Alright, let's push aside all that fancy fluff about improving your writing. At this point, you know whether or not you've got it. You're not looking to transcend your limits or some other new-age bullshit, you just want one thing: the glory.
Fortunately, the marketplace determines success not by quality, but by popularity. You don't have to be the best; you just have to be good enough. If you're looking for a shortcut to the top, I present to you: A Market Approach to Writing.
I'd imagine most writers these days try their hands at fanfiction before blossoming into original authors. I can hardly think of any site broader and more inclusive, which makes it an ideal representation of the marketplace.
FF.net's low barrier to entry, large readership, and feedback system form a somewhat competitive environment for writers. There are winners and there are losers. Money may not be involved, but time is—which is equally as valuable. The promise of validation, praise, and reviews is reward enough to lure in aspiring writers. For them, there's nothing more important than finding an audience.
Unfortunately, without the pressures of the market to weed out the trash, a lot of garbage remains on the shelf. That's why competition breeds quality. If there's an incentive to be better, then everybody would step up their game.
Keep in mind that what I say are assumptions derived from personal experience. Take it all with a grain of salt.
Measures of Success
What makes an activity worth doing? Recognition, and on FF.net, recognition comes in reviews. The goal is to get as many reviews as possible. It feels good to have dozens of people tell you how great your story is, but you’d be remiss to see that as the sole determinant of success. It’s the total feedback that counts, the combination of reviews, favorites, and follows, against the amount of effort you put in, the total number of words or chapters you publish. A 1000 chapter story with 1000 reviews is an embarrassment compared to a 10 chapter story with 100 reviews. You want legitimate glory, not fake glory. So forget about those inflationary tactics, writing “drabbles” so you can update with paltry word counts, holding chapters ransom, or threatening readers unless they “pay up.”
But you’re better than that. You know you got the stuff; it’s just a matter of luck, skill, and strategy.
Identifying Your Market
You have to determine your target audience. FF.net has broad categories and it falls on you, the writer, to narrow it down as much as you can. The natural choice is to choose the property you're most familiar with. Alternatively, you can choose one with the most potential, based on the number of total stories and how successful the top ones are.
I wanted to write character-based and relationship-driven stories aimed at teenagers and young adults, so I chose Kingdom Hearts because it was the best match for my material, and it was the most popular section under Games. My goals and target demographic were a solid match.
Popularity is not without its perils though. KH is crowded. A newly posted story will stay on the front page for an hour at most. Further division is necessary. I needed to target a specific niche. In non-yaoi, the most popular pairing was Sora and Kairi. Thus, my two principal characters were selected.
Try not to gauge your success against the entirety of a fandom, but against competitors within your niche. The next step is to examine market conditions: the size of the market, the competition, and the pace.
Size of the Market
Each category is limited by the size of its readership. One category might max out at 100 reviews while another can go as high as 1000. You want to know just how high you could go. Having identified Sora-Kairi as my main segment, the ceiling I was looking at was well past the 1k mark.
Competition
I wanted to write character-based and relationship-driven stories aimed at teenagers and young adults, so I chose Kingdom Hearts because it was the best match for my material, and it was the most popular section under Games. My goals and target demographic were a solid match.
Popularity is not without its perils though. KH is crowded. A newly posted story will stay on the front page for an hour at most. Further division is necessary. I needed to target a specific niche. In non-yaoi, the most popular pairing was Sora and Kairi. Thus, my two principal characters were selected.
Try not to gauge your success against the entirety of a fandom, but against competitors within your niche. The next step is to examine market conditions: the size of the market, the competition, and the pace.
Size of the Market
Each category is limited by the size of its readership. One category might max out at 100 reviews while another can go as high as 1000. You want to know just how high you could go. Having identified Sora-Kairi as my main segment, the ceiling I was looking at was well past the 1k mark.
Competition
Before I wrote a single word, I had determined the best category and pairing for my stories and how much success was achievable given the limits of my segment's readership. It was time for a little research.
