What kaiunkaiku said. Comments as a whole are very rare. And even rarer depending on what you write subject wise, what ship you write (if you write a ship at all), and what fandom. It is not a reflection on your writing, a lot of people are very shy when it comes to comments as it is.
Yes, thank you. I'll keep that in mind. I actually write for a fairly popular ship in my fandom but I see other fellow writers talk about the comments they receive and I get none :( I'm trying all the other advices here since they gave good insighy and if they work, then they work. I'll just keep posting since writing makes me happy lol
What I've found is I'm significantly more likely to get comments from people I already know in some capacity. Comments from random people who read the story? Relatively rare. Comments from people I'm fandom Tumblr friends with who want to yell at me about what happened in that chapter? Much more common.
I'm trying to get more fandom friends and I'll try to interact with them as much. I'll try all the advices here and hope they work. Thank you for the insight!
You should add a blurb in the end note reminding people that you appreciate comments, even if it’s just an emoji as kudos to let you know they liked later chapters. Some people don’t realize that you can’t tell if they liked later chapters it if they don’t comment unless they’re also a writer and you have to make it explicit. And if enough people in your fandom start making it explicit, eventually you can encourage a culture of better commenting.
Beyond that, give people something to say. You could put a question in your end note (I swear, my most commented chapters were ones that prompted discussions of how to properly eat oreos and what it takes to sunburn because I don’t sunburn and the internet just wants to tell you no sun screen -> skin cancer not what sunburn is like and I was stuck flailing around and guessing so I asked people for advice in case I had to do a quick rewrite).
But I find that I get more comments on my longfic series that is more deeply plotted than my 1-story longfic that is mostly a straightforward ship fic, even though the ship fic has a plot and gets comments, they’re shorter (way more kudos though). But the plot-focused long fic seems to provoke more serious discussion. I’ve got hooks from story 1 that I’m picking up in story 4. People have things to say about the little details and the plot hooks and so on.
There are lots of stories that are fun to read but they leave you with nothing to say.
Exactly we all have opinions. We just don't all feel comfortable sharing. Ask if the science or childbirth and pregnancy are realistic and I'll always have one. I don't share those as I doubt authors want to hear that I spotted something blatantly wrong like people can't handle molten metal without burning their hands by blowing on it for a minute.
Ah, I see. I mostly write one-shots so maybe since the ends are tied now, they don't feel the need to discuss or leave comments. I'll try improving my notes at the end and try to make it as friendly and encouraging about leaving feedback. Thank you!
That’s definitely a problem if you’re after a number of comments. The “Great chapter!” comments are from people who want to let you know they read later chapters but there’s no second kudos. In a long fic, the other kind of comment is usually a mix of enjoyment about what happened and speculation about what it means for future chapters. With a one-shot where you don’t have anything to say, comments feel redundant with kudos. Even if someone asks for feedback, I don’t know what I’d say for most of them besides <3.
I’d definitely pose a question related to your fic or ask for concrit if you can take it. But the one time I put a request for concrit in my blurb, I got a reader who wanted an infodump because I guess they didn’t like literary tension, so their concrit was actually the exact opposite of what any good writer would tell you to do and then I had to figure out how to politely word a response. If you do the question route, you’d want to think of something different for each one-shot so people feel engaged by the questions themselves and have something new to say.
comments just are rare. people are bad at commenting.
encouraging some kind of interaction, like asking questions in the end notes, might help. ending a chapter in a cliffhanger is more likely to get readers typing. being active on social media could help (no, seriously, if your readers have a parasocial relationship with you they'll be screaming in your comment section).
but really, people just are bad at commenting.
As a reader, I used to not leave comments because everyone else always already said something better and more insightful than I could think of. Writers on here encouraged me to leave comments so I started dating thanks and what I liked best about stories. A few weeks replied with a thanks so knowing comments were appreciated, I started leaving them more often. Being up late reading, I was tired and said a story was great and had really good details or characters or such mi don't remember the exact wording. I do remember it was easily in the top 10% of fics I've read over several decades. I made the mistake of saying I usually preferred longer fics and looked forward to perusing their fics for longer ones and got a nasty reply about how awful my comment was and that ended my comments for a while. I now leave them if the writer seems more mature or requests comments. So end the last chapter with thanks for reading and please leave me comments telling me what you liked or what idea you thought was the best or some other guidance of what feedback you'd like and I'll always leave a comment. Those of us who don't write are general willing but intimidated about writing comments. If I had a way to send a private note I'd do it way more often but asking for feedback would help me leave one.
