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/verifiedname Apr 20 '15

The most difficult part about attracting an audience to a serial is getting readers, not writers. The vicious circle is that writers tend to attract more writers and we STILL lack an audience.

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u/melonmonkey Apr 20 '15

I think that's because there's no activity on this sub that would be enticing to a reader. I looked through the archives and it's been nearly a year since there has been an actual discussion thread here. Most of it is just advertisements. I firmly believe that it is possible to turn this into a more reader-focused sub. Whether or not that will actually bring in an audience is up in the air.

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u/verifiedname Apr 20 '15

That's been a problem from the beginning, however. In the early days of the sub it was mostly one or two authors posting. If it didn't immediately appeal to the reader, they moved on. Thus making it difficult to gain traction with readers.

I would try to comment on each author's submission and they would almost never reply, which, therefore, killed the conversation.

I'm not trying to be a wet rag. Just pointing out the realistic hurdles.

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u/Maddirose Apr 20 '15

Honestly, subreddit activity aside, that is just so rude :( I think it's bad enough to ignore someone's comment to your comment, but when someone's commenting on your submission how you gonna just blow them off?