I've been an established regular in the forums for a couple of years, and for four chapters of my main fic, no one commented.

    In this sense, yeah, you have to review a lot, but you also should be participating a lot more in the FFL or other threads in the Writer's Lounge in general. If people accept you as part of the scenery, they see your stuff more often. And if you don't get attention for awhile, it's no big deal.

    2. On that note, go make friends with people. The more friends you have in a community, the more people you can guilt-trip into reviewing for you. No, seriously. If you talk to a lot of people in private as well as in forums, you can connect with people. If you connect with people, they'll be more likely to want to see your stuff if you casually mention you're a writer.

    3. Update on a fairly regular schedule. A few chapters a month reliably keeps your work on the front page, so more people will be able to see your stuff. Not only that, but also, it shows readers that you're serious about your fic and that they don't have to wait forever for a new chapter.

    4. Wait awhile. Not everyone gets tons of reviews within the first couple of months they start posting in a writing community. Be patient and keep posting in the community, and eventually, you'll get some attention.

    5. If all else fails, write really crappy or really awesome fanfiction. Either extreme tends to attract more people more than the middle-of-the-line stuff or even stuff that's only a little bad or a little good. Yeah, this part is blunt, but people tend to either get attracted to something lots of people already say is good (such as Dragonfree's fics) or something that's guaranteed to cause some lulz due to how bad it is (such as Half-Life: Full Life Consequences). If you want good attention, though, word-of-mouth advertising isn't that bad.


    Of course, it also helps to format your stories in a way that's easily readable, as D said. As it stands, I've glanced at your work, and at times, it is like a wall of text, which is difficult for me because I don't have great eyesight. Remember to hit the enter button twice when starting a new paragraph.

    Good luck and hope that helps a little.
     
    I'll like to thank all of you for taking your time and actually posting. Its really kind of got me thinking and I truly want to thank you.

    To business. I think i really should get myself out there more. I'll start by putting the link of my fan fiction in my sigs and I will surely read a lot of other peoples on the forums as well. I'm not super busy so I can actually post chapters from week to week actually. Thanks a lot to everyone. :)

    Bay said:
    Well, maybe part of it is the subject manner. Trust me, in FFnet and Serebii mostly, shipping fics get the most reviews, even if they're not top quality. D:

    Yeah, like Giratina said, start advertising! Not post spam mentioning your fic but do it in your signature! Maybe have a fic banner by requesting to someone. Here at PC there are quite a lot of great graphic designers here. ;) Also yeah, start reviewing some fics so that you can get your name out there. Also, post often at the Fanfic Lounge since that's where most of us are hanging out. XD
    Click to expand...

    Good point about FFnet. If its an original character, its like the bane of their existence.
     
    Last edited:
    Sgt Shock said:
    I'll like to thank all of you for taking your time and actually posting. Its really kind of got me thinking and I truly want to thank you.

    To business. I think i really should get myself out there more. I'll start by putting the link of my fan fiction in my sigs and I will surely read a lot of other peoples on the forums as well. I'm not super busy so I can actually post chapters from week to week actually. Thanks a lot to everyone. :)



    Good point about FFnet. If its an original character, its like the bane of their existence.
    Click to expand...

    Can I post just a reply I just couldn't help to do(maybe a rant, but not as much)?

    I wish that was about it. Except that it isn't. Being the bane of their existance is saying half of it, especially because MOST of the stories out there in FF.net are made in the scheme "I make the story, and you all give me the characters". What does this cause? Reviews, which is the way they all get their character's profiles posted. And sometimes it doesn't even seem like that site isn't a "community", but you actually have to be known there to get some people to review, or at least hang out in their forums and communities.

    *Guilty for also using Original Characters fused with other elements. <.<

    Its a serious business, publishing stories in the Pokémon branche, though. At least there, I think. I put up a story and two hours later I was on the bottom of the page. <.<
     
    D. Lawride said:
    Can I post just a reply I just couldn't help to do(maybe a rant, but not as much)?

    I wish that was about it. Except that it isn't. Being the bane of their existance is saying half of it, especially because MOST of the stories out there in FF.net are made in the scheme "I make the story, and you all give me the characters". What does this cause? Reviews, which is the way they all get their character's profiles posted. And sometimes it doesn't even seem like that site isn't a "community", but you actually have to be known there to get some people to review, or at least hang out in their forums and communities.

    *Guilty for also using Original Characters fused with other elements. <.<

    Its a serious business, publishing stories in the Pokémon branche, though. At least there, I think. I put up a story and two hours later I was on the bottom of the page. <.<
    Click to expand...

