Story struggling to find new readers

[Blusky]

Hey everyone,

I’ve run into a bit of a slowdown and wanted to ask for some perspective. When I first started posting my story, things looked encouraging—around 6 readers early on and 20–25 views per chapter. But lately it feels like I’ve hit the usual plateau: new chapters barely reach 5 views, and no fresh readers seem to be coming in.

Is this kind of dip just a normal stage after the initial launch, or does it usually mean the newer chapters aren’t connecting as well? I’d love to hear about your own experiences with this.

I’ve poured a lot into this project—writing, rewriting, re‑plotting, and refining again and again. Beyond the action, world‑building, and characters, I’ve worked hard to weave in a message that matters deeply to me, and I believe it could resonate with others too. That’s why I’d be grateful for any feedback, criticism, or advice.

If anyone has a moment to check out a few chapters and leave a comment, it would mean the world to me.

Thanks in advance!

Here's the link to the story:

Steal the Light

 

[Eldoria]

Here's a small suggestion. You could use a specific format for chapter numbers (e.g., vol. 1 chapter 1: prologue - chapter title) to make your novel look more professional and less confusing to readers. Other authors are welcome to provide feedback.

 

[AmbreaTaddy]

Hey everyone,

I’ve run into a bit of a slowdown and wanted to ask for some perspective. When I first started posting my story, things looked encouraging—around 6 readers early on and 20–25 views per chapter. But lately it feels like I’ve hit the usual plateau: new chapters barely reach 5 views, and no fresh readers seem to be coming in.

Is this kind of dip just a normal stage after the initial launch, or does it usually mean the newer chapters aren’t connecting as well? I’d love to hear about your own experiences with this.

I’ve poured a lot into this project—writing, rewriting, re‑plotting, and refining again and again. Beyond the action, world‑building, and characters, I’ve worked hard to weave in a message that matters deeply to me, and I believe it could resonate with others too. That’s why I’d be grateful for any feedback, criticism, or advice.

If anyone has a moment to check out a few chapters and leave a comment, it would mean the world to me.

Thanks in advance!

Here's the link to the story:

Steal the Light

I checked it out quickly and here are a few hints that could help :

- Number your chapters (ex : 'Chapter 1 : Like hot bronze pouring through his mind'). Without a number, it is very hard to remember where you stopped reading and where you should go back. It also helps when you go on the story's page and you can immediately see the number of the last chapters, to see how many have been uploaded (the number on the profile says nothing, some people post announcements or notice as a chapter, so only the chapter titles with the numbers are reliable). Personally, if I see a story without any structure in the titles, there is 80% chance that I won't even bother trying to read. No structure in titles often means no structure in the story.

- The synopsis is really good, at least for the first part. Take out the 'What to expect', it won't make people want to read your story more, to the contrary. Most will look at the blurb, think 'That's too long' and go their way. And either way, your 'What to expect' is already in the first part of the synopsis. Real world ? Yeah, we know, you mentionned America. Magic ? Of course, you talked about a light power. Competition ? Well you talked about a tournament and rivalry, so that's obvious. Your 'What to expect' doesn't bring anything new, take it out.


Now, let's talk about why you don't have more readers, excluding what I mentionned before. You see, your story has been out for a month, but there are only 17 chapters. Most readers won't start a story if it has less than 20/50/100 chapters, because they don't want to be interrupted if they enjoy it. That's why the strategy to have a story that really works is to keep writing secretly and, when you finally upload the story, post a dozen chapters in one go on the first day.

Right now, you are in the awkward stage : It's been a month, so it's not new enough for people to get excited, but it doesn't have enough chapters for the big readers to start getting interested.

The only thing you can do is grit your teeth and make sure that your story is a good one. Eventually, if it's good enough, you will slowly have more people coming to check it out and stay to read everything. Luck is also a big part of it, if you end up in 'trending' your story can really flare up.

 

[Blusky]

Here's a small suggestion. You could use a specific format for chapter numbers (e.g., vol. 1 chapter 1: prologue - chapter title) to make your novel look more professional and less confusing to readers. Other authors are welcome to provide feedback.

thank's, I've started adding the chapter numbers at least.

