Publicity

[Drasiana]

Thus proving the ulterior motive of 95% of the fandom ficreaders is not in any way, shape, or form, engaging in Great Literature.

[Milkyway64]

^beat me to it

[chaos_Leader]

Throw in Krystal in any capacity (albeit the more of her the better) and you've got yourself a much greater chance of having your fan fiction read.

Funny thing is: technically this is in there. ;)

["User"]

Funny thing is: technically this is in there.

But to what specific extent?

Don't forget you need to portray Krystal is the appropriate way to garner maximum interest in your story. :)

[Drasiana]

eg. porn

[EchoFox]

Weeellll, how about this.

If we were really cool then what we'd have is a banner at the top of the Fan Fiction board, which displays titles and short blurbs of highly recommended fan fictions, and links to them.

And it could scroll left and right so more than three or four would fit.

[unoservix]

Fanfiction requires more effort to partake in than fanart, comics, playing games, listening to music, etc. It requires more participation by the reader, because you have to form the mental images from the words on the screen. It takes more time to read a fanfic than it takes to look at a piece of fanart or whatever. You're up against that if you want the Star Fox fandom to read more fanfiction.

Thus, shoving it in their faces more is not playing to human nature, because that is simply the nature of fanfiction. Add on Sturgeon's Law, add on the frequency with which fanfiction is simply abandoned (which would justify a potential reader's disinterest), add on the fact that much of the Star Fox fandom is in fact ADD-addled teenagers, and add on the fact that much of the Star Fox fandom is in fact just out to fap to Krystal, and you're fighting a losing battle if this is your plan of attack.

Star Fox is a small and disparate fandom. You're starting with a smaller number of potential readers. If you want to maximize the number of eyes that fall upon your fanfiction, you have to play to human nature--that is, to the lowest common denominator--so, uh, write lots of pieces of short Krystal porn. But if your ambitions would take you higher than the station of a soulless, attention-deficient Krystal pornographer (and I should hope they do), you will have to accept a lower readership as the price for trying to write something beyond the lowest common denominator. And since you're writing for Star Fox, you'll have a lower readership to begin with.

But, really, the point of writing fanfiction shouldn't be to get attention, because you don't really have much control over whether or not you get attention for your fanfiction in any case. If you're not having fun doing it yourself, if you aren't getting anything out of it, then there's no reason to do it in the first place.

So, really, just focus on doing your thing and doing it as best you can. You don't really have much control over whether or not people pay attention to it, but if you do it well, attention will take care of itself.

[TCPeppyTc]

unoservix on what basis do you think that msot of of SF fanreaders are ADD teens? Just inference? For the record I am neither ADD affected nor a teenager ( Im 21!)

I know you never said I was, just thought Id throw it out there

[unoservix]

How you got "most" out of "much" is a mystery for the ages but allow me to inform you that they do not in fact mean the same thing.

[TCPeppyTc]

Well my mistake, "much" then. Just intuition, or how do you know?

[unoservix]

by years of observation of this fandom is how i know.

[TCPeppyTc]

Has it well....gotten better over your years of observation? I have found only 3 or 4 stories I am actually interested in.

[myu]

First of all, getting your art out there can be just as hard. Yes, it's easier with fan art, but getting people to "flock" to it is still difficult sometimes. For instance, I recently posted some art on my DA that isn't related to Star Fox at all, and while my page used to be fairly active, now no one really gives a shit. I've actually posted that art online somewhere before an no one still cared no matter how much I threw links around.

Also, it seems like you have a fair amount of readers for your story. 41 reviews is a lot more than people usually get, isn't it? I think part of posting something online is trusting that someone will read it. You've got people who've said they like your story and that they're invested in it, so you have to trust that they'll read it. I know we're already doing art for you story to bring in more people, but how many sites have you posted your story on? Maybe you just need to spread out more? Bigger net, more fish, etc.

I have a question though, maybe you've mentioned this somewhere else, I don't know. Are you writing the story for yourself? For the fans?

[chaos_Leader]

I really wasn't planning on anything as grandiose as it's being made out to seem. To be honest, I believe Milky probably has the right general idea here, and I was perfectly okay to leave it at that:

Yeah. And what rhymes with "marketting?"

"Advertising!" Which I pointed out is the extent of all anyone can do to garner any interest in their work at all. If you feel that an author is flying under the radar, talk about them more. Post up their stuff. Do SOMETHING to advertise it so the average internet joe will acknowledge it exists, and if it's relevent to their interests, maybe -read.- And hey, in doing so we've solved the problem this thread presents us.

