Advertising Through Comedy · 11:38am Aug 28th, 2012
We've been trying to get the word out about Starlight Over Detrot. We're now up to 600 views, but a lot of the comments that we've gotten express seemingly genuine flabbergastration that the story has that few. As we genuinely believe that we have something good here to spread around the Brony community, we decided to start asking how we can get ourselves more readers.
We got a few answers on the various boards and in our comments; Be more shameless about self-promoting, be more conscientious about thanking our watchers - but one of the most intriguing answers of the bunch seems to be to make short, edible comedies/tragedies/shipfics/crossovers, which are much easier to flash-popularize than full-length pony novels, and let the splash effect pull them in to your flagship work.
So, we're going to release a couple of little comedies alongside our primary tale, and see how it goes. We've got a few ideas.
It shouldn't significantly impact Starlight's production schedule, as we're a bit ahead of schedule at the moment. Currently we plan on releasing our first soon, in one of Starlight's off-weeks, and we hope you enjoy those too.
--CEO Kasen
Lookin' forward to it- I certainly tried that with my "Fire Under The Sun" short! I'm not sure how much good it did, but the idea did strike.
I'm doing what I can, though I too struggle with a tenth the readership of any random trollfic with a catchy name in the feature box. I don't mind saying publically that your work is the only poni writing where I'll drop whatever I'm doing and have to read it, on the spot- and there are some mighty big pony-celeb names on my very focussed watch list. I have said that publically and will surely say it again. If that means anything to anypony, it'll help you.
Remember that FIMfiction also represents basically lolcat meme stuff in the form of pony shortfics, often barely over the minimum word limit, and that this is not you: you are assuredly a real and charming writer, working hard to do it right. It's all very well to stumble across spontaneous 'fame' through stuff like Equestria Daily or extended featuring, but all that stuff does blow away in the long run, leaving only the words left entirely outside the context of whatever crowds cheered (or didn't cheer) them.
Your words are GOOD.
As a counterpoint, I'm now wondering if it's not cleverer to simply expand on the flagship work's continuity (in its true form) and allow the story to become 'the incredible universe that awaits', like discovering Discworld or something. Assuming you really love hard-boiled detective stuff, that is made for episodic storytelling. You've not even finished the first 'Detrot'- who can say where that will take you? I sure as hell won't get tired of it- I've got a shelf full of Nero Wolfe stories and a smattering of Hammett, but I'm reading you instead of it.
I've been raving about your fic wherever I can. Just keep going and you'll gain momentum; Fallout: Equestria had very few readers at first. It took months of updates before it became a cultural phenomenon.
But the short fic idea is actually also quite great.
"flabbergastration" lol
Well i'm always gonna be dropping this story into recommended fics. It's too good not to share.
Thanks, you guys. All of you. Your continuous support has been genuinely heartwarming and motivating to the both of us - proof we're doing something right for somepony. As always, we'll work hard to be worthy of your praise.
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That sounds kind of intriguing, and not just because I'm unimaginably flattered by the comparison to Discworld - Pratchett being my favorite author bar none. Are you suggesting stuff in the general vein of "A Day in the Life of a PACT team," or blurbs from one of Hardy or somepony's other, less complicated cases?
--CEO Kasen
I love both of you too. ^_^
Looking forward to that one-shot.
You'll be pleased to know that I've encountered a lot of fics that receive little attention. Heck, there are plenty of books that deserve over half a million fics like the Harry Potter series has. The good news is that this fandom is still growing, so eventually more and more people will join this site, which increases thecances of your story getting recognition. The bad news is that there are a lot of good fics on this site, and most of them update very frequently. I do believe that your fic is more than good enough to get noticed, you just have to give it time. Hopefully your work will have its own TV Tropes page one day!