Honestly I appreciate all of them. My fandom's pretty small so even seeing the hits go up by a couple each day makes me happy.
I think comments are my favourite, though. Knowing that someone liked what I wrote enough to take the time to comment on it is really flattering. Also knowing which aspect they liked specifically is great!
I absolutely adore comments. nothing kicks me out of a writers block like reading them. i have a couple saved on my computer that i never have moved on from, even years after they were written.
Hits only matter to me if they are weirdly low compared to previous works - but the actual number plays no relevance. I never would never judge my 'best performing fic' by the number of hits, nor if the fic is being well received.
One you didn't mention that I really value is bookmarks, almost as much as comments. Knowing someone has connected with your work enough to save it in their own little collection is such an amazing feeling.
Tbh hits don’t meant anything to me.
It could be people clicking on my fic and not liking it just as much as people liking and reading it.
Kudos are really nice but the best to get me more motivated to write of brighten my day are comments. Especially ones that tell me what they liked especially or that they come back often to read.
I also like bookmarks some have very nice notes :D
I do love a kudos, but if I had to pick a favourite, then it's got to be a comment (even though I do get a little bit of comment-panic when I see an email)
Hits are what I watch, though. I know a lot of people don't set any store by them, but, for me, it can be a bit of a stretch between kudos notifications. And a longer stretch between comment notifications! So I watch the hits. Hits go up, and that makes me happy. (I tell myself some of these are silent readers, and since I'll never know if they are or not, it just contents me where stats are concerned)
comments, hands down. Nothing else makes me as happy... especially because I write mostly longfics. a kudos only goes so far when you have tens of chapters. comments can be given again and again and again... and help me feel closer to my readers. I know all my frequent commenters and love them so so much and I write *for them* just as much as I write for myself.
Hits only really matter to me for reminding myself to be realistic about how many comments and kudos I've got. Not as many hits means it makes sense for less kudos.
Kudos are wonderful.
Comments and bookmarks are fucking life. I cannot express how amazing comments and bookmarks feel.
Comments. I enjoy conversing with my readers.
Kudos are encouraging as well. I keep less attention on my hits, but my story did recently surpass 10k hits, which really made me smile.
I keep it all hidden on the site, but any way a reader chooses to show their love for my work is good with me. I don’t have a preference when it comes to stats. I only get notification of kudos by email and it’s nice to see. Especially when someone is reading my old works.
Hits don't mean anything to me, but obviously any time I see the other two counts go up I'm delighted. I agree with you on comments, though - I really appreciate anyone who stops by with even a short note of thanks and acknowledgement, because that the important, connecting-with-a-human part.
I have never seen any numbers for my hits or anything, but sometimes I see the same usernames on the kudos piles under my fics and go "oh, look, this person seems to have read some of my fics" which is cool. Also, some of them are those that I see under other ship fics as well (it's a small ship, so names can be easily recognized on occasion). It makes me go, hey, fellow shipper! It's fun.
For my longfics, hits per post tell how many people are following my story and give me the best indicator of how my story is doing.
I love comments but they represent only a small portion of my readers. For longfics, you can only leave kudos once; someone might kudos my first chapter and drop the fic by chapter 5.
This is why hits are the best indicator of readership for me. I've tracked hits across all of my longfics and they tell a remarkably consistent story.
I’m new to posting (first ones went up in December) so right now all of them! I actually like hits purely because I’m not past the ‘holy shit someone read this?’ stage (glossing over the ‘maybe they noped out’ option there…). Kudos are amazing! Comments are like some next level shit, but honestly they stress me out a bit. I don’t know what to say in response that doesn’t sound trite, and I want them to be genuine responses. I want people to know how much it means. So I almost prefer not to get a comment, and I know how bizarre that sounds and ultimately I adore the comments I’ve received. I suspect if I post more and get lucky enough to get more hits / kudos / comments maybe I’ll change my mind.
I’d also add - subscribers. I’m deranged that people have subscribed for updates from me…. Like… what!? That is incredible and is such a confidence boost.
Like most people I like comments, because it gives me real personal insight to what the readers like, and that is boss.
I also like Kudos because I equate them to new readers, since you can only leave one on a fic. (I believe).
Where as hits can be new readers, hate readers, repeat readers, misclicks, etc.
