Fic Pimp

[shapinglight]

Hoorah! After a five month unavoidable hiatus, indri has started posting In the Morning of the Magicians again. And there was (or there bloody well should be) rejoicing in fandom!

Comments

[yourlibrarian]

Excellent news.

[shapinglight]

I can't understand why more people aren't reading it. :(

[yourlibrarian]

Me neither. My choice for favorite fic last year was pretty easy, (not this one, her other one since this wasn't done yet).

[shapinglight]

Yes, that story was so good. I almost think it was so good that people didn't realise how good it was, because it differs so much from the general run of fanfic.

[yourlibrarian]

Some things are inexplicable. Just this week I read a novella length story which, while not the best fic I ever read, was still perfectly good reading and, so far as I can tell, I was the only person to comment to it and it had been posted last year. (Plus, I got to it through a rec community).

[shapinglight]

Maybe people are just too lazy to comment these days? I know I occasionally come across someone talking about my fics and realise that they've read them, and also that they've never commented.

[yourlibrarian]

Could be, although I do think that declining readership is playing a part. When I first started reading in SPN, I was boggled by the amount of feedback the average fic post received. And it's still pretty good. But the number of fics I've been seeing with a page or fewer of comments is growing. And then there are some quite good fics that are strangely receiving something around a dozen comments. I know there's a huge difference between fics off the beaten path and the highly popular stuff, but I still get that sense.

I like that the Kudos button has been added to AO3. I think that helps a lot if you have click-by readers or if people just want to mark their enjoyment without having to come up with something specific to say.

[shapinglight]

I really must get around to posting some of my fics to AO3. Thing is, with the ones I have in mind, I feel I need to revise them first.

[yourlibrarian]

Ha! Well that's a dangerous path for any writer to start on, revisions.