I worry. · 3:43pm Jan 27th, 2015
I worry that I may have lost a lot of my readers for The Nautilus Protocol due to my long hiatus caused by my writers block. To any of my fans who also write, has this kind of thing happened to you? and how were you able to win back your readers?
Also, no. I don't intend to stop writing just because some people have stopped reading. As I've stated before, I write these fics for practice, to help me learn to become a better author. So you can stil expect updates on all my fics, so no worries there. However, if I don't get any feedback on my fics, how the heck am I supposed to know what I'm doing wrong? so any help in getting my old readers back would be appreciated!
Or, you know, getting new ones. That would help too. At any rate, I'm going to go through my previous chapters for Nautilus and fix the mistakes of the past. Tally Ho!
I've met a few that 'prune' their favorites and remove any stories that haven't updated in a while... but in my experience those are the clear minority.
Most just leave all stories there, if nothing else in the hope that those stories might one day get continued.
...Granted, the moment you update after a longer hiatus half of the comments are going to be along the line of 'IT'S ALIVE!!!!! PRAISE THE DARK GODS OF FAN-FICTION!' and 'Huh, this thing. Now I got to read it all again to remember what the buck is going on...
But eh, at least it shows you that people still care, right?
You're not the first author that seems to have noticed a 'sudden drop in comments'.
People only seem to comment for four reasons.
They just discovered the story.... they are the ones who usually post the ' want more now' comments
faults in technical stuff, heads up about faults with grammar, consistency, plot and so on.
Something controversial happens.... killing of a character and that kind of thing.
something in the story conflicts with their headcannon. That's where most comments come from as two or more people start shooting their head-cannons at each other or at you depending on your world-building.
2750734 Yeah, but the thing is, is that I updated, and got hardly any feedback at all. It was a little discouraging, to be completely honest.
Anyway, thanks for the vote of confidence, though!
I leave a lot of those stories in my tracking though I remove them from my favorites. This story was one of them and hasn't been re-added to my favorites because although I love stories where ponies are lost in a sci-fi world, I do not like them having to fight for Equestria. The homecoming is great, the fighting on the homefront, something I despise.
2750736 over 500 people are following the story. You should probably be thankful they all don't jump in at once with comments like 'this is awesome, want more' 'MORE MORE MORE'
there are allot of stories on the site. And If one has been dormant for a while people tend to wait a little while until they get a chance to read the whole thing again to remember what's going on.
2750742 Yeah, sorry about that. It was going to happen, though I hope you won't hate it too much, and will still stick around once the fight for Equis ends and the story moves past that.
2750750 Thanks, man. That helps some.
I usually 'quietly' enjoy stories and updates. And with your last few updates I found very little wrong or worth griping over. Yer doin' good work here and - Ah, just read this lil comment.
2750734
Welp. Brings up a good point. I gotta go now and find a proper sacrifice to make to our cuddly dark lords.
2750754 If it helps a little more just keep an eye on the views... there's 800 already today and don't forget that time zones are a thing.
2750752 Oh yeah, I will, Ill just wait till quite a few chapters build up and speed read through it.
you have not lost me, i just make sure your story is in my tracking list, and gladly read once an update is out.
Actually, I'd spend more time writing new chapters and less time editing old ones. You have them to a level that is fine by me, so I would rather you spent the time moving the story forward.
As for time lags between chapters -- that doesn't cost you as many readers as one would think. They may grouse a bit, but are usually happy when a new chapter comes out so long as one doesn't disappoint.
It happened to me, but people still read. And people may come back. Like in any site they come and go. Just don't let it get you down. Good luck!
2750823 In case you missed my last blog, I actually have three other chapters ready to go. They just have to get past my editor first.
2750944
Just because you have three ready doesn't mean you can stop writing :)
That reminds me that I have to get off my butt and read. I don't remember why I stopped at the beginning of chapter XII, but I haven't touched it since.
And yes, I remember when TNP was called Seeing (Isn't) Believing.
Long delays are normal for fimfiction.net, so there's no reason to worry.
You post, I get notified, I read and enjoy your latest chapter... I don't want to monopolize the "comments" area, so maybe I don't post yet another repetition of my usual "Huzzah!" because, hey--you KNOW you're good, right?
And besides, after my tossing that "Naughty-Lass" comment at you, you probably question my tastes in literature anyway.
2751026 Actually, it was called Ignorance is(n't) Bliss.
2751042 ... well. Goes to show how long ago it was.
In any case, I've just opened it up on my mobile. That'll ensure I'm going to read it.
2751032 To be completely honest, I think I missed that comment. Either that, or I have completely forgotten it. Either way, I actually question everybody's taste in literature who reads my stuff. I actually have a very low opinion of my work, despite what I might say sometimes. There is a part of my brain that is just waiting for someone to read my story, then post a huge, twelve paragraph comment telling me why I suck so bad.
2751044 Thanks man, you're the best!
2751050 Aw
Love you too, Breeze you awesome writer you 
2750736
Actually I too followed the story. It's nice and I found your other stories as well as started following you because of it. I could say that I did not like story development much (it took too global look, I expected it to be more character focused adventure from the early chapters) but I still like it. But... I do not go back to stories which did not update for a long time immediately. A lot of stories receive one or two updates in half a year or year before die completely, so I usually wait for at least two or three chapters updated regularly before adding the story back to favs. And I suppose some part of your readership is waiting for more updates before going back to the story as well. Also usually picking the story after loooong hiatus means re-reading at least part of it and some people need to find time/mood for it. So please do not be discouraged - readers are still here, we are simply a liiitttleeee slooooowwwwwww. :)
Making me feel bad that the story just sits in my read later list, completely unread still. I swear I will get to it... eventually.
I doubt you lost many of the people that are up to date on reading the story, though. You did just update it yesterday, so people probably have to first see it, then finish up what other things they were currently reading to then get to the new chapter.
I wouldn't worry too much about readership: you show up in the feature box in the update section right now.
In my case I didn't start reading it until fairly recently, but for most stories that don't update for a while I just leave them in my faves/tracking/whatever in the hopes that they'll update eventually. I have occasionally gone through and "cleaned it out" but even then I only take out stories that haven't updated in a while and that I find myself not really caring if they do (meaning mostly passing fads and ones that I was slightly curious about but didn't really find "good"), which this story would definitely not fall under.
Worst case, if it's been so long I don't really remember it, I leave it in my queue a while until I have time to re-read it.
It's too good to stop reading, no matter how long it takes!
I agree, it is very good
Ditto
Same here
KABOOOOOOOOOOMMMMMM!!!!!