Tips for finding more readers on SH?

RockiesRetriever

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So I feel that my novel has been doing pretty decently on SH so far. I think I have a decent blurb, a good cover, I have a rigid schedule of releasing a chapter every other day - my question is if there are any other bits of minitua that I might be missing that can help.

Are there certain tags that would apply to my story that would make it more popular? Are there furry stories out there similar to mine that I could perhaps read so as to encourage other authors to look at mine in turn?

I'm just wondering these kinds of tips of what has worked for y'all - things like your story can get on trending and such (that one though I am quite sure is out of reach for a story of my type.)
 

SailusGebel

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You have a stable schedule, you think the cover and synopsis are decent, and a quick glance at your novel shows that you use a lot of tags, so there is nothing else you can do.

But if we discard your assumptions and work with what we have, you should probably change your cover and synopsis.
 

RockiesRetriever

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You have a stable schedule, you think the cover and synopsis are decent, and a quick glance at your novel shows that you use a lot of tags, so there is nothing else you can do.

But if we discard your assumptions and work with what we have, you should probably change your cover and synopsis.
if the suggestion that follows is "make my story into a light novel, name it something like "I'm turning into a dog and now I'm involved in an international conspiracy???" I'm not doing that.

At risk of really offending some people here, I find such titles rather hacky and shouting in your face rather than having more tasteful mystery.
 

SailusGebel

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if the suggestion that follows is "make my story into a light novel, name it something like "I'm turning into a dog and now I'm involved in an international conspiracy???" I'm not doing that.

At risk of really offending some people here, I find such titles rather hacky and shouting in your face rather than having more tasteful mystery.
I was talking about cover and synopsis, not the title. But I think I understand what you meant by this. Anyway, I'm not offended, but if you won't do it, then you probably won't get more readers. It's my assumption based on my own experience.

And while we are at it, I will tell you the other thing that might help. It is to write a second story. Write a second story that will cater to the masses and use it to promote this one. I can't think of anything else.
 

Mandark

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In my uninformed opinion, there are 2 kinds of novels that the majority of online readers will click on.

Those are smut/isekai.

It very well may be that you have a good story, but unless it’s REALLY GOOD it’s not going to draw the same reader base as the 100th naruto/system novel. This isn‘t because readers just want to same story 100 times, it’s because so many novels are dropped that it’s funner to read 50 unique chapters based on Naruto (something a reader already knows) than it is to read 50 chapters of a new fantasy world just for it to get dropped later.

The best thing you can do is have a routine schedule and shamelessly promote. Hopefully you’ll get trending and those novels who trend will tend to stay highly ranked.
 

AliceShiki

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Your cover is way too bland and your synopsis says way too little, it's hard to hook people with that.

Try improving on those two and you might get some more visibility. Right now the cover alone is enough reason to make me not even consider clicking your novel page... And even if by a miracle I clicked it, the barebones synopsis would turn me off.

The title/cover/synopsis are the three first things your reader sees when he comes into contact with your novel. The title seems fineish (though it could get a bit of improvement IMO. I don't mean making it a giant title, but maybe making it give a small gist of what the novel is about in 3-5 words. It will be easier to hook people if they have a rough gist of the story's purpose by the title... Again, no need to make a gigantic title, but a title that says something about the story could help), but the cover/synopsis just feel lazy things that you put no thought nor effort on at all (I'm not saying you didn't put effort. I'm saying that's what it looks like). I wouldn't bother with reading a novel if its title/cover/synopsis don't look appealing in the slightest.

Case in point, your novel has 200 views. That means nobody is even clicking your novel page to see what your story is about. They just see the title/cover and decide to pass on it right away.

Change the cover. This cover isn't good enough to make your story look appealing.
 

DonutLuver

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And while we are at it, I will tell you the other thing that might help. It is to write a second story. Write a second story that will cater to the masses and use it to promote this one. I can't think of anything else.
I will do that! Thanks for the free tip. My next story will be isekai smut ehehehe ❤️
 

LORD_SHAXX

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So I feel that my novel has been doing pretty decently on SH so far. I think I have a decent blurb, a good cover, I have a rigid schedule of releasing a chapter every other day - my question is if there are any other bits of minitua that I might be missing that can help.

Are there certain tags that would apply to my story that would make it more popular? Are there furry stories out there similar to mine that I could perhaps read so as to encourage other authors to look at mine in turn?

I'm just wondering these kinds of tips of what has worked for y'all - things like your story can get on trending and such (that one though I am quite sure is out of reach for a story of my type.)
I'll be honest @SailusGebel is right your cover and synopsis are not very eye catching.
 

