Advice? Ways to grow your stories and support systems

Community Episode Fan Community
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Hey everyone!
I’ve written multiple stories but archived my old, childish, cringey ones. I began writing about 3 or 4 years ago, which was when my life got super hard. I was somewhat young, going through the motions. Then, I started writing. It changed my life, me, everything. I had a getaway to a place, that I had control over, and it made me so happy, I can’t explain it. My story “The Babysitting Job” written in INK is one of my first stories from the time, and it blew up a lot more than I expected it to. Almost 300k reads. It’s discontinued as I will be rewriting it in LL, but anyways… My writing got increasingly better as I began to prep for my new, now published LL story, “Irresistible Desires.” Writing it has taken so much work, time, and sleep from me, and I’m so proud of myself for doing it. I feel like I’ve grown so much as a writer.
As far as reads go, I only have 130, which means the absolute world to me. I just want it to grow, because if it grows, I have more people to interact with. I want to know for sure that my writing is worth reading. It’s not about the reads, it’s about the support, the motivation, interacting with fans, seeing the characters you all create.
My fandom was a good size a few years back, but I had to start over. I would wake up, respond to DM’s and fanmail, post screenshots, and it was freaking euphoric. I genuinely loved my fanbase more than I can put into words. I want that back, being able to talk to my fans, being able to have fans and have an audience to write for.
Yes, I write for myself. But overtime, that “writing for yourself” feeling starts to turn into "I love writing for myself, but I want to write for a group of people too. I want to share this because I’m so proud.

THAT WAS SO MUCH. AGH, I’M SO SORRY.

THE REAL QUESTION AND PURPOSE OF THIS THREAD:

I want to know how to grow my fandom and how to finally have people to write for, to support, to respond to. Like I said, a big number of reads is amazing, but it’s not about that. It’s about support and fanbase.

Any advice on this topic would be helpful, literally anything. I’m also always here to talk. Feel free to ask me anything! You can message me on here or DM me on insta, which is @elliewritess.

SORRY FOR RAMBLING

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since you already done it once you should know how to, you do the same thing, you write you post on insta.

if you have started over its a clean slate and it will take time. people need to get invested in you again.

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That’s true, but the community changed A LOT since then. It’s a lot different now and it’s more of a challenge to be seen, which i’m up for, it’s just been a few months and i’m starting to get unmotivated :,(

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Moved to Episode Fan Community since this doesn’t fit into any Creator’s Corner category. Make sure to check out our Forum Tutorial for more info about creating topics, and feel free to PM me if you’ve got questions. :smiley:

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Hello! My advice (although I do not personally have a fan base or following), is to take the time to secure a beta reader / editor first. This will ensure your stories won’t get abandoned by readers, as you will have someone to correct mistakes and help make suggestions for improvement. Having a fantastic, error free story will be the first step towards gaining that fan base.

Second, be active on forums and social media, with polls and more to gain reader’s opinions. Do people want to see a more LGBT diverse cast? How are they liking your story so far? Including your reader’s voices will help to secure your fan base and create loyalty. Moreover, having an update schedule will help to retain readers. Do whatever suits you but try to stick to it as best as you can. This could mean 1-2 chapters per month, per week or fortnight.

Finally, don’t focus on how large your fan base is, but how dedicated they are. Respect them and engage with them and in turn, they will share your story and it will grow naturally.

Hope this helps!

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Thank you! That’s literally exactly what I want, thank youuuuu. I’ll definitely try finding some beta readers. I do polls and questions on my insta already, but no one ever answers them unless it’s about doing a single or double update. Thank you again <3

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I’m happy to offer my help as a beta reader, but my schedule is busy so I wouldn’t want to be your only source, as you might need faster response times. What’s your Instagram? I’ll give you a follow x

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I just made a thread about that heh. My instagram is @elliewritess. The story I need beta readers for is already published, though… Does that mess anything up?

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Of course not, it just means that it is harder to test because it requires passes and won’t sit in the create tab, so I can’t read all the branches and such. Your other option is to copy and paste the script into a google doc that you give me and/or other beta readers access to and I can read it through properly that way x

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I can try and do that… I may also be able to access my link that I used before it was published, but i’m not sure it will still work.

The only thing that would be hard is that my scripts are pretty long and there’s so much coding involved. I’ll try and get that link so we can test it out!

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That’s alright, I understand code very well, so that won’t be a problem!

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Sent you the link on insta xx. Lmk if it works!