    Preach it! I think the concept you give me a character and I'll create a story nonsense is completely ridiculous. That is not even fair to the people how goes as makes their own characters and storylines. It just not fair.

    Sometimes you have to be known on a forum or even a site for someone can review. I've seen people who have had incredibly bad stories get thousands of post just because of their name alone. It's fine knowing people. But it should be of your skill that people post.

    I think the Pokemon branch is the hardest one of any fan fictions (other than really high ranking anime) to get noticed.
     
    Probably partly because half of the Pokémon stuff on FFNet is expected and presumed to be really bad, and the other half really is bad. As for an attempt at a serious story that just requires a lot of characters submitted by different people, then yes. That's really pretty dumb. But I can't say anything about those fics where people write characters in to things and other people give them 'dares' or whatever - I have actually done one of those on FFNet, and it was an awful lot of fun. xD
     
    I think advertisement in the sig would help alot. Also give me hook to snag me into the story. Like at the beginning of the post and also in the sig. Like put the title of the story and the hook line right under it. Im all for reading stories, I use to write them about Link when I was in school ( had nothing better to do) and before then I was writing short horror stories and handing copies out all over the school.
     
    Valentine pretty much nailed it. I do have a few other minor details to suggest:

    An interesting title. Remember, your fic is on a page full of other fics, and all they have to go by is the rating, the number of posts, the number of views, and the title. And you won't get the first three to an appealing level unless you can get reviewers, which is what your title is for. :P Make it stand out. ^^

    Engage with your reviewers. It's pretty obvious that you repel reviewers if you respond to criticism with "HOW DARE U CRITICISE ME - MY FIC: LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT!" Conversely, you will attract reviewers if you ask them questions, engage them, genuinely consider their advice, et cetera.

    Finally, and most unfortunately, there is luck involved. Sometimes someone just won't feel like reviewing. Sometimes people just won't like the way your plot's going. There are innumerable factors that can get in the way of people commenting.

    I know it's a bit shallow to use such techniques, and in a perfect world, great fics would get great reviews. D: (Although, in a perfect world every fic would be great, so I suppose the point is moot. :P) Good luck with finding reviewers, though. ^^
     
    Citrinin said:
    An interesting title. Remember, your fic is on a page full of other fics, and all they have to go by is the rating, the number of posts, the number of views, and the title. And you won't get the first three to an appealing level unless you can get reviewers, which is what your title is for. :P Make it stand out. ^^

    Engage with your reviewers. It's pretty obvious that you repel reviewers if you respond to criticism with "HOW DARE U CRITICISE ME - MY FIC: LOVE IT OR LEAVE IT!" Conversely, you will attract reviewers if you ask them questions, engage them, genuinely consider their advice, et cetera.
    Click to expand...

    As a side note, the hilarious thing about writing communities is the law of opposites. That is, if you have a really crappy title (e.g., "My Pokémon adventure!!1") and obviously snap at any form of criticism, you get craploads of attention because you fall under the negative side of #5. Unless it's FFNet, where it's pretty much the norm to do both anyway.

    So, I guess this means you can purposely be crappy to get attention and make the forums descend on you like a rabid pack of hyenas on a three-days-dead gazelle, or you can play the game straight and actually get praise for it. Depends on whether you're looking for reviews in general or something good.

    (And really, I just mentioned this for the hyenas analogy.)
     
    If you're using FF.NET, then I suggest a really awesome summary and title (maybe in Latin, or another language). I posted a fic on ff.net in a section that only has about 2,000 stories, and most only have about 20 reviews for the whole story. I gave it a cool title (Varietas), a pretty awesome summary, said the main character would be dark, and that he'd have multiple love interests and BAM, 50 reviews for 3 chapters. Though it is quite well written, if my reviewers words are anything to go by.

    If you like writing shipping fics, then I suggest using a REALLY uncommon pairing. Those tend to get a TON of reviews/comments, just because they are so rare (NarutoxHanabi in Naruto for example).

    As a rule, have a cool title. A cool title will almost always get more attention. If you can't do a cool title, then do a lulzy title (Oh God Not Again!), everyone lubs teh lulz.
     
    I had Valentine review my thing or nobody would. Really. Then I went 10 chapters with nobody reviewing... or reading. :(
     
    Well, I know that "problem", getting little attention.

    Lately, I've started to become a rather bitter git. And to tell the truth, I think I might've seen through most of the tricks of getting reviews. However some of them are rather cheap ways, and some reasonable ways. I might post a suggestion tomorrow.

    But if you're rather new, you can always have faith. If you beliee your work is a piece of fiction well worth reading, readers will tell their friends, recommend the story. :-)
     
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