@_Many-diff-names_ Hey, this might be too late lol since I just saw this and saw no one answered so figured I might as well. SO, I never really had stories blow up too much, the most views I've ever really gotten is 5,3K, but I think it's mostly in the cover. Unique covers mostly that catch the attention, also the title helps a bunch (catchy). Summarising it properly helps a lot as well, since I never really click on stories that say: 'Just read it" since y'know, that doesn't give me a clue as to what is going on. Probably the most important by far is also the tagging. I am pretty sure you have infinite tagging capabilities - I never reached a point where it would no longer let me add tags. So just, tag everything,... literally everything. Also, look at popular tags and add those, since people can click on tags and browse through stories with those tags, so, the more popular the tag is, the more chance someone will see it. Also, replying to almost every comment helps (except for the commisioners, ignore them bcs y'know, they want money for their work)
Basically, my advice boils down to:
1: unique cover;
2: unique title;
3: an actually (semi-)good summary
4: using popular tags
5: excessively tagging (even stuff like: "Stabbed" or smth, or "Avengerfamily" etc.
6: reply to comments
7: show appreciation for your audience (if they vote tons of times, tell them thanks in your A/N)
8: ignore commissioner but leave their comments bcs more comments boost views :)
Hope this helped and it isn't too late lol!
Good luck writing!