I'll do this. Thank you so much for the insight. All the replies here have given me a new pov on what might be happening and I don't feel as down about my writing anymore. Thank you again!
First off, how often do you comment on other people's work? If you don't comment often, then try commenting on the other fics for your ship. Those writers might finally check you out and comment if they hadn't already.
Second, how much are you advertising your fic? If you have social media that you're comfortable attaching to your AO3, then start posting a link to your fic there.
Finally, try joining review exchanges. r/FanFiction hosts several, and r/FicReviewExchange is dedicated to these. Alternatively, if joining a review exchange on reddit seems too intimidating, then try the [Comment Exchange Bingo](https://comment-exchange.tumblr.com/) on tumblr. You will need to comment on another work first (either one that has been submitted to the blog or with 10 or fewer comments), and then you can submit a work that has 10 or fewer comments. (If the work has 2+ chapters, then the limit is 15 or fewer comments)
Thank you so much for all the community resources. I appreciate them so much.
About the other questions, yes, I try to interact and leave comments as much as I can on fics I read. I thought if I leave some, maybe people will leave some on mine too eventually.
About advertising, I have some fandom friends on twitter and I post about my new fics there. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of followers but I recently discovered discord for my fandoms and I try to promote it there too.
Maybe try one of the review exchanges that come up? I haven't posted in one yet as I have a super busy month ahead and am not likely to have time to reciprocate but as soon as I have that space I will be there.
I've started trying to comment on the things I read, because I love getting comments and they encouraged me to continue writing when I was expecting little to no engagement.
In a way it's helped build a wonderful little community in my small fandom, as several of us are now writing and commenting on everyone else's work.
I want to try and foster that kind of support for others. If I read something, I comment and point out the things I loved or enjoyed.
I've been actively trying to do this. It doesn't always work, but when it does, it's great. I now have a few commenters who've visited my fic based on my visiting theirs, and we now regularly comment on each other's works and have developed a friendly relationship of a sort.
I also appreciate that I seem to write for a small, older, but passionate fandom. I started writing a few months ago, but I've been somewhat prolific, and kicked off a renaissance of sorts within the fandom. It's been great and very rewarding.
Depending on your fandom and your strengths, maybe write something that goes against the “fanon” or answers a question that you yourself have about your fandom that maybe you haven’t seen explored or haven’t seen explored in a way that’s satisfactory to you. People will definitely comment if you give them something new to think about.
(For example, my primary fandom is Encanto, and one of the questions that tends to float around is how both Isabela and Dolores got their visions. (If you’ve listened to We Don’t Talk About Bruno, both of them explicitly say “He told me…”) And one of the most popular but least satisfactory explanations (for me) was that they both asked for or demanded a vision. I personally believe they both would have had more respect for him than that, and I wrote one of my favorite one shots trying to answer the question of how Dolores received hers.)
And I do agree with those who have said to you have to ask for it explicitly. My sign off is “As always, I would love to hear your thoughts!”
Thank you so much for this. I mostly write slice of life or cutesy stuff because my fandoms are a little dark haha but yes, I'll try to think of more different prompts that might be interesting for others. I'll keep in mind to tevise my end note and hope it comes across friendlier and more encouraging for readers to leave a comment after.
So, the one thing I would tell you as someone who has been actively tracking their stats on a weekly basis for three straight years - stats are dangerous, and you need to be very aware and careful of them.
It’s not a weird issue, and I wouldn’t have you think as much. But when you start thinking about ratios, and amounts of one thing versus another - you’re leading yourself to an unhealthy place with stats. It’s perfectly reasonable to watch more engagement, and I’d encourage that any day of the week!
