BBC Sherlock Fan Forum - Serving Sherlockians since February 2012 » How do you promote your fics?

Schmiezi · January 16, 2014 9:00 am

Or do you at all?

I've taken a look at the statistics of my fanfics on AO3 and found out that for some reasons one of them as a lot more hits than the others. That one also has gotten the most kudos. BUT the others have a better quotient, meaning the proportion between hits and kudos is better. (Sorry, talking about maths in something other than my mother tongue is a bit difficult. Do I make myself clear?)
My conclusion: More hits would lead to even more kudos.

So I wonder if the rest of you does something to get more hits?

Or would you like to share the ammount of hits your fics are getting? I have no idea if my numbers are high or low. (For example, Private Ponderings has 6960 hits, Crossing Bridges only 3029)

Thanks for your thoughts on that!

SusiGo · January 16, 2014 9:08 am

My numbers are very low but I have only two very short fics. I posted links on tumblr but that did not work. I have no idea how to do this better. Sorry for not being very helpful.

Schmiezi · January 16, 2014 9:24 am

As if YOU had any reason to say you're "Not very helpful" when it comes to my fics!!

SusiGo · January 16, 2014 9:30 am

I meant with regard to promoting them.

Last edited by SusiGo (January 16, 2014 9:31 am)

TeeJay · January 16, 2014 10:59 am

I must admit that I don't usually promote my fics much. Not that I've written anything for Sherlock that's even worth promoting, other than maybe my last "5 Times" fic. What I usually do is just to give them as much exposure as possible, which means posting them not only on AO3 but also on fanfiction.net and other portals. I also usually post a link in the LiveJournal communities I'm a member in the fandom I write for.

Sometimes it's a bit of a hit-or-miss guessing game as to why some fics get a lot of hits/kudos/reviews, and others don't. Could be the summary just doesn't speak to certain readers, so they don't click any further. Could be they're not into a character or pairing you're using. Or sometimes it could even be that someone's been posting a link to your fic elsewhere that you're not aware of, which could lead to a lot more hits than your other fics.

MahnSherlolly03 · January 22, 2014 12:58 am

I usually post them on multiple sites. I also occasionally make an ad for them on pinterest.

Schmiezi · January 22, 2014 7:22 am

Thanks for your answers so far.

Would any of you mind shring how many hits your fics are having? Here or via PM, I'm really curious about it.

Song · February 12, 2014 2:41 pm

I usually post my fics on tumblr, ff.net and ao3, idk of anywhere else to post them here, besides a link to it on this forum. I've made covers for all mine, which can help. I get my hits/replies/faves/kudos whatever on ff.net for some and ao3 for one of the fics. I think mine are more popular on ff.net though...idk why. AO3 confuses me somewhat!

TeeJay · February 12, 2014 3:38 pm

Song wrote:
I usually post my fics on tumblr, ff.net and ao3, idk of anywhere else to post them here

There are also well-visited LiveJournal (and probably also Dreamwidth) communities dedicated to the show or to Sherlock fan fiction where you can post links to your stories.

Wholocked · February 12, 2014 10:38 pm

I have discovered a few things that help.

I have 6 fics posted on AO3, and I don't use ff.net. The one with the lowest hits/kudos is the one I have never promoted and it's the poorest one I have posted.

All my other works have 200+ hits. I'll summarise from least to most hits:

My multi-chapter has 224 hits, 15 kudos and 16 comments. This was mostly promoted only on my Tumblr, here and on Twitter, so to people who were already in my 'circle'. It's also a sad and depressing fic which won't suit everyone.

Next is my Secret Santa fic for Marva which has 234 hits and 22 kudos. Again, posted only here, on Tumblr and on Twitter. This one is marked as part of a 'collection' in AO3, which encourages those who enjoyed other fics in the collection to explore the rest of them, so I may have got some views through other people's SS fics.

My first fic (which became a draft of the first chapter of my multi-chapter fic) has 275 hits and 23 kudos. I think this one is only higher because I was so nervous/excited that I encouraged everyone I knew to go read it!

I Should Retire was written for the "No Shame" ficathon which came about thanks to Caitlin Moran's abuse during the TEH Q&A session. It has 350 hits and 27 kudos. Again, this was posted to Tumblr, Twitter and on here but is also part of the No Shame collection which includes fics from some fairly well-known fandom authors like EarlGreyTea and Flawedamythyst. I probably got some click throughs from the collection.

