When do you just accept a story is trash and give up on it?

[Rubyleaf]

Well, as tempting as it feels sometimes, I honestly wouldn't give up on a story just because it's getting low interaction. I've been there too. But lack of interaction isn't necessarily about quality.

Honestly? My experience is that it's mostly about people who might otherwise like your story not stumbling across it at all in the first place.

It's happened to me with my most recent novel. Minimal interaction and chirping crickets for chapters and chapters, and then I got lucky enough to have it become a staff pick and basically overnight the notifications blew up. Obviously whether or not you get staff-picked is very much a matter of luck, but Tapas does have people looking out for new quality content, so if you keep at it you'll stand at least a decent chance to be found someday.

Another observation I've made is that some genres/story structures just work better as novels on a bookshelf than they do on platforms like Tapas. Especially fantasy works, and plot-heavy stuff in general. Stuff like that, I suspect, is just too complex to be read episode by episode, especially if you're still waiting for updates and have to keep track of a lot of stuff as a reader. It's something we probably have to adapt to, and I also struggle with that, I'd be the last to deny it. It's just hard.

And lastly, keep in mind that many readers on Tapas are very young and/or not native English speakers, quite possibly not fluent in English at all. They won't mind the spelling and grammar errors or weak characterization because they don't know better yet. Which is why the whole "quality losing to popular tropes" thing happens in the first place, which is super frustrating, but just remind yourself that there's also people who can tell the difference and will appreciate your work for that. They just…need to find your story first.

Basically, I don't think the problem is with you. The problem isn't with your story, either. Maybe it's not used to this particular medium or platform; maybe it'll do better once you get a foot in the door and more people can see it. At a glance, it doesn't seem like that niche a premise to me. If you want to get the story out, keep going. You never know when success may suddenly find you.

[MorganaMevil]

You have to remember you are writing on free platforms where readers can reader hundreds of thousands of free stories with varying degrees of quality. The stories that lack grammar/punctuation and are driven by very cliche, overly-dramatic plots sometimes do very well because it is a free forum where readers can read their guilty-pleasures (such as a cheap romance) without actually buying the book. If your story has more depth than that, it’s gonna take some added luck and extra exposure to gain traction. Because depth is harder to sell to readers who can get an easy escape in those quick-and-fast romances that plays to what they are already familiar with. They know what they are going to get when they read those books because those books play so straight to the expectations. With good books, the direction is less clear and the reader might not be willing to risk reading something like that if they don’t know how good the emotional payout will be.

But, remember, with a little luck and a lot of persistence, a good book can cause waves. And it is a lot more likely to make a big name for itself than a generic sensational book that’s success is rooted in its risklessness (they aren’t usually great sellers when they are actually published).

[kinleypavone]

There's a lot of other really good advice on here already but I'll add my two cents too. I know it's INCREDIBLY difficult not to think about the numbers but at the end of the day, if you love creating it, create it. If you're passionate about it and are really putting the work in, readers will come eventually and will see that. Success is often a combination of hard work and sheer luck. You just have to keep chugging along and wait for the two factors to come together at the same time. It's hard to force it. If you're worried the quality of your work isn't up to par, send it around to people for critique. An opinion is an opinion and should often be taken with a grain or salt, but if you show it to dozens of people and they tend to point out the same problems over and over, it's likely something you might want to consider adjusting.

[Wocalich]

Don't call your story trash, it's your baby. You're just writing for a niche audience so it's normal for the reads to grow slowly. Don't give up, and if you really care about the reads, you can write about a more popular topic next time.

[AnonymousHouseCat]

Personally, I think the most important thing is just if you like your story and enjoy creating it! If you like the concept, maybe you can use it as a growing experience/go back and edit/run it by a group of friends to see if anything is unclear or could be improved.That is what I'm doing for my current comic. For my last comic however (never published anywhere), I got tired of it after a few years and began seeing the plot as overly complicated and not going anywhere, so I gave up on that one, but still don't regret spending time on it because I think I learned from the experience. The stories I stick with are the ones where I feel a connection to the characters I've created and want to spend time in their world.

[joannekwan]

“when to give up”

When the thing you're working on no longer brings joy, is far from being complete, and your mental and or physical health suffers from dealing with said thing.

I mention 'is far from being complete' because even if I fall out of love with a story, but it's that close to finishing, I will finish it. It's always looks better to have finished projects than a bunch of unfinished ones.
Of course the threshold for how close something is to completion varies with each individual tho.

[Prisim]

If you're enjoying writing it then it isn't trash. Now if you actually don't like what you're writing, that's another story. But the reality of sites like Tapas is that not every good writer is going to find a fan base here. That's true on this site just as it's true on Amazon or book stores. And having a massive fan base also doesn't make something good. Sometimes it's just as much about luck as it is anything else.

Ask yourself this, will you be happy writing a story you don't like just because it happens to get popular?

