How to Get Featured in Five Simple Steps! · 6:19am Mar 27th, 2015
Going by the remarkable experience I have had in the last six days, here is what it takes to get a story into FIMfiction's vaunted Feature Box. 
STEP 1. Before publishing anything for FIMfiction, write for Fanfiction.net for nine years. Make sure your stories range from barely competent to slightly above average and are mostly unfinished.
STEP 2. During this time, suffer depressing periods of writer's block lasting for up to four years.
STEP 3. Become a brony and join FIMfiction. Discover some amazing stories, but have bad experiences early on and wonder to your fellow bronies whether you'll ever try to write pony words for the site again. Disappear from the fandom for a year due to RL issues.
STEP 4. Return to FIM because a friend PM'd you and eventually publish your first real story. Watch it fail to get much attention because the title, picture, and summary are uninteresting even though you worked hard on it. Put it on the back burner for now.
STEP 5. Re-watch Snowdrop and gain a new respect for it. Reluctantly publish a second story that you don't think is any better than your other stuff--but has a title, picture, and summary that are impossible to ignore. Attempt to pick up your jaw from the floor the next morning as it takes off like a rocket, jumping into the Feature Box and staying at the top for two days. Roll your eyes and giggle as it is occasionally downvoted because it's "another HiE fic" or there's a cigarette on the cover.
Future STEP 6. Attempt to live up to the lofty expectations that come with the honor of being featured.
And to all of the incredibly generous readers who have made this possible for me, thanks. That's just what I intend to do.
Love Snowdrop and please don't smoke IRL,
TAILS
And keep writing pony words.
Well, you've gotta admit.
You've done a good job, sure it isn't perfect, but a lot of people like the story.
It shows you put in allot of effort into the story, and for that, you have my respect.
Step 7: Get snarky comments from people who are roleplaying their ponysona's in the comments as if they somehow see all this shit going down.
2915165 Thank you!
2915168 LOL! At least you do it well.
At least half the battle of getting things featured without followers is the art and description, once you have a solid amount of followers almost anything you write will get featured, THAT'S when you write your serious stories that you put a lot of work into.
2915177 I have no idea what you are talking about my good pony.
This is key.
2915189 Then the other half is getting the first downvote at least ten or so upvotes down the track.
A couple of people neg you right off for some reason, and you're screwed.
Unless your art is excellent or it comes otherwise to peoples attention, you stand almost no chance of sorting to the top of the list.
Isn't there a, you know, less time demanding way?
I mean can step 1 through 3 be circumvented somehow?
2915207
Oh would you look at that, a writer that is actually grateful for their readers, awesome.
Now I kind of feel bad for only putting your story on my read later list, I shall go read it now!
Congratulations by the way.
2915489 If that's true, then it's...kind of a broken system, isn't it?
That could happen to a lot of good stories, stories better than mine. In fact, I'm sure it does.
Kind of makes you wonder why there's even a downvote option on stories to begin with. MLP Forums giving the option to brohoof (upvote) but not downvote a post is one of the best decisions they ever made. It encourages constructiveness and feedback, which are even more important on a fanfiction site. If someone wants to express disapproval of another post, they have to come out and say it and include a reason why.
2916449 Thanks.
I need you guys, ya know. Without readers I'm writing in a vacuum, and that won't motivate me or help me get better.
2915505 Possibly. But the ten-year plan has been my personal path to featuredom.
The story finally slipped out of the box today, but it was a fun 5 days. Now, back to writing!
2917260 You and Palaikai both played a part in it, actually. Thanks again, and give my best to the others on PPMB.
2917285
If I should find myself there with something meaningful to contribute; then I'll pass that along
2916940
You're very welcome! And writing in a vacuum? That's sounds like it would suck.
Nice to know you got there in the end. Hehe. I'll be honest, I haven't read your story yet but I'm sure you more than deserve the number of views.
I hate to say this but I do sort of disagree, I think it's down to luck more than anything else. Presentation is part of it, but yeah, luck is probably the biggest factor. Of course, I hate to say you just got lucky since that sort of sounds like I'm taking away from everything you've done. I'm not, honest, hehe. Like I said I'm sure you deserve it, but still, I wouldn't be surprised if it was just luck.
Still glad you're enjoying it, must be nice to actually get some positive feedback after what happened. So yeah, keep up the good work, and now I sort of need to go and read your story don't I? Hehe.
All the best
-Zealot
Couldn't happen to a more deserving person.