Deleted and reuploaded story...huge mistake?

[kgriffuggle]

Has anyone ever done this? I did it because I had decided to heavily edit my novel...and, with shame I admit, I was too dang lazy to edit every episode, so I foolishly deleted the whole story and re-posted it. This was a huge mistake. I have been re-uploading episodes daily for like two weeks now, and I've had a whopping 60 total views, no likes or subs or comments, whereas I had subscribers and comments on my old version. One time, the novel got featured randomly last year and that boosted me, and I've had around 5 daily views since, with random bursts up to 30. Now.... hardly any.

Is there any coming back from this? I know I can't undo the deletion of the old one. I recognize I have to live with my mistakes...but is there anything I can do to mitigate it? (Besides advertising on TikTok--I am old and don't understand how to advertise books on a video platform)

[Panpan]

I'm sorry to hear the results weren't what you hoped for! I know a few creators who did the same didn't recover their original stats. It's a risk to delete novels and start over, especially when engagement is more difficult for newer works with the site design change.

What I can suggest is, like you said, promoting your work on social media, the forums, and discord, though I dont recommend participating in the sub4sub stuff.

There's not much you can do besides waiting, keep publishing, and networking.

[kgriffuggle]

Thank you for your gentle confirmation that I messed up haha. I guess I'll have to start using Instagram and stuff now. I also almost never do sub4sub stuff or comment4comment, because it pretty much goes nowhere, and I don't want someone to sub just because they're obligated.