I feel like giving up on my novel

[Kara_dija]

I just want you to understand, that lying to yourself will eventually burn you out. If you want readers or interactions, you have to be honest with yourself. The reason why I harp on this so much is because I've seen lotsa authors here who were NOT honest. They were not honest to themselves. All those authors dropped writing. Needless to say, I'm not a fan of seeing it.

On the other hand, if this reply is 100% honest, I'm happy for you and your newfound motivation. Don't lose sight of your goal.

I don't like lying on unnecessary stuff. I'm mostly honest so trust me on what I said. I felt stuck and didn't see through other perspectives. This thread helped me get out of the spiral ?

 

[Prince_Azmiran_Myrian]

Don't delete your work. Finish then join the forums for some silly fun.

 

[Corty]

They deleted works that flopped.

But I also reuploaded them . Currently, I have all my novels up, because I moved to finish them instead of deleting them. I only make those that flop shorter than originally expected.

@Kara_dija It is part of the game. I have 10 works atm. From that ten, 4 were hits. 6 were flops. (by my own metric) So yeah. It is harder to write one that gets readers than not.

 

[Ryudo_xd]

I've been very excited to finish my novel and its done except for like the last chapter. And while I've had no delusional expectations of being famous overnight, I was hoping to get at least some sort of feedback/interactions when I started publishing.
Now it's just overwhelming, and making me feel like I'm throwing my hard work in a void. I'm not even good at marketing it on insta or any other platform. Should I just delete everything?

you can temporarily get some decent views by breaking the rules. if you wanna know more message me

 

[HisDivineShadow]

Someone mentioned the cover earlier and I’m totally on board with that. It doesn’t grab your attention visually, and it doesn’t say anything about the story. Try messing around with GPT to make one have some fun with it.
Or maybe I’m just in a phase where I’m playing around with visuals right now, so feel free to ignore my suggestions.

 

[Kara_dija]

Don't delete your work. Finish then join the forums for some silly fun.

Yes this is what I'm gonna do now. :D

you can temporarily get some decent views by breaking the rules. if you wanna know more message me

Nah I'd prefer to stick to the rules. That's one of my principles as a writer ?

Someone mentioned the cover earlier and I’m totally on board with that. It doesn’t grab your attention visually, and it doesn’t say anything about the story. Try messing around with GPT to make one have some fun with it.
Or maybe I’m just in a phase where I’m playing around with visuals right now, so feel free to ignore my suggestions.

No you're right. While I dont wanna have even an ounce of AI being in my work. I did change the cover. Hopefully it'll get approved and uploaded soon ｡⁠◕⁠‿⁠◕⁠｡

(Preface Note : What i say next can seems brutal but know that im just rationally giving the cold truth in a very honest but brutal way, which can be misunderstood as evil (it is not). Just think me of an AI giving a lesson if it can make you&others feel better. Nor have i bad feelings others unless its others attacking me first. tldr : i sucks at teaching/explaining)


SH should seriously consider adding a front page notice : Readers mostly zergrush when a series accumulate 50+ chaps. (so dont give up + some themes are more liked than others)
Because it is both coincidentally identical in west and east reader communities decide to try a series. (and why there is paywall start at this range of ch)



Thing is.
50+chaps is like a big waving flag, telling everyone(readers) : "I am a big series ! Come in ! I am NOT a random shop that will close down the next day ! I will be opened for a long long time with lot of fun !"
Because not sure if you know it, but for veteran readers, the number of epic masterpieces that could blow the competition easily, BUT BECAME AXED/DROPPED
are dimes in the dozens.

Reasons are often unknown but nonetheless it doesnt change the fact, that PEOPLE ARE TIRED TO READ A SERIES ONLY TO BE ABANDONNED the next day or author MIA somewhere.
(Hyperbole) Its like the famous trope of "immortal x mortal", the immortal bc of often having heart broken of seeing loved ones die bc they are mortal, choose to no longer have relations.
Same thing happens with readers (which btw are often veteran readers).
They are tired to try a series, only to return to it and see it didnt have updates for months / axed.


