Finishing Touches: Gaining New Readers

Gaining readers can sometimes be a difficult and daunting task here on Mibba. With thousands of members and even more stories and poems, it’s easy for any writer’s work to get lost among the brush. To help with this, here’s a few tips to help you gain as many readers as possible.

Labeling and Tagging

One of the greatest disservices any Mibba writer can do themselves is mislabeling or failing to label or tag their piece. Since users search for stories by type, genre, and tags, it’s important for you to provide as much useful information as possible.

Labeling on Mibba is pretty simple - you’re given a drop-down list of type and genre - but sometimes writers have trouble deciding what keywords they should include in tags. A tag should be any keyword readers may associate with your story/poem or a story/poem like yours.

For example, if I was writing a fan fiction based on Disney’s Peter Pan, I would include the following tags:

Peter Pan, Wendy, Captain Hook, Hook, Peter, Pan, NeverNeverLand, Never Never Land, Never Land, Neverland, Lost boys, Mermaid , Pixie, Fairy, Tinkerbell, Immortal, Disney, J.M. Barrie

A good rule of thumb is “If you would use that word (or you think someone would use that word) to search for a story/poem like yours, use it as a tag.”

Aesthetics

We all know the age old adage: Never judge a book by its cover. Unfortunately, this isn’t advice we always follow. Though your story/poem should be much more than just a pretty layout, it certainly doesn’t hurt to have one that invites readers in.

Some important things to remember when thinking of the aesthetics of your story or poem are:

Legibility

No matter what, your layout needs to be legible - readers need to be able to easily and comfortably read the words of your story/poem. Remember to have a font that isn’t too big or too small (somewhere between 90% and 120%) and spacing that isn’t too jumbled or far apart. Also, make sure the font color is easy to see against the background color (or image) of your layout. In general, it’s best to not have images directly behind any font.

Book Cover

Though having a book cover is not mandatory, it’s certainly helpful. Without a book cover, your story fades into the background of the story overview page. It’s less likely to catch the eye of a reader. Take the time to include one.

Relevance

The layout helps tell readers what the piece is about and it helps to set the mood. Make sure your layouts and images are relevant to your story/poem and gives off the right impression.

Descriptions

The short description and summary are not only two ways to give readers insight into your story/poem, it can also be a good way to lure readers in.

Some Mibbians use excerpts as descriptions and some use summaries, whichever you choose, make sure you take your time and come up with something worthwhile. Don’t treat your short and long descriptions like unimportant details. Use the same effort and care in your descriptions that you would use in the actual telling of your story. Remember, they are your readers first glimpse into the piece, and if readers aren’t grabbed right away, they’ll be quick to quit.

Consistency and Follow-Through

Readers are an anxious bunch. If they like your work, they’ll want to read more. But the longer you keep them waiting, the less likely you are to hold their attention. If you’re updating erratically, they’re also likely to lose interest.

Simply put, update consistently, whether that means updating once a day, once a week, or once a month. Readers appreciate writers they can trust and depend on, and are much more willing to follow a piece if they know they’ll be able to read more…soon and through to the end.

It’s also good to have consistency in the quality of your work. The best way to gain a good reputation as a writer on Mibba (and to gain a loyal readership) is to put out quality work every time. Of course, no one’s work can be perfect, but readers can tell when you’ve posted something you don’t really believe in or care about - and I assure you, they won‘t be interested in reading work that's anything less than your best.

Advertising

One of the most popular ways to get your work read on Mibba is through advertising. And why wouldn’t it be? It’s what publishers do with book tours, magazine ads, sneak peaks on websites, ads in the back of similar books…anything to get the author’s work and name out there. You should do the same.

On Mibba, there’s quite a few opportunities for you to advertise your poem or story.

Signatures and Profiles

When you use the forums, your signature goes everywhere you go. On every post you make, your signature will be right their underneath your words. Use that to your advantage. Find a way to incorporate a link to your piece(s) in your signature.

Many Mibbians, especially those with numerous amount of works posted, also showcase their favorite or most recent work on their profiles. This will allow any passerby to get a glimpse of your work right away.

The Forums

While writers are often looking for people to read their work, there’s just as many Mibbians looking for good work to read. Whether people are asking for story or poem recommendations in their blogs or in the Story Finders thread, it’s always good to keep an eye open for someone looking for a story just like yours.

Another way to get more readers is by participating in Mibba’s story comment swap [1] or the comment swap/story review threads. By participating in these threads, you are guaranteed at least one reader every time you use it. With word of mouth (recommendations) being a good way to gain readers, these threads can definitely be a useful tool.

The Story and Poem Ads thread showcases a number of ‘ads’ created to visually entice readers, and can also be a useful tool in advertising your story or poem. If you’re not sure how to make an ad of your own, you can request one in the Story, Poem and Writing Contest Ad Requests thread. These ads can be posted on your profile, on your blog, or on any other social networking set you may belong to.

The forum’s Tips and General sections are some more great places to advertise your work. There are a lot of threads where writers can discuss their work at length. Utilize them.

Be sure to browse around the forum, as there are many more threads available, and new ones created constantly.

Visibilty

Mibba is a writing site.

It’s also a social site, a site for debating, a place for bloggers, artists, cooks, music lovers, movie lovers, drama geeks, gleeks, tree huggers, photographers…Basically, if you like it, there’s probably someone else here that enjoys it to…and would love to talk about it. Find something you like and get involved.

In order for Mibbians to read your story, they have to see it and you. The more active you are on the site (on all portions of the site), the more likely you are to gain readers (and maybe even friends). This means participating in the forums, posting and commenting journals, and commenting on other stories, poems, and articles. Being an active member on the site is a guaranteed way to help you get your foot in the door.

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