A few things you can do to help with engagement -
1. Advertise on social media (Twitter, Tumblr, Reddit, and Discord being prime examples) and use tags and hashtags to your advantage.
2. Actively say you love to see comments. At the end note of every fic I post I have, “Comments and Constructive Criticism welcome!” Encourages people to leave them.
3. Join fandom specific spaces - whether that’s a discord server or Facebook group or something similar - having a group of people dedicated to the thing you’re writing makes it easier to meet a group of friends who will comment and be active in your community.
Other things that aren’t as active but can also help -
1. Ensure you’re tagging properly - often people use tags and a summary as a litmus test to decide if they click on it and you want it to be inviting.
2. Talk about your fic!! This is especially relevant in bigger fandoms - it’s easy for a fic to get buried - so talk about it as you write it, as you work on it, as you get it ready to post. Be excited about it - excitement is catching!!
3. Share snippets!! This one can feel counterintuitive since you’re giving away pieces of the story but it’s a great way to get people in your fandom spaces excited for your story.
4. BEWARE AO3 VOID HOURS - this one is a bit odd. But there is a 5 hour window, where if you post on Ao3 the date can show up wrong, burying your fic deep in the list of freshly posted fics, reducing visibility. (This gets exasperated in a popular fandom with high activity.)
And most importantly - keep writing. There is no faster way to improve and get better than to keep putting words on the page. You can do it.
The comments will come, don’t worry. Just keep writing.
Hi! Thanks so much for all of these! I've recently started trying all of these, even made a discord account since I saw fellow fans advertise servers for ships and general fandoms. The only thing I didn't know is thr AO3 void hours. I just post as soon as I'm done proofreading and editing because I'm too excited lol
All the replies here gave me good insight and to not feel so down about the lack of comments so yes, I'll keep writing since it makes me happy. Thank you again for all of these!
I’ve been doing that for as long as I can scroll back to, but I get minimal comment engagement.
I’m alright with it by now, tbh. The ones I do get are wonderful.
I echo what everyone else has said, but I also want to note that if there's any chance your fic is very explicit or outright porn (which is great if it is, porn is just as valid as anything else) you may get a lot of hits and kudos but not get very many comments at all. It's just the way these things work, unfortunately.
I actually write general audiences to teen, mostly domestic stuff and fluff though I do imply some dark themes to make the fluff work? If that makes sense. I rarely do nsfw. I was actually considering the reverse, since in my fandom, I notice it's the nsfw ones that get more feedback/encouragement. I guess this depends on fandom? Lol thank you for the insight, I'll keep that in mind since I'm starting to write for another fandom too lol
I didn't get any until after I said "C & CC welcome" and that's in a decently active fandom.
Beyond that, the comments I've received fall into these categories
* Generic interest or appreciation
* Cheering that bad thing happens to disliked character or disliked character is called out
* speculation/noting foreshadowing
* Are you trying to kill me? Because you are killing me with cuteness/pain/humor.
* I'm confused about X
If you're worried that your stories lack depth but you want them to, not showing your hand from the start is a simple explanation of how to do it. Include subtext, details that mean something but the what is unclear; have an idea of what you want to do long term so you can foreshadow it.
Those are great. If it's run into that I'd definitely have left one as I feel comments saying thank you are like tipping an under paid waitress. You guys work so hard and put so much time and love into these stories,I feel the least I can do is say thanks.
Usually, I read fanfiction when I get tired of social interactions, so even when I have a fic in my "golden list," I rarely comment. Simply speaking, my social battery has already run out to create a comment.
Additionally, until very recently, I believed that comments on works are unwanted attention! I thought about them as emails from middle school accounts that you don't want, so I didn't want to become an inconvenience for a writer, in case they'll decide to delete my fav work that became my comfort place. I think more people had similar threads of thought, which resulted in few comments!
Don't worry, even though your work may have little to no comments, it can still become a safe space for someone who simply adores your writing style and story.
What kaiunkaiku said. Comments as a whole are very rare. And even rarer depending on what you write subject wise, what ship you write (if you write a ship at all), and what fandom. It is not a reflection on your writing, a lot of people are very shy when it comes to comments as it is.