Not publicity but look at :

Fate as a Servant

Is it not enough being reborn in the Nasuverse? Is it not enough being a servant? I can deal with all this, but why do I have to be Aqua?! She shouldn't even be from this verse so why?!?! Mc won't be as stupid as Aqua just in case. There...

www.scribblehub.com

There is smut, yuri, popular IPs, interesting protag (cooler and smarter AQUA), funny comedy, interesting new ideas, more smut ! etc
THIS #### is a banger, it got all the elements to be VERY POPULAR and frontpage of SH and occupy it for month like some does.
but right at 40+, BAM. Author totally disappeared. And it wouldnt be a stretch that maybe she really died (corona virus period).

This, is just 1 among dozens if not hundreds of VERY HIGH QUALITY series (KR/CN/JP), people are tired to read, love, and heartbroken its dropped.
Not just WN but mangas and ton of other stuffs too. People are TIRED of disappointment.



PS: Negative example : There is this user that recently spammed threads "Trade reviews" (sorry for using you as an example if you see this USER)
Guess what. This user had like A BUNCH OF SERIES axed at chap5~11 and think that having more reviews > bring more readers.
AND know that low chap number = low reviews numbers.
But ironically doesnt understand that axing the series early on, is basically what is causing to NOT get reviews. (and now i think about it, maybe even have a negative notoriety to axe nonstop, who knows *shrug*)
Its like killing a newborn or destroying an invention because of low sales in just 3days.
Its dumb.
You too OP are like that. (or basically unknowledgeable about this)
But dont worry, everyone, me included is dumb. The thing is to learn from mistakes and become smarter&stronger.


PPS : Look at new series. SH or whatever.
You will see like A HUNDRED NEW SERIES APPEARING EVERYDAY.
But look at how many continue to write after a month ? Not a lot.
So yes, its kinda ironic that readers have a prejudice against writers, and writers reinforce this prejudice unknowingly. Spiral of death loop.


--------------------
Also im sure others will tell you. But your theme is VERY niche and unpopular.
Also its shoujo/josei-like > for female reader. So yes, low viewer count as SH is mostly for male hormonal males that want to.....see smut.
And yuri-genderbender-futa-etc..............with smut.

Your words are full of knowledge and highly appreciated. It gave me a new pov. While you're right my novel's niche is different but this is exactly my purpose. I want to give smth different to readers. Smth that's fun but also meaningful. So it's okay if few people resonate with it, so long as they enjoy it ?
Thank you so much to everyone. Y'all were a huge help. I'd have taken this post down since I no longer feel that way. I'm letting it stay up, so if someone is down and can relate with me. Hopefully this thread will help them overcome their flaws and get motivated again.
Really grateful for SH forum and fan. Happy to be a part of it. Virtual hugs o⁠(⁠(⁠*⁠^⁠▽⁠^⁠*⁠)⁠)⁠o

 

[Ai-chan]

Ai-chan hasn't read your story, but don't treat this as Ai-chan saying your story isn't good. Ai-chan doesn't read anyone's story, period. So those who asked Ai-chan for review swaps never got a reply.

However, just from looking at your front page, Ai-chan would suggest the following. Please take note that this is Ai-chan's suggestion, it will not guarantee viewership. But in Ai-chan's opinion, it would at least not turn away people who would judge the book by its cover. Now, Ai-chan may say some really hurting things in this post, but don't think Ai-chan does it because Ai-chan hates you, okay.

1. The cover. It looks boring.

Crimson Dreams was way too centered, leaving the top very empty. If you could move Crimson Dreams way higher, it wouldn't look as empty.​

The two daggers looked way too squashed. You could do this, make it as if the daggers are laid down on a surface, but it looks like someone just took a full sized image of two daggers and pressed it down to simulate a 3D image or to avoid reverse image searches. The problem is, your fonts are 2D.​

"By Kara Dija" implies that you have never made a book cover before, because it shows. The font choice is boring, the bold is not necessary and "by" is also not necessary, actually implies that you're a newbie. Sure there are book covers that do use "by author" but it's often elaborate and exciting, such as "A tale of twisted love by <author>"​

