How do you gain readers for your fiction when you’re new?

[WhereIStand]

Hello,

I’m new to uploading my work onto platforms. I wonder how I can pique the interest of more readers now that I have a few chapters under my belt and the three-chapter rule doesn’t apply anymore. Is it just hard to get views, is the story not appealing, or is it simply how things are due to other reasons? I’d like to think my story is at least decent.

So I’m trying to figure out what matters now at the stage I’m at:

Is low visibility normal at this point?

Is the cover and the blurb more important compared to the actual chapter content?

And would it be more beneficial to put more effort into uploading more frequently each week?

Any help and tips would be appreciated. Thank you in advance.

 

[Sylver]

- Keep a consistent schedule on your synopsis and stick with it
- Upload some good content
- Interact with your readers. This could mean replying to comments, asking questions in the comment section, or making polls or questions to engage with your readers.
- Rub arms with other authors on this site. But don't do it with the focus of getting readers, just chat and get to know some of them. This site is a comfy place for lots of good people that share the same writing hobby as you do :)
- Ehh, might get some heat for this but keep up with what's trending for tags and content. I'm talking Litrpg, Girls Love, Smut, Harem, Fantasy, etc. Sites like Royal Road is a godsend for LitRPG based content, so if your work falls in that category then you have an easier time finding an audience.

 

[CinnaSloth]

Write. Just write.

 

[FRWriter]

Most readers won't even bother with stories that do not have at least 50 chapters.

 

[NotaNuffian]

 

[KidBuu699]

Sacrifice your first born.

 

[Bald-san]

Hello,

I’m new to uploading my work onto platforms. I wonder how I can pique the interest of more readers now that I have a few chapters under my belt and the three-chapter rule doesn’t apply anymore. Is it just hard to get views, is the story not appealing, or is it simply how things are due to other reasons? I’d like to think my story is at least decent.

So I’m trying to figure out what matters now at the stage I’m at:

Is low visibility normal at this point?

Is the cover and the blurb more important compared to the actual chapter content?

And would it be more beneficial to put more effort into uploading more frequently each week?

Any help and tips would be appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Well, would you believe me if I say I hav no idea how did I became a famous author (I mean I got the badge for it, not that I Am famous) with just one novel? I say just write

 

[tentacle_master]

Just write and post regularly and somehow they will come, maybe.

 

[Eldoria]

Honest answer: Just write it and don't chase engagement too much - those who are interested will read, those who don't will stay away.

Commercial answer:
Do a structured and massive promotion:

1. Use the cover as an attention grabber (usually an anime cover with an elegant heroine figure).
2. Write a synopsis that has a strong hook.
3. Use genres and tags appropriately (don't lie - they represent the content category).
4. Release regular chapters every week (1 - 4 chapters).
5. Maintain the quality of the content.
6. Share the novel on social media.
7. Even do paid promotions (it's common in RR).
8. And often participate in writing discussions (indirectly promoting the author's brand).

If you don't want the headache and hassle, choose the honest answer. If you want to chase numbers every day, choose the commercial answer.

You have the right to decide! Good luck.

 

[Macha]

Your first story will always have low readers when it's started until it have enough chapters to marinate unless you are an already established author moving from other platforms with your audience.

Finish it then readers will be more interested in your next stories knowing you have the commitment to not leave your stories unfinished and the readers of your first story will also read them as long as it isn't entirely different than your previous ones.

Do you know how annoying it is to find a good story abandoned by its author? At least finish the first arc before you disappears. You don't always have to finish your current story and start a new one. Sometimes, just finishing an arc and writing the next arc work. Especially if you formatted your story in the webnovel format.

How do you think most webnovels have hundreds or even thousands chapter and is still ongoing? You divide the story into arcs.

Hope this helps!

 

[WhereIStand]

Thank you so much for all the insight.

I don’t have a firstborn to sacrifice yet, but the other advice helped a lot.

As of now, I really don't care about the long term views. What I want more than anything at this stage is a comment. Positive or negative, just someone criticizing the fiction. I want to be able to know what works and what elements don't for the majority of readers.

My main goal is to keep the pace up and write as much as I can. I know I’m still at an early stage where the benefits aren’t obvious yet, so I guess my last question is this:

How do you stay motivated to keep writing when you’re still early on and the results haven’t shown themselves yet? (Especially on days when the love of writing isn’t always there.)

 

[Eldoria]

How do you stay motivated to keep writing when you’re still early on and the results haven’t shown themselves yet? (Especially on days when the love of writing isn’t always there.)

