Mini Guide: Getting Featured

Getting a story featured is a combination of reader count, likes vs. dislikes, age, and momentum. This means get lots of readers fast, and get them to like and comment. For subsequent chapters, you want the original readers to watch and favorite the story so they’ll be notified right away when you update.

How to get lots of readers fast:

Get your story in front of as large of an audience as possible. This means adding your story to all relevant groups on FIMFiction; sharing on social media; getting friends to share it on social media; and basically not being ashamed to pimp your story. If you have hundreds or thousands of followers, unlike myself, you’ll stay in the featured box longer.

Write an awesome description. Absolutely get your description grammar checked. How many of you have looked at a story box, seen a sloppy description written by a sloppy author, and moved on? Similarly, get good cover art. If you need to commision something specific, do it. Otherwise search long and hard for that perfect piece of art, or make one yourself.

Post when people are reading. Read this link for more insight. Basically, post when there are many readers active and few new stories being posted.

How to get likes and comments:

Get a competent, critical editor, and listen to him/her. Readers will jump ship as soon as their interest is lost. There’s so much other fanfiction out there to be wasting time on sloppy writing, loose plot, bad grammar, etc.

Write a great first chapter. Learn how to tell a story. There’s an ebb and flow to writing an adventure story. Don’t just splooge a bunch of cool ideas, settings, and events onto the paper. If you’re writing for an audience then there are rules to follow. Spend time on tvtropes. Google how to write fiction. Learn about the Hero’s Quest and, if you like, learn about the other common plots. (Reusing already-proven storylines isn’t copying, isn’t plagiarising, and isn’t giving up or bandwagoning. These storylines work for a reason.)

How to get watches:

Write what other readers want to read. This is a tough one. If you’re writing what you want to write, then you’ll wind up with little more than literary masturbation. If you want acclaim and fame, you need to focus on what the audience wants. Don’t write about your shitty OC or rehash the same story over and over. Tell something new. Come up with original ideas or, failing that, take something you really enjoyed and add a new spin to it.

Get rid of the shit and replace it with gold. Simply put, don’t be afraid to cut and tear out stuff. If you download my workspace, you’ll see a whole chapter of deleted scenes. All of that, at one point or another, was going to be in the story. Most of it is crap.

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That’s it. Following those rules got me featured. I was never in the top slots of the feature box (the bottom three are reserved for recent updates, and they’re much easier to get into) and I was never featured for days like some stories, but I did get featured each time I posted a chapter.

I hope some of this helps.