​

2. The chapter titles. It's boring.

You're probably going to say, "But this informs the reader of whose point of view it is." Yes... see this screams amateurish. Now there's nothing wrong with being an amateur, but actually screaming it is another matter. Don't think of your readers as idiots. Your writing should reflect the point of view of the character. If you have first person POV for two characters in your story, no big deal, it can work. If you want to announce it, it's okay too, you can announce it inside the chapter. Just don't put it up as the chapter title.​

Another reason is that it makes it look like you're not creative enough to decide on the chapter titles. This may sound funny, but this is actually worse than those people who just put "chapter 1" without any title. Because not putting a title simply shows that they're lazy, the story itself could still be good. But some people don't want to read a story that annoyed them from the chapter titles itself.​

​

3. Also your synopsis is too short. Like we don't know anything about Xavier apart from being an heir of a dukedom. And suddenly you ask the readers if he would escape the wounds from his family. At this point, people ask, "Who? What? Why? Why are you asking me? I don't even know who Xavier is supposed to be."

Okay, that's all. Feel free to ignore it if you think Ai-chan is wrong.

 

[Kara_dija]

Ai-chan hasn't read your story, but don't treat this as Ai-chan saying your story isn't good. Ai-chan doesn't read anyone's story, period. So those who asked Ai-chan for review swaps never got a reply.

However, just from looking at your front page, Ai-chan would suggest the following. Please take not that this is Ai-chan's suggestion, it will not guarantee viewership. But in Ai-chan's opinion, it would at least not turn away people who would judge the book by its cover. Now, Ai-chan may say some really hurting things in this post, but don't think Ai-chan does it because Ai-chan hates you, okay.

1. The cover. It looks boring.

Crimson Dreams was way too centered, leaving the top very empty. If you could move Crimson Dreams way higher, it wouldn't look as empty.​

The two daggers looked way too squashed. You could do this, make it as if the daggers are laid down on a surface, but it looks like someone just took a full sized image of two daggers and pressed it down to simulate a 3D image or to avoid reverse image searches. The problem is, your fonts are 2D.​

"By Kara Dija" implies that you have never made a book cover before, because it shows. The font choice is boring, the bold is not necessary and "by" is also not necessary, actually implies that you're a newbie. Sure there are book covers that do use "by author" but it's often elaborate and exciting, such as "A tale of twisted love by <author>"​

​

2. The chapter titles. It's boring.

You're probably going to say, "But this informs the reader of whose point of view it is." Yes... see this screams amateurish. Now there's nothing wrong with being an amateur, but actually screaming it is another matter. Don't think of your readers as idiots. Your writing should reflect the point of view of the character. If you have first person POV for two characters in your story, no big deal, it can work. If you want to announce it, it's okay too, you can announce it inside the chapter. Just don't put it up as the chapter title.​

Another reason is that it makes it look like you're not creative enough to decide on the chapter titles. This may sound funny, but this is actually worse than those people who just put "chapter 1" without any title. Because not putting a title simply shows that they're lazy, the story itself could still be good. But some people don't want to read a story that annoyed them from the chapter titles itself.​

​

3. Also your synopsis is too short. Like we don't know anything about Xavier apart from being an heir of a dukedom. And suddenly your ask the readers if he would escape the wounds from his family. At this point, people ask, "Who? What? Why? Why are you asking me? I don't even know who Xavier is supposed to be."

Okay, that's all. Feel free to ignore it if you think Ai-chan is wrong.

Thank you Ai chain for taking your sweet time to review everything. Yes I am a newbie in making edits. Striving to improve myself so yer words mean a lot. I'll focus on making myself better by following your advices. And yes I know while it may not guarantee me views but it'll surely help me create a image. (⁠◍⁠•⁠ᴗ⁠•⁠◍⁠)⁠❤

Ai-chan hasn't read your story, but don't treat this as Ai-chan saying your story isn't good. Ai-chan doesn't read anyone's story, period. So those who asked Ai-chan for review swaps never got a reply.

However, just from looking at your front page, Ai-chan would suggest the following. Please take note that this is Ai-chan's suggestion, it will not guarantee viewership. But in Ai-chan's opinion, it would at least not turn away people who would judge the book by its cover. Now, Ai-chan may say some really hurting things in this post, but don't think Ai-chan does it because Ai-chan hates you, okay.

