Thank you. I have been making chapter 10. I ama ctuly making the start kind of simple so i can gain readers rather than getting them abandoned.
Is this your first attempt at writing? Great I wish you luck. I will direct you to the new author guide we are building for SH... In fact, here, I have BOLDED the parts about getting readers and word counts.
As for giving it a rating, No.
I am not even going to look at it since it has three actual chapters and a total word count of 3500, including your bonus chapters. You already have some decent advice from others above, so you might want to consider starting again before you get too far.
Also, don't advertise it as a 500 chapter epic when you barely have enough written to make 1, maybe 2 chapters for most works here.
JD's Quick and Dirty Guide to Attracting Readers on SH
1 - Make an Attractive Cover.
Appearance is everything for the initial draw of your readers. Depending on what you are writing about, an attractive woman (or man, or small furry creature from Alpha Centauri, no judgment) on the cover tends to draw more eyes than something plain or abstract, but that will also depend on your target audience... I am weird in that my main work has an old dude in a bathrobe on the cover, yet it still gets a ton of views.
2 - Synopsis
This part cannot be overstated. You need a brief, well-written synopsis about what you are writing. People probably won't even open it up if they don't like what you're 'selling' them, no matter how good your writing is.
3 - Proper Tags for your Novel.
This will be how people even search for what you are writing. Whatever content is in your novel, make sure you add it.
Cool, now you have the basics of getting your readers' foot in the door. Next, let's talk numbers.
4 - Number of Chapters
The vast majority of readers on SH won't even look at a novel with fewer than 100 chapters. Many writers stop writing before that point, leaving their readers hanging high and dry. There seem to be several thresholds readers need to have met before they actually commit to a novel, that I have noticed, anyway. 20, 50, 100, and +150 chapters seem to be rough estimates, with 100 showing the largest boost in views. When my work hit a hundred chapters, I went from 30k views to nearly 90k in less than three weeks. Results may vary.
5 - Word Count
1500-2500 words per chapter seems to be the ideal length people agree on. Any less, and your readers can't really dig into the chapter, any more, and readers might not be able to finish it in one sitting and turn them away. There is more nuance here, but that is the generally accepted amount. I tend to lean towards the 2000-3000 mark myself.
6 - Writing Style
This one is way more subjective, but if you are trying to draw in a broad audience, writing in weird formats will turn your viewers away. Standard novel formats are difficult to read, IMO, since most people read on mobile devices. So, IMO, you should break some of your longer paragraphs up to around 3, maybe 4 sentences at most, to provide some eye relief for your readers. There are other forms of writing that several authors use here and succeed with, such as the onamonapia style, but I don't recommend it myself. That is just my opinion; write however you want.
Finally, we come to my last point;
7 - Actual Content
Is your story any good? Serious question. You may like it, but if it is some niche content, full of grammatical errors, or you have gaping plot holes you could drive a truck through in the first ten chapters, you will find your readers will just drop off like flies. A fall off is normal for numbers of views, as people try out your story and decide it isn't for them, or that they will read it later once you have more chapters.
If you are worried about your content, you can ask in the authors' forum if anyone is willing to read a few chapters and give you their opinions. Most people who are willing to do that are great and will give you honest opinions on your style. Take what they give you and learn from it.
Bonus
8 - Engage with your Readers
If you have people in your comments, congrats! You are lucky, as the vast majority of people on SH are silent readers. Engage with their comments, even if it's just a thank you. If you appear accessible to your readers, you may end up with valuable insights into your writing from their comments.
There ya go, a quick guide for writing here on SH. Good luck!