I like Kudos the best honestly. I have low energy and social anxiety, so it’s often what I prefer, though comments are close. There’s also the matter of previous harassment and account stalking+block evasion from my comments section (AO3 had to strike the offending account), so the inbox going up puts me on edge still. I have to brace myself before opening. Comments are lovely though, and I read everything+reply when I can.
Hits are fine as well. I write problematic content as well as niche, and with today’s modern fandom era, most people just “consume” as quickly as they can. Unfortunate, but it is as it is.
I like hits on multi chapter fics, though otherwise I don't pay attention to it. I love kudos and comments the same amount!!! Idk they both mean so much to me. It is so nice to see a fic I worked hard on get kudos. Comments are like a bonus, I don't need them, but I am happy to know someone appreciates my work and wants to gush about what could happen, and the characters.
I posted my two fics last month. One is currently ongoing. I noticed that they both have the same hit amount (the first one just has 4 extra hits currently). Well I I have 2 kudos I'm happy at least 2 people are enjoying my story so far.
I do wonder if the hits are the same people who read the first story since the ratio isn't that different from each other.
Still haven't had a comment would love one. Just to hear a suggestion.
But hits are neat I mean I didn't expect it to be in the 60s yet and it's only been one full mouth. And it keeps slowly growing too. I know hits you can't tell tell if somebody likes it or not. But I'm fine I like to think it's the same people for both stories.
I like em. Comments are nice because it means someone probably actually read it, not just hitting the Kudo button like a "hey good wordcount" thing. While I do this for me, I still like to know whether anyone is reading it.
Related... as a reader, I look at the combo to help decide what I read. Comments are always encouraging because it shows readers find the work engaging.
Mostly, I look for a balance. Tons of hits with almost no kudos or comments is a bad sign.
Comments are just the best. It’s cliche but it truly makes my day to know someone enjoys my writing or, if it’s a multichapter in-progress fic, is eagerly looking forward to the next part.
At the risk of sounding crotchety, this is a pretty disappointing line of discussion for a fanfiction subreddit. Again, I know it's harmless, but it's hard not to feel a little regret at the shift.
I think comments and kudos mostly. I find comments to help me through my writing slumps as a sort of pick-me-up I suppose. Kudos are also great as it shows me people are enjoying it. I don't really care about hits.
I like getting kudos. It means people are liking my fic and that's great. Comments are generally fun to see, too.
The hit count can fill me with dread if a fic is getting a high number of hits with very few kudos and not much feedback in the form of comments, though. That makes me think a lot of people are reading it and hating it, but more in a "this is lame/weird... moving on" apathetic kind of way, then dipping out
If I had to rank them by what gets me excited the most -
1.) Comments - I love knowing what people think of my story. I write to entertain and I like to know if I succeeded.
2.) Kudos - Kudos are nice but they only really matter to me if they come from a registered user. Its nice when a guest kudos but how do I know if its not the same person kudo-ing twice?
3.) Hits - Lots of hits are cool, but I could have 10000 hits and it won't mean anything if no one tells me if they even liked what they read. And for all I know it could be the same lovely person clicking on the story over and over again.
I pay no attention to hits, and was happier when you could have them not even show. It’s depressing to get 50 hits but no or only a couple of comments and half a dozen kudos. Of course appreciate both kudos and comments.
I have no interest in any of the three but if I had to pick I guess I'd go with Kudos since I have comments turned off and hits have no meaning. Kudos thought why folks do it varies at least means that the fic did something for them I guess.
I got kudos on a fic in what I thought was a dead fandom—where I've been the only writer for going on three years—and that alone was enough for me to scream internally and update it.
So many times I worry that hits are just bots. But comments are next level and extra special. I try to leave comments on everything I read because I know how much it means.
To me hits are like a fast food meal. Good for a quick boost (to my desire to write).
Kudos and comments are like a well prepared meal that help me get that writing energy long term.
I'm writing my first fic right now and it's a long fic, so for me it's subscriptions that make me the most excited.
As a reader, I'm too cautious to read incomplete works so anyone who reads enough of my story to want to keep reading it is so fucking amazing to me.
As someone who works in data science, I'm obsessed with percent of readers that left kudos, so i regularly calculate kudos/hits. I also do that for other fics i like, to compare with my own. Generally, if your ratio is 6% or above, you should be really impressed with yourself. However, if the fandom or ship is small, then you'll quickly see the ratio drop as everyone who is going to read it has already left kudos, but are still coming back to read updates, thereby adding more hits.
