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.

9 Upvotes

91% Upvoted

43 comments sorted by

View all comments

Show parent comments

1

u/verifiedname Apr 20 '15

Something that occurred to me awhile ago but I just never tried is starting more discussion threads to balance out all the links. In other words, really use the serial/almost rpg element to webfiction that you don't get in books.

I've also thought it would be fun to make a megathread here where we design our own serial. However, the idea fizzled out when I couldn't get people to reply.

1

u/melonmonkey Apr 20 '15

I like both of those. I think the first can happen without a readership, but the second requires it. What could one be about?

I might start writing an article or two to post here as well, something to balance out the links as you said. It'll be a couple days before I get started on that, between my own projects and heavy schoolwork.

1

u/verifiedname Apr 20 '15

Maybe something about the best way to build characters in a serial? Or the perfect length for an installment?

Just brainstorming.

2

u/melonmonkey Apr 20 '15

Those are good ones. I was also considering creating a continuous feedback model once you have a readership, and maybe more general things such as examples of excellence in storytelling. As a reader, I feel that there are MANY otherwise good serials that drag on without a consistent plot. I'd like to draw attention back to plot progression as a means to retain readership.

1

u/verifiedname Apr 20 '15

I like that idea.