Writing sites and forums are exploding all over the web, giving young and aspiring writers a chance to find a community and share their hobby with potentially people all over the world. After the death of Quizilla, as many ex-Quizilla writers call it, many of its members moved over to either Fiction Press, or Mibba. Mibba, in question, allows for writers to customise their layout for both their profile page and each story. The personalization is what automatically drew many of the ex-Quizilla writers and readers, due to the standardisation of all stories and profiles on the aforementioned site. But leaving one site for the other means losing readers, your writing base, and having to start all over again.
Writers all over the web, but more important in my community, Mibba, are wondering how do they make it? There are many writers who have achieved ‘Mibba Fame’ through a variety of stories, and may rake up to 500 comments per story and counting! What is their secret? How did they get there? Unfortunately, these writers did not want to give up their trade secrets, but by accumulating advice from a variety of authors across the community, a trend of different steps began to take shape. I am here to share with you a few tips and advice to help make it on Mibba.
The first step, and the most important step that every writer must work on continuously is quality. If you stop looking for ways to improve and exert all of your energy trying to gain readers, chances are you won’t get anywhere. There is not a single writer that can say that they have learned all there is to learn, because chances are they wouldn’t be writing on Mibba for free. Keep raising the bar, keep putting everything into your work, and revise, revise, revise!
The next step which is equally as important is patience. Don’t give up hope after posting one chapter and no one has left a comment. A multitude of writers claimed that a story that is almost finished is more appealing to a story that has just begun. Often times stories with only a few chapters indicate that the author won’t finish it, and the reader is left with the last chapter for months and months. If you keep posting and be patient, then they will come.
Step three is fairly easy: make friends! Friends and acquaintances are very important in your online writing career, no matter how early or late you are in it. Other writers can offer you their own personal tips and advice, and may offer you helpful feedback on your writing. Feedback is very important, and people who are willing to give useful feedback are a dime a dozen. If you find one, don’t let them go! Friends will also help introduce you to other writing which may inspire you or give you some incentive for your own writing. And, of course, they create a support network that will help you when you are going through your blocks. Friends have more than one use, and sometimes, all you need is someone to talk to.
Next, another tip that may seem obvious, but is not always executed properly is be open and friendly. A writer needs to be open to readers, comments, and friends who leave comments, messages, and advice. And being friendly should just be the topmost important thing. Being rude or somewhat arrogant to your readers will only have your numbers decrease. After all, the writing trade depends almost entirely upon the reader. If the reader isn’t happy, then they can choose not to read. Thus, your success rate goes down. It may seem like such an easy task, but many writers say the wrong things in their updates or respond poorly to a comment, and since the Internet cannot reveal emotions or facial expressions, interpretations may differ. You can be yourself; just don’t be rude to the readers you want to have!
Tip number five: don’t change usernames all the time. In order to make a name for yourself; you need a name to be known by. By choosing an username that represents you and your writing in some way, you can make it easier on the readers when identifying you. There are many writers that you can name off the top of your head by their username, and when you think of that username, you get a quick flash of their writing. That effect doesn’t happen when every week you change it to your new favourite song. If your favourite band kept changing its name throughout their career, how would you find their CDs if you didn’t know the name? Your username is like your picture and your given name for the Internet, so don’t keep confusing people. Choose your name wisely and when you have found the perfect one, keep it! If no one has a solid, steady name to call you, then how are you supposed to stick out in the writing world?
Much like gaining friends, providing feedback is just as important as gaining it. By providing writers, or friends, with useful and quality feedback, you can guarantee they will think about returning it. Being a silent reader may be comfortable for you, but it doesn’t put your name out there and it doesn’t help the writer. How do they know you’re reading the story? You should provide feedback in the way that you would like to receive it, and read in the same way. If you don’t like having silent readers, then you, yourself, shouldn’t be silent. Besides, being silent is the polar opposite of being a writer. You want your voice to be heard.
Another helpful tip is to join or host writing contests. By joining a contest, you are putting yourself out there for others to see. The host will have to read your writing, and perhaps some of the other contestants will read it as well to see their competition. Joining contests are an excellent way to put yourself out there and have your name recognised. And if you happen to place, in some contests you are linked in their signature or on their profile page. Free advertising, anyone? By hosting a contest, or even multiple, you are also putting yourself out there. Perhaps people won’t be reading your work, but your contestants will most certainly not forget your username, and the more contests you host, the more people will come back. Either way, your name is getting across the site.
Making your profile and story layouts attractive, clear, and appealing can help with picky readers and writers. Neon colours may be fun and small fonts may be cute, but you have to remember that other computers have different dimensions and what may seem perfect to you may be unreadable to others. So when posting a layout, you must think of others! You may still exercise your creativity, but you have to make it easy on the eye with the font being clear and a proper size (9-12 point, usually), and easily distinguishable from the background. Placing images beneath the text is difficult to read and readers will often stop reading because of the layout. There haven’t been many cases where layouts have been terrible to read, but remember that you want it to be clear, attractive, and appealing, while thinking of your readers at the same time.
If you have exterior forums and writing sites, you should get involved with your community writing sites and forums that are not directly apart of Mibba. There are many sites linked on writers homepages that readers visit. Some offer advertising for writers, some offer awards and nominations. Either way, by getting involved with a forum or a web site, you are involving yourself in the process more, potentially gaining some advertising for your readers. Even writers who only frequent those sites and forums may be inclined to visit your page and read your work if you present yourself in the proper way. Basically, you want to submerge yourself into your community and use every chance you can get to broadcast your name.
Some writers say there are no shortcuts to making a name for yourself, some say it is all about who you know, but I think that you can improve your chances by following some of the above steps and hoping for the best. It may not be easy, but it doesn’t hurt to try, now does it? Patience is a virtue, my fellow writers, I suggest you call upon it as you wait for your potential Mibba fame.
Note: This was originally written for article submission for chalk. (c) all rights reserved.
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