Turns out the trending thing is random

[Gryphon]

My piece of ass work that needs heavy rewriting in the beginning getting barely any views cause I went on hiatus for like three months then came back only to post once a week somehow got on there when in my peak I was posting once every day spewing shit out of my mouth with the trendiest of tags and genres and easily getting double from what I get now didn't get on there.

So for any new authors that are obsessing on getting on that trending, don't obsess too hard. Turns out it really is completely random.

 

[Deleted member 93348]

So I could just write the worst loli, ecchi, pedobait harem novel out there… and garner 1k-2k readers? I know there's a bunch of effed up ppl out there who love this trash, but still. Even if the prose is loaded with passive voice, tense errors, and a liberal usage of bold and italics, I can see it going to trending.

I should note tho that getting into the Rising Stars in RR is entirely different: you gotta beg for reviews, every two days recommend, and every week at minimum. If you don’t do this as soon as you publish your novel, it’s pretty much dead in the water.

I can vouch for this with my first work, which was an isekai fantasy, though it wasn’t what ppl wanted. They wanted a self-insert blank slate Kirito clone as the MC, not a bloodthirsty fight-seeker in the same vein as Gilgamesh, Kenpachi, and Yujiro, and one who heals opponents just so he can fight them again.

 

[Cipiteca396]

Sort of. Your case is fairly consistent with other reports. A long hiatus means that your user interaction was low, and coming back means that it suddenly jumped up all at once. 0+1+1+1+1+1= 5. A gradual growth that doesn't draw the system's eye. But 0+5 is a sudden spike that makes your story LOOK popular. The only problem is that the hiatus harms your story almost as much as the Trending helps it. So this method is pretty useless.

 

[Gryphon]

So I could just write the worst loli, ecchi, pedobait harem novel out there… and garner 1k-2k readers? I know there's a bunch of effed up ppl out there who love this trash, but still. Even if the prose is loaded with passive voice, tense errors, and a liberal usage of bold and italics, I can see it going to trending.

I should note tho that getting into the Rising Stars in RR is entirely different: you gotta beg for reviews, every two days recommend, and every week at minimum. If you don’t do this as soon as you publish your novel, it’s pretty much dead in the water.

Don't get me started with RR. That place is filled with people begging for review swaps. Back when I was on RR, I did the same thing and it got me nowhere. It also led me to feel empty inside when I didn't do as well as I wanted it to. Then I came here and realized, numbers don't matter.

 

[ThrillingHuman]

So I could just write the worst loli, ecchi, pedobait harem novel out there… and garner 1k-2k readers? I know there's a bunch of effed up ppl out there who love this trash, but still. Even if the prose is loaded with passive voice, tense errors, and a liberal usage of bold and italics, I can see it going to trending.

I should note tho that getting into the Rising Stars in RR is entirely different: you gotta beg for reviews, every two days recommend, and every week at minimum. If you don’t do this as soon as you publish your novel, it’s pretty much dead in the water.

I can vouch for this with my first work, which was an isekai fantasy, though it wasn’t what ppl wanted. They wanted a self-insert blank slate Kirito clone as the MC, not a bloodthirsty fight-seeker in the same vein as Gilgamesh, Kenpachi, and Yujiro, and one who heals opponents just so he can fight them again.

But I notice the quality of stories there is way higher than on trending here. I basically don't use my reading list after discovering rss, but looking at my rss list, like >60% of the stories are read from rrl

 

[Deleted member 93348]

Don't get me started with RR. That place is filled with people begging for review swaps. Back when I was on RR, I did the same thing and it got me nowhere. It also led me to feel empty inside when I didn't do as well as I wanted it to. Then I came here and realized, numbers don't matter.

I should’ve noted this as well, but getting into the Rising Stars is a lot more complicated than SH’s Trending. Not only do you need at least decent and consistent writing (prose, delivery, etc.), but you also need a synopsis that hooks readers in, and it’s more demanding there than in SH. A cool ass cover will also catch their attention, but I got 30+ followers with a generic template cover I found online, so it’s not really important.

But I notice the quality of stories there is way higher than on trending here. I basically don't use my reading list after discovering rss, but looking at my rss list, like >60% of the stories are read from rrl

RR has a much bigger and more diverse audience than SH, so it’s to be expected.

 

[Gryphon]

I should’ve noted this as well, but getting into the Rising Stars is a lot more complicated than SH’s Trending. Not only do you need at least decent and consistent writing (prose, delivery, etc.), but you also need a synopsis that hooks readers in, and it’s more demanding there than in SH. A cool ass cover will also catch their attention, but I got 30+ followers with a generic template cover I found online, so it’s not really important.

True. Back when I wrote on RR, the thing I was writing wasn't the best. I had a story in mind, but at the time I didn't have the talent to write it. The same case can be said for my current story also, but as I kept on writing it, the better I got, and though I still have trouble on tense, I can do some mighty fine prose when I get into it.

For instance, here's a paragraph from my second chapter that I didn't change in my rewrite cause I didn't want to: I guess she didn’t. Or maybe she did, but just not directly. People are confusing. I’m confusing my confusion. I am Ty.

