Review me!!!
Jun. 26th, 2011 03:54 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
slaymesoftly posting in ![[community profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/community.png){kind=small}
riters_r_usGot your attention? :) I've seen some complaints lately about lack of reviews, I've seen some authors ending a chapter with a note (on an archive, not a personal journal) asking for reviews, and I've seen some newbies asking plaintively what it means when you don't get many reviews. So, I thought maybe it was time to revisit life in fanfic as we know it.
Things to realize and understand:
Most readers are just that - readers. They read, smile or cry, and move on to the next story. And isn't that why you're sharing your story? So that people can read and enjoy it? So, rule #1 is - don't expect a lot of reviews/comments/kudos whatever. It's not the nature of the beast. Be pleased with what you get. Remember, if you were a published RL author, all you'd have to go by would be sales of your work (and perhaps a few less-than-stellar reviews from professional reviewers). If you were very lucky, you might get fan mail, but certainly not on a chapter-by-chapter basis.
Quality is more important than quantity. Reviews/comments that indicate the reader has genuinely enjoyed and understood the chapter are to be preferred to generic "great chapter" remarks. (Not that I'm denigrating short comments that can be encouraging to the author - just saying, one thoughtful review from someone whose opinion you respect should carry more weight than two or three generic ones on someone else's fic.) Rule #2, judge the usefulness and sincerity of the reviews as much as the quantity.
"But," you whine, "So-and-so gets a gazillion reviews. All the time!" Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe so-and-so has a lot of friends who make it a point to say something no matter what. Maybe so-and-so's friends wouldn't know a well-written story if they fell over it. (That's a bit mean-spirited, but I've seen a few too many "OMG this is wonderful!" on really bad fic to think that praise from someone who's praising something awful is worth much)
Maybe so-and-so is a BNF (not sure we have a lot of those anymore, but there are a few still out there) and readers feel that leaving a review is A) obligatory B) a way touch somebody famous or C) something to do to prove they aren't just reading for the smut. *g*
Maybe so-and-so writes a lot of smut. Fun factoid - teh pRon brings the reviews, especially on some archives. I believe that says more about the readers than it does about the author or the work in question, but that's just MHO.
Maybe so-and-so writes very long fics with very short chapters. That's a good way to garner a high over-all review count by the time the fic is complete. I'm not recommending it, but I've no doubt that there are authors out there who do so deliberately. Perhaps you're comparing total reviews for one of those fics to those for your own carefully crafted, 4000 word chapter story that ends when it should? That's comparing apples and oranges. And, comparing a good short fic -say 5000 words or so - to one with many chapters is comparing apples and... spinach. You may have ten reviews from ten different readers, while the longer fic has fifty reviews for its ten chapters, but only from five readers. Rule #3 - try not to over-think how you do compared to someone else. Consider all aspects of the situation.
Where you post makes a difference. And what kind of fic you are posting also matters.
I believer LJ garners the most comments; possibly because of the above-mentioned habit friends have of commenting on each other's work, but also because much of the fic on LJ is posted to communities with a broad base of readers. People are just used to leaving comments, so they tend to do so.
Different archives attract different readers and some stories may resonate more with the readers at one archive than they will at another. Or, perhaps by the time your story has been posted at the last archive, it's already been seen by the majority of readers somewhere else. Hence a smaller number of reviews wherever it went up last. AO3 seems to be trying to encourage encouragement *g* by giving readers the archive version of a "like" button. A reader may leave "kudos" for a chapter or a fic without having to take the time and thought to write something out. I'd guess that brings a few more instances of recognition than would the necessity of thinking up something to say. You may want to ask yourself if you are reaching your target audience. Who is that audience? and are they finding you where they expect to? Rule #4 - post appropriately.
Of course, you are taking the time to reply, right? Just a sincere "Thank you" or "I'm glad you enjoyed it" lets the reviewer know that you appreciate and notice that they took the time to tell you they liked your fic. Rule #5 - show your readers and reviewers that you appreciate them.
