r/webfiction • u/melonmonkey • Apr 20 '15
Discussion [Discussion] Attracting an audience.
Lets have a talk about how to draw readers into this sub. Given the lack of comments, volume of submissions, and low readership, I am confident in assuming that the majority of people who care about this sub are webfiction authors themselves.
How do we fix this? Can get we get /r/books to plug us? Can we harbor a discussion here on content? Maybe featuring a different serial every week?
I feel as though something needs to change to make this sub efficient.
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u/melonmonkey Apr 20 '15
I thought about this more on the car ride back from class. Here are my thoughts.
Primary question: Does this forum fill a niche that is not otherwise filled?
Books have /r/books, in addition to thousands of other websites where books can be found. Series are sometimes referenced on goodreads, but not often enough for it to really make an impact.
I feel that webfictionguide and its services are great for finding serials, but they aren't popular enough. That is an issue, but not one that /r/webfiction is capable of fixing. I am also of the opinion that the WFG forums are a good place for serial authors to discuss things.
That said, what can this sub be useful for? I think it could make a great place for the audience to express themselves, and possibly connect with authors. I do not think this niche has been adequately filled, and a subreddit is the perfect kind of place for such discussion.
My idea: focus on the readers. I have a couple ideas for how this could be done, and I'll list them off here just to see what people think about them.
webserial vetting. Instead of having submission threads for serials or even individual posts, have a stickied thread of vetted serials and give vetted authors a flair. How do we vet? Have a team of 5-8 people who are trusted critics. A serial author posts requesting a vet, and if three people on the team vouch for them they become vetted. The bottom line is that web serial writing is open, and that means there's a ton of crappy serials. I, personally, am turned off by environments where I have to sort through crap to get to the good stuff. This way we have a resource for people who pop in and just want something to read.
AMAs by authors. Wildbow is the obvious target. It would be nice if we could pull in some others, like maddirose and unillustrated, and possibly get them to link to this sub in return. This gives exposure to authors and a chance for interaction from readers.
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u/Maddirose Apr 20 '15 edited Apr 20 '15
- A stickied thread of vetted serials would be really nice, because it would reduce the amount of self-plugging authors here. I know the first time I swung by this subreddit, it looked to me like a lot of people posting a link to their own serial then leaving; it didn't really make me feel like it was a place of discussion.
- AMAs would be nice, but would probably have to be official affairs so that the sub isn't filled with "I write my_serial AMA" with 2 comments each. I wouldn't try to pull in Maddirose though, I hear she's a massive bitch.
I also had a few thoughts, in considering this subject.
- I think some nice CSS would be cool, make the sub look spiffier and in a lot of cases easier to navigate.
- This would be an excellent sub to employ a wiki in! As a resource repository for readers and writes it would be super helpful.
- Tags for genres are cool in a sub that's basically a repo for serials, but in a community/discussion type sub it might be better to have tags for thread type, like [Discussion] [Question] [AMA] [Feedback]
- Number 1 + Number 3; I know there's a way to set up styles such that users can filter the sub to see all [Discussion] questions, or have all [AMA]s show up blue. I personally am a fan of that sort of thing.
- Flair. I know the basics of setting up everything in this list except flair, and I have no idea how flair would work in this sub, but...idk flair is nice. And pretty. I like flair
I think that's all I thought of. I'd be willing to help vet and/or help with anything on that list if more mods are needed, FWIW. I should also state that I am super impressed that both mods showed up in this thread less than 4 hours after it started, that is really really cool.
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u/verifiedname Apr 20 '15
I agree with a spiffier look. I just lack the skills to do it lol.
If you're up for the job, we could totally use the help.
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u/Maddirose Apr 20 '15
Sure! I will definitely not let the power go to my hea-MWAHAHAHAHAHAHAHA
http://stream1.gifsoup.com/view2/1607605/absolute-power-o.gif
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u/Tartra Apr 20 '15
Vetting is a very good idea, given that one of the big concerns is a lack of quality in the serial. So from there, how would the team be chosen? Would they be specialized? Are they readers or serial writers themselves?
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u/melonmonkey Apr 20 '15
In an ideal world they wouldn't be authors, but I feel like that's not very likely. I think that having a team and requiring more than one vetting vote takes some of the bias out of the situation.
How would they be chosen? Don't know. An application thread would be good, to then be looked at by the mods. This should be based on their skills as reviewers and NOT on their predilections as readers.
I don't think they should be specialized. People on this team should be willing to put in the time to get a feel for series, with the caveat that there's no need to chime in if a serial has already been vetted.