Here's a sentence from like fifty chapters in: Freedom doesn’t last forever. Sooner or later, the world will speed up and become nothing but a blur. Once I finish my run, I’ll have to slow down and face this world head on. Humanity made these buildings, these walls, these streets, but that’s what makes it feel so claustrophobic. It turns out humanity has a curse. In pursuit of true freedom, rid of all negative consequence, they’ll cage themselves in their cities and homes. Little do they know, the only way to be truly free is to give up comfortability for the ability to choose. One cannot exist with the other in power.

That's kind of what I like about this story so much. It's basically like my own little journal that progressed my skills as an author. There's still a whole lot I have to work on, but in time I know I can get there.

 

[Ilikewaterkusa]

My piece of ass work that needs heavy rewriting in the beginning getting barely any views cause I went on hiatus for like three months then came back only to post once a week somehow got on there when in my peak I was posting once every day spewing shit out of my mouth with the trendiest of tags and genres and easily getting double from what I get now didn't get on there.

So for any new authors that are obsessing on getting on that trending, don't obsess too hard. Turns out it really is completely random.

thumbnail thumbnail thumbnail. Success is in the thumbnails

 

[Deleted member 93348]

True. Back when I wrote on RR, the thing I was writing wasn't the best. I had a story in mind, but at the time I didn't have the talent to write it. The same case can be said for my current story also, but as I kept on writing it, the better I got, and though I still have trouble on tense, I can do some mighty fine prose when I get into it.

For instance, here's a paragraph from my second chapter that I didn't change in my rewrite cause I didn't want to: I guess she didn’t. Or maybe she did, but just not directly. People are confusing. I’m confusing my confusion. I am Ty.

Here's a sentence from like fifty chapters in: Freedom doesn’t last forever. Sooner or later, the world will speed up and become nothing but a blur. Once I finish my run, I’ll have to slow down and face this world head on. Humanity made these buildings, these walls, these streets, but that’s what makes it feel so claustrophobic. It turns out humanity has a curse. In pursuit of true freedom, rid of all negative consequence, they’ll cage themselves in their cities and homes. Little do they know, the only way to be truly free is to give up comfortability for the ability to choose. One cannot exist with the other in power.

That's kind of what I like about this story so much. It's basically like my own little journal that progressed my skills as an author. There's still a whole lot I have to work on, but in time I know I can get there.

The prose is fine, actually, but if I have to guess why it didn’t take off from the beginning, it’s because present-tense turns off most ppl. I haven’t published my upcoming novel yet, but the feedback for my prose was really positive, that its readability was high. It’s similar to the paragraph of your second chapter, only in third-person, very witty, and full off gen Z slang:

The profound “hero” asked himself: was the latest hot single in this city mid in reality—or an absolute banger? The otherworld of Parallaxis was down on vielle music for a good old tavern jig, yet sometimes, a trendy hip hop track with a heavily vocoded intro. But hey, music was music, right? It was one less motherfucker here to give a toss over what to listen today, so the “hero” put on his earpods and set them at max volume.

So, yeah, my prose is straightforward, doesn’t beat around the bush, but after said feedback, I decided to slow the pace.

 

[Gryphon]

The prose is fine, actually, but if I have to guess why it didn’t take off from the beginning, it’s because present-tense turns off most ppl. I haven’t published my upcoming novel yet, but the feedback for my prose was really positive, that its readability was high. It’s similar to the paragraph of your second chapter, only in third-person, very witty, and full off gen Z slang:

So, the profound “hero” asked himself: was the latest hot single in this city mid in reality or an absolute banger? The otherworld of Parallaxis was down on vielle music for a good old tavern jig, yet sometimes, a trendy hip hop track with a heavily vocoded intro. But hey, music was music, right? It was one less motherfucker here to give a toss over what to listen today, so the “hero” put on his earpods and set it at max volume.

So, yeah, my prose is straightforward, doesn’t beat around the bush, but after said feedback, I decided to slow the pace.

Yeah, I'm sure you're right. Back when I was writing the first few chapters, I tried writing first person so I can get experience in it, and plus in my eyes, first person writing usually creates a more relaxed feeling in people. It's not common, and whenever it's seen, its usually in stories that don't take themselves seriously or they're written by beginners.

My story gets really dark later on, and I wanted to do a whole bait and switch thing where everything seems okay and all at first, but then the rug gets pulled out and it turns out the world I'm writing is a cruel place.

However, I think that backfired hard because I was so used to writing in past tense that I kept switching between past and present. I've usually had difficulty in keeping tense accurate, but during writing the first chapters it was the worst I'd been. I've switched back to past tense, and I plan on getting everything else back in straight later.

 

[georgelee5786]

Then I came here and realized, numbers don't matter.

I beg that you share that wisdom with my foolish self

 

[RepresentingCaution]

It's because you gave my story a one-star rating. Only people who give my story a one-star rating can get on trending.

 

[Zirrboy]

It's because you gave my story a one-star rating. Only people who give my story a one-star rating can get on trending.

 

[Zakuro]

It's because you gave my story a one-star rating. Only people who give my story a one-star rating can get on trending.

Giving her story a one-star rating isn't enough. You have to give her story a one-star rating carefully.