How the heck to market a story?

[Nolff]

Alternatively, neither of us suck and we both need better marketing tactics.

Hell nah!

We got differences!

You praise your chars, I don't! Simple!

I like people to read my stories too, but... Yours, man? You've spent money and hours trying to get your story up on trending list, now you've gotta wait till the boom start.

Yes, popular fanfics definitely become popular because of their... marketing tactics

Examples?

To be fair, we ARE trying to be helpful and you just meet it with venom and vitriol. That's not on us. We're generally a rather kind and caring community, as we all share the same pitfalls and struggles. that said, most of us aren't accepting of people that treat these forums like reddit, spewing hate and anger at anyone for not saying what you want to hear.


This. State your appreciation for any interaction. Call out your readers (Just a general "readers" acknowledgement is fine), thank any followers on their page and reply to comments and reviewers ALWAYS give a public shout out to. let your readers know that their interaction is as valuable to you as your story is to them.

I've had 1 share, and I went out of my way to find it on X just so I could thank them there. why? Because it makes a huge difference to me. I haven't gotten any new readers (as far as I know) from it, but knowing that they took the time to share it inspired me to start a whole new story geared around reader interaction (Two Faces, link in my sig. reader beware r18 only).

Damn... What an idea...

i mean, think you've unturned all of them brah

Ha, unturned. Like your pfp.

 

[AnneOminous]

Yes, popular fanfics definitely become popular because of their... marketing tactics

I mean, excellent fics can become unpopular because they are unknown, so...

No, you said your goal to sailus was different. Every achievable long term goal needs short term goals. For now, why not try to achieve 500 readers? If you get to that level, you can easily get on trending. And one day on trending can usually add 50-100 readers early on.

Whether I am trying to achieve 5000, 5 million, or (the number I have + 1), the question of, "now how do I do it?" remains the same.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

The most common one is called "Genma's Daughter." There's another one that's something like "ice and fire", but I keep wanting to call it "A Song of Ice and Fire" because of GOT but it's not that. The top fic on Sufficient Velocity right now is a Ranma/Destiny cross.

If I didn't find a wrong one, Genma's Daughter doesnt look like it has way more views than you do. Also, it came out in 2000. Ranma/Destiny cross isn't even posted anywhere and has only a little bit of comments. And if not for a very slow release schedule they won't get any comments at all. They also started postin back in 2020.

I am honestly growing more confused the more I look into it. Are you sure you need to get bigger? Maybe all you need is to simply advertise to trans people, and all those people who make Ranma Fanfic tierlists? So they will know about your existence.

 

[AnneOminous]

If I didn't find a wrong one, Genma's Daughter doesnt look like it has way more views than you do. Also, it came out in 2000. Ranma/Destiny cross isn't even posted anywhere and has only a little bit of comments. And if not for a very slow release schedule they won't get any comments at all. They also started postin back in 2020.

I am honestly growing more confused the more I look into it. Are you sure you need to get bigger? Maybe all you need is to simply advertise to trans people, and all those people who make Ranma Fanfic tierlists? So they will know about your existence.

Where did you find GD? I think it does most of its traction on FFN but is posted in multiple places.

 

[Tyranomaster]

As I started looking into those other fanfictions you mentioned, I found a reddit post that you said you've only started actually putting this to paper a little over a year ago. Before that, for 20 years, everything was in your head as you mulled over the idea. I've been writing my story for a year and a half now, and I had been on and off thinking about my story for about 8 years before that. I do not claim that I've been "Working on this story" for 9 years. I say I've been working on this story for a year and a half.

The way you worded this likely caused a lot of confusion. If I hear that someone has 24 years of work under their belt, and only has X to show for it, then it's... bad. If you have a year and a half for the same amount of work, it's a different story. First, don't misrepresent your amount of work.

You just need to wait some. You have been getting bad advice because you misrepresented where you are in your work-journey.

 

[Nolff]

As a final note, I noticed you don't have a signature. A handful of my readers are actually from here on the forum. Post your links in your signature like I have and make a little note to inform anyone that sees your posts here of the progress on each of your works. Then I'd recommend being polite and friendly in your posts and comments here so people WANT to check it out. not saying you'll get 1,000,000 readers overnight, but you might get another 5-10 or so.

Good point.

I would be proud to announce that I am one of Kalliel's loyalists.

Though, I stopped reading that story because I was having mental moments. Pardon me, @Kalliel.

 

[aurifex]

I mean, excellent fics can become unpopular because they are unknown, so...

