FimFic News · 10:50pm Sep 6th, 2017
Hey guys! This post will be matched somewhat by a post over on my regular site discussing mostly the sickness related parts, but you're getting your own mostly because of Fimfic-specific dealings.
So, first up, the aforementioned sickness-related stuff. For those of you not in the know, I came down with what I'm 99.5% sure was bronchitis about 12 days ago (I've had it before, so the symptoms came back in a flash of "oh no!"). Since then I've been ... pretty out of it. I spent a lot of that time sleeping (the past two days I have not woken up until three, totaling almost 30 hours of sleep in those two days) and playing X-Com 2 or Sonic Mania since my mind was in no shape to work (edit: Blade Sunchaser with an SMG and a Mobility PCS is a beast), or watching Netflix. At last today I feel somewhat human again.
The point here being that I am behind on things that I've promised people, such as an alpha reading I was helping with, Patreon rewards, and the like, and now two weeks behind on finishing up the first draft of Jungle. And I've missed the last few days worth of work, which isn't great for my financial situation.
Life has really been kicking me when down lately.
Anyway, I'm finally on the mend, but writing may be slow to get back on track because I'm really strapped for cash, so I'll be hitting every work shift I can to try and keep from having to go further into debt than I already am.
Oh yeah, I should probably update you guys on my knee. Essentially, I'm healed! Or so claims the workman's comp insurance adjuster, who contacted a doctor and got me cleared for work without a doctor's visit, declaring my knee completely healthy while at the same time accusing the physical therapists I'd been seeing for treatment as "not real doctors" (you know, despite one of them being an MD). So I'm "healed" magically on paper, but honestly only probably at 80%. We'll see what happens, but I'm still doing the stretches and the like and have an appointment tomorrow again with the physical therapist.
Right, so that's the health related stuff you guys might be curious about getting out of the way. In sum, I'm getting better, but it's put me behind schedule and made my precarious financial situation even worse.
So, what else is there to talk about? How about the return of the Being a Better Writer posts only linking to my site rather than featuring the full post here? I know there had to be a few of you who wondered about that.
Well, there's a simple reason behind it. I'll admit I was glad when Fimfic finally updated things to allow me to simply copy-paste my site post over here, because a few people had complained about having to go to my site (some people really find it a struggle to click links, but I wanted them to be happy, so ...). So I went ahead and mirrored the posts here.
The problem? Something truly unexpected happened: Hits on the posts for both sites started dropping hard.
I don't understand it either. But where a post on my site would before garner a hundred or so views, and on fimfic grab a good fifty in a short amount of time, views dropped in both places to low numbers. BaBW posts here dropped to almost a quarter of the views in a week, and views on my site for the article dropped by about the same, with all the extra views on the site around it dropping as well.
And when I switched back this week? Already views on the site and of the post here have rocketed back up to the original. In just a few hours, views here were twice what the prior posting average had been for a week.
Frankly, being still slightly sick, I'm not 100% positive I get it, but the numbers don't lie: BaBW is far more well read when Fimfic only links to it. Posting a mirror here on Fimfic was actively causing both places to get far less traffic. And traffic—and exposure—is the first step in book sales that lead to funding that keeps me doing this. Nothing in life is free, and those low viewership numbers were killing me.
But now? Within a few days of going back to the old system, Unusual Things is seeing pre-mirror traffic once more. Which is roughly 4-5 times greater than when Fimfic just got a mirror, and what it was before fimfic got a mirror.
Do I understand it? Not perfectly. But I've got to do what makes the most financial sense, especially now when I'm in a real rocky position. Linking to my site must encourage a lot of browsing and link-sharing, etc, though, because it works. So, sorry to those three or four of you who hated clicking that link, but ... the numbers are the numbers, and you're vastly outgunned. Simply put, both places see far more traffic with the linking.
Anyway, that's the updates. Hope to have more good news soon. I'll catch you all later, when I'm hopefully back near 100%!
You know, my brother visited me just over a week ago, looking pretty sick. When I asked him what it was he told me it was bronchitis. Coincidence? Or are you secretely my brother?! I'm on to you!
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I can confirm that I am not secretly your brother. I have not been traveling!
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That would have been pretty amazing though. Would definitely have figured it out sooner if you were though. We're not native english speakers, so there would be some slip-ups I would have noticed.
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That would be a purely golden case of Internet anonymity though.
I hope he gets better soon. Bronchitis is nightmarish.
Huh. Weird.
Well, hope you get that final 20% points better soon and things stop being so rocky.
How is Sonic Mania, by the way?
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He seemed a lot better when I saw him last sunday. Though apparently he's going to sea for a few days, so I hope that doesn't cause his health to deteriorate again. He's been really strapped for cash these days, especially since he's missed work due to sickness (coincidence number two?) so he'll take any opportunity he can for extra work. You really are very similar.
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Truthfully? Sonic Mania is everything I'd hoped. It's S3&K 2. It's the best Sonic game I've played in a long, long time. It's what a Sonic Saturn release would have been like.
It's fantastic.
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I mean, I guess the odds move in favor of it eventually ...
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4660581
One person following their brother and never realizing it would be surreal as hell.
Bronchitis? Ain't nobody got time for that!