How to Get Followers, Readers, Votes, and Comments

READERS

Before I even start, you need to understand something.

There are people who ask me "how do you get so many reads?" "your numbers are so high, how did you get there?"

My first response is to tell them to stop.

You need to understand that these are people on the other side of that screen. That "number" you refer to? That was how many people saw your book and decided to give it a chance, to check out your book.

Readers are people, not numbers.

Now that I've given that little PSA, onto how to get more people to read your books.

It's gonna be a rocky start, you need to understand. For the first four months of me writing my first book Drarry One Shots, none of my chapters exceeded 4 views. Now I get around a thousand per chapter.

I didn't let it discourage me. I was writing for me, not to get famous. So I kept writing chapters.

Now, imagine something with me. You're checking your recommendation section on Wattpad. You swipe, and you see a book.

The cover is just the person's profile picture and little white words telling you the title, because the person didnt bother to make an actual cover. There is no description. No tags. You look down a bit, and see that there are four chapters, and it was last uploaded in April of 2018. It is an unfinished book.

Do you click on it?

The likely answer here is no for most people.

Because people want something that catches the eye, draws them in.

You need a cover that has some effort put into it. I suggest using something called Canva. I use it on my computer to make my covers.

You need a description that vaguely gets the plot, but doesn't give too much away.

For example:

Jesse has been running for her past for too long, and it's starting to catch up to her. She knew she couldn't hide forever, but with three broken hearts and a dead body behind her, what else could she do?

Or

Jesse killed her ex-boyfriend Mark a year ago, and has been running from the police ever since. Her three other ex-boyfriends are starting to realize what happened, and are coming after her. She manages to escape, until she realizes she is still in love with one of them after he saves her from the others. Will love prevail through everything? Or will Jesse find herself in the same position as Mark?

I don't know about you, but to me it seems like the second one tells you too much about the story.

As for tags, YOU NEED TAGS I swear.

I add the stupidest tags sometimes, but tags will always help you.

For example, on my Drarry fanfiction:

#draco #drarry #gay #harry #harrypotter #hermione #hogwarts #oneshots #pansy #romance #ron #pansmione #yeet #romione #bleville #angst #fluff #smut #mature

Anything that could even remotely relate to your story, you put in the tags.

You also need to update. Ignore whether you get reads or not. Just keep writing. People are more likely to read stories that have more chapters.

And, what could be classified as the hardest part.

You need to understand that in most cases, you wont get lots of readers until the book is complete.

Once you have it complete, lots more people will want to read it. And then they will check out your account and see you have other books and want to read those, regardless of whether they are finished, because they have faith that you will finish them. 

Another thing to keep in mind is what kind of book you have. Most stories are a single story. My first book was a oneshot book, which means each chapter was it's own little story. Therefore, even if my book wasn't complete, there were a dozen mini complete stories in it, and the reader's wouldn't be left on edge, which made it easier for me.

Don't let yourself get discouraged, and always keep writing :)

Thank you for reading.