You're going to have to work for your fan base. It's very rarely a case of "if you post it, they will come"

I haven't gotten a big fan base here (at least not compared to what I have on Wattpad) because I haven't worked for it. I will 100% admit I haven't worked for it because I've had personal things holding me back, but on Wattpad I worked my butt off for years. I was active on the forums, I was submitting to get on any and all reading lists possible, I was making like minded friends who may or may not read the books but they still gave me someone to talk to about my work. I was everywhere. As certain things in my life started to cause more problems, I became less active and my reads started to suffer (there were also other factors out of my control that made the reads suffer as well) and that reflects here on Tapas now too because I haven't gotten myself out of my rut. So while I've done good on Tapas compared to others, I also know I could do better if I put in the work.

So if you're enjoying the book you're writing, keep writing. Start promoting it, start making friends with no promises of them reading it but that you can idea bounce off of or just talk to when you're struggling. And above all, stop comparing yourself to others. That latter is hard to do. Lord knows I can't always stop myself from doing it. Imposter syndrome is a very real thing. The amount of times I've put down my work as being bad is so massive I can't even keep track of it. And it has stopped me in my tracks at this point in time because that's what imposter syndrome does. It makes you think because you don't have x you'll never get y. That's why it's important to enjoy what you're writing. If you don't then what even is the point of writing it?

Now I'm rambling and probably losing my point LOL

[rajillustration]

I think one of the biggest things when doing long stuff on the internet is to treat it like it's a long thing, a marathon run.

And to do that, you need to understand that it's a slow build for all creators--and several have started on different websites when they were like...children (and they might still be children, hence the bad grammar). If you're just starting out, it will be really low. Luckily, you have the talent to improve better than a child and you should have better focus and time management then a child, so you can surpass them, eventually.

Another thing to really get in your head now is that the spikes in growth that we see in other artists and writers are spikes. We see what goes viral, but we don't see how after a spike, you will have the other side of the spike--the plummet in views, the dropped subs, and the rate will go back down to where you were before, but a little bit better. Overall progression is slow and steady, so long as you stay consistent--the spikes are cool, but they aren't really permanent.

Then finally, make some concrete goals so you know when to throw in the towel, in case those goals aren't met. We can't become a servant of our works if they aren't really panning out, even if they're well written and a great time. If your goal is only improvement, then you'd only need improvement goals, which aren't dependent on subs and likes (though subs and likes help a lot!) If your goal is to profit off of your story and it isn't getting those views enough to make money in the time frame you needed...then yes, drop it and do something that will (but make sure if you do that you don't abandon your readers. Give them something to hope for--we want them to transition to your next work). Maybe this story will be better suited to a different website or a different publisher?

And like others have mentioned, having a marketing plan helps a ton--especially to think of it as a plan, so you aren't just shooting tweets out of your ass. Find out where the writers live, find out where your readers are at, find out who the influencers are that are reading web stories. It's a slow and steady climb, not a race, and what you're seeing as a failure is not. Every work we make is just a stepping stone to the next bigger thing.

[Legendofgenii]

I think it's more important how it makes you feel as you create/write these stories. If you love it, then why stop because you aren't getting views/comments/subs - I'm sure that's not why you started (it is nice to get those things though).

And I do understand completely. I spend hours drawing and painting my comic, with not much interaction in return, but I keep going because I'm having fun, learning a lot and giving up will make me have regrets/unfinished business... and I don't want to become a grumpy ghost when I die.

[ratscout]

Hey there! I took a quick look at your story and I saw that you only started writing/submitting it only recently! It is very rare that your story will gain a huge readership over night, so I think you need to just keep at it if you're truly passionate about it. Unless you use a really popular genre or you get featured on the site in some sort of way, don't expect to instantly gain subscribers/likes/comments. To give you an example, I've been working on my story for two years and I have about 270 subscribers (and this is WITH a staff-pick and extra traffic from participating in the writer's camp). Additionally, I put in a LOT of effort to get people to read my story. I have offered read-for-reads, critiques, contests, and even free art requests. You really have to work hard at this to get interaction, especially if you write stuff that is niche like I do.

I know that my story isn't perfect, and I know that it is niche, but I keep at it because I absolutely love it and I think it is a story that deserves to be read, especially with the time and effort I have put into it.

Therefore, I think that if you feel lukewarm about your story, you shouldn't pressure yourself to finish it. However, if you are in love with your story and want to keep going, you have to promote and really work hard at it.

[lilithfairenwrites]

Thanks for the encouraging words and...well, frankly, reality checks.

There's a lot to why I get this severe doubt and hostility towards what I write—between my experiences with how the stores I write and the stuff I like is received, along with failing to get any substantial readerbase elsewhere despite plenty of effort—but what should really matter is that I enjoy writing what I write and that should be the important part of it.