I checked it out quickly and here are a few hints that could help :

- Number your chapters (ex : 'Chapter 1 : Like hot bronze pouring through his mind'). Without a number, it is very hard to remember where you stopped reading and where you should go back. It also helps when you go on the story's page and you can immediately see the number of the last chapters, to see how many have been uploaded (the number on the profile says nothing, some people post announcements or notice as a chapter, so only the chapter titles with the numbers are reliable). Personally, if I see a story without any structure in the titles, there is 80% chance that I won't even bother trying to read. No structure in titles often means no structure in the story.

- The synopsis is really good, at least for the first part. Take out the 'What to expect', it won't make people want to read your story more, to the contrary. Most will look at the blurb, think 'That's too long' and go their way. And either way, your 'What to expect' is already in the first part of the synopsis. Real world ? Yeah, we know, you mentionned America. Magic ? Of course, you talked about a light power. Competition ? Well you talked about a tournament and rivalry, so that's obvious. Your 'What to expect' doesn't bring anything new, take it out.


Now, let's talk about why you don't have more readers, excluding what I mentionned before. You see, your story has been out for a month, but there are only 17 chapters. Most readers won't start a story if it has less than 20/50/100 chapters, because they don't want to be interrupted if they enjoy it. That's why the strategy to have a story that really works is to keep writing secretly and, when you finally upload the story, post a dozen chapters in one go on the first day.

Right now, you are in the awkward stage : It's been a month, so it's not new enough for people to get excited, but it doesn't have enough chapters for the big readers to start getting interested.

The only thing you can do is grit your teeth and make sure that your story is a good one. Eventually, if it's good enough, you will slowly have more people coming to check it out and stay to read everything. Luck is also a big part of it, if you end up in 'trending' your story can really flare up.

thanks, very useful, I've already scheduled a ton of new chapters, I'll get the story up to 50 in a few days :)

 

[Eldoria]

thank's, I've started adding the chapter numbers at least.

thanks, very useful, I've already scheduled a ton of new chapters, I'll get the story up to 50 in a few days :)

This may not be advice, but I want to say, no matter how good a novel's content is, it doesn't necessarily mean the market will like it. Remember, readers only read what they like. In other words, popularity is largely determined by reader preferences.

You need to analyze what market niche your novel occupies? Who is your target market? Does the platform support the right potential readers for your novel? This is what is called market analysis. If you want your novel to be popular, then market analysis is mandatory.

However, if you're writing simply for fun or self-actualization, then write what you think is worth writing. Good luck!

 

[JayMark]

If your writing is solid, entertaining, easy to read, and not AI generated, then keep on keeping on as long as you can afford to while improving on the smaller points.

Don't get hung up on numbers. Don't let haters get into your head and knock you out of the game. Be open to the need to improve. Keep what advice benefits you, and throw out anything that does nothing but discourage you. Being as productive as you can and finishing you works is one of the best strategies.

 

[DeepWater]

Based on the fact that you aren't getting any views at all, people aren't even giving your book a chance. You need a better cover and synopsis to draw people in. You might even want to change your title.

 

[Jianzheng1w]

I am not great with fantasy, but make sure that your synopsis matches your cover!!! They are synergistic!

Within your first chapter I see pop culture references. Does this sort of meta fiction add or detract from your main message? What if the reader only has a vague idea of Spiderman? In that case I'd just assume you had no idea how to actually describe something other than through someone else's ideas.

Does the sarcasm at the dad's bar add or detract from your main message?

Would you be up for cracking jokes and basically returning to normal after discovering supernatural magic?

Think about plausibility of behavior.

 

[Juia_Darkcrest]

I will state first I only glanced at the synopsis page quickly.

I just want to reiterate the point that it will be the number of chapters that will really gain interest.

Also your chapters are quite large, the average says 3800 ish words each. I haven't read them to see if it was feasible, but you could almost split them in half, doing 1800-2000 word chapters, which many find preferable when reading a webnovel. This would in turn give you about 35-40 chapters complete, which is a big draw for potential readers.

That and time will continue to boost your numbers. That and if the story is any good, or hooks the readers in, but i haven't read that deeply into your work.

 

[Anonjohn20]

Also your chapters are quite large, the average says 3800 ish words each.

Nice catch. The truth is that while in print, a chapter can be as long as the author likes (the readers can use a bookmark on any page); in web novel format, chapters should be short, as readers don't want to leave a chapter halfway.