Remember your purpose in writing! Some people chase numbers and popularity. Others chase monetisation. Others share experiences and hopes. Still others pursue meaning. Every author has goals that may be similar or different. However, they remain committed to writing if they want to remain authors.

 

[Grizzly18]

If you’re a new author and it’s your first story I would say that you need to release chapters consistently especially for the first 50-100 chapters after that you can slow it down a little or do mass releases of several chapters once a week. Eldoria does have some good advice. I would also say that FRWriter has a point in that a lot of readers in the site don’t start reading until 50 chapters because 50 chapters mean that an author has staying power and isnt likely to burnout or stop writing. There is nothing more disappointing than getting really into a story only for the author to drop off the face of the earth.

For right now what I can recommend is write for you. Write the story that you want to write. A good way to attract new readers is to have a good story written with passion and with a fleshed out world and characters. Isekai and harem manga/anime are cliche for a reason but ones that have interesting stories and characters get read and watched despite that because people enjoy those aspects of the content even if some of it isnt original. Most importantly have fun if you aren’t having fun writing your first story maybe take a step back and start another project. However don’t start half a dozen projects and never finish thats also super annoying.

In the end this is all advice take from it what you will or don’t but stay true to yourself. Good luck

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Hope, Pray and Self-Promote.

 

[AVR_Double_Z]

Live and keep writing.

 

[Cookiez_N_Potionz]

Im still pretty Green

 

[FRWriter]

Most stories here will end up axed after just a few chapters. You can't expect readers from the start. Took me like 60-70 chapters to see some results....

You really should view writing as a marathon. It's probably a good idea to write at least 10 to 20 chapters before even thinking about releasing your story.

 

[RavenWulfgar]

Hello,

I’m new to uploading my work onto platforms. I wonder how I can pique the interest of more readers now that I have a few chapters under my belt and the three-chapter rule doesn’t apply anymore. Is it just hard to get views, is the story not appealing, or is it simply how things are due to other reasons? I’d like to think my story is at least decent.

So I’m trying to figure out what matters now at the stage I’m at:

Is low visibility normal at this point?

Is the cover and the blurb more important compared to the actual chapter content?

And would it be more beneficial to put more effort into uploading more frequently each week?

Any help and tips would be appreciated. Thank you in advance.

Okay, this is one that even I have a problem with but to get to one of your questions, yes, low visibility is completely normal for now. Especially with things going on in the sphere of things we can't possibly begin to control.

Some of us, myself and Rune Knight included have found ourselves with low visibility after achieving some momentum.

You're just beginning, that's gonna happen.

Where I would start? Networking. Build a network of people around you that like that particular genre. Read other works in your genre and study them for pacing, structure, etc.

The most important thing is this. Be Your Own Biggest Fan.

That sounds super counter-intuitive until you realize one thing and, as an aside, I do not think highly of my writing in the least. I'm not a fan of my technical skills but that's the beautiful part, I don't have to be. I do love the characters I've created. I love the stories they're involved in and it's devastating from an emotional standpoint to see a character go or some dice roll that went wrong causes the character to have to change (because the stories I write come from my tabletop RPG Solo Sessions) but it's in what is done with that that counts.

If you love your stories, talk about them. There's not a day that goes by that I'm not posting the front page of The Nocturneverse somewhere because I think people will like the stories as much as I do and I just wanted to make Vampires 80s and 90s cool again. I'm hoping I did it but I don't know yet. I've gotten some eyes on it but not a lot in the way of feedback.

So to me that means people don't hate it. I didn't think I'd even get readers into the double digits with how much whining and complaining about how these things are "so lame" and "theatre kid stuff" but...here we are. Just about a little under a year later and yeah, we have people who read it and like it. People aren't hating on it and for those who do, it's not for them so it doesn't matter.

Right now, look at it like this, your work just got out there. Keep going. Even if it's not my thing, it should exist because it's someone's thing and that thing can only get better from here right? Even if it's good as it is, it can only get better. So just keep plugging away.

 

[BlissyMKW]

Carefully.

But in all seriousness, I don't know for sure. There are those who wait for a large enough stockpile of chapters to start, some people like to binge through, others may have their own reasons. It's a marathon, not a sprint. If you're trying to sprint your way through, you'd probably just be better off following the crowd and doing whatever the popular thing is.

Also, I don't know if she's still around or not, but if you give 1 star to a certain person's works, apparently, that helps too. That's just a rumor, though, and last I checked, this isn't Sumaru City, so rumors aren't becoming reality here.

 

[ConansWitchBaby]

Have you tried ritual sacrifice? Seems to work 90% of 50% of the time.