Fanfiction plays on an almost identical playing field, exactly because 'marketing' isn't a thing

If one doesn't become popular, it's for a reason. Not being 'bad', necessarily, but something fundamental to the content. In your case it's probably how niche it is, the fact it has too many OCs, its length, or whatever else. No amount of 'marketing' fixes these fundamental issues that initially turned people away.

Your story has been exposed to like 10 sites and you shill it constantly. Other fics blow up just being dropped onto 1 site. Come on now. This is for a fundamental reason. Marketing won't be your savior, because your story has had every chance to grow and it just didn't. For a reason.

 

[Nolff]

Fanfiction plays on an almost identical playing field, exactly because 'marketing' isn't a thing

If one doesn't become popular, it's for a reason. Not being 'bad', necessarily, but something fundamental to the content. In your case it's probably how niche it is, the fact it has too many OCs, its length, or whatever else. No amount of 'marketing' fixes these fundamental issues that initially turned people away.

Your story has been exposed to like 10 sites and you shill it constantly. Other fics blow up just being dropped onto 1 site. Come on now. This is for a fundamental reason. Marketing won't be your savior, because your story has had every chance to grow and it just didn't. For a reason.

Guys spitting facts, how'll you handle this one, my guy?

 

[AnneOminous]

As I started looking into those other fanfictions you mentioned, I found a reddit post that you said you've only started actually putting this to paper a little over a year ago. Before that, for 20 years, everything was in your head as you mulled over the idea. I've been writing my story for a year and a half now, and I had been on and off thinking about my story for about 8 years before that. I do not claim that I've been "Working on this story" for 9 years. I say I've been working on this story for a year and a half.

The way you worded this likely caused a lot of confusion. If I hear that someone has 24 years of work under their belt, and only has X to show for it, then it's... bad. If you have a year and a half for the same amount of work, it's a different story. First, don't misrepresent your amount of work.

You just need to wait some. You have been getting bad advice because you misrepresented where you are in your work-journey.

I wrote several drafts which I didn't publish along the way. I actually did post my original draft of the first chapter from 2002 on Archive of Our Own, so everyone could see what a shit writer I was twenty years ago and how far I've come.

Fanfiction plays on an almost identical playing field, exactly because 'marketing' isn't a thing

If one doesn't become popular, it's for a reason. Not being 'bad', necessarily, but something fundamental to the content. In your case it's probably how niche it is, the fact it has too many OCs, its length, or whatever else. No amount of 'marketing' fixes these fundamental issues that initially turned people away.

Your story has been exposed to like 10 sites and you shill it constantly. Other fics blow up just being dropped onto 1 site. Come on now. This is for a fundamental reason. Marketing won't be your savior, because your story has had every chance to grow and it just didn't. For a reason.

Sure. It's been dropped on Royal Road, where it got buried under ads for "I was reincarnated as a demonic hat litrpg system isekai wuxiawtfomgbbq" five minutes later.

 

[RepresentingWrath]

Where did you find GD? I think it does most of its traction on FFN but is posted in multiple places.

I did find it on FFN. The thing is, I take into consideration it came out freaking 24 years ago. Anyway, as we came to understand, your goal isn't really to get a bigger number of views.

Honestly? I've been thinking about this a lot today:
* To be one of the most-frequently *recommended* stories in Ranma spaces, so that new people coming into fanfic (especially new folks coming from the anime reboot) continue to discover the story. So that it becomes "a classic" that routinely generates a comment or two a day across all platforms after it finishes serializing, to keep the flame alive.

* To be a supportive love letter to the trans community, and let it provide the sort of emotional hug that the trans folks who read the story (90% of my audience) routinely tell me it provides. Ideally, to hear from the people it gave good feels to.

* To be recognized as "a work that transcends what fanfiction is supposed to be," which I know is fuzzy, but like... "one of the better fanfic writers out there."

And in order for all three of those things to happen, I need critical mass. I need more people to be aware of it.

These are your goals, and I think you lost your goals somewhere in the middle of your writing. Because you can achieve them by advertising to different people. You don't actually have to get big here or on RR. This "Ranma/Destiny cross" is WAAAAAAAAAAY smaller than your novel in terms of interactions and popularity. So I have no idea how it is on 'popular list' and yours is not. In other words, you were trying to promote your work to wrong people. Go to those forums and sites, and talk with those people who love Ranma fics.

 

[AnneOminous]

Guys spitting facts, how'll you handle this one, my guy?

