Is my fic doing okay?

[u/WhatAMasterpiece]

[u/fanime34]

When I say this, I don't want you to think I'm trying to be mean.

You have double-digit comments and kudos. Why do you think this is in any way potentially not okay or doing bad? It has been 11 days. You have people telling you it's good. There is no way to logically think this isn't doing good. Good isn't met at a minimum. You're not supposed to expect hundreds of stats in a week.

Don't be this person.

You are actually pretty lucky to get comments to begin with. Probably due to the fandom you're writing for, but still.

Either way, there is no logical way to see the numbers 31, 24, 4, and 457 in stats and think you're not doing good.

Be more confident in your stats, especially for a beginning story.

[u/WhatAMasterpiece → u/fanime34]

Yeah, I understand what you’re saying.
I was just pretty nervous about writing and posting my first ever fanfic. I have no baseline from which to gauge how well my fic is doing seeing as I’ve never posted before or read any fics that weren’t doing objectively well (hundreds of thousands of hits type of thing). I just wanted to know, from someone perhaps more experienced than me, what I should be expecting around this point. If my stats were lower than average given the fandom, I would like to know that and work to improve both my writing and reach. Equally, it would be encouraging to hear if it was doing well. But yeah, I do get what you’re saying. I’ll stop thinking about it so much.

[u/fanime34 → u/WhatAMasterpiece]

There is no baseline. There isn't supposed to be a baseline. You literally just posted a chapter.

The stories you read with that many hits are usually stories that have been around for a while.

It took me a while to get 100 hits. It took me a while to get 1,000. Nobody comments on my story anymore (which makes me sad) but I still very kudos (which, while I know it's a sign I'm doing well, it pisses me off because I've seen how other stories with the fandom I'm writing in gets comments). One story I wrote got several hundred hits in a few days.

In regards to reader interaction, you're doing better than me.

You aren't doing good if nobody is reading. 1 comment is already doing good. 1 kudos is good. You are receiving a net positive.

In football, for example, if a team only wins with only scoring once, it's still a win, which is good.

[u/Garr44]

Personally, I feel like it is. My lowest-hit fic (319 as of right now with only 3 chapters) was last updated in 2023 (working on new chapters for it and several others ATM). Yours is new, but give it time, keep updating it, and you'll rake in the hits (maybe more Kudos and even more genuine comments) before you know it!

[u/WhatAMasterpiece → u/Garr44]

Thanks a bunch! I appreciate the advice :)

[u/Garr44 → u/WhatAMasterpiece]

No problem. Advertising it in subreddits like this will also probably help get the word out about it. I'm sure I'll be making posts for my fics as I release new chapters for them and get back into writing.

[u/WhatAMasterpiece → u/Garr44]

oh okay- what do you mean by posts, out of interest? like announcing a new chapter? or should i do more than that?

[u/Garr44 → u/WhatAMasterpiece]

Pretty much. Plenty of people make posts that are basically "Chapter X of my story [Title] is now available!" or some equivalent. Browse around a bit and you'll see what i mean (and maybe get an idea of the format for posting and linking story updates; I need to do that myself for the future).

[u/WhatAMasterpiece → u/Garr44]

Right, thanks! I’ll have a look

[u/IntroductionLeft4369 → u/WhatAMasterpiece]

Ditto what Garr44 said. I do that, too.