My most successful fic is Hamartia, which is my missing scene fic from His Last Vow. It has 968 hits and 78 kudos. I posted it on Tumblr, Twitter and here, but I also submitted it to sherlockbbcficrecs.tumblr.com for their review and would have gotten a lot of click throughs thanks to their post. Also, the subject matter probably encouraged more views as a lot of people were looking for 'fix-it fics' or missing scene fics after Season 3.

So, I guess, from my measly experience, getting a fic recced/reviewed on a fic rec blog definitely helps!

SpiralStaircase · February 12, 2014 10:46 pm

I just post them on fanfiction.net. They have a few hits, nothing major, but then I haven't written many. I write them for myself basically, because it's good writing practice, but I hope others might enjoy them too.

https://www.fanfiction.net/u/299943/

Song · February 13, 2014 6:01 am

TeeJay wrote:
Song wrote:
I usually post my fics on tumblr, ff.net and ao3, idk of anywhere else to post them here
There are also well-visited LiveJournal (and probably also Dreamwidth) communities dedicated to the show or to Sherlock fan fiction where you can post links to your stories.

I find it hard to use LJ because my fics are fairly long so I don't want to have to post with each chapter. I suppose I can alwys link back to AO3 or FF but whenever I've tried to put them on a LJ community its been rejected because I forgot something. Every single time. Despite not forgetting anything. (i checked!) so I just gave up because it was a different thing each time.

:/

TeeJay · February 13, 2014 7:46 am

Song wrote:
I find it hard to use LJ because my fics are fairly long so I don't want to have to post with each chapter. I suppose I can alwys link back to AO3 or FF but whenever I've tried to put them on a LJ community its been rejected because I forgot something. Every single time. Despite not forgetting anything. (i checked!) so I just gave up because it was a different thing each time.

:/

They reject things in the LJ comms? Wow. I wasn't aware that some comms are so strict. I only really follow and sometimes post in one of them (http://our-bbcsherlock.livejournal.com), and I don't think they've ever rejected anything.

Normally, if you use a standard header that covers all the important parts (title, author, genre, charcters/pairings, rating, warning and disclaimer), you should be fine. But of course every comm might have their own rules. What a shame they are so strict that it discourages people from posting there.

Oh, and I think in most LJ fanfic comms, you're not supposed to post the story itself. What usually happens is that people post a header and a link to the story in either their own personal journal or one of the fanfic portals.

Last edited by TeeJay (February 13, 2014 7:48 am)

Song · March 16, 2014 12:11 pm

I've only just seen this now I'm so sorry! D: yes different admins kept rejecting it despite adhering to their exact header. But one would say don't include that and resubmit. Others said the opposite. It got so annoying I just figured they don't want this I'll put it elsewhere. And it was all hidden beneath a cut, a read more sort of thing. So you could click the link and either go to my LJ and read it there or the fanfiction site it was on.

I can't think of anywhere else to promote them. Right now though I need a beta.

belis · March 16, 2014 10:10 pm

I don't anything special to promote them. I just let them be out there and have lives of their own lol. My first story had over 30000 hits but it has been out there for 8 years. It's always a nice surprise to get a review on it after all this time.

I think what helps to get more readers is becoming an active member of the site you publish on. I prefer fanfiction.net as it has better social interface. I try to review all the stories I read and it attracts people's attention to my profile and stories.

This Is The Phantom Lady · March 17, 2014 10:51 am

I only promote my fics on here... and a rare once in a while on Facebook. But then again I mostly write for my own benefit.

I post on FF.net and AO3...

On FF.net my long fic has 21 chapters posted and has had almost 2100 hits in less than 2 months, my One Shots have had about 100-200 views each.

On AO3 my long one has had a little over 250 views, and the short ones is the same as above...

Which is great really. I like the instant gratification of people being able to leave Kudos on your works on AO3...

Last edited by This Is The Phantom Lady (March 17, 2014 10:51 am)

This Is The Phantom Lady · March 17, 2014 6:44 pm

Okay, apparently adding certain tags adds to your daily views. Wow.

Just added a 'Trigger' warning to the description of my long fic on FF.net earlier today... and my viewers went up a lot... just. wow.

Last edited by This Is The Phantom Lady (March 17, 2014 6:46 pm)

belis · March 17, 2014 7:56 pm

A lot of people search for stories to read by tags. If you add a popular tag it can increase views exponentially.

This Is The Phantom Lady · March 17, 2014 8:01 pm

It just worries me a little that it's this particular warning that does it...

belis · March 17, 2014 8:35 pm

One person's warning is another person's advetisement.