Proctor

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Fantasy, Action, Adventure, Romance.

Those four up top are the big daddy genres here. Romance might surprise you, but it makes sense once you see what I call the supplement genres:

Isekai, Harem, Girls Love, Gender Bender, Adult, LitRPG, Comedy, Smut, Mature.

I might've missed a couple, but the demographic should be rather obvious at this point. Looking at your story, you hit a daddy and a supplement, which is two. I'd wager a lot of readers are like me; they search via genre. The less popular genres your story has, the more of an uphill battle you face getting people to even see your work outside of the recent updates section. Whether you make peace with that or make a more concerted effort to get your work seen, is up to you.

As a lover of Sci-fi and Mystery, I'll be frank and say both are not popular enough to gather numbers on their own. You need to have a few of the popular things tagging along if you ever want to see success with them in the Webnovel format.

Next is the cover and summary. Sailus is right, they don't tempt me to read what you're offering.

I tend to be rather lenient on the cover since I know most authors aren't artists, but yours doesn't have a standout feel to it. That stock image aesthetic wouldn't make me care too much. Even going with some random ass werewolf would've gotten more eyeballs, frankly speaking.

The summary is way too vague to get a sense of what your story is about. I know it is going to be about a shapeshifter, I know it's going to have the typical urban fantasy conflicts with a touch of sci-fi aesthetic, but that's about it. There's no real hook here. A furry shapeshifter as a hook isn't going to cut it anymore; you're up against protagonists that can shapeshift into ungodly abominations, protagonists that turn into sexy ladies with 'accessory attachments' for the horny, or protagonists that aren't even human, like a sunflower or a slime. You need to tell readers why your dog boy and his story stand out amongst all of this, or they're just going to go somewhere else.

All being said, I'm not here to rag on you, just give an honest opinion. Writing can be a daunting task sometimes, so good job even having something to post. I hope your audience finds you.
 

RockiesRetriever

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I tend to be rather lenient on the cover since I know most authors aren't artists, but yours doesn't have a standout feel to it. That stock image aesthetic wouldn't make me care too much. Even going with some random ass werewolf would've gotten more eyeballs, frankly speaking.

Does everyone seriously think that my cover is a stock image? One that I actually drew in illustrator? Dadgummit whatever I don't give a crap about trying to do what y'all want here, as it obviously is for an extremely different audience.
 

Proctor

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Does everyone seriously think that my cover is a stock image? One that I actually drew in illustrator? Dadgummit whatever I don't give a crap about trying to do what y'all want here, as it obviously is for an extremely different audience.
I said stock image aesthetic, not that you grabbed a stock image and called it a day. Even googling 'Werewolf footprint stock image' in the image search engine will prove the point I tried to make.

I see the intent behind the cover. The mix of human feet and canine toes alludes to a shapeshifter on the move in nature. But this just comes around to my point in the summary paragraph: It's not a good enough hook for the audience here. My remark about using a werewolf instead is because it genuinely does get eyeballs, or any 'cool' looking monster in general. The Harvester is a prime example.
 

LORD_SHAXX

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Does everyone seriously think that my cover is a stock image? One that I actually drew in illustrator? Dadgummit whatever I don't give a crap about trying to do what y'all want here, as it obviously is for an extremely different audience.
It's not that simple book covers don't work because they can just
Look at https://www.scribblehub.com/series/120486/slime-girl/ and https://www.scribblehub.com/series/166237/formicea/

Are fairly popular stories with simple covers.
Every book has an audience im sure you will find yours sometimes it just takes time or sometimes it happens instantly.
 

doravg

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The important thing is to complete the story. Once you do, people who are looking for complete works will see it.
 

Sebas_Guzman

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Okay, I believe that you're thinking like an artist and not like a marketer. If you want to improve numbers, you need to think like a marketer. So far, your reactions make you look like an artist that doesn't understand how attracting readers work. Everything about you makes it seem like you're in a niche market too, which makes things harder when it comes to finding the audience, because I don't think scribblehub will be an easy ecosystem for you unless you're a 1 in a million talent.

