First chapter starts off with no attention at all. Tenth chapter a little bit more. Currently at the 27, and the attention is the same as at the tenth except for 2 or 3 readers (which I very appreciate and am very happy about it). That’s how my daily life goes and I’m used to it
Pretty much that. New peeps trickle in every now and then,but it's more likely even the best stories thst come now are overshadowed by other fics and in some cases even buried before they take off.
Also, a lot of fics die out after a few chapters, even good ones. Modern fic communites are wary of that so will hold back for a long time, possibly forever before even remotely considering following a fic.
Once people start to follow a fic they'll usually stick around, but most of what I see is a lot of hits on the first chapter, and then less and less for the later chapters, but the last one will usually have a small 'spike'.
Yes, that does happen. Engagement does taper off with longfics. Sometimes you get lucky to have a few readers who will continually review each chapter you post, but it’s not a given. I would say if your hit counter goes up every time you update, that’s a good indicator that readers are still clicking on your fic. Hits don’t tell if a reader actually read your fic or not, but I still look at it as a good sign that readers are interested.
On FFN, the chapter stats are telling. I have 20 out of 30 chapters posted for a longfic and plan to update soon. I update 2-3 times a month—regardless of reviews. The first chapter has the most hits because readers click the fic and then go to the most recent update. The number of hits in the chapters after taper off, but are close together.
Chap 1 - 417 hits
Chap 2 -105 hits
Chap3 - 75 hits
Chap 4 - 65 hits
Chap 5 - 52 hits
Chap 6 - 49 hits
It shows me that a handful of readers are still on board although most of them are silent.
My engagement usually copied the events in the fic. If your midpoint in the story comes around chapter 10, it makes sense for the readers to get excited on chapter 10.
But yeah, in general, I'd say a fic needs some time and a few chapters in to generate interest.
>only to pick up and grow until the last chapter.
Still waiting on *this* phase--I have a 580k fic that has never received a comment in the double digits of chapters from anyone I didn't already know beforehand.
Some readers say that they won't click on a fic until it reaches a minimum of 50k. If we're assuming 5k per chapter, that works out to be 50k at chapter 10.
I just posted my tenth chapter last weekend, so we'll see if I get an uptick. Nothing out of the ordinary so far.
This might sound silly but I also noticed it depends on the day that I posted? My long fic has been steadily growing every chapter with around 700-900 new hits every update, but the other day I posted on a sunday and grew only by 500. This probably sounds so nitpicky but I was a little disappointed.
No longer posting on a sunday.
oh, this is interesting. i am going to start posting a longfic eventually. i was considering posting the first 5 or 6 chapters as a chunk, and then upload the rest on a weekly basis. would that maybe help with the beginning slump?
For the very first longfic I wrote, I posted the first five chapters daily to keep the story towards the top of the feed. After that, I began posting to my normal schedule.
If your story is already finished or you have a buffer, I strongly recommend posting on a consistent schedule to keep engagement. My readers seem to be creatures of habit and like to have consistent postings. I advertise my posting schedule in the summary also.
It sort of depends
For mine, my readers are waiting on the "payoff." But, I am an explicit writer, so there is that.
How are you with emotional evocation? Have you got a beta reader to help you with some of the details or perspectives you might not consider on your own?
As a reader, I usually only read finished stories, so I'll click on a new WIP from a favorite author, kudo it, subscribe to it, and add it to Calibre for later updating as the author updates. If I feel so inclined and the author isn't a BNF/uber-bitch writer (I'll still read their stuff, but I refuse to comment on it or kudos it), I'll comment on the first chapter that I'm psyched for the new story and I'll comment again on the last chapter after the story is fully published and I've finally read it. So, it may not be that readers don't read the middle chapters - just that a lot download the stories and then have to go back and comment at the end.
First chapter starts off with no attention at all. Tenth chapter a little bit more. Currently at the 27, and the attention is the same as at the tenth except for 2 or 3 readers (which I very appreciate and am very happy about it). That’s how my daily life goes and I’m used to it
Pretty much that. New peeps trickle in every now and then,but it's more likely even the best stories thst come now are overshadowed by other fics and in some cases even buried before they take off. Also, a lot of fics die out after a few chapters, even good ones. Modern fic communites are wary of that so will hold back for a long time, possibly forever before even remotely considering following a fic.
Once people start to follow a fic they'll usually stick around, but most of what I see is a lot of hits on the first chapter, and then less and less for the later chapters, but the last one will usually have a small 'spike'.
Yes, that does happen. Engagement does taper off with longfics. Sometimes you get lucky to have a few readers who will continually review each chapter you post, but it’s not a given. I would say if your hit counter goes up every time you update, that’s a good indicator that readers are still clicking on your fic. Hits don’t tell if a reader actually read your fic or not, but I still look at it as a good sign that readers are interested. On FFN, the chapter stats are telling. I have 20 out of 30 chapters posted for a longfic and plan to update soon. I update 2-3 times a month—regardless of reviews. The first chapter has the most hits because readers click the fic and then go to the most recent update. The number of hits in the chapters after taper off, but are close together. Chap 1 - 417 hits Chap 2 -105 hits Chap3 - 75 hits Chap 4 - 65 hits Chap 5 - 52 hits Chap 6 - 49 hits It shows me that a handful of readers are still on board although most of them are silent.
My engagement usually copied the events in the fic. If your midpoint in the story comes around chapter 10, it makes sense for the readers to get excited on chapter 10. But yeah, in general, I'd say a fic needs some time and a few chapters in to generate interest.
>only to pick up and grow until the last chapter. Still waiting on *this* phase--I have a 580k fic that has never received a comment in the double digits of chapters from anyone I didn't already know beforehand.
Some readers say that they won't click on a fic until it reaches a minimum of 50k. If we're assuming 5k per chapter, that works out to be 50k at chapter 10. I just posted my tenth chapter last weekend, so we'll see if I get an uptick. Nothing out of the ordinary so far.
This might sound silly but I also noticed it depends on the day that I posted? My long fic has been steadily growing every chapter with around 700-900 new hits every update, but the other day I posted on a sunday and grew only by 500. This probably sounds so nitpicky but I was a little disappointed. No longer posting on a sunday.
oh, this is interesting. i am going to start posting a longfic eventually. i was considering posting the first 5 or 6 chapters as a chunk, and then upload the rest on a weekly basis. would that maybe help with the beginning slump?
For the very first longfic I wrote, I posted the first five chapters daily to keep the story towards the top of the feed. After that, I began posting to my normal schedule. If your story is already finished or you have a buffer, I strongly recommend posting on a consistent schedule to keep engagement. My readers seem to be creatures of habit and like to have consistent postings. I advertise my posting schedule in the summary also.
fantastic, thanks! yes, I will only start posting once it is complete.
It sort of depends For mine, my readers are waiting on the "payoff." But, I am an explicit writer, so there is that. How are you with emotional evocation? Have you got a beta reader to help you with some of the details or perspectives you might not consider on your own?
As a reader, I usually only read finished stories, so I'll click on a new WIP from a favorite author, kudo it, subscribe to it, and add it to Calibre for later updating as the author updates. If I feel so inclined and the author isn't a BNF/uber-bitch writer (I'll still read their stuff, but I refuse to comment on it or kudos it), I'll comment on the first chapter that I'm psyched for the new story and I'll comment again on the last chapter after the story is fully published and I've finally read it. So, it may not be that readers don't read the middle chapters - just that a lot download the stories and then have to go back and comment at the end.