How To Get Reads, Votes, and Comments - A Guide

Chapter 3 - The Comment Conundrum

Feedback

As authors, we all want it.  In fact we need it, like really need it.  It's as essential as oxygen.  There's really no other way to put it. 

You can look at my own extremely pathetic case to see just how absolutely necessary feedback is.

I spent six months on my computer at home writing, rewriting, and rewriting again what eventually was posted on Wattpad as Stolen Hearts.  I decided it turned out pretty decent, not so great that I thought I should publish it. But I really loved it and I knew there had to be at least a few other people who would love it just as much as I did.  So I Googled free reading and writing websites and found Wattpad.

When I began posting it, I was a brand new author starting completely from scratch.  As I posted chapters, I slowly found readers, but the numbers were low.  That meant I didn't have a whole lot of feedback by time I posted the last chapter.   Fast forward to a few months later when I began posting the sequel.  By then, Stolen Hearts had been a finalist in the Watty's which helped grow my readership by quite a lot. 

I had the sequel planned out exactly how I was going to write it and as I posted chapters, I started getting feedback, a lot more feedback than I'd ever had before.  Readers were asking me uncomfortable questions, ones I'd never asked myself.  They brought up things I never planned to address in my story, like really basic stuff that was kind of important.  That's when I knew I had better start figuring out how to fix my story. As a result of all that great feedback, Love You Forever didn't become a complete hot mess, riddled with giant plot holes and unanswered questions.

But the problem for all of us - even less readers comment than vote.

Now there are probably as many different reasons for why that is as there are readers, but number one may be that it's just not that easy.  I always comment when I read because I know how crucial it is to those authors.  But I struggle like the dickens to come up with something coherent to say, and that's on stories I love.  With stories I don't love, it's even harder.  I want to provide feedback, but I want the writer to feel encouraged to keep writing.

For some readers, it may be intimidating to step out of the shadows as a silent reader and talk directly to the author.  Some people aren't sure how the author will react.  For some, English is not their first language and they don't want to leave a comment they know will be full of errors.  Or it may be that the concept of making a comment on a story is just so new to them that they don't even think to do it. 

So how do you get that feedback you're so desperate for?  My first piece of advice is to use author's notes. 

There are definitely some who hate including author's notes in stories, but I'm a huge believer in them - and this is the reason why.  The majority of readers, those app-only silent users don't know you from Adam when they stumble across your story.  Even if they've added your story to their library, unless they follow you, those chapters are the only communication they get from you.  Therefore, a few words at the beginning or end of your chapter can go a long way towards establishing a relationship with them, and perhaps draw them out of their shell.

As you can tell, I'm fairly chatty when I get started, so author's notes come easily to me, but I'm also aware that super long ones are a turn off.  So I try to be informative and cheerful, but also keep it brief.  Easy, right?  I'm being sarcastic.

If you have no idea what to say, start by thanking them for reading.  Encourage them to vote, like I said in the previous chapter.  Ask a few specific open ended questions relating to the chapter, and then ask them what they think.  Those open ended questions are a great way to encourage people to comment because it gives them a good starting point if they're floundering like me.