Do Shout-out Swaps Happen Here?

[Makkis_Literal]

If they don't, then how do we promote our stories on here. I'm just pretty curious.

 

[Golden_Hyde]

no. You're entirely on your own here.

 

[laccoff_mawning]

That's the neat part! You don't!

For a more serious answer, some people put their stories into their signature. So maybe that'd be a good way to do it?

 

[foxes]

For a more serious answer, some people put their stories into their signature. So maybe that'd be a good way to do it?

It's terrible. Especially the stack of covers that covers the entire screen.

 

[Eldoria]

If they don't, then how do we promote our stories on here. I'm just pretty curious.

Unfortunately, this forum is mostly comprised of authors rather than pure readers, so promoting your novel here is almost useless.

 

[Worthy39]

Yeah, shout-out swaps are more of a RR thing, if you want to promote, just be a total creep and go through all the most popular stories, and message anyone who commented on the story, and relentlessly badger them to read yours.

 

[Eldoria]

Yeah, shout-out swaps are more of a RR thing, if you want to promote, just be a total creep and go through all the most popular stories, and message anyone who commented on the story, and relentlessly badger them to read yours.

I'm surprised how new works on RR get reviewed so quickly... My fiction on RR struggled for 5 months, only getting one rating. If review swaps were a normal promotional tool, then that's understandable.

But on the other hand, I've also seen many new works on RR willingly pay for paid promotion to increase engagement for their fiction.

 

[Makkis_Literal]

Alright, that's good to know. So no shout-out swaps here, then how do we promote? Is it just write your book and then hope its good enough for it to become successful?

 

[Worthy39]

Alright, that's good to know. So no shout-out swaps here, then how do we promote? Is it just write your book and then hope its good enough for it to become successful?

Basically, yeah. You can try promoting yourself on reddit, or follow my earlier advice.

 

[Eldoria]

Alright, that's good to know. So no shout-out swaps here, then how do we promote? Is it just write your book and then hope its good enough for it to become successful?

An anime-style cover, a synopsis with a strong hook, genre alignment with market tastes, proper tag usage, regular chapter releases, and maintaining content quality are common strategies for promoting your fiction on SH.

 

[Makkis_Literal]

Basically, yeah. You can try promoting yourself on reddit, or follow my earlier advice.

Earlier advice didn't sound all too inspiring ???

An anime-style cover, a synopsis with a strong hook, genre alignment with market tastes, proper tag usage, regular chapter releases, and maintaining content quality are common strategies for promoting your fiction on SH.

That works for me.

 

[ConansWitchBaby]

I'll do it like RR. Give me $10

Being serious, it sorta happens. We simply haven't developed a swapping culture here. To the point I don't remember where people usually put their threads asking for review swaps.

 

[melchi]

I'll do it like RR. Give me $10

Being serious, it sorta happens. We simply haven't developed a swapping culture here. To the point I don't remember where people usually put their threads asking for review swaps.

My experience is someone posts it, then you respond, and they ghost you.

 

[Eldoria]

My experience is someone posts it, then you respond, and they ghost you.

In reality, exchanging reviews for reviews on the novel's pages provides little value to the fiction beyond mere promotional tools. What I want is for someone to genuinely read my fiction voluntarily and provide an honest review. If it becomes an "exchange," whether in exchange for material goods or services, then the element of sincerity and honesty is lost. I want voluntary, honest reviews as both a form of appreciation and a personal achievement. Fake reviews are more like fake medals.

 

[pangmida]

It seems like SH is really a place for labor of love. You just keep posting. I see some people linking their stories in the Story Feedback section of the forums asking for feedback and reviews, though those normally don't get too many responses. Authors used to ask for review or feedback swaps to incentivize others to read their stories. Personally, I think feedback swaps are better than review swaps because review swaps would seem disingenuous if you aren't actually into reading their story.

There are also threads like this one where a generous author (or reader) would offer feedback. Sometimes readers would make a thread to ask for a certain type of story they want to read in the "I'm Looking For..." section, such as my own, and authors who think the description matches their book will try to promote theirs as well. But in general, SH really is less commercialized than other websites like Wattpad and RR (I think—I've never been on there before), so like I said... you just gotta grind and hope to get lucky haha.