Another comment re A03 hits and some whinging about WIPs (mine, that is).

[shapinglight]

Further to this post about A03 hits, I realised I'd made a mistake by putting the original dates I posted them to LJ on my stories on A03, instead of the date I posted them to A03. I actually went back and remedied that in the case of the revised version of Brief Encounter, which I'd posted with its original date in 2006. It now has the date in June this year when I posted it on A03.

However....



....even though it's now second on my list of stories (arranged by date of posting), it still only has six hits. Which is the reason why I re-dated it in the first place. Weird. I've just re-read it, and it's not that bad, surely?

I can't explain the lack of interest in it as being down to the pairing either, as I have several other Spike/Darla stories posted, one of which is quite popular. I also can't explain the lack of interest away as being because it's an historical story. Yes, those don't seem as popular. Then again, my story with the most hits of all (110, which I know is not much compared to other writers, but it looks like a lot to me) is not only an historical, it features Spike and Darla (and Angelus and Drusilla). What's more it's posted with its original posting date in 2007, so comes right at the end, or right at the back, or whichever, of all the stories I have posted on A03.

Oh well, I suppose those of the opinion that I should never have revised Brief Encounter in the first place will think it serves me right. ;)

In other writing news, I managed to do a bit more revision of the penultimate Spike/Giles season 7 story the other day. I'm now at the bit where I have to start doing some major, major re-writing. :Whimper:

I also have three more chapters of that Spuffy thing I started on sb_fag_ends last month written. But I don't want to post them yet. In fact, I really wish I'd managed to draw what I had to something more like a close on the comm. I don't like WIPs. Do you?

By which I mean, I don't like it when I write them. I'm always afraid I won't be able to finish them. Posting any chapters at all until the whole thing's done makes me uncomfortable.

My own fault, of course.

Yeah, WIPs. What do you think?

Comments

[borzaja.livejournal.com]

Strangely, but as a reader I like WIP stories, especially if there is solid hope that author will finish them. More time to give rein to my own imagination – how would things go from my point of view and then (hopefully) comparing notes with the author. Not to mention that retroactively reading discussions for the finished wip stories could be quite a fun.

As to Ao3, according to google, all of your stories with the higher hit count where mentioned somewhere (su_herald mostly) and linked exactly to Ao3. So, yes, ao3 readers are not too inclined to search for stuff by themselves.
But on the other hand, these 5 people (or 10, or 20... because 20 hits on the Guilt Trip - best "Angel meets the therapist" story ever - that's just ridiculous!) most likely found your fic independently and didn't know you from earlier. I, personally, found many great authors through Ao3. Well, most of them turned out to be well-known or even classic on LJ or elsewhere, but without the ao3 they’d be much harder to find for someone like me. Really hope that ao3 readers’ listlessness wouldn’t discourage you and you’ll continue to post your stories there.

[shapinglight]

Oh, I'll definitely continue to post my stories on there. I like the site. It's very well designed.

I'm interested in your view of WIPs. I must admit I hadn't really thought about readers speculating in private about how the story might go.