Well, algorithm doesn’t force readers into your book. So they’re reading. 800 a day is nice.
oOoOOr
The reading happened first and that’s what brought it up in the algorithm.
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I always thought it was algorithm first, the response from the readers as a consequence. I have no idea why else would I suddenly get 800 people checking out the story. 
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It could be on a popular reading list.
I think that’s the only way my stories get discovered (I don’t think it’s a coincidence that my most popular stories constantly get added to reading lists - people snoop on other people’s profiles).
I don’t think anyone actually uses the search (unless they’re going through a phase 
).
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Maybe? Would be nice to get one of those again, heh.
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Not much written yesterday, but I hope to find a bit more time today. I did start the next chapter, so I need to slip into the intimacy scene, then the argument.
My mom’s visiting, so I printed out the Rivals and Revels for her, and she is reading it
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I have to edit my nanowrimo story but I can barely see straight since my son gave me his flu early this week. We tested it twice, it’s not covid but it sure feels awful. Maybe I’ll do something brainless today, like watch Emily in Paris.
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I hope you feel better soon! 
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I hate editing.
That is all.
I had a nice time after Watty submissions and now, with just focusing on new things. I’ve decided to start my yearly editing early sooooo yeah 
I hate it. It’s tedious and annoying.
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Thank you!
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I am gonna eat my brain.
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December is not good for writing.
Period.
@Kate I caught a good old-fashioned cold and it’s been over a week and I’m so ready for it to be over!
Sending you well wishes and some virtual cure-all.
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thank you so much 
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Get better soon!
@Kamiccola and @MiniMoxx
I agree with both sentiments!
Such a busy day, with all the cooking and just hanging out with mom, plus I put in a couple of hours for work. I only had time to start the intimacy scene and didn’t get as far as the argument between the main and the LI, what I call The Last Argument, lol. I’ll not finish werewolf before the end of the year that way 
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I finally got some index cards going for the finished draft (the one with 5 storylines).
I have cards for all major events and some sort of an order.
The ending is very clear. The first half of the middle is the biggest shaky ground as that’s still a continuation of the set up. I think I’m missing a couple of scenes to connect the dots. I’m not sure.
I want to look at it in a few different ways to figure it out. I think it would be cool to create some kind of physical connections between the cards to indicate which events lead to others.
But yet again I’m running into the problem of SPACE.
I need space to lay this out and for it to stay like that.
Sure, I can lay it out on the floor right now, but then I have to wrap it back up, stack up my cards, put everything away. And next time I get to work on it again, I’ll have to redo all the work.
I’m getting more and more motivated to create a work space in my basement. But that would be a big project, could take a few months (it’s a cluttered dungeon).
I wish I could do this digitally but SPACE is yet again a problem. The computer screen is just not big enough. I want to be able to step back and look at the full picture and to see the detail at the same time. I want to see it all.
What in the meantime? A huge corkboard?
I’ve thought of pinning them to an old bedsheet but it will get too flimsy. I would really much more prefer something a bit more rigid that can be moved around without damaging my work.
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Congratulations on the awesome rankings!
Yes as far as I know, once you hit the Romance tag jackpot, the contemporary one wins.
Even in the contemporary category, having the current popular tropes makes a huge difference! Standard romance stories get less attention than Billionaire romance, mafia, bad boy, angsty dark romance, or maybe CEO (but this is already out of date).
The only fantasy that is accepted in romance is a werewolf (the alpha thing). The rest will have a slimmer chance to keep the rank high on the following day.
But most of all, readers are attracted by the read counts on a story. If the blurb looks awesome and professional but has only 125k reads, compared to a poorly-done blurb with 4M views, readers will pick the latter. Because they think, high view → better story. Which is sad.
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We just need to photoshop it then 
jk. Maybe you can prove them wrong?
I thought about writing a romance, but it would be more about other things as well. Outright romance can be boring at times.
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The other day I read a book with 4M views, and the writing is uh, not that great. Its a dialogue heavy story with some action tags so we know what they’re doing. No inner monologues, no transition scenes, no descriptions. Even the dialogues are lowkey unrealistic. When I checked the last chapter, not a lot of praise about the story from the readers (as they normally leave when the finish good stories), yet it gained 4 freaking M views.
Depends on how you write it, to be honest. Your voice as the narrator (or the MCs voice if you write in first person) plays HUGE part in it. Because romance is romance. It can be boring, it can be gold. Your voice in writing decides.
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There are plenty of those out there.
I remember in one of the feedback exchanges I’ve done, I left a comment that the chapter needed a transition in. The author argued with me that they started a new chapter and that was a transition.
Uh, yup.
I tried to explain what I meant but it just went over their head. They didn’t understand the term and weren’t interested in learning what it might be.
There are a lot of writers like that out there. A lot more than I expected to find.
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Sometimes I wonder what the readers really look for from a story. Like, when they leave positive feedback on my work, something in me blocks me from feeling excited (except if the person understands about crafting a story), because I keep questioning what good is good for them?
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I think age and exposure plays a lot into it. If they’re used to “easy” online reads, they might prefer that to the old-fashioned writing.
RecentIy, I checked one of the recommendations from someone who called a book “perfection.” Millions of views. I was curious.
The first chapter was horrendous (so extremely tired and cliche) but I continued, curious why anyone would call it “perfection.”
It got better later, but overall, the story barely passed for average. I stopped somewhere in the middle because I got bored and it seemed the story wasn’t going anywhere.
The only thing it had going for it was the author/character voice which was clear and spunky.
By my standards, that’s not enough to count as “perfection.” All the details like pacing, dialogue, prose, when to show or tell, all of that counts. Do at least a little bit of each right and it’s enough to keep my interest.
But it was a he’s-not-a-bad-boy-he’s-misunderstood story and that trope is apparently so popular, readers will eat it up even if it’s mediocre.
…
In the end, if that’s not the type of story you like to read and therefore you don’t want to write, you need to accept that your audience is going to be smaller.
But in a world where mediocre is main stream, well crafted stories are that much more appreciated.
Keep chipping away at it. Don’t let those millions of views discourage you.
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