How to Get More Readers

Step One

Advertise your work. Pimp out your story to your friends, in journals, or use forum threads like this one. Make sure to add strong hooks to your descriptions when advertising your story. Never give away too much! Add mystery, something that'll make people want to click your link and start reading. You can pimp your story pretty much anywhere. Add a link in your signature, talk about it in a journal, make it super special and bold on your profile, or even advertise on entirely different sites! if you have an account on another writing site, add links there. If you have a blog or a tumblr, you can easily post excerpts or summaries to gather more readers and fans. And if you're brave enough, you can always share your work to your friends on facebook and other social networking sites.

Step Two

Use comment swaps. Some people dislike comment swaps, but even though they aren't the best way to retrieve loyal readers, they are the easiest and quickest way to make your story more popular. Use forum threads like this one to comment swap your chaptered story. Use this thread for your one-shots, and this one for your drabbles. If you want a more detailed review on your story and are willing to give one in return, then this thread is the right one for you. Journals are also a great way to comment swap.

Step Three

Use pretty and easily readable layouts. Not only does this attract readers to your story, it gives your work a much more original and professional feel, something readers flock to like insects to light. If you need help learning how to make story layouts, you can use this forum thread. If you want a pre-made one that is made by fellow users, you can use this thread. And you can always ask any questions you may have about making your layouts here! Also, if you see someone who has story layouts you admire, ask them for tips, and maybe they'll be nice enough to help you out.

Step Four

Make steady updates. This only applies to chaptered stories, but I think it is extremely important. Soooo many people have a lot of difficulty updating their story often or even on a somewhat steady basis. If you work hard to master this challenge, readers will find your story, and continue to follow it. If you abandon your readers, they will also abandon you. The easiest thing for a reader to do is stop reading. I think posting a new chapter once every week is a good start, but don't update too often! If you update every day for a few days, chances are that your readers might get annoyed and feel like they can't keep up. It will also wear you out much faster and give you an excuse to go without updating for a long time afterwords. Don't update in random crazy spurts, be steady!

Step Five

Listen to your comments, listen to your readers. If someone posts a comment about how they absolutely love your writing, then allow yourself to beam! Be happy, and make sure to thank them if you want to go the extra mile. The same thing goes for a more negative comment. If someone gives you advice or suggestions on how to improve your work, don't close up against their words or get defensive. Listen to them with an open heart and try as hard as you can to fix your mistakes. Thank them, too! They have been thoughtful enough to take the time out of their day and try to help you with your story. These kind of comments prove that yes, they have read it, and that they're trying to help you, even if they may say some things you'd rather not hear. Then, on the other hand, if someone is flat-out bashing your story with insults that seem offensive and not in the slightest helpful, that is when you report it. Go here to learn more about reporting.

Step Six

Make your story original. This step definitely applies to fan-fiction as well – it applies to all writing! Make it unique, something you've never read or even heard of before. This will make your readers curious and captivated, along with allowing your story to be much more interesting. Write characters with interesting and unique qualities. Make your plot twist and turn until your readers get lost and can't seem to find their way out of the story even if they try. Making your story orginal and unique is really not as difficult as it seems. Take another idea and add a twist to it, perhaps. Or think of something new altogether!

Step Seven

Research. For heaven's sake, research! Write what you know. If you aren't sure about something, look it up until you're more than confident writing about it. If any information is incorrect in your story, and your readers manage to notice it, then... you're doomed. Do your research before you write. Look up anything and everything, and make sure to read from more than one source as to get your bearings. If you aren't sure whether someone from so-and-so town would use a certain phrase in their dialect, look it up! Don't guess, don't improvise, especially if it's something bigger than a simple phrase. Make sure you know details about what you're writing, so that you can connect with your work.

Step Eight

Write what other people love and what you love. This doesn't necessarily mean you should write about "popular" themes and topics, as those can be easily classified as cliche. Pay attention to what kind of stories your favorite authors are writing. What exactly do you like about them? Reflect off these details, and make sure to listen to what people have to say, especially readers. Talk to people outside of the internet. Ask advice from friends and family, or host surveys on what people would like to hear next. You can visit this forum thread or this one to browse through what hundreds of users desire in stories. You can visit this forum thread to browse through what hundreds of users hate to see in stories. The options are endless!

Step Nine

Make your first chapter amazing, make it so your readers can't help but to subscribe and beg for more. The first chapter is the most important one. It's your story's outer shell, it's what your readers will read first. It's what will make up their first impressions of your story and whether or not they want to continue. Have a hook so powerful that it snags them by their throats! Ahh, of course not literally, but you probably understand what I mean. If not any other chapter, the first one should make your readers interested. Don't type something up and then automatically post it. Read it over, revise it, ask for con/crit before you post, let it settle in your head for a few days before you actually post. Would you read something like what you've just written? Pretend you're the reader for a few moments. It's important to draw yourself out of your passion-filled intense-writer mode before you edit your work and definitely before you post it.

Step Ten

Love your story. It's your child, growing up with each sentence you type into its life. Make it live! Give it adventure and nourishment. If you take the time and put effort into your story, and if you really love writing it, there is no doubt that your readers will love reading it and that its audience will grow.