How to Attract Readers to Your Fanfiction Story

It is often frustrating for fanfiction writers, both new and well-established, to feel that no one is reading their work. Following these simple "Dos and Don'ts" will help you attract more readers to your fanfiction stories, which will help you feel more appreciated as a writer.

DO proofread your story well. Get a beta reader, or editor, to look your story over. Look around in fanfiction communities for a beta reader instead of asking a friend, who might be less inclined to criticize your writing. If you have an otherwise good story, don't let a few small errors like bad spelling turn readers off.

DON'T advertise the fact that this is your first fanfiction story, that the story has not been beta read, or that you "wrote it on a sugar high." Even if it's true, it will turn readers off of the story before they even begin.

DO look for communities or archives that are specific to the fandom, pairing, or subject matter. For example, Sam/Daniel is not the most popular pairing in the Stargate SG-1 fandom, so a Sam/Daniel romance fanfiction that might be buried among Sam/Jack fanfics in a larger archive might find a greater audience on a smaller archive specifically for Sam/Daniel or rare pairing fanfiction.

DON'T post fanfiction where it doesn't belong. Pay attention to the rules of the archive. Don't post adult material on family-friendly archives or vice versa. Potential readers go to archives because they are looking for the kind of stories that archive provides, and will pass over stories that don't follow the rules.

DO crosspost, or post your fanfiction to more than one website or archive. If you follow the above advice and post your stories on small, specific archives, don't let that stop you from posting it to larger, more general sites as well. Leave links to your fanfiction.net profile on the smaller archives so readers who like your fanfiction there can check out your other stories in other fandoms and subjects.

DON'T beg for reviews or hold your work-in-progress hostage by refusing to post until you receive more feedback. This only looks immature. Readers will become frustrated and start ignoring your work. It's fine to ask for reviews, and to thank readers who do offer them, but they are a bonus for an author, not a requirement for readers.

DO write a clear summary. A fanfiction summary should not be more than one to three sentences long, but it should still hold enough information to tell readers about the story, rather than just a quote from the story or some kind of oblique, poetic reference. A basic plot summary and information about pairings and possible warnings will give potential readers enough information to know whether they might like the story.

DON'T try to mislead your readers. A Sam/Daniel fanfic will get a greater audience if you label it as a Sam/Daniel fanfic and target it towards Sam/Daniel fans than if you pretend that it's Sam/Jack in order to trick people into reading it. It doesn't matter how good your writing is; you will not attract readers if they feel lied to.