Numbers, Luck, and a Very Small Window

[rynling]

So I found a short essay…

Ten Simple Ways To Get More Attention For Your Fanwork
https://melannen.dreamwidth.org/354977.html

This is all reasonable, at least in my experience, but the truth is that fandom engagement seems to have dropped off for most writers during the past two years. Almost no one posts or links to their fic on Tumblr anymore, but what I do see are posts with massive numbers of notes about how painful it is to be ignored by your fandom, possible reasons why no one leaves kudos anymore, and so on.

There’s a pervasive idea that you can build your own audience if you’re consistent and good at what you do, but the most popular thing I ever wrote was a steaming heap of garbage that I posted on FFN back when FFN was still mainstream in, like, 2009. I think a lot about how maybe I missed a window of opportunity, and how maybe I just wasn’t born in the right year. Like, maybe if I were a little older, maybe I would have been able to “make it” before social media blew up and collapsed in on itself. Or maybe, if I were younger, I would have had access to the resources and platforms that could have helped me develop my skills and community when I was still a student.

I’m afraid that the real truth is that some people are never going to make it, and maybe I’m just one of those people, unfortunately. Even worse, maybe my entire generation is never going to make it.

I don’t have a positive conclusion, except to say that I’m happy to be a shill for anyone who asks; it would be an honor and a pleasure. I’m actually planning on making a post about this at some point before the end of the month, but first I have to figure out what a sustainable level of “shill” would be for me.

Comments

[lassarina]

....I am reminded that I should read more and shill more, actually.

I kind of have a niche, and that niche is Kain, and I can always tell when someone stumbled across something of mine because immediately a bunch of other stuff in that general category will also get noticed by them? (This happens a lot with both my Locke/Celes and my Balthier/Ashe, but by "a lot" I mean maybe once every 6 weeks someone notices one of them and goes on a spree. But I'm also a niche person in small ancient fandom.s)

[runicmagitek]

I am super late to responding to this post. I had a lot of feelings about this as evident by the icon I'm using to post this and wanted them to properly stew in my head so that whatever I posted didn't sound like a bunch of keyboard smashing processed through a text-to-voice program.

And now I'm sick after Anime Boston, which is clearly the best time to be getting back to this, but I figured if I didn't do it now, I'd either forget later on or just be so late to the party that I arrived at another party altogether.

This is such a hard topic. Then again, anything that reads like How To Boost Your Numbers On AO3 101 Or Whatever makes me grind my teeth and figuratively punch babies. And I still read this post, knowing I'd get upset. Got to the point when the author mentioned their fics in the MCU fandom and that was exactly one (1) baby punched. I have such a hard time empathizing with people in larger and/or more popular fandoms when it comes to numbers and stuff, where it is absurdly easier to get kudos, bookmarks, comments, etc., especially in comparison to smaller/older/less popular/dead fandoms. And don't even get me started on whether or not the pairing is popular. I know someone who posted the first chapter of essentially a rarepair fic from the MCU (essentially, because MCU's idea of a rarepair is like, less than 5k works) that got over 100 kudos in less than a week. My poor Celes/Setzer novel has been around and updated since 2016 and isn't even close to that many kudos and probably never will be. And it frustrates me when I see things that talk about how to get more attention with your fics or whatever when it's from someone who is already writing for a super popular fandom and/or pairing. Because no matter if I do every. damn. thing. this. post. suggests. I'm never going to come close to getting that much of a kudos boost, because I don't write for super popular things. This advice isn't going to work for the rarepair fics or the old fandoms that are older than those writing these popular fics now or the small niche fandoms who literally can't get over a 100 kudos because there's only 25 people in the fandom.

And then there are things like quality vs quantity, which at least the post you linked did point out that the tips listed were aimed at works that were in the competent-to-good range. I have read so many stellar fics that never break double digits. On the opposite end, I've read too many fics with hundreds, if not thousands of kudos, only to wonder why the fuck anyone with a brain would waste their time on that story. Sometimes I pause and wonder if people are just inhaling whatever content they can with their faves and disregard quality, hence the skewed kudos to quality ration in some instances. Things like that make me appreciate writing rarepairs, though; I know the people who come around and like what I wrote actually enjoyed it. I've written for a handful of more popular fandoms and pairings and I can't help but wonder if those people actually liked what I wrote or just mindlessly consume content due to it being aligned with their interests.

That all said, there is something to be said about some of these tips mentioned. I know whenever I'm actively consuming fanfics and posting comments galore, I noticed an increase of traffic to my own fics. This isn't surprising, considering this tactic is also used in social media in general. By letting people know you exist, they can at least check out your stuff. If you don't let them know you're there, how will they know? I need to get back into reading fics not just to help out my own fics, but to also snuggle back into stories from fandoms I love dearly. I just suck at balancing traditionally published material vs fics.

I also completely understand where you're coming from in regards to feeling like you're just never going to make it or you're not good enough. It's like I keep rolling 1s instead of nat 20s and man, it would be super nice if I finally got a crit. Sometimes I wonder if I put my energy into a more popular fandom or pairing, maybe I'd be more well received... but I just don't want to. I want to write what makes me happy... which doesn't always align with what everyone else wants. It makes me cherish the few interactions I have with readers I get, though. It just makes me so sad, because I know so many people who equate kudos with the actual quality of their story and they are devastated when they only get 2 kudos for something they spent months on. Breaks my heart.

Also, I just want to take a moment and say thank you for all the fics you've written. Legit, The Modern History of Zelda is hands down one of my favorite fics of all time and continues to be an inspiration for me as a writer. And The Villain of Time is still number 1 for The Hardest I've Ever Cried Over A Damn Fic. For real. I love your worldbuilding and what you're able to craft in so few words. Your prose is like comfort food for me and I wish I was a faster reader with WAY more time on my hands so I could gobble them up immediately. You've been such an inspiration to me as a writer. I'm always running circles around myself and making something that should've been 1k into 10k and seeing you craft these decadent tales concisely is beyond motivating. I'll always treasure that. And I wish I could do something besides scream at you across the internet to let you know how much all of this means to me. Like bake you a three-tier cake. Or make you some bitchin' tea. Or drown you in stuffed animals. Or something. Clicking a lil' heart button isn't enough. I just want to show up on your front steps and pelt you with heart plushies until you call the authorities or something.

WOW that got super rambly. Like I said- I have feels on this kind of stuff.