(Plus I can't really get it out of my mind no matter how much I try. I compared it to a tumour; the Tim Minchin song "You Grew on Me" now comes to mind. )

So...thanks, for all the rationality and optimism.

[KJWhitten]

Totally agree that writing should be about having fun first over anything. Popularity or gaining a fan base of whatever size is just a bonus.

By the way, I sent out a tweet on twitter to help you gain more support and awareness. So if you see a little more readers than usual it may be because of that.

[Geek_Aflame]

Keep going.

I've felt this way for a long time and I've just decided to keep going. I've realised my stories are total trash but I decided to keep going because I enjoy writing them. Every chapter I'm happy enough to post is a f*ck you to everyone that's told me to quit or said it was total crap. I'd rather my characters live rent-free in my head over people who need to take time out of my day to tell me how much I suck. No one is ever going to love my stories as much as me but that doesn't matter.

I've realised I'd prefer to write my weird, overdramatic stories over something I hate to appeal to the market. Even if that means I'll never write fulltime at least I won't lose my enjoyment for the thing I love most.

Write for yourself.
If you enjoy it keep going.
Keep posting.

[thedude3445]

I posted my thoughts on this same subject when you made this thread on Wattpad way back when, but as before, no, low views does not mean a trash story. It typically means either not enough time has passed, or the marketing isn't effective yet. Darthmongoose's comments are very good in that regard.

Another marketing note: Stories on Tapas only show up on "Most Popular" with one update per day. So it's better to only post one chapter a day (or less), so that your story has a maximum chance to show up on people's feeds and for them to discover it. Also, which genre is the main one? If Fantasy, that genre is so crowded, even in novels, that it will be harder for the story to show up than GL or maybe romance. On the flip side, though, GL is not very popular on Tapas yet and my own story is the #10 most-liked GL novel despite "only" a thousand likes.

Also, Tapas has pretty low engagement in general, I've noticed. Even on very popular comics with thosuands of views, each episode sometimes only has ten or twenty comments. Now, those commenters tend to be very loyal and are great people, but it appears that the bulk of readers are content to stay silent. And that's OK.

Also also, the chapter 1-chapter 2 drop is actually much bigger than it seems on all stories, for one reason--when people first click on a story on the main site, it tends to drop them into the oldest unread chapter--which is the first one for most people. Even if they don't read it, they still clicked on the chapter and it counts as a read. Sometimes people click on the first chapter, then immediately click on the description which takes them to a different page. All they wanted was to read the description, but the site counts it as an extra read anyway. (At least it appears that way; if anyone knows otherwise please correct me)

It's a tough life writing web fiction, and especially in niche genres. I know that one very well too, especially when a lot of crappy stuff takes off thanks to being the popular genre of the time. But we can hope that if we work hard enough, those niche genres will start to be a lot more popular. BL exploded in popularity over the last 20 years, as did LitRPGs and VRMMO stories and all that sort of stuff. Maybe Glints Saga can help finally make magical girls popular in the West, in a few years.

[dsptss78]

If your passion for writing or creating a story is still there then never give up on it. Having recognition or popularity doesn't happen overnight in most cases. You have to dig deep and grind your way to the top. Another thing to look at is promotion, putting your work out there gets more eyes on your stories. When I first started my webcomic on here I didn't get any subscribers so I decided to work more on promoting it. I've seen some pretty interesting webcomics on this site with low subs and it's not because people don't like it. It has more to deal with viewership and a lack of promotion. If you want more views or readers I suggest you try pushing out your story on social media or even to friends or coworkers etc. Don't worry just keep working on your story and keep perfecting your craft in writing.

[domisotto]

I write more stories.

I have three novels that failed badly. Full length edited novels.

None that have exploded so far. But three others did mediocre-okay’ish—and it gives me hope.

If the novel doesn’t go at all, I just let it sit, append it to the other one or delete it.

There is nothing for it—unless you manage to write what they wanna read, they won’t read it. It sucks, but that’s how it is. Sometimes you can get an advice that helps you get more readership. Someone explained to me how to turn one of my novels into something that will fit the genre window better, and I did it to tripling the reads on Wattpad.

Fitting the niche that is backed up by existing audience is paramount—unless you can create audience. But most people suck at creating audience for themselves. Yeah, I am one of those people who endlessly posts quotes on Twitter, interacts with others etc, but it’s pretty fruitless. My Instagram is even more laughable.

Those who don’t suck at social media and manage to jump into the right one with the right material, they rarely have to worry about anything.

Another thing: never be too proud to fit the small potatoes requirements of the site. I dunno how many people I have seen in a tiff over nobody reading their 10K long chapters online. All that drama over slicing the chapter? Wow. The single easiest step in increasing viewership & people are unwilling? Sure, there ar those who have million reads with 10K chapters, but new writers generally don’t... follow the rule of thumb, see what happens.