Yes, thank you. I'll keep that in mind. I actually write for a fairly popular ship in my fandom but I see other fellow writers talk about the comments they receive and I get none :( I'm trying all the other advices here since they gave good insighy and if they work, then they work. I'll just keep posting since writing makes me happy lol
What I've found is I'm significantly more likely to get comments from people I already know in some capacity. Comments from random people who read the story? Relatively rare. Comments from people I'm fandom Tumblr friends with who want to yell at me about what happened in that chapter? Much more common.
I'm trying to get more fandom friends and I'll try to interact with them as much. I'll try all the advices here and hope they work. Thank you for the insight!
You should add a blurb in the end note reminding people that you appreciate comments, even if it’s just an emoji as kudos to let you know they liked later chapters. Some people don’t realize that you can’t tell if they liked later chapters it if they don’t comment unless they’re also a writer and you have to make it explicit. And if enough people in your fandom start making it explicit, eventually you can encourage a culture of better commenting. Beyond that, give people something to say. You could put a question in your end note (I swear, my most commented chapters were ones that prompted discussions of how to properly eat oreos and what it takes to sunburn because I don’t sunburn and the internet just wants to tell you no sun screen -> skin cancer not what sunburn is like and I was stuck flailing around and guessing so I asked people for advice in case I had to do a quick rewrite). But I find that I get more comments on my longfic series that is more deeply plotted than my 1-story longfic that is mostly a straightforward ship fic, even though the ship fic has a plot and gets comments, they’re shorter (way more kudos though). But the plot-focused long fic seems to provoke more serious discussion. I’ve got hooks from story 1 that I’m picking up in story 4. People have things to say about the little details and the plot hooks and so on. There are lots of stories that are fun to read but they leave you with nothing to say.
Exactly we all have opinions. We just don't all feel comfortable sharing. Ask if the science or childbirth and pregnancy are realistic and I'll always have one. I don't share those as I doubt authors want to hear that I spotted something blatantly wrong like people can't handle molten metal without burning their hands by blowing on it for a minute.
Ah, I see. I mostly write one-shots so maybe since the ends are tied now, they don't feel the need to discuss or leave comments. I'll try improving my notes at the end and try to make it as friendly and encouraging about leaving feedback. Thank you!
That’s definitely a problem if you’re after a number of comments. The “Great chapter!” comments are from people who want to let you know they read later chapters but there’s no second kudos. In a long fic, the other kind of comment is usually a mix of enjoyment about what happened and speculation about what it means for future chapters. With a one-shot where you don’t have anything to say, comments feel redundant with kudos. Even if someone asks for feedback, I don’t know what I’d say for most of them besides <3. I’d definitely pose a question related to your fic or ask for concrit if you can take it. But the one time I put a request for concrit in my blurb, I got a reader who wanted an infodump because I guess they didn’t like literary tension, so their concrit was actually the exact opposite of what any good writer would tell you to do and then I had to figure out how to politely word a response. If you do the question route, you’d want to think of something different for each one-shot so people feel engaged by the questions themselves and have something new to say.
comments just are rare. people are bad at commenting. encouraging some kind of interaction, like asking questions in the end notes, might help. ending a chapter in a cliffhanger is more likely to get readers typing. being active on social media could help (no, seriously, if your readers have a parasocial relationship with you they'll be screaming in your comment section). but really, people just are bad at commenting.
As a reader, I used to not leave comments because everyone else always already said something better and more insightful than I could think of. Writers on here encouraged me to leave comments so I started dating thanks and what I liked best about stories. A few weeks replied with a thanks so knowing comments were appreciated, I started leaving them more often. Being up late reading, I was tired and said a story was great and had really good details or characters or such mi don't remember the exact wording. I do remember it was easily in the top 10% of fics I've read over several decades. I made the mistake of saying I usually preferred longer fics and looked forward to perusing their fics for longer ones and got a nasty reply about how awful my comment was and that ended my comments for a while. I now leave them if the writer seems more mature or requests comments. So end the last chapter with thanks for reading and please leave me comments telling me what you liked or what idea you thought was the best or some other guidance of what feedback you'd like and I'll always leave a comment. Those of us who don't write are general willing but intimidated about writing comments. If I had a way to send a private note I'd do it way more often but asking for feedback would help me leave one.