So, first, let's settle why your opinions are based on low standards, and therefore, not compatible with the ecosystem.
I think I have a decent blurb
Maybe decent, but not great or outstanding. Certainly wouldn't be good on amazon. The most critical thing is:
Matt Hewitt as he endures shifts in the state of the world, and shifting in his own life...
This line by itself excludes a significant amount of readers by use of the word "shift." I know what it means because I study harem and romance trends, but this is not a word normies would get. That said, if you're trying to get people that already like the genre, then great. It's just not good for being inviting.
Bizzare changes, covert secrets, and lurking mysteries
Listen. You've succeeded in lazily telling me everything that most stories have.
Bizzare changes--most stories start with a "bizzare change."
"Covert secrets"->You just wrote "not openly acknowledged or displayed secrets." Do you see the redundancy? Then, on the other note, what story doesn't have secret secrets?
"Lurking mysteries"->What fantasy doesn't have mysteries in the background?
So, you've just told me how generic this is. And this isn't a situation of tasteful mystery. This is a situation involving you badly communicating why I should read your story.

Honestly, it's not good that the tags tell me more about the story than your synopsis does. Can you work on incorporating more of the tags into the synopsis? Now, to be fair, some people can get away with bad blurbs, but they can only do that in super active markets.

On the cover:
I don't think it's good, in a way. I DO think there's something cool when you stare at it for a bit, but I think it only speaks to people that already know it. If you were a one in a million with a publisher backing you, then this would be fine. Here, where you're fighting for yourself, it's not helping you. Also, I want to be clear--the title is terrible for mass market. "Dog Boy" by Eva Hurnung looks more interesting. Point is, this won't make things easy.

With regard to things you can do, the number one thing is to look for furry fanfiction/fiction sites. You've got to pull readers from there. You're in a tough spot here. Maybe... Also try honeyfeed or wattpad? Just to check the audience. The big problem here is we don't know how hard you're going at your marketing. The things you have now don't market for themselves.
Other things you can do involve watching the most active times of day. if you upload during a lax hour, you'll be on the front page for longer.


Now, on the final notes here.
I find such titles rather hacky and shouting in your face rather than having more tasteful mystery.
Tasteful mystery isn't valuable when you're nobody. The thing is, you're in an ecosystem where everyone's trying to get noticed. Think very carefuly about the value of a title that shouts in your face in such an ecosystem.

Dadgummit whatever I don't give a crap about trying to do what y'all want here, as it obviously is for an extremely different audience.
The people you dont care about are representative of the people you're trying to attract. You just told them you don't care about them.
 
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Drytron

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Write GL and use clickbait covers. Join the degenerate club.
 

skribe

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On the cover:
I don't think it's good, in a way. I DO think there's something cool when you stare at it for a bit, but I think it only speaks to people that already know it.
I personally don't feel it works at any level. It attracts no emotional response at all. Even something that readers hate would be better.
Also try honeyfeed or wattpad?
Good luck being found on Wattpad? You really need to bring an audience with you, unless you're lucky enough to be discovered within the initial 10minute window. Otherwise you're SOL.
 

apexaltra

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Hey, I'm another furry writer :s_smile:

I don't give a crap about trying to do what y'all want here, as it obviously is for an extremely different audience.

I'm new to Scribblehub but yeah, it does seem like the audience is mainly interested in specific genres and tropes (mind you, that isn't a bad thing.) I have my reasons for posting here, but I also know that my story probably isn't gonna get a ton of readers & I'm ok with that. I don't think you should leave, but there's also nothing wrong with branching out and posting your story in other places to see where it gains more traction. My series is primarily hosted on my own website, and I was using Tapas as a mirror before moving to Scribblehub.

Gaining readers is also a marathon, not a sprint. And luck definitely plays a part. Keep posting and keep writing if you have more stories to tell. More people seeing your work equals a higher chance of people reading your work, and new stories can also draw readers to your backlog. Sometimes it can take a few years for a piece of webfiction to gain traction.

I also agree that your cover and blurb could use work. Like others have said, your cover isn't bad but it's also not very dynamic- on SH your cover is competing with pictures of monsters, anime girls, etc. There also isn't a lot of contrast in regards to the tones you used for it (open it in an art program and desaturate it) and the pawprints are surrounded by a lot of blank space. Have I seen published book covers like this? Yes! I own a book with a similar cover, even. But the difference is that SH has an image size limit, so people are seeing a more-zoomed-out and less-detailed version of your cover, which makes it easier to pass over if it doesn't immediately catch their eye. Honestly this is true for a lot of other sites as well.

Don't scrap the art itself though- I think that the pawprints look really cool and you can use them for promotional material.

As for your blurb, look at popular novels in your genre on Amazon/Goodreads/etc. and here on SH. Look at how their blurbs are crafted- how long are they? What plot information do they include? What information do they leave out? What descriptive words do they use to entice readers and create intrigue? Also think about the audience you want to attract and the core themes of your story. If you were (for example) looking for shifter fiction, what words/phrasing/hooks could someone include in their blurb that would make you want to read their story?
 
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