Finally Looking at My Follower Count for Once · 7:37pm Aug 18th, 2021
I joined this site almost three years ago. I joined with one express purpose: I wanted to write.
I didn’t just want to write, I wanted to write. I wanted to write a story that everybody would read, to have someone look at a story written by Dashie04 and say, “She was a good writer.” I wanted to write stories that people would cite as primary influences in the way that someone would cite FO:E or Rainbow Factory as influences to their adventure or grimdark stories respectively.
Of course, none of that has happened yet, and probably won’t. I’m not going to be the next KKat or AuroraDawn. You have to admit, I was ambitious.
However, the main goal was to be recognized as a killer writer on FiMFiction, to be ‘horse famous’ so to speak. I didn’t know when I’d be considered ‘horse famous,’ but the Blank Check Discord server I was active in at the time deemed an individual ‘horse famous’ when they had over a thousand followers on FiMFiction. So, I aimed for that goal, but I’ve recently scaled it back to 250 because this site’s not as active anymore.
I considered myself having a rather low number of followers. Nothing too wild, I didn’t have enough people following me to land my story on popular the moment it gets uploaded.
But then, I took a look at my follower count for once.
60 followers, on the nose.
Is it enough followers that my name is commonplace around FiMFiction? Of course not. But there’s a chance that someone I run into might have a passing knowledge of my ‘greatest hits’ album, so to speak. This hypothetical album containing things like The Endless Cycle, Reinventing Music, A Single Seed, and Not Who I Thought I’d Be.
I’d assume the latter two moreso than the former two (though they gain viewers rather consistently), as they’re more recent and even drummed up some controversy in Not Who I Thought I’d Be’s case.
Am I horse famous? No. However, I’m not a complete nobody either.
60 followers is a not-insignificant amount.
I’m closer to a hundred than 0, and that, for me, is enough proof to show that I’m not completely irrelevant.
So, if any of my 60 followers are reading this, I have to thank you for getting me off the ground. I appreciate you all.
And until next time; be awesome!
-Dashie
It depends on how you want to play the system! First: you have to craft yourself into a writer that people find both interesting as well as enjoying their works. The second is a matter of marketing.
I don't like harping on about this stuff because people either fixate or harp on it. But you have to sell your stories. Titles. Covers. The hook and the bite. If you have a generic cover with some text that doesn't really entice—few will flock to you. You need stuff that pulls.
I'll be the first to say that it's more important to grow yourself as a writer, but also learn how to market yourself and your stuff; I don't do that much anymore because I'm beyond that period. You can read the market and, on that, develop something for it.
RGRE used to be big. I wanted followers, so I wrote a couple of RGRE stories. Even though it's not something I wouldn't normally write, in so doing, I had my unique take on it. I found an aspect that I found interesting and wrote from inside of that. I was still being myself, while writing for the market.
So find a way to sell yourself a little bit more.
What could you do, with the stories you have, that would make them more attractive? An easy trick is to have a question be at the end of your description. This, at the very least, will tell you what the hook is—and how to better work that.
I have a bunch of tips if you ever wanted me to go in depth about stuff. Besdies that, keep on writing, and keep on doing!
Cheers, kiddo!
~ Yr. Pal, B
Shoutout to B who introduced me to you and your works then. Here's to many more followers and stories!