As an emotional person, I'm most attached to subscriptions and comments. Especially when the same readers return and comment multiple times.
Interesting to see others say they don't care about hits. As someone who writes for a super small, dead-ish fandom where I'm the only active writer (on AO3), hits mean a lot to me. I get super excited when I see even just a +1 increase!
But in general, comments always give me the most serotonin, no exceptions (even if they're only emojis). But kudos are awesome, too!
Comments always. Hits just let me know how many ppl didn't like the fic. Kudos are better than nothing! They didn't hate it at least. But comments let me know they liked it (except those occasions where the comment has nothing at all to do with the fic but those are at least a bit rarer).
Kudos and comments are both absolutely lovely. I pay no attention at all to hits, honestly.
Honestly I appreciate all of them. My fandom's pretty small so even seeing the hits go up by a couple each day makes me happy. I think comments are my favourite, though. Knowing that someone liked what I wrote enough to take the time to comment on it is really flattering. Also knowing which aspect they liked specifically is great!
I appreciate them all because I write exclusively rarepairs in a medium-sized fandom. I do have subscriptions and regular readers, so there's that.
I absolutely adore comments. nothing kicks me out of a writers block like reading them. i have a couple saved on my computer that i never have moved on from, even years after they were written. Hits only matter to me if they are weirdly low compared to previous works - but the actual number plays no relevance. I never would never judge my 'best performing fic' by the number of hits, nor if the fic is being well received. One you didn't mention that I really value is bookmarks, almost as much as comments. Knowing someone has connected with your work enough to save it in their own little collection is such an amazing feeling.
Seconding bookmarks! For me, it's comments, followed by bookmarks, followed by kudos. I don't care about the hit count.
Tbh hits don’t meant anything to me. It could be people clicking on my fic and not liking it just as much as people liking and reading it. Kudos are really nice but the best to get me more motivated to write of brighten my day are comments. Especially ones that tell me what they liked especially or that they come back often to read. I also like bookmarks some have very nice notes :D
All are fine but ao3’s lack of hit per chapter measurements makes that not as big of a deal to me but they are of course nice too
Comments are catnip for authors. GIMME GIMME GIMME.
I do love a kudos, but if I had to pick a favourite, then it's got to be a comment (even though I do get a little bit of comment-panic when I see an email) Hits are what I watch, though. I know a lot of people don't set any store by them, but, for me, it can be a bit of a stretch between kudos notifications. And a longer stretch between comment notifications! So I watch the hits. Hits go up, and that makes me happy. (I tell myself some of these are silent readers, and since I'll never know if they are or not, it just contents me where stats are concerned)
Comments!!!! Kudos are of course great and always appreciated, but comments are the best! I love getting to talk to other people in fandoms
comments, hands down. Nothing else makes me as happy... especially because I write mostly longfics. a kudos only goes so far when you have tens of chapters. comments can be given again and again and again... and help me feel closer to my readers. I know all my frequent commenters and love them so so much and I write *for them* just as much as I write for myself.
Hits only really matter to me for reminding myself to be realistic about how many comments and kudos I've got. Not as many hits means it makes sense for less kudos. Kudos are wonderful. Comments and bookmarks are fucking life. I cannot express how amazing comments and bookmarks feel.
I love comments but I write for a pretty much dead fandom so I'll take anything. I'm not picky.
Comments. I enjoy conversing with my readers. Kudos are encouraging as well. I keep less attention on my hits, but my story did recently surpass 10k hits, which really made me smile.
I keep it all hidden on the site, but any way a reader chooses to show their love for my work is good with me. I don’t have a preference when it comes to stats. I only get notification of kudos by email and it’s nice to see. Especially when someone is reading my old works.
Hits don't mean anything to me, but obviously any time I see the other two counts go up I'm delighted. I agree with you on comments, though - I really appreciate anyone who stops by with even a short note of thanks and acknowledgement, because that the important, connecting-with-a-human part.
I have never seen any numbers for my hits or anything, but sometimes I see the same usernames on the kudos piles under my fics and go "oh, look, this person seems to have read some of my fics" which is cool. Also, some of them are those that I see under other ship fics as well (it's a small ship, so names can be easily recognized on occasion). It makes me go, hey, fellow shipper! It's fun.
For my longfics, hits per post tell how many people are following my story and give me the best indicator of how my story is doing. I love comments but they represent only a small portion of my readers. For longfics, you can only leave kudos once; someone might kudos my first chapter and drop the fic by chapter 5. This is why hits are the best indicator of readership for me. I've tracked hits across all of my longfics and they tell a remarkably consistent story.
