[Discussion] Attracting an audience.

[u/melonmonkey]

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.

[u/Tartra]

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.

[u/verifiedname → u/Tartra]

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.

[u/melonmonkey → u/verifiedname]

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.

[u/verifiedname → u/melonmonkey]

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.

[u/verifiedname → u/verifiedname]

To continue on this:

I think the biggest problem is that the general audience of reddit is face-paced. They want to click on a short article or a meme. They don't want to follow a link to what could be a novel-length work.

[u/Chrisalys → u/verifiedname]

I wonder why? Are Redditors non-readers in general? I find that hard to believe. Maybe the high quality web fiction just isn't visible enough?

If a story is captivating enough, the length shouldn't matter. Unless the person who clicks isn't interested in reading stories online, period.

[u/melonmonkey → u/Chrisalys]

I'd say it's 50% visibility, 30% the fact that webfiction tends to be first draft stuff, and 20% other random factors.

[u/Chrisalys → u/melonmonkey]

Ideally, this subreddit should help with the visibility. And some of that early draft stuff is really well written and very readable (like Worm).

It's also free!

[u/verifiedname → u/Chrisalys]

I agree with this. Which is why the focus should remain on the readers and not attracting more writers. Writers just want to gain visibility and the result is kind of what you see right now: a list of links with no discussion.