1. The cover. It looks boring.

Crimson Dreams was way too centered, leaving the top very empty. If you could move Crimson Dreams way higher, it wouldn't look as empty.​

The two daggers looked way too squashed. You could do this, make it as if the daggers are laid down on a surface, but it looks like someone just took a full sized image of two daggers and pressed it down to simulate a 3D image or to avoid reverse image searches. The problem is, your fonts are 2D.​

"By Kara Dija" implies that you have never made a book cover before, because it shows. The font choice is boring, the bold is not necessary and "by" is also not necessary, actually implies that you're a newbie. Sure there are book covers that do use "by author" but it's often elaborate and exciting, such as "A tale of twisted love by <author>"​

​

2. The chapter titles. It's boring.

You're probably going to say, "But this informs the reader of whose point of view it is." Yes... see this screams amateurish. Now there's nothing wrong with being an amateur, but actually screaming it is another matter. Don't think of your readers as idiots. Your writing should reflect the point of view of the character. If you have first person POV for two characters in your story, no big deal, it can work. If you want to announce it, it's okay too, you can announce it inside the chapter. Just don't put it up as the chapter title.​

Another reason is that it makes it look like you're not creative enough to decide on the chapter titles. This may sound funny, but this is actually worse than those people who just put "chapter 1" without any title. Because not putting a title simply shows that they're lazy, the story itself could still be good. But some people don't want to read a story that annoyed them from the chapter titles itself.​

​

3. Also your synopsis is too short. Like we don't know anything about Xavier apart from being an heir of a dukedom. And suddenly you ask the readers if he would escape the wounds from his family. At this point, people ask, "Who? What? Why? Why are you asking me? I don't even know who Xavier is supposed to be."

Okay, that's all. Feel free to ignore it if you think Ai-chan is wrong.

Did what you advised. Will focus on the chapter titles in the morning with a fresh mind ?

Ai-chan hasn't read your story, but don't treat this as Ai-chan saying your story isn't good. Ai-chan doesn't read anyone's story, period. So those who asked Ai-chan for review swaps never got a reply.

However, just from looking at your front page, Ai-chan would suggest the following. Please take note that this is Ai-chan's suggestion, it will not guarantee viewership. But in Ai-chan's opinion, it would at least not turn away people who would judge the book by its cover. Now, Ai-chan may say some really hurting things in this post, but don't think Ai-chan does it because Ai-chan hates you, okay.

1. The cover. It looks boring.

Crimson Dreams was way too centered, leaving the top very empty. If you could move Crimson Dreams way higher, it wouldn't look as empty.​

The two daggers looked way too squashed. You could do this, make it as if the daggers are laid down on a surface, but it looks like someone just took a full sized image of two daggers and pressed it down to simulate a 3D image or to avoid reverse image searches. The problem is, your fonts are 2D.​

"By Kara Dija" implies that you have never made a book cover before, because it shows. The font choice is boring, the bold is not necessary and "by" is also not necessary, actually implies that you're a newbie. Sure there are book covers that do use "by author" but it's often elaborate and exciting, such as "A tale of twisted love by <author>"​

​

2. The chapter titles. It's boring.

You're probably going to say, "But this informs the reader of whose point of view it is." Yes... see this screams amateurish. Now there's nothing wrong with being an amateur, but actually screaming it is another matter. Don't think of your readers as idiots. Your writing should reflect the point of view of the character. If you have first person POV for two characters in your story, no big deal, it can work. If you want to announce it, it's okay too, you can announce it inside the chapter. Just don't put it up as the chapter title.​

Another reason is that it makes it look like you're not creative enough to decide on the chapter titles. This may sound funny, but this is actually worse than those people who just put "chapter 1" without any title. Because not putting a title simply shows that they're lazy, the story itself could still be good. But some people don't want to read a story that annoyed them from the chapter titles itself.​

​

3. Also your synopsis is too short. Like we don't know anything about Xavier apart from being an heir of a dukedom. And suddenly you ask the readers if he would escape the wounds from his family. At this point, people ask, "Who? What? Why? Why are you asking me? I don't even know who Xavier is supposed to be."

Okay, that's all. Feel free to ignore it if you think Ai-chan is wrong.

