Hey! I’ve been really busy working on a new story lately and I’m only on Episode 6 but I can see that my reads aren’t doing that well, I tried promoting it on the forums, using Instagram (I suspect I’m doing it wrong) and still nothing. I tried sending it to some accounts that do reviews/proofreading to make sure everything was fine writing and directing wise and it seems to be alright.
What have you tried that you believe works? I’m putting a lot of time on this one and it saddens me that it’s not getting the feedback I expected, I still love writing and will continue though.
Just keep doing what you are doing. Don’t feel discouraged by the lack of reads. I would say do read for reads a lot of people might say otherwise, but it helps. Look out for threads of people asking for “new stories” to read. Post sneak peeks on Instagram and use hashtags. But remember patience is virtue.
^ to agree with what’s been said above publishing regularly helps you keep readers who continue on with your story (thus higher rank on the trending -> thus more readers) but don’t publish so often that your story quality goes down.
I have finished all my story. Im currently working on my second one, I dont know about writing it and trying to get reads for it.
But I am trying to write the second one to it and promote the 1st one at the same time.
I find the best way is to do R4Rs and also stick to promises and don't give timeframes you cannot stick to. I also Have made friends along the way and the ones I have made friends with and the stories that generally blows me away I promote as well My story and the ones that have blown me away I also try and help different authors or readers out to find what they need I they need help writing a story I help, Im currently helping 2 authors write there stories also When I do a R4R I do always try and find people who has the same amount of chapters as mine so they can read my whole story. it does get me reads but I could easily move onto the next person who has a couple of episodes But I feel my story has had more of a impact on readers and authors who read it from start to finish and then sometimes (If I`m lucky) I may get a shout out on insta about my story and most of the time made a friend
That’s my advise
I’d definitely say read for read too. That’s practically how I reached 200 reads lol. If you want to do one with me, I’m up too.
Else, I’d say to have an episode Instagram account too and try to be active on the forums but it will take time.
So I got curious and asked myself the same thing, and said to myself, well I guess my story sucks lol I’ve done r4r with others who’s only had like 30-40 reads and now have over 3,000 reads or 700 reads etc…so then I Googled how many stories are on Epi and it said, 4 billion. Now I’m not sure if that’s true or not lol because that’s crazy, so as a new writer, it will be hard.
I honestly get discouraged and feel like giving up but then I say, I’ll keep trying. So I agree with everyone’s answers. If you really feel happy about what you’ve written and it’s good, then keep at it.
Nothing works better than consistently updating - especially if it’s your first story. So many people will not read stories with less than ten episodes by a new author because they’re worried it will get abandoned.
I only got a decent amount of reads after I finished my first story at 15 episodes. It felt like people were just waiting for it to be completed before even starting it lol And this was without any type of promotion otherwise too - no forums, insta or R4Rs, it was just the fact that I ticked “completed”
Get to know people here and consistent updates. Keep trying with review pages. It’s a very slow climb up, but the more review pages you can get your story on, the better.
Also, it’s always good to keep in mind the right places to promote your story. Spamming your story everywhere and sending DMs to authors asking them to read your story always has the opposite effect and actually repels people from wanting to read it.
Most importantly, hang in there and don’t give up. Consistency and persistence usually works the best, although it’s usually a slow process.
And this was without any type of promotion otherwise too - no forums, insta or R4Rs, it was just the fact that I ticked “completed”