Why is it so hard to gain frequent readers?

[TreeHugger]

Hi! I'm T.H., I've been writing and uploading my novel Under the Moons to Tapas for a few months now and I'm starting to wonder how all of these popular authors and artists end up with so many comments and likes on almost all of their updates. I know that readers tend to come with time and I'm definitely not going to be getting a bunch of readers/likers/subscribers in just a few months but I do want to get there eventually, and I would really like to know how they were able to get their readers. Is it really just patience and waiting for months/years for people to roll in and actually read it or is there something more to it (other than self promoting it here, which I am already doing every time I update)?

[TheGentleArtist]

It's a combination of patience and interaction with said readers. From what I found, having something in the author's comment and/or replying to comments in the comment section can entice the audience to to comment; frequency will up tick afterwards.
Also luck, sometimes you just get a bad hand.

[DualDragons]

I agree with @TheGentleArtist. I also think that there is a snowball effect when it comes to readers. If you start out with no readerbase beforehand then getting readers is difficult and when you have grown a considerably sized readerbase then getting readers becomes easier. Because new readers can see a lot of other people read the story they came across so they might think it is good based on that observation.

And (even though I am by no means an expert in novels but) making sure your promotion material is polished could help out.
Make sure your cover looks clear and eye-catching (so people notice it and the text/title is readable when scrolling through the novel section) and that the synopsis/summary is to the point when it comes to telling the reader what the story is all about. These are the very first things that a potential reader will see of your work and they can make or break it for them. Though now looking at your cover it is quite polished in my opinion so my advice in the second part might not be too helpful

[TroyVSTheWorld]

I sometimes post my comics on reddit's r/comics. Last week's comic ended up with 65 upvotes and 4K views. My traffic has been picking up a bit more too via facebook.

What I've learned from a couple years of content creation is that you don't necessarily have to be GOOD at what you do to be popular. You just have to be seen and known. Make your craft as good as YOU want it to be, but you gotta know where to hustle it to people who haven't seen it before.

Also! Have a backlog for new viewers to read! Why would you advertise a comic to me if it only has 3 episodes, you know? You aren't asking for new readers at that stage, you're asking for commitment from random people.

[Kuma]

[TreeHugger]

Thanks for the replies, these are all really helpful and I definitely will try out replying to comments/doing more author comments on my updates to see how that works out for me. + (if I can find a good one) I'll see if reddit can help me or not too.

Thanks again!!

[system]

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