Fic Talk > General Discussion

How Do You Know When You've Lost Your Audience?

<< < (5/6) > >>

RokofAges75:
^ I'm sure everyone's does.  The read count isn't very accurate because it counts every time someone refreshes a page or clicks on a chapter more than once, including all the times you click on it yourself.  (And I know I do that a few times every time I update to make sure my chapters uploaded okay.)  So the read count isn't really an accurate measure of how many readers you have; it's just how many hits your chapters have gotten.

Also, not everyone who clicks on your story actually reads it, and not everyone who reads leaves a review.  I've said this before, but I'll repeat it:  A friend of mine once told me that she had heard that the average ratio of reviewers to readers is 1:10.  So for every ten people who read your story, only one will actually bother to leave a review.  I have no source for that stat so I have no idea where it came from or how accurate it really is, but in my experience, it seems about right.  If you're getting an average of 5 reviews per chapter on AC, you can assume there's probably about 50 people reading your story on a regular basis; most of them just don't bother to review.

~SusanRae~:
In some ways, I think readers are a lot like authors themselves. For example, with myself, I read almost every fan fic that is put up, but very rarely do I review one and if I do, a lot of times, it is a personal email to the author after the story is finished or after I have read something I really enjoyed. The reason for this is pretty simple. I don’t want to write a review that has the author rolling their eyes, saying I wish she would just stop reviewing. I know that when I first started reading stories on AC, I read the reviews before I started reading the story, just to get a feel for what the story was like and most the time, the reviews are pretty accurate on whether it is going to hold my interest or not. Then there is another factor that doesn’t hold true with me on this site, but it has on other sites, once I start reviewing a story, I actually feel guilty if I don’t continue to review it. So I almost find it easier to not review it to start with rather than feel guilty when I don’t review a chapter. And it quite possibly is only a feeling that I have, but I think I feel guilty because it is almost like I feel that once I start reviewing a story, the author expects me to continue to review it. I hope that makes sense. I also would have to agree that this time of year with so many activities going on outside, it is harder to read and review.

RokofAges75:
^ LOL I don't think any author would say "I wish she would just stop reviewing," unless the reviewer in question was more of flamer or nitpicker.  Generally, though, no one complains about getting too many reviews LOL.  And if anyone did, I would have to smack them.

I don't review everything that I click on and read part of, but anything that I read in full, I review.  If it's a story that is already finished when I start reading it, I usually wait until the end to leave a big overall review, or I review halfway through or something.  It is easier than having to review every single chapter.  And honestly, sometimes I don't really have much to say after one chapter, not like I would at the end of the story, when I know the overall picture.

When I'm reading something as it's being written, I tend to leave a review after every update... so every chapter or every few chapters.  It's not time-consuming because the stories I read only get updated once in awhile; I think I can spare a few minutes to give some feedback once in awhile.  I really hate the excuse of "I don't have time to review," because, seriously, reviewing takes only a fraction of the time reading does.  So if you have enough time to read in the first place, you have enough time to leave a quick review.  If you're reading a chapter real quick before you have to run out the door for work or something, you can always come back and review it later.  "I don't have enough time" is a total cop out.

mare:
I have to say I do the same thing you do Susan. I always read the reviews for the story to decide whether or not it would be something I like. I mean I can usually tell by the summary but if i'm still on the fence I will go to the reviews to get the gist and almost always I can get a feel of if the story is right for me. I also have to be honest and say i'm turned off by authors who do not respond to their reviews. Sometimes that will keep me from reading their stuff. If someone has time to review your story, the least you can do is reply. Even if all they say is good job! It annoys me when authors skip over some reviews and respond only to certain reviewers. It makes it seem like the good jobs aren't as important as all the others.

That belonged in the pet peeve thread. lol

julilly:
I usually review at the end. I'm not going to pat you on the back for every chapter you complete, sorry. If it's something exceptional where I was like damn that chapter was good then I will give props where they are due... otherwise once it's finished and I am I satisfied (or hell even dissatisfied) then I can give a more complete review. In my mind that is worth more than a dozen "Update!" or "Keep up the good work" reviews.

Navigation

[0] Message Index

[#] Next page

[*] Previous page