After writing online for more than a decade my number one piece of advice is to stop worrying about the numbers and what other people are doing. You have to focus on your story--on writing the story you want to tell and on doing it well--instead of on how many reads you're getting or you're going to lose your motivation again and again. I've seen it happen a lot.
Yes, romance and BL does get a fair bit of attention, but that's all because of demographics so there's really not much that can be done about that. It doesn't mean all stories in those genres will be successful and it's definitely not a reason for you to feel discouraged. There's a lot of things that factor into a story being successful, like marketing and quality, so it's better to focus on the things you can actually change.
Stories with a nice cover, a good blurb, and a solid first chapter have a better chance. An eye catching cover gets people to look at your blurb and an interesting blurb gets them to read the first chapter. If your first chapter has a good hook, there's a good chance readers will stick around.
As far as marketing, make sure your story is linked in your profile here. Some people might want to take a look at your work after chatting with you, make it easy for them to find your story! Also, there's only so much you can get from marketing here. Most of the people on the forums are creators and there's also not too many regulars on here. Try marketing your story on other sites like Insta, bluesky, reddit, tumblr, etc. It's not fun, but it's necessary if you want to get eyes on your work.
It's hard to start out, but you just have to keep at it and focus on writing what you want to write. Readers will come with time and I'm sure there's an audience out there for you.
