Question on announcing a completed story.

[JoshuaWaukee]

Hello, I am close to completing a story I'm working on but I have a couple of questions.
Are we allowed to make such post announcing new stories, i.e. "I have just completed blah blah blah, please read!"?
If so, what is the correct forum to post such announcements?

I didn't want to take a chance starting off on the wrong foot by posting in a forum I'm not supposed to.

 

[Dec]

Yes.
Author General. Or Story Feedback, if you want one.
But it has so much effect as shaking your fist towards the sun. There are mostly authors on this forum, so you will "promote" to them, not to readers.

 

[L1aei]

@JoshuaWaukee You could also include a link to the completed story in your signature; I've seen others doing that with their novel covers.

 

[Author_Riceball]

Hello, I am close to completing a story I'm working on but I have a couple of questions.
Are we allowed to make such post announcing new stories, i.e. "I have just completed blah blah blah, please read!"?
If so, what is the correct forum to post such announcements?

I didn't want to take a chance starting off on the wrong foot by posting in a forum I'm not supposed to.

How long is it

 

[JordanIda]

There are mostly authors on this forum, so you will "promote" to them, not to readers.

I'm new here as well, but this point (by Decaded) became evident within hours of lurking.

Now that I've begun posting, I'm wrestling with something else. Yes, concurrent user activity on the Forum is very low, but at least one can go into the Members list and do the math, to see how large (or small) the audience is. What about the main website, where people come to Read? The main site does not advertise a Members list. Does anyone know how big the list of registered members is?

I ask because four or five chapters into the posting of my book, the daily uptick of Views is very small. One can expect perhaps 1% to 3% of Viewers to become Readers. So the potential for building an audience is constrained by the size of the pool. It looks like the number of people browsing the aisles, looking for something to read, is very small. What gives? Is the site in decline? Was it always this way? Do successful authors bring their audiences here, and if so, why do they post here?

 

[L1aei]

One can expect perhaps 1% to 3% of Viewers to become Readers.

Where are you getting those expectations from?

 

[Representing_Tromba]

That is perfectly fine to do. It is an announcement that should be celebrated!

 

[Eldoria]

I'm new here as well, but this point (by Decaded) became evident within hours of lurking.

Now that I've begun posting, I'm wrestling with something else. Yes, concurrent user activity on the Forum is very low, but at least one can go into the Members list and do the math, to see how large (or small) the audience is. What about the main website, where people come to Read? The main site does not advertise a Members list. Does anyone know how big the list of registered members is?

I ask because four or five chapters into the posting of my book, the daily uptick of Views is very small. One can expect perhaps 1% to 3% of Viewers to become Readers. So the potential for building an audience is constrained by the size of the pool. It looks like the number of people browsing the aisles, looking for something to read, is very small. What gives? Is the site in decline? Was it always this way? Do successful authors bring their audiences here, and if so, why do they post here?

Well, your problem is very classic: story packaging. The SH ecosystem is different from RR. SH relies more on visibility than recommendation algorithms.

Therefore, the general strategy for promoting fiction on SH is (1) posting chapters regularly - usually 2 - 4 chapters per week; (2) creating an attractive fiction packaging.

This point includes: (a) an attractive cover - it is recommended to use an anime/LN style cover with 1 elegant heroine figure, (b) a synopsis that has a strong but concise hook, (c) a prominent title, don't be too generic, (d) use genres and tags that suit your content, (e) finally, provide additional trigger warming according to the vulnerability of your content so that readers don't feel lied to by story gimmicks.

You might consider these suggestions if you want to increase the visibility of your fiction.

Regards.

 

[JordanIda]

Where are you getting those expectations from?

Standard direct response marketing expectations for cold prospect acquisition. It varies by pitch, product, call to action, and so on, but the numbers have held for decades. Direct mail advertising, around 1%. Email promotions are much, much lower-- even when accounting for spam blocks, on the order of 0.005% or less, but production costs are much less, too. Telemarketing (how I hate telemarketers) is quite high, more like 2-3%, because people don't know how to say no. (Though telemarketing is in decline, with the decline of land lines.)

So, yeah. Human nature.

Here, one would expect conversion to be on the high end of the scale, given the pool is coming to the books. My little project is proof of that. A week and five chapters in, I have a very good conversion rate, close to 3%. But Views is very low. Not enough window shoppers to move the needle meaningfully.

 

[L1aei]

Standard direct response marketing expectations for cold prospect acquisition. It varies by pitch, product, call to action, and so on, but the numbers have held for decades. Direct mail advertising, around 1%. Email promotions are much, much lower-- even when accounting for spam blocks, on the order of 0.005% or less, but production costs are much less, too. Telemarketing (how I hate telemarketers) is quite high, more like 2-3%, because people don't know how to say no. (Though telemarketing is in decline, with the decline of land lines.)

So, yeah. Human nature.

Here, one would expect conversion to be on the high end of the scale, given the pool is coming to the books. My little project is proof of that. A week and five chapters in, I have a very good conversion rate, close to 3%. But Views is very low. Not enough window shoppers to move the needle meaningfully.

I think I understood a quarter of that.

 

[JordanIda]

Thanks Eldoria, I'm doing all that stuff (I think). I'm just asking if there's a way to know how many people are actually looking.

 

[Dec]

I'm just asking if there's a way to know how many people are actually looking.

Yes, there is.
In your story statistics section.

 

[JordanIda]

Yes, there is.
In your story statistics section.

Thanks. Yes, that section shows Views. But it doesn't show how big the pool is. That is, how many readers are on the site. So if I get 50 views in a day (nowhere close, just an example), is that good or bad? If the pool is 500 people on the site, 50 views is awesome. But if the pool is 50,000 people on the site, that's not so great, and Eldoria's right that I've gotta pitch the whole thing into the flames and go back to the drawing board.

Everyone sorry I'm being so analytical / anal about this. Definitely overthinking it. I'll just post stuff and see what happens. Thanks.

 

[Dec]

how many readers are on the site.

If I remember correctly, forum accounts are synced with the main site. So you can assume there are at least 158,041 accounts as of now.
But yes, there is no way to be sure.