How do you write without thinking about the reads you’re going to get? I feel so disheartened about writing because I always compare myself to others and its difficult to just write for fun because of this. And sometimes it feels like Im writing for no reason because I think about the what if my story doesn’t do well? Whats the point? Small authors, how do you stay positive?
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I don’t really think About it. When I started writing , I was writing for reads but then I stopped when I didn’t get any and I realised I couldn’t stop writing anyways so I don’t care if anyone reads I am just going to keep making it
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Think about your story! If you truly love the plot and characters and believe it deserves to be told, you’ll start caring a little less about the reads! That’s what I do
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I would say if it’s a passion or something you like to do, write because of that passion or interest. If you do this, the reads will be less of a factor. Also, try not to compare yourself to others.
At first, it was so easy to not worry about reads because my story was unpublished. It was impossible to have reads, so it didn’t matter. I try to write as much as possible without posting it so that the reads aren’t looming over me.
Once published, I sort of rely on 2 things to keep me motivated:
- Feedback - fanmail is is much better than reads. If I get even one fanmail, I’ll be able to write for a solid hour or two.
- The fact that I can’t stand having something unfinished/on hold. So even if it’s not getting the reads, I just want to finish it so it’s out of sight out of mind. Strangely enough, once I completed my first story that was when it really started getting reads.
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wow thank you this helped so much. I never noticed how when you finish stories that’s when it gets reads
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your welcome
Like you wouldn’t believe!
I finished my first story in April and it literally doubled in reads in a month. I even did a poll on it and most people prefer to read completed stories rather than ongoing.
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Ok, amberose really gets it with the fanmail. Always ask for fanmail/feedback/etc etc etc. It helps a ton.
I know this is kind of catty, but always look at better stories with less reads. If a story with only 20 or 100 or whatever amount of reads is small to you manages to make you go ‘woah’, then it puts a couple of things into perspective
- it’s not hard to find good stories with little reads
- reads doesn’t equal quality
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I think about what I want to convey through the story itself. Most likely because that’s the reason for why I write.
I’m gonna go OT for a sec…
So do you guys recommend turning on fanmail? Even if your story isn’t complete? I plan on publishing my story this weekend (god help me lmao) and I’ve been debating on whether I should enable it or not. I see a lot of people complaining about readers asking for updates non-stop (which kind of turned me off to it tbh), but then I read stuff like what you and @Lizard are saying and it makes me think I should just turn it on.
Oh yeah, turn it on fershure! I’ve only gotten one fanmail asking me when the next episode is coming out, but if you really want to avoid this either mention your uploading schedule (which you should have if you want to keep a consistence reader base) at the end of your episodes or on your episode profile page.
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Yeah turn it on. I’m the same as @Lizard I’ve only had one fanmail asking me when there would be more episodes, and it wasn’t in a pushy way. My first fanmail was “hi” and my second fanmail was “goodrr”. It’s only recently I’ve started to get actual sentences and questions, so the odds of you getting bombarded with “when will you update?” are pretty slim to start off with.
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Thank you guys! 
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I feel like (for me at least)
A lot of times I prefer reading completed stories cause u know that the ending whether u like it or not is a proper one. 
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As a reader, I usually look for finished stories because I want to be able to read it and not have to wait for more episodes to come out
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I agree!
Now I don’t always do that anymore but when I first started episode I would always go for completed stories
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Yeah, the first fanmail I got was a lot more structured, but pretty much at the same level of comprehension as a keysmash. My first two was a guy asking me why I left his wife (???) and as much of the bee movie script as the fanmail function would allow. Gotta love episode haha.
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Omg Lol.
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Doesn’t really help if you don’t get any fan mail, though. I know thought of giving up on writing my story, but have already invested too much time and thought into it I’m impelled to finish.