And, just to keep things real and honest, if you aren't getting any reviews anywhere (or only from your personal friends and/or beta), maybe you need to take a hard look at your story and ask yourself how it stacks up against - not just those getting a lot of reviews, but those that you know (from the quality of the reviews and reviewers if you aren't sure of your own judgment) are well-written stories with good characterizations and interesting plots. Perhaps you need a beta who will be less encouraging and more demanding of you?
Things to realize and understand:
Most readers are just that - readers. They read, smile or cry, and move on to the next story. And isn't that why you're sharing your story? So that people can read and enjoy it? So, rule #1 is - don't expect a lot of reviews/comments/kudos whatever. It's not the nature of the beast. Be pleased with what you get. Remember, if you were a published RL author, all you'd have to go by would be sales of your work (and perhaps a few less-than-stellar reviews from professional reviewers). If you were very lucky, you might get fan mail, but certainly not on a chapter-by-chapter basis.
Quality is more important than quantity. Reviews/comments that indicate the reader has genuinely enjoyed and understood the chapter are to be preferred to generic "great chapter" remarks. (Not that I'm denigrating short comments that can be encouraging to the author - just saying, one thoughtful review from someone whose opinion you respect should carry more weight than two or three generic ones on someone else's fic.) Rule #2, judge the usefulness and sincerity of the reviews as much as the quantity.
"But," you whine, "So-and-so gets a gazillion reviews. All the time!" Maybe. Maybe not. Maybe so-and-so has a lot of friends who make it a point to say something no matter what. Maybe so-and-so's friends wouldn't know a well-written story if they fell over it. (That's a bit mean-spirited, but I've seen a few too many "OMG this is wonderful!" on really bad fic to think that praise from someone who's praising something awful is worth much)
Maybe so-and-so is a BNF (not sure we have a lot of those anymore, but there are a few still out there) and readers feel that leaving a review is A) obligatory B) a way touch somebody famous or C) something to do to prove they aren't just reading for the smut. *g*
Maybe so-and-so writes a lot of smut. Fun factoid - teh pRon brings the reviews, especially on some archives. I believe that says more about the readers than it does about the author or the work in question, but that's just MHO.
Maybe so-and-so writes very long fics with very short chapters. That's a good way to garner a high over-all review count by the time the fic is complete. I'm not recommending it, but I've no doubt that there are authors out there who do so deliberately. Perhaps you're comparing total reviews for one of those fics to those for your own carefully crafted, 4000 word chapter story that ends when it should? That's comparing apples and oranges. And, comparing a good short fic -say 5000 words or so - to one with many chapters is comparing apples and... spinach. You may have ten reviews from ten different readers, while the longer fic has fifty reviews for its ten chapters, but only from five readers. Rule #3 - try not to over-think how you do compared to someone else. Consider all aspects of the situation.
Where you post makes a difference. And what kind of fic you are posting also matters.
I believer LJ garners the most comments; possibly because of the above-mentioned habit friends have of commenting on each other's work, but also because much of the fic on LJ is posted to communities with a broad base of readers. People are just used to leaving comments, so they tend to do so.
Different archives attract different readers and some stories may resonate more with the readers at one archive than they will at another. Or, perhaps by the time your story has been posted at the last archive, it's already been seen by the majority of readers somewhere else. Hence a smaller number of reviews wherever it went up last. AO3 seems to be trying to encourage encouragement *g* by giving readers the archive version of a "like" button. A reader may leave "kudos" for a chapter or a fic without having to take the time and thought to write something out. I'd guess that brings a few more instances of recognition than would the necessity of thinking up something to say. You may want to ask yourself if you are reaching your target audience. Who is that audience? and are they finding you where they expect to? Rule #4 - post appropriately.
Of course, you are taking the time to reply, right? Just a sincere "Thank you" or "I'm glad you enjoyed it" lets the reviewer know that you appreciate and notice that they took the time to tell you they liked your fic. Rule #5 - show your readers and reviewers that you appreciate them.
And, just to keep things real and honest, if you aren't getting any reviews anywhere (or only from your personal friends and/or beta), maybe you need to take a hard look at your story and ask yourself how it stacks up against - not just those getting a lot of reviews, but those that you know (from the quality of the reviews and reviewers if you aren't sure of your own judgment) are well-written stories with good characterizations and interesting plots. Perhaps you need a beta who will be less encouraging and more demanding of you?