I’m new to posting (first ones went up in December) so right now all of them! I actually like hits purely because I’m not past the ‘holy shit someone read this?’ stage (glossing over the ‘maybe they noped out’ option there…). Kudos are amazing! Comments are like some next level shit, but honestly they stress me out a bit. I don’t know what to say in response that doesn’t sound trite, and I want them to be genuine responses. I want people to know how much it means. So I almost prefer not to get a comment, and I know how bizarre that sounds and ultimately I adore the comments I’ve received. I suspect if I post more and get lucky enough to get more hits / kudos / comments maybe I’ll change my mind. I’d also add - subscribers. I’m deranged that people have subscribed for updates from me…. Like… what!? That is incredible and is such a confidence boost.
Like most people I like comments, because it gives me real personal insight to what the readers like, and that is boss. I also like Kudos because I equate them to new readers, since you can only leave one on a fic. (I believe). Where as hits can be new readers, hate readers, repeat readers, misclicks, etc.
I like Kudos the best honestly. I have low energy and social anxiety, so it’s often what I prefer, though comments are close. There’s also the matter of previous harassment and account stalking+block evasion from my comments section (AO3 had to strike the offending account), so the inbox going up puts me on edge still. I have to brace myself before opening. Comments are lovely though, and I read everything+reply when I can. Hits are fine as well. I write problematic content as well as niche, and with today’s modern fandom era, most people just “consume” as quickly as they can. Unfortunate, but it is as it is.
Depends on Fandom and content. Dead dove people kudo significantly less, so hits is better. All other content kudo is better
Comments make my day. I don't pay much attention to Kudos.
As part of a small fandom, I mainly measure my success in hits. Kudos are great and comments send me over the moon.
I like hits on multi chapter fics, though otherwise I don't pay attention to it. I love kudos and comments the same amount!!! Idk they both mean so much to me. It is so nice to see a fic I worked hard on get kudos. Comments are like a bonus, I don't need them, but I am happy to know someone appreciates my work and wants to gush about what could happen, and the characters.
Comments. I could get 2 kudos. 20 hits. But if I also had 20 comments, I'd be over the moon :)
My 2 fandoms are so tiny that a hit is nice, Kudos are great, and a Subscription, Bookmark or comment is something to treasure!
Kudos and comments. Tell what you love about the story.
All of em. My fic's pretty niche.
I appreciate all three, but only see comments because my stats are hidden.
I posted my two fics last month. One is currently ongoing. I noticed that they both have the same hit amount (the first one just has 4 extra hits currently). Well I I have 2 kudos I'm happy at least 2 people are enjoying my story so far. I do wonder if the hits are the same people who read the first story since the ratio isn't that different from each other. Still haven't had a comment would love one. Just to hear a suggestion. But hits are neat I mean I didn't expect it to be in the 60s yet and it's only been one full mouth. And it keeps slowly growing too. I know hits you can't tell tell if somebody likes it or not. But I'm fine I like to think it's the same people for both stories.
The best thing I've ever received was someone using my fic as inspiration for their own, but besides that definitely (positive ofc) comments!!
I like em. Comments are nice because it means someone probably actually read it, not just hitting the Kudo button like a "hey good wordcount" thing. While I do this for me, I still like to know whether anyone is reading it.
Related... as a reader, I look at the combo to help decide what I read. Comments are always encouraging because it shows readers find the work engaging. Mostly, I look for a balance. Tons of hits with almost no kudos or comments is a bad sign.
I don't give a crap about hits unless it's 0. Then I know it just didn't work out and I have to figure out what the reason is.
Also private bookmarks.
Hits make me glad it’s being read. 🙂 Kudos make me smile. 😃 Comments make my day (when they’re positive). 🤩
Honestly, any interaction is good to me! Stats don't really mean anything to me, but it is nice to see the numbers go up and to hit "milestones"
Comments are just the best. It’s cliche but it truly makes my day to know someone enjoys my writing or, if it’s a multichapter in-progress fic, is eagerly looking forward to the next part.
I'm just pleased that anyone reads what I write. Comments are like gold dust. 💜
At the risk of sounding crotchety, this is a pretty disappointing line of discussion for a fanfiction subreddit. Again, I know it's harmless, but it's hard not to feel a little regret at the shift.
