I prefer the genuine subs and likes too. You are lucky @sunkitten that your sub exchange has worked. I've done them in the past and the stories usually aren't something I enjoy or if I do subscribe and keep reading as a courtesy, the person I did the exchange with usually never honors their end.
The problem is not you, the problem is the algorithms that are still living in the Golden Age of the self-publishing of the 2012-2015 when everything was new and shiny, and there was not that much good quality, completed stories. Now, you have them in oodles, so people simply do not have time to pour out love on the creators, even the most successful and beloved ones.
I remember back in 2009 when Best Served Cold came out, and they had Joe Abercrombie's e-mail address on it. I wrote how much I loved the story and the main character and he responded with thanks and a couple of comments on the character(!) I was OVER THE MOON!
Joe's latest book? I struggled for a few chapters TWICE, said meh, and dropped it off. And I still like his every post on Twitter, lol. Love Joe, can't get into his book.
Those were the times... now, less and less people want to engage. We are fatigued. We are exhausted by the endless entertainment options calling to us from every internet and streaming corner. We live in the weird culture when people wouldn't pick up short stories, but would read 2 to 5 chapters of a 100K words story and drift away, distracted. And the chapters are becoming shorter and shorter!
Lol, I am reading Grisham's Firm atm, that gripping thriller? 40 pages in, and it is the repetition of the same thing, the thing i had already picked up on in page 3. If it was online? I'd be scrolling through or dropping, because booooring.
The algorithms are not yet adjusted to this behavior, they don't get it that someone even clicking on one chapter and staying to the end of it, is already a huge win!
Wake up, algorithms and smell the roses: 2012 ain't coming back.
That's why I'm trying to avoid subscribing to some books at the moment. Don't want to hurt their books by subbing and not being able to read it for a long time so I end up supporting them on their social media instead.
And this emphasis on subs is really a Catch 22 for the novels.
Even if the novel is 100-150K words, and you slice it thin, it is still a short run with daily updates... so you will be done fast. And once you are done, what's the point of people subbing?
So, a strong, polished, preloaded novel will have much shorter window of the opportunity to fish for its subs. Because, no, the audience for a novel doesn't show up every day to browse through every novel showing up in Fresh.
I mean, isn't a point of a novel to be complete and available to read the WHOLE thing, beginning to end? And if it's the case, what do you need to sub for?
If the writer is diligent, and uploads daily, why sub? It would only plug your feed, and irritate you if you don't check the site every day.
If they don't upload daily, how many books can you read with any ability to keep the plot in mind and characters in your heart every three to seven or fourteen days?
This just encourages a really low quality reading experience, when you read multiple chapters of multiple stories per day in a scattered fashion. No wonder people don't engage! I mean, I had been reading like that for three years, reading a dozen or more books simultaneously, every day, and it is tiring as heck. Particularly when I have to provide feedback on something I've last read like a month or two ago? Lol. If I remember the name of their love interest, gold star!
It also pushes to the top the stories with disjointed structure and overtly titillating characters rather than a strong, engaging storyline and nuanced story-telling.
Anyway, yeah, weird. I am willing to give time and heart to the other creators, but the way the algorithms interpret engagement and what they reward makes it less enjoyable.
@domisotto Makes excellent points about engagement and the algorithms. Behavior is key. For me, there's only been a handful of stories I go check out every update because the story is naturally to me. I don't always comment but I read and give likes. There are other stories I've read, they are good but are on the back burner. I have every intention of continuing to read them but now isn't the time.
The other thing for me is how much "advertising" something gets. As a kid, I loved superheroes. I still love them to an extent. Now, because the media is oversaturated with superhero stuff, I won't watch it. There is only a few superhero fan faction stuff I still read. The same thing applies to other online pieces of fiction, I'll read it because I want to not because I'm forced or obliged to.
I'll bookmark things I'm interested in but can't read for awhile. That way I can find it later and read/subscribe but I'm not an empty sub
yeah, but without the repository of the completes stories, it is going to bypass a lot of writers, who'd finish their novel, and end up in the 'later' pile... I dunno. Tapas is great, by they need to do better where completed is concerned.
Ideally, your sub library should work as your reading queue WITHOUT penalizing the author.
I don't believe in sub for sub culture because I doubt it would help me at all in this space tbh. Subs don't boost much in the algorithm and if they're not reading my story then what's the point?
I'm not subbed to a bunch of stories because I read in weird bursts and spasms. When I'm having lunch or can't sleep,I'll scroll through my sub list, grab a story or comic and blitz through some chapters. I rarely leave comments, mostly because I don't have much to say.
I am sure they know...
Also, I still have books at home from twenty years ago that I finished reading and that have sentimental value. But finishing reading a book--which is THE greatest compliment to the writer on the web is actually a penalty, because you no longer engage with the book, and, to 'help' you should unsub after completing the read.
But how does the writer sees that? A LOST sub. And maybe they were trying so hard to get to their sub goal. Like... really?
I think I'm about to run into this problem with my webcomic. I was recently featured on the front page (which I am super grateful for!!!) and gained about 130 subscribers, almost none of which interacted with the webcomic in any other way. I'm concerned that they'll just be ghost subscribers and in the end it will hurt my engagement.
I'm also guilty of this myself. I currently have 27 or so notifications of webcomics that have updated that I haven't looked at... and I'm essentially a ghost subscriber for those! I like the idea of bookmarking a series so that I don't ruin their engagement. This thread has encouraged me to be more proactive from here on out!
You can't solve it. They should stop punishing writers for having people willing to keep their books in the library. It is driven by the fear of the sub-trading that links into monetizing, but, of course, it hurts the most the small accounts that cannot grow because their fiction gets sunk by the ratio.
Like, every book has its sub cap... I just believe in that.
All completed stories should be shifted to the binge section, and their popularity rankings should have an algorithm that is based on the sub to interaction ratio after it is enrolled in the binge section. That way, all the completed stories will be on equal grounds for the 'aftermath' interactions. (I mean, after their stories are complete)
What do you think?
I'm the same way when it comes to my reading habits and as an author. I'm happier, in theory, seeing the periodic burst of 5,10, 15+ reads, and the occasional subscriber than getting ten subs at once and no reads.
My series has been one of the top stories in every category, except binge, in sci-fi and it's no where near finished. I think the popularity rankings might have more to do with overall engagement that actual subs. I am relatively low on the subscriber count but I have a lot of readers that come back to read my stuff.
