# How to you increase FurAffinity readership?



## Amethyst Mare (Oct 31, 2012)

The age old question, I know. The reason that I ask this is because I'm much better at gaining readers on other furry venues and...well...I just think that I haven't worked out the tricks for FA yet! :3

Any thoughts? I write about a range of genres and, of course, erotica (all orientations, very varied once again).

Cheers, guys ^^

Edit: Getting the title correct ("do" not "to") would be a start...


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## BRN (Oct 31, 2012)

Heya!

I've noticed that FurAffinity users seem particularly tough to get reading. My friend, once ranked #1 writer on SoFurry, has only sixty watchers on FA despite posting all the same material.

I've managed to get some real activity on my writing account, though; a popular user liked one of my stories, and it gathered a couple of thousand views when he uploaded it himself. Someone even drew gift art for one of my stories.
Consistent updates are important, as well as quality. But if you want some real activity, get your name out there! Listen to user's ideas and if you like one, take them up on it as a request. Take part in competitions, try to get endorsement from better-known writers, but just enjoy what you do and you're gonna have a much easier time.

Getting popular as a writer is a tough road, but hey, go for it.


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## kitreshawn (Oct 31, 2012)

1) Submit your stories in plain text.  Make sure it looks good when you have done so (you do not want things to appear as a wall of words - friendly white space!).  For the most part if you submit a story but people have to download something to read it they just will not bother.

2) Spell and grammar check.  It doesn't have to be perfect, but if people see obvious errors they are likely to stop reading.  Bad grammar and spelling is often a flag of a poorly written story.

3) Porn Porn Porn!  I hate to say it but anything with an erotic slant definitely gets more readers, favorites, and comments.

4) Activity.  When you actively post stuff you gradually build up an audience.  If you go inactive for any significant length of time (say, more than a couple of weeks) you will lose a lot of them.

5) Story thumbnails.  Ideally interesting looking ones, possibly with some text in it to hint about story content.  People like pictures.

6) Write a story for an artist, possibly about one of their characters or pieces of art (get permission first!).  Show it to them and ask for a link if they enjoy it.


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## Pimlico (Nov 11, 2012)

Hi, AM,

What other furry venues have you had better luck with?


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## cpam (Nov 12, 2012)

Let me respond as a reader: while I can't speak for many other readers, in my own case I almost never read any fiction online.  I'll read articles or do some research online, but for recreational reading I prefer to have a hardcopy format, like a book or a fanzine.  I don't even like to use the Kindle.  So I don't even look for fiction on FA.  I scout around at the few conventions I go to for story fanzines or for books from the furry publishers.  Some folks even publish their own work through Createspace or Lulu.

The other problem I have is that when I do look for a good furry story to read online, I usually can't find anything that I'd _want_ to read.  I tend to ignore the porn and fetishist offerings -- they're too easy to do, too common to find, and are usually (though not always) very, very bad; it sometimes seems like everybody wants to write porn in the worst way possible, and they do.  I also tend to stay away from the gay slice-of-life stories, _not_ because _they're_ awful or anything, but because, being straight,  they're just not usually of interest to me.  Apart from those, I look for diversity among the usual genres (horror, sci-fi, fantasy, humor, etc) done in furry.  I don't know what the general trend is, but that's what I'm looking for.

If you're not attracting any attention on FA -- which is primarily a picture gallery anyway, for all intents and purposes -- you might be better off posting to a different archive, or getting your stories printed up and sold at conventions.  And don't worry about being popular; concentrate on being a good writer.  Popularity will follow.


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## GhostWolf (Nov 12, 2012)

What Cpam said it quite true that even goes for me. I tend to ignore porn myself when I am looking for a good story I want a good story not a text version of porn film. Give me an interesting story or plot first, sex scenes are okay as long as that is not the main plot. 

On a personal note, some writers just get more hits than others we can only guess as the reasons why.


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## greymist (Nov 20, 2012)

I agree (though not a big fan of it ) porn sells.  Probably why my work does not get a lot of hits though it does have its dedicated following of about a dozen people...


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## fwbrown61 (Dec 10, 2012)

Could flail away at this all afternoon. At the least, if you've got time, I'd suggest you make​a mission of that question. See if you can get people to fill this thread with as many ideas as possible.
There's over 25,000 writers on FA. Start grabbing people by the scruff. Shake the wisdom​ outta them. :- )

Will make an observation. FA is so damn big. On first glance it might seem like a mass​ audience. Wonderful: Gotta be lotsa furs here who'll go for my writing.
This is false and true. There are a lot of readers here, people who don't spend all their​ time on art.
But false, it's not a mass audience. It's a networked audience. And I'm still working out​what that really means (because it's neither clear or obvious).

One thing it means is that when you post a story, immediate news about it will only​reach a few people (your watchers). Further news about it may travel a little if the watchers who read it like it or fave it, then talk about it to others. (Faves are ultra-important)
But beyond that it's almost a matter of pure chance that anybody else on FA will ever learn​about it. And that's likely only if a search coughs up your name. (Meaning keywords are damn important).
News about a hot piece of art may very well flash through FA in a day. But news about a​great story will move much, much slower through the various networks of friendship and watchers and faves that people have set up around here.
Networked audience. Not a mass audience, where hundreds or even thousands of people​can learn in a single shot that you wrote something great. Nobody can read a story (or make a reading decision) if they don't know the story (or you) exists.

Conclusion: With a networked audience, the problem to solve boils down to communications.​
How do you announce to all of FA that you just wrote a great story? You can't. But you​can make your existence known to a lot of people, over time and with work.
I think this may be a key. The more people who know you're here, the more people who​might drop in on impulse and see what you've got. This makes main page design pretty important too. What's fine for an artist doesn't serve a writer, IMHO.


Could say more, but just ran out of coffee (writer fuel :- ) ). Endit for now.​ 
FB.


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## shetira (Dec 23, 2012)

The only way I've personally tried to actively increase readership is to post an occasional drawing related to a story. At the very least, it will attract attention from the audience who are most attracted to the story's specific genre. Now if only I could actually draw well... >.<


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## Hellkat (Mar 22, 2013)

I'll have to second the suggestions of getting pieces of art tied into yours stories, as well as the whole writing teh prawns thing. Though interestingly enough my images with the highest views and favs are works that are a mix of both. Essentially posting the story in the comments box of the submission with an image.

For plain text submissions, and stuff you don't have images to post alongside of, my advice is to do what I do and use thumbnails with a list of keywords contained with the story. In my experience, stories with the default story thumbnail get fewer views than one with a custom thumbnail, which get fewer views than a custom thumbnail with keywords.

It is kind of difficult, though, to make a thumbnail image that is eye catching and legible in a 120 x 120 pixel box. You can upload a larger thumbnail, but it doesn't actually seem to get used anywhere that I'm aware of.

Oh, and while I'm at it I might as well say that using the categories and tags systems in order to get a bit more exposure. If you write a story that fits easily into a specific category (Transformation in my case) having it filed under the proper category will help it get viewed by more people. Same goes for species and gender. I only know my own browsing habits, but I tend to check the TF (Adult), Herm, and Transgender categories on FA a few times every day.


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