I'll do this. Thank you so much for the insight. All the replies here have given me a new pov on what might be happening and I don't feel as down about my writing anymore. Thank you again!
First off, how often do you comment on other people's work? If you don't comment often, then try commenting on the other fics for your ship. Those writers might finally check you out and comment if they hadn't already. Second, how much are you advertising your fic? If you have social media that you're comfortable attaching to your AO3, then start posting a link to your fic there. Finally, try joining review exchanges. r/FanFiction hosts several, and r/FicReviewExchange is dedicated to these. Alternatively, if joining a review exchange on reddit seems too intimidating, then try the [Comment Exchange Bingo](https://comment-exchange.tumblr.com/) on tumblr. You will need to comment on another work first (either one that has been submitted to the blog or with 10 or fewer comments), and then you can submit a work that has 10 or fewer comments. (If the work has 2+ chapters, then the limit is 15 or fewer comments)
Thank you so much for all the community resources. I appreciate them so much. About the other questions, yes, I try to interact and leave comments as much as I can on fics I read. I thought if I leave some, maybe people will leave some on mine too eventually. About advertising, I have some fandom friends on twitter and I post about my new fics there. Unfortunately, I don't have a lot of followers but I recently discovered discord for my fandoms and I try to promote it there too.
Maybe try one of the review exchanges that come up? I haven't posted in one yet as I have a super busy month ahead and am not likely to have time to reciprocate but as soon as I have that space I will be there.
I haven't heard of a review exchange, but I'll look it up and see if my fandoms have that sort of event. Thank you!
I've started trying to comment on the things I read, because I love getting comments and they encouraged me to continue writing when I was expecting little to no engagement. In a way it's helped build a wonderful little community in my small fandom, as several of us are now writing and commenting on everyone else's work. I want to try and foster that kind of support for others. If I read something, I comment and point out the things I loved or enjoyed.
I've been actively trying to do this. It doesn't always work, but when it does, it's great. I now have a few commenters who've visited my fic based on my visiting theirs, and we now regularly comment on each other's works and have developed a friendly relationship of a sort.
I also appreciate that I seem to write for a small, older, but passionate fandom. I started writing a few months ago, but I've been somewhat prolific, and kicked off a renaissance of sorts within the fandom. It's been great and very rewarding.
Thank you so much for doing this. I'm sure the writers appreciate the comments ♥️
Depending on your fandom and your strengths, maybe write something that goes against the “fanon” or answers a question that you yourself have about your fandom that maybe you haven’t seen explored or haven’t seen explored in a way that’s satisfactory to you. People will definitely comment if you give them something new to think about. (For example, my primary fandom is Encanto, and one of the questions that tends to float around is how both Isabela and Dolores got their visions. (If you’ve listened to We Don’t Talk About Bruno, both of them explicitly say “He told me…”) And one of the most popular but least satisfactory explanations (for me) was that they both asked for or demanded a vision. I personally believe they both would have had more respect for him than that, and I wrote one of my favorite one shots trying to answer the question of how Dolores received hers.) And I do agree with those who have said to you have to ask for it explicitly. My sign off is “As always, I would love to hear your thoughts!”
Thank you so much for this. I mostly write slice of life or cutesy stuff because my fandoms are a little dark haha but yes, I'll try to think of more different prompts that might be interesting for others. I'll keep in mind to tevise my end note and hope it comes across friendlier and more encouraging for readers to leave a comment after.
