Wow, so interesting, thank you for sharing. That makes me feel 100 times better! Just had a read of the 101 comment starters, which were fabulous. Do you have any suggestions for how to elicit like this?
Thank you so much!!!! I'm glad it helped, I know I need the reminder too sometimes.
Re: encouraging engagement: Aside from the obvious "write more to get more readers," I think a couple of important steps for encouraging engagement is to both ask for it and respond to it. As writers we don't like to beg for comments, but I think having a set bit of "I'd love to hear from you!" copy at the end of your posts with a couple of "engagement questions" based on the topic/story is a good start. The other is to respond to the people who leave comments, even if only to like/start/whatev them, or just say "thank you." Most people who leave comments think of it more as a discussion than a suggestion box, so to speak! Good luck!
Hi Kim. Thanks for taking the time to send such a detailed response. Sadly, I already do most of that. Maybe I need to tweak the questions I ask in my posts, asking for comments. I shall persevere though! 😊
This was enormously helpful to me. What a great reality check! For a while I've been disenchanted with "stats" on my Wordpress blog because they don't give me the information I want, which is did my writing make a positive difference? Getting hits because of a juicy tag or title or piece of clickbait doesn't tell me anything about the actual quality of what I'm doing. It doesn't give me any info about who my audience is, either. That's the kind of stuff we can only find in comments, and I've been discouraged for years about my inability to engage readers in comments. I've tried asking questions. Now and then someone will respond to one of those, but rarely. You've made me see my experience is right in line with the norm. Considering my modest number of subscribers here on Substack and on my blog, I can now feel delighted rather than disappointed by the number of likes I receive, as well as the occasional comment! I always think it's me; what a relief when I discover at least part of it is them! Thanks for this.
I am SO glad to hear that! Making writers feel better about the low turnout was the whole goal of what is, overall, a depressing post. 😂 Wishing all the best (and all the best comments!!!) with your fiction!
This tracks with my experience on Amazon, as well. For most of my books, the ratings to sales ratio hovers around 6-8%, but the actual text reviews are around 1%
Turns out that actually coming up with a coherent thought and typing it out is harder than clicking a button. Who knew? 😅
Ahahahah! Right? I know how hard I've begged for reviews and it's never moved the needle. Thanks for feedback with your own data, helps me to feel like I didn't hash the math!
This is a super fascinating accounting of the read to comment ratio, and definitely worth commenting on! Thanks so much for sharing your analysis.
Thank you! It's very rough math and I'd love for someone (@substack) who has access to the actual numbers to run them and see how close I am (or not!)
This is awesome and definitely deserves a comment ;)
Thanks for putting all this together and giving serialized writers a break. Sometimes, we really need it :D
Believe me I need the reminder as much as anyone! Thanks for being part of the 1%! 😉
Wow, so interesting, thank you for sharing. That makes me feel 100 times better! Just had a read of the 101 comment starters, which were fabulous. Do you have any suggestions for how to elicit like this?
Thank you so much!!!! I'm glad it helped, I know I need the reminder too sometimes.
Re: encouraging engagement: Aside from the obvious "write more to get more readers," I think a couple of important steps for encouraging engagement is to both ask for it and respond to it. As writers we don't like to beg for comments, but I think having a set bit of "I'd love to hear from you!" copy at the end of your posts with a couple of "engagement questions" based on the topic/story is a good start. The other is to respond to the people who leave comments, even if only to like/start/whatev them, or just say "thank you." Most people who leave comments think of it more as a discussion than a suggestion box, so to speak! Good luck!
Hi Kim. Thanks for taking the time to send such a detailed response. Sadly, I already do most of that. Maybe I need to tweak the questions I ask in my posts, asking for comments. I shall persevere though! 😊
This was enormously helpful to me. What a great reality check! For a while I've been disenchanted with "stats" on my Wordpress blog because they don't give me the information I want, which is did my writing make a positive difference? Getting hits because of a juicy tag or title or piece of clickbait doesn't tell me anything about the actual quality of what I'm doing. It doesn't give me any info about who my audience is, either. That's the kind of stuff we can only find in comments, and I've been discouraged for years about my inability to engage readers in comments. I've tried asking questions. Now and then someone will respond to one of those, but rarely. You've made me see my experience is right in line with the norm. Considering my modest number of subscribers here on Substack and on my blog, I can now feel delighted rather than disappointed by the number of likes I receive, as well as the occasional comment! I always think it's me; what a relief when I discover at least part of it is them! Thanks for this.
I am SO glad to hear that! Making writers feel better about the low turnout was the whole goal of what is, overall, a depressing post. 😂 Wishing all the best (and all the best comments!!!) with your fiction!
This tracks with my experience on Amazon, as well. For most of my books, the ratings to sales ratio hovers around 6-8%, but the actual text reviews are around 1%
Turns out that actually coming up with a coherent thought and typing it out is harder than clicking a button. Who knew? 😅
Ahahahah! Right? I know how hard I've begged for reviews and it's never moved the needle. Thanks for feedback with your own data, helps me to feel like I didn't hash the math!
Very insightful and feel blessed to have read this now before starting to put my fiction out here on Substack. Thank you!
I'm so glad you found it helpful! Good luck with your fiction, I hope you get tons of readers (whether they leave comments or not)! ❤
Thank you! Gathering my strength to dare start posting it ☺️