I remember being a fandom newbie and it was daunting. I'm not sure what the cutoff with being a newbie is really - I think it may be a personal thing when you beging to think you have a handle on how the fandom ticks. When it came to HP I was a newbie to the fandom, but not to fandom in general - it's always the first fandom that's the most difficult.
• How long did it take you to get your fic "noticed"? Probably a couple of weeks after I began posting my first long fic, but I had had two short fics up for two or three months before that.
• How and where did you post your fic? To put it bluntly, everywhere I think might be interested :). I post it to fanfiction.net, adultfanfiction.net, fictionalley, Ink Stained Fingers, mailing lists and every relevant LJ comm I can find where the membership is not completely overlapping. If I'm posting a long fic I make a txt file and write the places I'm going to post to into it first so that I can just go down the list each week on update day.
• Who supported or helped you along the way? At first the readers on fictionalley were the best, and then my flist began to grown and they're all lovely people.
• What advice do you have for new/underappreciated writers? I think posting in multichapter parts, regularly, helped to intrigue and keep the audience. Giving people something they can get their teeth into, but not everything at the same time seems to work well as long as they know when the next bit is coming.
If you write shorter fic then try to post regularly so that people see your name and come to recognise it.
This is probably going to sound silly, but find yourself a distinctive fic icon that you can use to post to comms with, at least at first. Some people are far better at recognising a picture than a name so having something uniquely you can help. People might like one fic, but they might not remember who wrote it, but if they see a distinctive icon it might jog their memory next time you post.
Get involved in fandom things like ficathons and challenges. They are often a good writing challenge and they can pair you with people that might not otherwise have seen your work.
Reply to as much of your feedback as you possibly can - even if it is just a thank you. If people have taken the time to comment then it makes them happy to see you have seen it. There are times when it becomes impossible because of RL or other factors, but if you try people appeciate it.
Give feedback on other fic as well. If you give interesting feedback people may notice you just for that and toddle over to your journal to see what you're up to. Start conversations with people in email and on LJ, but do not do so just to ask them to read your fic; that tends to piss people off :). I think participation can be the key.
I could witter on for ages, but I'll stop there :).
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Date: 2005-08-25 03:11 pm (UTC)• How long did it take you to get your fic "noticed"?
Probably a couple of weeks after I began posting my first long fic, but I had had two short fics up for two or three months before that.
• How and where did you post your fic?
To put it bluntly, everywhere I think might be interested :). I post it to fanfiction.net, adultfanfiction.net, fictionalley, Ink Stained Fingers, mailing lists and every relevant LJ comm I can find where the membership is not completely overlapping. If I'm posting a long fic I make a txt file and write the places I'm going to post to into it first so that I can just go down the list each week on update day.
• Who supported or helped you along the way?
At first the readers on fictionalley were the best, and then my flist began to grown and they're all lovely people.
• What advice do you have for new/underappreciated writers?
I think posting in multichapter parts, regularly, helped to intrigue and keep the audience. Giving people something they can get their teeth into, but not everything at the same time seems to work well as long as they know when the next bit is coming.
If you write shorter fic then try to post regularly so that people see your name and come to recognise it.
This is probably going to sound silly, but find yourself a distinctive fic icon that you can use to post to comms with, at least at first. Some people are far better at recognising a picture than a name so having something uniquely you can help. People might like one fic, but they might not remember who wrote it, but if they see a distinctive icon it might jog their memory next time you post.
Get involved in fandom things like ficathons and challenges. They are often a good writing challenge and they can pair you with people that might not otherwise have seen your work.
Reply to as much of your feedback as you possibly can - even if it is just a thank you. If people have taken the time to comment then it makes them happy to see you have seen it. There are times when it becomes impossible because of RL or other factors, but if you try people appeciate it.
Give feedback on other fic as well. If you give interesting feedback people may notice you just for that and toddle over to your journal to see what you're up to. Start conversations with people in email and on LJ, but do not do so just to ask them to read your fic; that tends to piss people off :). I think participation can be the key.
I could witter on for ages, but I'll stop there :).