6 Tips for Webfiction Fans
How to be awesome without spending a dime!
As I’ve said before, good webfiction is about the journey you take while reading. A journey with fellow fans, but also with the author. This journey is part of the very nature of webfiction, especially serialized fiction, but this relationship between audience and artists also creates the possibility of frustration. Webfiction authors offer a lot of hard work for free, which makes it the duty of the audience to support the artist. I’ve thoroughly elaborated on this subject in On Patronage.
The goal of this article is not to convince you to advertise like crazy for starving artists, instead we want to give you some ideas on how to support your favorite authors of those special stories that mean something more to you. If you’re reading great webfiction, this is what you’ve been wanting to do. Because great webfiction makes you want to share.
So on to 6 tips on how to support webfiction, without spending a dime.
1. Comment on stories
Authors need appreciation the same way normal people need food. Webfiction authors often need feedback because the stories they post are a first, second or third draft. Even if the stories are completely finished, you can rock somebody’s day by saying something nice. Commenting on stories is also a great way to let the author know somebody cares, and that they are in fact not writing for themselves on an uninhabited island. But the most important part is that interacting with authors and other fans is one of the biggest perks of reading webfiction.
2. Subscribe
This might seem totally obvious, but a lot of people forget to subscribe to the stories they follow, and thus often miss out on important updates and extras, which is a shame, because an author with subscribers is a happy author. Most authors offer various ways to subscribe to the story, be it RSS feeds, Twitter or Facebook fan pages. You can subscribe to all or just the one you prefer.
2.5. Vote!
**Edit: As Karen so aptly pointed out in the comments:
“I’d like to add: exercise your democratic rights as netizens by voting! Vote on polls, vote on choose-your-owns, vote at www.topwebfiction.com, vote wherever the opportunity comes up. It’s yet another way to let a writer know she isn’t throwing her words out into a readerless abyss. Also, when the polls are about things such as where you heard about their work, whether you think there should be more or less of some element, etc., the writer is focus-grouping a decision and needs your input. It’s also your chance to help shape authors’ work more to the way you want it. The journey, as Jan notes, does indeed go both ways. Try *that* with a dead-tree book.”
3. Spread the word
This is a very important part of being a true fan. If you think a story is fantastic you shouldn’t keep it a secret. Think of whom amongst your friends has similar reading tastes and recommend the story to them. You can post a link on Facebook, Twitter or MySpace, and maybe even on your blog. Enjoying a story is twice as fun if you have people with which to share it! And you really help your favorite author by getting them more readers.
4. Spread the word some more
After you’ve done some of the above, it’s time to step it up a notch on the sharing part. Branch out to social media sites and bookmark your favorite stories on sites like StumbleUpon, Delicious, Digg and the like. Be sure to tag them correctly, and to submit smart: bookmarking the 17th chapter of a story probably won’t attract new readers, or even worse may spoil the story for them! It’s always better to submit a page with a good blurb of the story you like.
5. Write reviews
This is one of the best ways to show off your favorites. Write a review, and don’t be afraid to crosspost it in as many places as possible: on your blog, on the Web Fiction Guide, on Muse’s Success., and anywhere else you can think of. A review can be short or long, as long as it mentions why you like a particular story. Do try to say more than “it’s great”; unfortunately most people aren’t convinced that easily and like to know why something is great.
6. Be creative
Once you’ve done some of the above, it’s time to release your inner fangirl or fanboy and become a bit inventive. Believe me, this is where all the fun begins!
A short case study:
Take for example the following tweets by MCM and GabrielGadly:
MCM: @janoda That has got to be the coolest and most wonderful thing anyone has ever done for me.
Gabriel Gadfly: @janoda Wow. That’s gotta be the coolest thing any of my readers have ever done. :D
Besides the fact that they are oddly alike, they both made me cry a little, because it showed they appreciated me as a fan.
How did I get these tokens of appreciation? Both were doing something extraordinary for their readers: MCM was preparing for his #3D1D event, Gabriel was organizing a very special giveaway of handwritten poetry books in honor of his 100th published poem. What it comes down to is that both of them were doing something special for their fans.
So I decided that they both deserved something special in return, and I created a small surprise. A video. And they loved it. And believe me, my video creating skills aren’t the greatest on earth, and neither are the videos* very special or original. But they were made with love and appreciation, and that’s what matters most in author-audience interaction.
So why don’t you try the same? It doesn’t have to be a video, it can be anything from dressing up as your favorite character to writing silly haikus. Anything goes, really.
To add to the fun, we at Ergofiction promise to showcase each special surprise here on the website. So if you create something and want to share your love for the story with the world, get in touch with us through our Contact page
What are you waiting for? Take care, take control, and be creative!
* If you feel like it, you can watch the video I made for MCM or Gabriel. Beware extreme silliness though!