Before anyone pounces on me, I'm really not trying to reinvent the wheel or conjure some fanciful fanfic utopia. Whatever delusions of grandeur I had were deflated pretty quickly (courtesy of Milky, mostly). I'm just trying to stick to more practical means, which in all likelihood is going to be simple, easy to manage stuff which might not do squat, and I'm okay with that as long as I've tried and know for myself that it doesn't do squat. If you're going to pounce on me saying "Then WTF was the point of this thread?!", I don't even know anymore, which is why I was content to let this fade away in the depths while I focused on more tangible concrete things.

...So, really, just focus on doing your thing and doing it as best you can. You don't really have much control over whether or not people pay attention to it, but if you do it well, attention will take care of itself.

...

I'm honestly a little skeptical and jaded whenever I hear things like this, but I really would like to believe it.

I have a question though, maybe you've mentioned this somewhere else, I don't know. Are you writing the story for yourself? For the fans?

To be honest, my answer is "Yes".

When I hear people say "I write for myself", it's so often an excuse for sub-par authorship that I don't want to use that phrase. I write first and foremost because I came up with a few ideas and I can't get them out of my head any other way. I also write (and choose to do so with some degree of skill and finesse) because It's a challenge for me to face, do battle with, and overcome. I write "for the fans" insofar as I write with the intention that it will be an enjoyable, evocative experience to those who read it, which ties into the "challenge" aspect.

I'm not sure how/if it answered the question. Myu's post just above almost ninja'd me. ;)

[unoservix]

I'm honestly a little skeptical and jaded whenever I hear things like this, but I really would like to believe it.

it is actually about as cynical as you can get. it is an admission, or at least an assumption, that everyone is attention-deficient and you have no way of controlling them, so whether or not they read your fanfic is pretty much completely out of your hands. it takes a rather dim view of what most of your fellow humans will do most of the time to assume that you have next to no ability to capture their attention with your Star Fox fanfic.

what is in your hands, though, is the reason for which you write. if it's for attention, well, if 41 reviews isn't good enough for you, you might want to give up. if it's for your own entertainment, then even if no one else ever reads it, at least you can say you enjoyed making it.

besides which, if no one else is reading it, then no one's going to care if you give up on the story because it's not fun anymore.

[chaos_Leader]

it is actually about as cynical as you can get. it is an admission, or at least an assumption, that everyone is attention-deficient and you have no way of controlling them, so whether or not they read your fanfic is pretty much completely out of your hands. it takes a rather dim view of what most of your fellow humans will do most of the time to assume that you have next to no ability to capture their attention with your Star Fox fanfic.

That's quite a lot of words you're putting in my mouth, but I don't blame you, I didn't give you much to work with.

I'm... "grappling" with this particular demon, if you'll at least understand that.

what is in your hands, though, is the reason for which you write. if it's for attention, well, if 41 reviews isn't good enough for you, you might want to give up. if it's for your own entertainment, then even if no one else ever reads it, at least you can say you enjoyed making it.

besides which, if no one else is reading it, then no one's going to care if you give up on the story because it's not fun anymore.

There's no way in hell I'm ending it before its finished, readers or no. It would bug and nag me to no end if I tried to, and I'd just go right back into it. I'd repeat here what I said in my last post as an answer to myu, but it's right up there.

[unoservix]

i...didn't put any words in your mouth. go reread what i said.

if i put words in anyone's mouth, it was my own, which is cool, because that's where they came from in the first place, so they were like coming back home after being away for the year at college and taking some small comfort in how so little has changed in their absence.

[EchoFox]

For the record I am neither ADD affected nor a teenager ( Im 21!)

Same, although to be fair I only got into this when I joined aL at around age 15 or thereabouts.

[Drasiana]

The idea behind the "12 year old kids with ADHD" generalization is that the Star Fox fandom is not full of great poets and philosophers, not an actual demographic representation.

[EchoFox]

Yeah definitely with you on that. Further, SF games since Lylat Wars either weren't relevant (Adventures), as good (Assault) or probably were about as good but didn't have the same impact because they lacked the big screen, premium experience impact (Command), so the franchise may have attracted a different kind of gamer, especially when compared to the ancient hardcore gaming masters of 1993 (DZ).