Did what you advised. Will focus on the chapter titles in the morning with a fresh mind ?

 

[Yuin]

Lowkey, I write for personal enjoyment. Even though I sometimes lose interest in a story arc, I don’t force myself to write chapters. I just do it whenever I feel like it. I actually took a year-long hiatus because I lost interest in my work, lol. But I’m finally out of that phase and back to doing things on my own time, for my own satisfaction and growth. My story is very niche, so even though it gets a decent amount of views, only a small percentage group of people genuinely enjoy what I put out on the internet. At the end of the day, writing is about expressing your ideas, entertaining yourself from time to time, and expanding your world whenever you feel like it.

Even if you’re not confident in your language skills, that doesn’t matter as long as you enjoy the process and the story you’re creating. So don’t delete it, treat it like a diary of your thoughts and ideas. I even promoted mine on TikTok for three days… but then forgot about it

And also about the cover, just go to pinterest and edit the title in canva. Make sure there’s like an action going on/ humans in the illustration.

 

[Lysander_Works]

I've been very excited to finish my novel and its done except for like the last chapter. And while I've had no delusional expectations of being famous overnight, I was hoping to get at least some sort of feedback/interactions when I started publishing.
Now it's just overwhelming, and making me feel like I'm throwing my hard work in a void. I'm not even good at marketing it on insta or any other platform. Should I just delete everything?

This happens to almost every author releasing their first set of works. Getting views and reads takes a lot of time, and when you advertise, you can't sell it as an ad; you must really reach out to people's hearts and desires (doable but it takes considerable effort each time (and lots of time)). But also ask yourself in the meantime, are you doing this for strangers on the internet, or are you doing it for yourself? Maybe both? Maybe for a specific select few? If you aren't at least a little selfish in what you want to gain from this, you will burn out much faster than most.

So no, I would say don't delete it all. Keep it up, and if you decide for yourself one day that it was never good enough, then let that inspire you to make an even better book (or continuation/spinoff of the same book).

 

[Ai-chan]

Thank you Ai chain for taking your sweet time to review everything. Yes I am a newbie in making edits. Striving to improve myself so yer words mean a lot. I'll focus on making myself better by following your advices. And yes I know while it may not guarantee me views but it'll surely help me create a image. (⁠◍⁠•⁠ᴗ⁠•⁠◍⁠)⁠❤

Did what you advised. Will focus on the chapter titles in the morning with a fresh mind ?

Did what you advised. Will focus on the chapter titles in the morning with a fresh mind ?

That's great. Ai-chan forgot to say, but for book covers, you can head on over to canva. There you can look at the examples of book covers and even make your own easily. Don't look at the paid option, just use the free version. As a new author you will not particularly need the paid option.

p/s: Your new cover is much better.

 

[Kara_dija]

T

That's great. Ai-chan forgot to say, but for book covers, you can head on over to canva. There you can look at the examples of book covers and even make your own easily. Don't look at the paid option, just use the free version. As a new author you will not particularly need the paid option.

p/s: Your new cover is much better.

This is exactly what I did. Still i ended up making my own, except for the fonts ?

This happens to almost every author releasing their first set of works. Getting views and reads takes a lot of time, and when you advertise, you can't sell it as an ad; you must really reach out to people's hearts and desires (doable but it takes considerable effort each time (and lots of time)). But also ask yourself in the meantime, are you doing this for strangers on the internet, or are you doing it for yourself? Maybe both? Maybe for a specific select few? If you aren't at least a little selfish in what you want to gain from this, you will burn out much faster than most.

So no, I would say don't delete it all. Keep it up, and if you decide for yourself one day that it was never good enough, then let that inspire you to make an even better book (or continuation/spinoff of the same book).

You're right. In the beginning I did have some great expectations ngl, delusional even. But I got off that high pretty early on when I joined the writing community and realised it's not that easy to make a name. So for now, we're riding just because at the end of the day I love what I write?

 

[butierHHF]

How long it's normally to get followers from scratch (without any marketing on IG, etc)?

 

[DeepWater]

Sometimes it's best to cut your losses and write something new.

 

[Kara_dija]

How long it's normally to get followers from scratch (without any marketing on IG, etc)?

I'm not sure.