Marketing Difficulties · 8:51am Nov 15th, 2014
So, I must confess I am feeling a little frustrated today (otherwise I might not have written this post at all). I believe I am experiencing what can only be described as "marketing difficulties" when it comes to drumming up interest in my current trilogy. Yes, I've been trying to spread my stories out there (it seems to be the only way to get views and upvotes on a website with so many stories being uploaded so quickly). I don't expect to garner 1,000 views overnight or anything, but I put so much effort into my writing that I'd rather it not fade into obscurity within a month of posting it.
So then, what is my problem? Well, I know at least a few people (be they followers, passersby, etc.) on this site read my blog. At least a dozen of you, at any rate! You guys probably know that my trilogy is a very loose alternate ending / sequel to the infamous Cupcakes.
I probably don't need to explain any further for you to see why this is an issue. I am willing to chalk it up to a general dislike of Cupcakes by the fandom, a preexisting prejudice against derivative works, or even just plain politics (since there are so many derivative works of Cupcakes already). However, I have difficulty in believing that this is due to a deficiency in my writing.
Now, don't get me wrong! I know my writing is not perfect - especially since the two stories I have up are the first two stories I've ever attempted in the MLP universe (I will note that I have written fanfictions for other fandoms before, and occasionally dabbled in my own original works) - and I am not claiming that it should be perfect.
I try to put my own unique thumbprint on everything I write (even these blog posts), if for no other reason than to pleasantly subvert reader expectations. When I say my writing is only loosely based on Cupcakes, I really do mean loosely. Although I originally intended for my first story to be a one-shot, it quickly segued into an original work that I'd been kicking around in my head for some time. Rather than make this into two separate projects, I decided to use my first project to springboard into the second.
In short, past a certain point, the connection to Cupcakes becomes so incidental that it might as well just be retconned out of the story altogether! It's no coincidence that lately I've actually been playing around with that idea. After I finish the trilogy, I would definitely be open to going back through the whole thing, trimming out anything related to Cupcakes (retconning things as necessary), changing parts that I did feel could use improvement, then re-releasing the whole shebang as one long piece. I wonder if there's a precedent for that sort of thing.
What I'd like to know is whether or not any other writers (new or otherwise) have experienced similar difficulties when writing in unpopular genres (e.g. this; human-in-equestria crossovers; shipping fiction; etc.). If so, how did you counter it? Did you ever decide to go back and completely retcon out the elements that were giving people pause? Perhaps even re-release your work under some other banner?
I'd really like to know, because the people jumping to unfair conclusions about my writings is giving me a sad. 
Feel free to comment with your thoughts!
I know exactly what you mean. When I first joined this website many moons ago I had a story on here that was entitled "A downward spiral of Pink" I had come up with a story with the summary "Pinkie organizes the perfect party for a friend, what could possibly go wrong?". Just because it had RD and Pinkie in it, it instantly got down voted and all the comments of "Cupcakes OMG copycat" or "Not another rip-off" or even "Keep away from Rainbow Dash you monster" I took my story down, after its meager life span of 10 minutes.
I have decided that I shall be re-writing the whole thing and am not going to take down any future stories as of when they arrive.
-Frost
The public is very picky about what people do with Ponyville's pink party pony. I think perhaps I was a little hasty in deciding a top-down rewrite was necessary. Ultimately I am telling the story I want to tell and what people think of it shouldn't change my narrative style or the content I'm putting out.
However, perhaps in my self-conciened neurosis I was a little hasty to decry the link to cupcakes using author's notes in the story description. That is starting to look like it did more harm than good, so I removed it.
My story still spins off of Cupcakes, but at least when people start reading it they will be able to make that connection for themselves. I've had enough people complain about the link, start reading it, then come back to tell me it was good to where I am starting to not feel the need to be so self-conscious about it.