Since reviews are the golden commodity, I looked at many of them, analyzed their contents, and the writers who wrote them. Reviewers ranged from 12 to 20 years old, and gender was skewed depending on the genre. The two most popular genres are adventure and romance. Male authors tend to read and write adventure, while females do the same for romance. The market had been neatly divided into two distinct categories: adventure and romance.
There are two options here: do something different from the norm or execute the norm better than anyone else.
Once you've started your story, I'd suggest using the competition as benchmarks for your own success. It might put your success (or lack thereof) in better context.
Market Pace
Kingdom Hearts has dozens of stories being published and updated daily. Front page status does not last very long, and for most stories, it may be their only source of exposure. Depending on how rapid a fandom moves, you must adjust your pace accordingly. Speed, perhaps second to quality, is one of the most crucial determinants of success. You'll want to keep feeding the fire until it's able to sustain itself. Writers who can regularly publish updates with little to no loss in quality inspire confidence in readers who want a regular drip-feed of content. This is how a following is created. You'll make fans, and these are the people who, more than anyone, will validate your ventures as an author.
The Cool Kid's Corner
Although not necessary, a little networking never hurt anyone. Try to become friends with authors who are already successful, listen to their advice, and ride off their coattails. If you write something good enough, they'll give you an endorsement, and that could mean all the difference in the world. Never throw away free marketing. But networking requires effort. It's not just a simple "pls read my story and review, thnx," You need to show genuine eagerness and a desire to improve. You gotta put in that work and impress the ones you look up to. Everything is earned and rarely given.
Know When to Give Up
If this is truly a market approach, then you must know when to exit as well. Sometimes, the best laid plans get laid to waste. Nothing you can do about it. Either the market has changed beyond expectations or the competition is just too tough. There's no shame in admitting defeat. The important thing is that you recognize this and bail out while you still have your dignity. Don't continue to invest more time into a project with no return. You're better off allocating your resources elsewhere. If you're really that adamant about it, you can always try again later, but with a newer strategy. Cut your losses and start over. Hopefully, you'll be more experienced and wiser this time.
Since reviews are the golden commodity, I looked at many of them, analyzed their contents, and the writers who wrote them. Reviewers ranged from 12 to 20 years old, and gender was skewed depending on the genre. The two most popular genres are adventure and romance. Male authors tend to read and write adventure, while females do the same for romance. The market had been neatly divided into two distinct categories: adventure and romance.
There are two options here: do something different from the norm or execute the norm better than anyone else.
Once you've started your story, I'd suggest using the competition as benchmarks for your own success. It might put your success (or lack thereof) in better context.
Market Pace
Kingdom Hearts has dozens of stories being published and updated daily. Front page status does not last very long, and for most stories, it may be their only source of exposure. Depending on how rapid a fandom moves, you must adjust your pace accordingly. Speed, perhaps second to quality, is one of the most crucial determinants of success. You'll want to keep feeding the fire until it's able to sustain itself. Writers who can regularly publish updates with little to no loss in quality inspire confidence in readers who want a regular drip-feed of content. This is how a following is created. You'll make fans, and these are the people who, more than anyone, will validate your ventures as an author.
The Cool Kid's Corner
Although not necessary, a little networking never hurt anyone. Try to become friends with authors who are already successful, listen to their advice, and ride off their coattails. If you write something good enough, they'll give you an endorsement, and that could mean all the difference in the world. Never throw away free marketing. But networking requires effort. It's not just a simple "pls read my story and review, thnx," You need to show genuine eagerness and a desire to improve. You gotta put in that work and impress the ones you look up to. Everything is earned and rarely given.
Know When to Give Up
If this is truly a market approach, then you must know when to exit as well. Sometimes, the best laid plans get laid to waste. Nothing you can do about it. Either the market has changed beyond expectations or the competition is just too tough. There's no shame in admitting defeat. The important thing is that you recognize this and bail out while you still have your dignity. Don't continue to invest more time into a project with no return. You're better off allocating your resources elsewhere. If you're really that adamant about it, you can always try again later, but with a newer strategy. Cut your losses and start over. Hopefully, you'll be more experienced and wiser this time.