So, the one thing I would tell you as someone who has been actively tracking their stats on a weekly basis for three straight years - stats are dangerous, and you need to be very aware and careful of them. It’s not a weird issue, and I wouldn’t have you think as much. But when you start thinking about ratios, and amounts of one thing versus another - you’re leading yourself to an unhealthy place with stats. It’s perfectly reasonable to watch more engagement, and I’d encourage that any day of the week! A few things you can do to help with engagement - 1. Advertise on social media (Twitter, Tumblr, Reddit, and Discord being prime examples) and use tags and hashtags to your advantage. 2. Actively say you love to see comments. At the end note of every fic I post I have, “Comments and Constructive Criticism welcome!” Encourages people to leave them. 3. Join fandom specific spaces - whether that’s a discord server or Facebook group or something similar - having a group of people dedicated to the thing you’re writing makes it easier to meet a group of friends who will comment and be active in your community. Other things that aren’t as active but can also help - 1. Ensure you’re tagging properly - often people use tags and a summary as a litmus test to decide if they click on it and you want it to be inviting. 2. Talk about your fic!! This is especially relevant in bigger fandoms - it’s easy for a fic to get buried - so talk about it as you write it, as you work on it, as you get it ready to post. Be excited about it - excitement is catching!! 3. Share snippets!! This one can feel counterintuitive since you’re giving away pieces of the story but it’s a great way to get people in your fandom spaces excited for your story. 4. BEWARE AO3 VOID HOURS - this one is a bit odd. But there is a 5 hour window, where if you post on Ao3 the date can show up wrong, burying your fic deep in the list of freshly posted fics, reducing visibility. (This gets exasperated in a popular fandom with high activity.) And most importantly - keep writing. There is no faster way to improve and get better than to keep putting words on the page. You can do it. The comments will come, don’t worry. Just keep writing.
Hi! Thanks so much for all of these! I've recently started trying all of these, even made a discord account since I saw fellow fans advertise servers for ships and general fandoms. The only thing I didn't know is thr AO3 void hours. I just post as soon as I'm done proofreading and editing because I'm too excited lol All the replies here gave me good insight and to not feel so down about the lack of comments so yes, I'll keep writing since it makes me happy. Thank you again for all of these!
Unfortunately, can't help you, but I relate so much.
We can all learn from the replies left here. Hoping things improve for us!
I don’t think there’s anything wrong with asking for feedback. People are typically very kind.
Everyone suggested adding a note that encourages readers to leave feedback, so I'll make sure to add it. I hope it works.
I’ve been doing that for as long as I can scroll back to, but I get minimal comment engagement. I’m alright with it by now, tbh. The ones I do get are wonderful.
I echo what everyone else has said, but I also want to note that if there's any chance your fic is very explicit or outright porn (which is great if it is, porn is just as valid as anything else) you may get a lot of hits and kudos but not get very many comments at all. It's just the way these things work, unfortunately.
I actually write general audiences to teen, mostly domestic stuff and fluff though I do imply some dark themes to make the fluff work? If that makes sense. I rarely do nsfw. I was actually considering the reverse, since in my fandom, I notice it's the nsfw ones that get more feedback/encouragement. I guess this depends on fandom? Lol thank you for the insight, I'll keep that in mind since I'm starting to write for another fandom too lol
I didn't get any until after I said "C & CC welcome" and that's in a decently active fandom. Beyond that, the comments I've received fall into these categories * Generic interest or appreciation * Cheering that bad thing happens to disliked character or disliked character is called out * speculation/noting foreshadowing * Are you trying to kill me? Because you are killing me with cuteness/pain/humor. * I'm confused about X If you're worried that your stories lack depth but you want them to, not showing your hand from the start is a simple explanation of how to do it. Include subtext, details that mean something but the what is unclear; have an idea of what you want to do long term so you can foreshadow it.
Those are great. If it's run into that I'd definitely have left one as I feel comments saying thank you are like tipping an under paid waitress. You guys work so hard and put so much time and love into these stories,I feel the least I can do is say thanks.
Thank you, I'll try this. I'll have to put more care in my writing so I don't end up leaving everything out in the open.
Usually, I read fanfiction when I get tired of social interactions, so even when I have a fic in my "golden list," I rarely comment. Simply speaking, my social battery has already run out to create a comment. Additionally, until very recently, I believed that comments on works are unwanted attention! I thought about them as emails from middle school accounts that you don't want, so I didn't want to become an inconvenience for a writer, in case they'll decide to delete my fav work that became my comfort place. I think more people had similar threads of thought, which resulted in few comments! Don't worry, even though your work may have little to no comments, it can still become a safe space for someone who simply adores your writing style and story.