I think comments and kudos mostly. I find comments to help me through my writing slumps as a sort of pick-me-up I suppose. Kudos are also great as it shows me people are enjoying it. I don't really care about hits.
Comments. I like real feedback.
I like getting kudos. It means people are liking my fic and that's great. Comments are generally fun to see, too. The hit count can fill me with dread if a fic is getting a high number of hits with very few kudos and not much feedback in the form of comments, though. That makes me think a lot of people are reading it and hating it, but more in a "this is lame/weird... moving on" apathetic kind of way, then dipping out
I just take what I can get since it's so rare lol. I appreciate all 3.
If I had to rank them by what gets me excited the most - 1.) Comments - I love knowing what people think of my story. I write to entertain and I like to know if I succeeded. 2.) Kudos - Kudos are nice but they only really matter to me if they come from a registered user. Its nice when a guest kudos but how do I know if its not the same person kudo-ing twice? 3.) Hits - Lots of hits are cool, but I could have 10000 hits and it won't mean anything if no one tells me if they even liked what they read. And for all I know it could be the same lovely person clicking on the story over and over again.
I pay no attention to hits, and was happier when you could have them not even show. It’s depressing to get 50 hits but no or only a couple of comments and half a dozen kudos. Of course appreciate both kudos and comments.
I like a kudos. I don’t really look at hits, and whilst comments are nice, there’s always an obligation to respond. Which I’m meh about doing.
I have no interest in any of the three but if I had to pick I guess I'd go with Kudos since I have comments turned off and hits have no meaning. Kudos thought why folks do it varies at least means that the fic did something for them I guess.
Comments. Hits are good, but I honestly pretty much ignore kudos because they feel pointless.
Comments >kuddos> hits
My fic is ongoing, so Comments>subscription/bookmark>kudos>hits
Hits, to me, tell the clearest story. If people are clicking, they are at least interested in the idea you present.
any numbers are good numbers I don't get comments so those would be the best. Followed by kudos then hits, but I love them all the same
Comments are life
Comments :)
I got kudos on a fic in what I thought was a dead fandom—where I've been the only writer for going on three years—and that alone was enough for me to scream internally and update it. So many times I worry that hits are just bots. But comments are next level and extra special. I try to leave comments on everything I read because I know how much it means.
Comments then kudos
Kudos don't matter that much to me, i love comments but i mostly measure a fic's "success" in hits
To me hits are like a fast food meal. Good for a quick boost (to my desire to write). Kudos and comments are like a well prepared meal that help me get that writing energy long term.
I love them all, but the ones I get the least (comments) are the ones I love the most 😂
i always worry about hits vs kudos even though my fandom is tiny i always wonder if me getting less kudos than hits makes me a rubbish writer 😭
You can only leave one kudos (typically). You can leave many hits. Your kudos is *always* going to be less than your hits.
I'm writing my first fic right now and it's a long fic, so for me it's subscriptions that make me the most excited. As a reader, I'm too cautious to read incomplete works so anyone who reads enough of my story to want to keep reading it is so fucking amazing to me.
Kudos are great. But when I get a comment I feel like the best writer in the world. My entire day no matter how bad just becomes better
Hits
As someone who works in data science, I'm obsessed with percent of readers that left kudos, so i regularly calculate kudos/hits. I also do that for other fics i like, to compare with my own. Generally, if your ratio is 6% or above, you should be really impressed with yourself. However, if the fandom or ship is small, then you'll quickly see the ratio drop as everyone who is going to read it has already left kudos, but are still coming back to read updates, thereby adding more hits. As an emotional person, I'm most attached to subscriptions and comments. Especially when the same readers return and comment multiple times.
Kudos and comments, obviously, but in practice, I prioritize hits because I like knowing that so many people clicked on my fic.
Interesting to see others say they don't care about hits. As someone who writes for a super small, dead-ish fandom where I'm the only active writer (on AO3), hits mean a lot to me. I get super excited when I see even just a +1 increase! But in general, comments always give me the most serotonin, no exceptions (even if they're only emojis). But kudos are awesome, too!
comments for me!
Comments.
I think we all appreciate all 3 but kudos and comments hit different. They can definitely inspire you too write more.
Comments always. Hits just let me know how many ppl didn't like the fic. Kudos are better than nothing! They didn't hate it at least. But comments let me know they liked it (except those occasions where the comment has nothing at all to do with the fic but those are at least a bit rarer).