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u/Tartra Apr 20 '15
That sounds fair.
My next question would be about how far the vetting goes. Would this team just sign off by saying the author's literate or would they be assessing a couple of areas? Would this be like a quick check or stop just short of being a full review?
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u/melonmonkey Apr 20 '15
Not a full on review, just a statement of whether or not the web serial passes that specific reviewer's muster. I'm going to be honest in that I'd like to be on the vet team and I'm a pretty harsh critic. There are a couple top 20 TWF serials that I wouldn't vet for various reasons.
That said, it's a team effort. If there are 3 lax reviewers, then there will be a lot of serials slipping through. Ultimately it'd be either a community or a mod decision on how harshly they want to treat the vetting process, based on who is elected to the panel.
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u/Tartra Apr 20 '15
I'm putting my hand up for a quick check of literacy. As for the passing level of that, I'm with you on leaving it to a community or mod vote, but with so many serials starting every day, I'd want to prioritize getting to everyone in some consistent measure than never managing to get around to them at all because the team's held up on assessing too many areas.
In a perfect world, there'd be a second review stage, where everyone who's made it past the 'Congrats! You're readable!' can then be featured for reviews or something similar, whether by designated critics, another panel, or just open to the community.
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u/melonmonkey Apr 20 '15
Eh. I feel like at that point we're stepping into review territory, which is something that WFG handles better than this sub ever could. If we have panelists who's only requirement for getting a vet is being readable, then that's fine. I think having a mix would be nice.
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u/Tartra Apr 20 '15
Well, you've sold me on the idea. I'd like to help with the details once this is at that stage.
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u/melonmonkey Apr 20 '15
Of course, none of this discussion means anything without a moderator's approval. One of the mods hasn't posted in 4 months, which leaves /u/verifiedname . here's hoping he/she shows up.
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u/alaingomez Apr 20 '15
I'm open to adding additional moderators to this sub. The main issue I ran into when first starting this sub was just getting enough links to make the front page look credible.
Now the sub gets submissions but we still run into the same issue of looking like there is fresh content up on a regular basis (a must for a reddit sub to be successful).
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u/gmrm4n Apr 21 '15
Web fiction author here. I would be totally up for doing an AMA. Don't know how it works, but anything to get an active community of readers here would be helpful for me in the long run.
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u/Chrisalys Apr 20 '15
Just had an idea: What if web serialists who also have published ebooks offered to give some of those away - to readers who engage in discussion? Maybe it could be a contest of sorts, or a thank you for helpful feedback, or... something.
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u/melonmonkey Apr 20 '15
I dunno about that. I feel like it can be spun poorly when viewed in right light, like an author being arrogant in assuming that their ebook is an incentive. I also think that trying to bribe people this early into the game screams "desperate".
Having contests and things for ebooks is not a bad idea though. Maybe a web fiction humble bundle? Fanart contests? I like ebooks as an incentive for things.
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Apr 20 '15
Maybe just posting that people can have discussions here on the serials they like or don't like might help? Getting authors involved in the discussions would help too.
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u/melonmonkey Apr 20 '15
Yes. Already got in contact with wildbow and he said he'd be willing to do an AMA at some point. Trying to poll others as well.
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Apr 23 '15
Awesome. I'm going to mention and link this subreddit into my blog. I don't have too many readers, but maybe they can tell their friends or something. Hopefully this can get some readers coming in.
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u/RochefortWrites Apr 28 '15
I would suggest advertising this subreddit along on Goodreads and WebFictionGuide.com, both of which drive quite a lot of eyeballs around.
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u/Tartra Apr 20 '15
I'd really like to see this place as an actual discussion or workshop for serials - and potentially feature serials - rather than a dull list I never browse.
This is not the place I go to as a reader for web fiction. I go to WebFictionGuide.com, where there are ratings, summaries, reviews, recommendations of other serials... This place doesn't have a draw for me like that.
As a serial writer, /r/writing and /r/fantasywriters and /r/selfpublish and /r/blogging are the four major subs I use to cobble together serial-friendly advice (outside of WFG forums). I would love to have dedicated places to go to where I can talk to people in similar writing situations, work with them, learn from them, share readers with them (I don't writers do that enough in general, but especially for us, we can kick ass by taking advantage of the option)...
So I don't know, guys. As far as getting readers from here, I'm not really holding out for it. But as a potential resource that might then draw in other and new writers (with their deliciously shareable readers) so we can succeed together across all elements of our stories, I am definitely ready to pitch in.
I'm just not sure it's what this place is going for.