Much to my surprise and delight 
So... That Happened · 9:06pm Feb 17th, 2015
Ironically, I had been talking over on Horse Voice's blog on rising stars about how I didn't think I'd really gotten any traction with FiMFiction. I've had no previous features and only a single story in the popular stories box. My readership has, for the most part been people picked up piecemeal from various groups, and the short time HiEC is on the front page after being updated.
Sunday though, this happened:
I have no idea how the algorithm for features works. I believe for ongoing stories it's a function of heat, how many people view your story in a short time, verses other featured stories. HiEC must have hit this magic number, as I was featured Sunday and my viewership has skyrocketed since. I am stunned by the number of new favorites and comenters on the story in just a few days, and so grateful to everyone who's favorited, thumbs upped, commented or just had fun reading my story. I hope everyone who's joining us enjoys the grand finale! 
I don't know the math, but the top 7 slots are for new stories that are getting lots of views very quickly. The bottom 3 slots are for recently updated stories that have a certain amount of popularity.
It's hard to get in the top 7 because you have to hit that magic number of visits early and while in competition with the other stories that are already there.
It's easier to get in the bottom 3 of your story is doing relatively well in ratings, but if more popular stories update after yours you can be kicked out right away. (I had that happen - once got booted from the bottom 3 within 20 minutes by a story that did its first update in over half a year. The other two stories that had been there before me stayed. Was not happy.)
I'm pretty confident that the number of likes also play a key role in the top 7, as there appears to be a minimum number of likes necessary for it to even be considered. A top 7 story also takes several hours (if not a day) to get there. I've very rarely seen a top 7 story get on there more than 24 hours after it was published, and it may be that if it doesn't hit the top 7 in 48 hours it never will. It's the side bar stories that get elevated to the top 7, and it's the only way for a new story that got pushed off the new story list to do so (as it's not listed anywhere otherwise).
Interestingly the sidebar doesn't discriminate between new or old stories. I think it's just heat.
In general if a story doesn't hit the top 7 within several days, it never will. The bottom 3 are the 'saving throw' places for updated stories. So a hidden gem that gets updated several times and amasses a following will eventually get there, but runs the risk of being pushed off really quickly. A top 7 story will take a bit to be pushed off because the rankings don't change that often to give the highlighted stories some time to be in the spotlight, but there is no such protection for the bottom 3.
I've never seen a story featured in the top 7 featured again in the top 7 after falling off so it may be new story exclusive. Stories in the bottom 3 can be featured multiple times, sometimes after every update if your story has a steady following. A story in the top 7 can endure for quite awhile if it constantly gets new views/likes, so a successful strategy is dole out updates at a constant rate every day (or half-day if the ranking gets threatened) to keep interest. The Slumber of Gaia was a recent example off the top of my head that did that. Sometimes a really popular one-shot will endure for quite some time, but rarely so will the first chapter of an anticipated work; either from the premise like An Academic Visit (it helped that it was controversial for including the biased aftermath of a nuclear weapon used) or from a highly followed author that doesn't update very often like The Whittler.
*Edit* I forgot to add that a key part of obtaining a following can be done by adding the story to the right groups. Name choice and a decent summary (both small and large) really help as well. Basically, if you can master the 30 second elevator pitch in written form, especially if you aren't wordy but it's still descriptive, you have a decent shot of getting views just from the novelty of it.
2805614
Yeah, bit once you get one story in the top slots, it's a lot easier to get another story there.
Heh, you seem to have mistaken me for Bad Horse. Don't feel bad; you're not the first.
Oh, and congrats on your first feature.
2806269
Damn it! I did that while searching for you as well
, you'd think I wouldn't make the same mistake twice in a minute. Ah well, thanks.
2805786
Yeah, I need to look into my elevator pitches. They seem to be my weakest feature, which does pose an issue sometimes.
2807091
The only advice I can give is to make the description novel. You can find a bunch of HiE stories where the description is very samey, and the one for Humans in Equestrian club, while not bad, doesn't differentiate itself enough to attract attention. At least at first. You'll find that one something has enough likes, the standard required for descriptions drops drastically as people use the likes as the indicator of a 'diamond in the rough' instead of the description itself.
Though there are several stories I see constantly updated that I probably will never read barring a recommendation because their descriptions explain nothing about the story. Yaerfaerda comes to mind.
Congratulations!
2807109
To be fair, descriptions are really, really damn hard.
Describing something in a short, concise and yet intriguing way, without giving away massive spoilers? It's near darn a whole skill in and of itself.
Congrats on the feature.
So is that grand finale happening soon? Got any plans for afterwards?
2813668 Thanks Wolfstorm, there's going to be three more chapters and an epilogue, so I should have this wrapped up by the end of March.
After this there's a sidequel planned out, though, a sequel to A World Without Kindness is pretty high on my request list, and there's a few other novella length stories I'd like to give a shot... I may to take a straw poll at some point to figure out what to do next, but I've got plenty of ideas.
2813927
That's good to hear! It'll be cool to see what else you come up with.