You know many guys named Anne?

 

[aurifex]

Sure. It's been dropped on Royal Road, where it got buried under ads for "I was reincarnated as a demonic hat litrpg system isekai wuxiawtfomgbbq" five minutes later.

And why didn't it blow up on any of the fanfiction-specific sites for Ranma, where other fics do? Despite constant advertisement and interaction within the fandoms?

You just got unlucky, did you?

 

[Nolff]

You know many guys named Anne?

In this, it's you.

 

[AnneOminous]

And why didn't it blow up on any of the fanfiction-specific sites for Ranma, where other fics do? Despite constant advertisement and interaction within the fandoms?

You just got unlucky, did you?

Because on fic-specific sites, there's no real option for cross-advertising, and so there you 100% ARE pigeonholed by the tags. Hence my trying to promote it on sites that allow at least an attempt to step one foot out of that box.

 

[Nolff]

And why didn't it blow up on any of the fanfiction-specific sites for Ranma, where other fics do? Despite constant advertisement and interaction within the fandoms?

You just got unlucky, did you?

That's brutal.

 

[AnneOminous]

I did find it on FFN. The thing is, I take into consideration it came out freaking 24 years ago. Anyway, as we came to understand, your goal isn't really to get a bigger number of views.

These are your goals, and I think you lost your goals somewhere in the middle of your writing. Because you can achieve them by advertising to different people. You don't actually have to get big here or on RR. This "Ranma/Destiny cross" is WAAAAAAAAAAY smaller than your novel in terms of interactions and popularity. So I have no idea how it is on 'popular list' and yours is not. In other words, you were trying to promote your work to wrong people. Go to those forums and sites, and talk with those people who love Ranma fics.

I do. And every time I seem to peel off 1 or 2 new readers, at the expense of time it would take to drop another 4000 word chapter.

 

[Deleted member 84247]

Whether I am trying to achieve 5000, 5 million, or (the number I have + 1), the question of, "now how do I do it?" remains the same.

The answer is simple. You just keep writing and having steady uploads. Scribble Hub loves genderbender, so this is probably one of the best sites for that.

Another mistake you made was posting them as different fictions if they are supposed to be sequels. Most of the time it's better to have a singular continuous fiction than trying to make sequels. Some readers will not even bother to look for sequels.

Just fix how many chapters you upload in this story: https://www.scribblehub.com/series/957728/phoenix/

If I were in your shoes, and I really wanted more readers, I would either write something else (a new GB fiction) to funnel readers, or I would delete it and reupload. The first day you can upload 3-5 chapters or so, but after that, it should have stayed a steady flow of between 1 and 5 chapters a week. This will give you more front page visibility, and you will be fine.

 

[aurifex]

Because on fic-specific sites, there's no real option for cross-advertising, and so there you 100% ARE pigeonholed by the tags. Hence my trying to promote it on sites that allow at least an attempt to step one foot out of that box.

So the only popular Ranma fics are the ones that 'cross-advertise'?

 

[RepresentingWrath]

I do. And every time I seem to peel off 1 or 2 new readers, at the expense of time it would take to drop another 4000 word chapter.

Wait, you go to those forums and sites, but they still don't include you on their 'popular list'???

 

[AnneOminous]

The answer is simple. You just keep writing and having steady uploads. Scribble Hub loves genderbender, so this is probably one of the best sites for that.

Another mistake you made was posting them as different fictions if they are supposed to be sequels. Most of the time it's better to have a singular continuous fiction than trying to make sequels. Some readers will not even bother to look for sequels.

Just fix how many chapters you upload in this story: https://www.scribblehub.com/series/957728/phoenix/

If I were in your shoes, and I really wanted more readers, I would either write something else (a new GB fiction) to funnel readers, or I would delete it and reupload. The first day you can upload 3-5 chapters or so, but after that, it should have stayed a steady flow of between 1 and 5 chapters a week. This will give you more front page visibility, and you will be fine.

My plan is to do just this - with 11 chaps up front (the "prologue" really - in chapter 11 is where she basically decides what she is gonna try to do) and then release 3x/week from there.

So the only popular Ranma fics are the ones that 'cross-advertise'?

I am already one of the most popular *current* generation Ranma fics. But I'm chasing the historical ones now. It's like saying Force Awakens was the best *recent* Star Wars movie, but it's still nothing compared to Empire.

Wait, you go to those forums and sites, but they still don't include you on their 'popular list'???

Mostly because they're tired of how hard I've been trying to push it.