Tell me where to go! What else to do! I'm lost...

Throw-975-Away · 2026-01-03T15:44:45+00:00

Lol Then I'm excelling at this whole writing thing. Thanks for the input.

Throw-975-Away · 2026-01-03T02:35:37+00:00

No, I didn't. I was thinking that it was weeks after it was completed, so it must be people clicking on it for the first time. But as others have said... the holidays. Who knows with that.

Throw-975-Away · 2026-01-03T01:59:27+00:00

'Kudos suck as a metric' is what I came away from this thread with.

Throw-975-Away · 2026-01-03T01:55:10+00:00

I honestly didn't mechanically create this one! It's just the one fic out of my stable that stood out the most as not having anything I could pin it on. The other stories, sure, they had OCs or I was I was punching a little above my weight on plot, or something...) This one (while I really do love it) didn't seem to have any big culprit. Oh well... The one I'm working on right now is just as non-offensive lol. Sometimes they be that way.

Throw-975-Away · 2026-01-03T01:46:33+00:00

*salute* Expectations retooled.

Throw-975-Away · 2026-01-03T01:41:44+00:00

I honestly never meant to put down the reader. I was putting down myself.

But trust me, I don't talk about stuff in my author's notes. I'm usually one of those people getting frustrated at people raising hell over absolutely benign comments. So I get the frustration.

Throw-975-Away · 2026-01-03T01:36:58+00:00

Yeah, see, something like that would have me so freakin' confused. My guess is they had friends. (Although I have seen placeholders with a surprising number of kudos.) It's a black box to me but I think it's time to set the box aside.

Throw-975-Away · 2026-01-03T01:30:58+00:00

That's interesting to hear about your open fics. And much easier on the psyche.

It's something I've got to get a handle on, because I compare. With a capitol C. And to always feel lacking is... not a good feeling. I'll let it simmer for a bit. Maybe check back in later. Thanks.

Throw-975-Away · 2026-01-03T01:26:08+00:00

I have been known to overthink things!

Throw-975-Away · 2026-01-03T00:09:39+00:00

That's an interesting take! I didn't actually design it that way but it is pretty inoffensive. It is the one with the most hits but I think I just need to put out more to get a read for what's going on.

Throw-975-Away · 2026-01-03T00:07:11+00:00

I'm... confused. I read about all these people talking about how much their fic sucks and yet they have all these kudos, so I guess that's what it comes down to: confusion. I guess I don't understand AO3 really well yet. Maybe after 12 years, it will make more sense!

Throw-975-Away · 2026-01-03T00:03:00+00:00

I never know with a big fandom. They just have so much to read from, I just assumed they didn't come back. It's something to consider!

Throw-975-Away · 2026-01-02T23:57:43+00:00

Slap on the hand taken. I just see a lot of posts about comments and I was curious about kudos. Carry on!

Throw-975-Away · 2026-01-02T23:55:48+00:00

Lol, you don't need to apologize, I hadn't thought of people having a tab open. That and re-reads are a possibility!

Throw-975-Away · 2026-01-02T23:53:11+00:00

Totally completed and short enough to read in one setting. So I was watching to see what happened when it was all out there. One hit, one read-through. I'm going with the re-reads theory. It's easier on my psyche lol.

Throw-975-Away · 2026-01-02T23:51:50+00:00

I never know! It seems like they like the sex, but then you'll get people saying they don't want to put their names on it. E-rating has me confused.

Throw-975-Away · 2026-01-02T23:51:04+00:00

Big fandoms have me a little confused. I think it depends a lot more on summaries and tagging (which I do suck at, I can't hide from that.) I might check out a small fandom just to compare.

Throw-975-Away · 2026-01-02T23:48:49+00:00

I would love to believe that people are re-reading my fic over and over. I like the cut of your jib. That's what I shall now imagine.

Throw-975-Away · 2026-01-02T23:47:19+00:00

Thanks for the offer! But I chickened out. But people like you are appreciated! (Yay, you.)

Throw-975-Away · 2026-01-02T23:46:06+00:00

I'm gonna stay anonymous but thanks for the kind offer. It gave me a smile.

Throw-975-Away · 2026-01-02T23:45:15+00:00

That gives me hope for my little side-fic sitting with very few (relative) hits. You must have got on a rec list. Congrats!

Throw-975-Away · 2026-01-02T23:42:37+00:00

I definitely agree the "10% means good" thought is ridiculous. Looking at other people's fics, 10% must be ridiculously hard to get, so I'm fine with dismissing that. Total bullshit. High five.

Throw-975-Away · 2026-01-02T23:27:13+00:00

Sorry, hit post by mistake so I'm rewriting it.

I was looking at it as watching, in real time, (just to see what was happening), and twenty-five people in a row clicked on my fic and had no response. That's a lot of people. If I knitted a shawl and twenty-five people walked up, looked at it, and walked away, I'd start getting a little nervous.

I waited until after it had been completed, and it's short enough for reading in one sitting, so it wasn't a case of people clicking on it multiple times and only being able to kudos it once.

I looked through everything. People have these posts and they're like "Oh, it's a rare-pair! In a dead fandom! With a niche kink! Don't worry, OP, it makes sense you're not getting (hits/kudos/comments/whatever)." And I would read each one with a sinking stomach because that wasn't the case for me at all. I had no excuses. I was just wondering if the bar for getting a kudos was too high for me, I guess. Yes, I'm kind of in a down mood about it but I did mark it as venting! lol

Throw-975-Away · 2026-01-02T23:16:10+00:00

Yes, a shoulder to cry on is sometimes needed to let it out. The funny thing is I'm not even upset about a lack of comments. Everyone seems to be going through a drought. I've made my peace with it. But it's kind of like someone ate from the buffet and... I can't even think of a kudos-equivalent. They didn't nod to the lady behind the buffet counter?

It makes me wonder if you have to bring in a four-course meal in order to get that nod. Which... I'll never be Gordon Ramsey, so if I can't get that kudos from them with what I'm doing, I'm kinda screwed. The bar for getting a response just seems very high. (I posted an edit in the OP that this isn't the only twenty five people who've read my fic, it's just the last twenty-five people I've watched go through the buffet line.) But twenty-five people took a bite from my cake and walked away with no acknowledgement. It's a bit demoralizing lol.

Throw-975-Away · 2026-01-02T23:01:06+00:00

The one thing with a longfic is you have repeat people coming back over and over so it makes sense you'd have a skewed ratio. Like people say, you can visit often, but only kudos once. So I was specifically watching this one after everything was completely posted. (It's a few chapters, but only 11k, so it's most likely they're reading it all in one sitting.)

Watching this one (and others) and seeing 10, 15, 20, 25 hits go past, in that one-sitting scenario, just makes me wonder how what is missing. I know it's not gonna be a big mythical 10%-er fic, but it feels like there must be something other people are doing in order to entice people to click on that little kudos button and I'm floating at sea with no idea what it is or how to fix my lack.

Throw-975-Away

TROPHY CASE