New to Tapas - How do I get my writing seen?

[mnjolleywriting]

I know, I know, the question of 'How do I get people to read my work' is a broad one and if there was an easy answer, everyone would already be doing it.

I'm asking mostly as a, 'How is this site different from everywhere else'? Thing. Is there anything that I should be doing here that wouldn't work on other websites? What's the culture on the website like, does it skew more towards direct engagement with readers or just a place to post comment and then step back?

I've got several novels written, in addition to the one I'm currently writing/posting serial-style. Would it make more sense to just post the whole thing in one go, or schedule chapters so that they post one-a-day until the whole book is up?

I mass uploaded my latest work last night, (thirteen chapters of an ongoing story,) and the UI is saying that I literally didn't get any views. Does it take a while for views to update, or did I really just drop in and make no impact whatsoever on the website?

Any information you can provide a Tapas rookie would be appreciated.

[HGohwell]

So, generally I would say absolutely do not mass post.

At the very most 1 chapter a day. Most popular stories go for once or twice a week. As a new series, you don't always show up in the Fresh section straight away, the only place you're likely to be seen starting out unless you're lucky enough to get the staff's attention. And you can only appear in the Fresh section once a day. So anything more than once a day and you're just wasting exposure.

As for getting eyes on your work some basic tips are to make sure you have a link in your bio if you plan to interact in the forums, lots of people will check it out if they think you seem interesting. Don't be shy about promoting, the promo section can be useful, but just be wary of over doing it. Some people who see a creator spamming the promo section will get turned off the work in principal. If you just want empty subs and views, there are plenty of sub4sub threads (I personally don't recommend them but some people swear by them).

[ChickenChief]

Post a consistent schedule. Tapas isn't the site where you get instantly famous. It will take you months, maybe even years. I've been here for around two months and the biggest piece of advice I have is patience. We all want to make it big in a day or week, it won't happen (it doesn't matter if you have the best story, it still takes time). I myself can attest that this will take hella effort for something that won't show fruition till later. It's like planting a tree, it takes a lot of effort, but it won't come to fruition till simply the time is right. Another thing is that tapas is dominated by romance so if your genre isn't that... Well, it's even harder to get out there. But don't lose hope and keep consistent, if your story is good enough then you'll definitely get the views. Promoting is a key aspect if done right (don't do the sub for sub stuff). Hope this helps

[LunarScyphozoa]

A very consistent and frequent but not too frequent schedule is extremely necessary for getting noticed, as the others have said. This is mostly promoting advice.
Post consistently on the forums, not just promotions though, just reply to people’s posts with genuine advice. It seems weird, but it’s important that people get sorta familiar with you. I’ve read a few stories simply because the author was really nice on the forums. And be patient, things won’t grow overnight, and setting too high expectations will only lead to disappointment. And do not sub4sub, that’s a common pitfall but the one that falls the furthest.