On Reviewing
Reviewing (meaning leaving comments on stories) is one of the more anxiety-provoking and frustrating aspects of fandom participation, in my experience. I frequently see newbies lament that their stories aren't receiving comments; authors sometimes stop posting to or leave entirely from sites where they feel that their work isn't receiving adequate
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It sometimes pleasantly surprises me when an author whose story I have recently reviewed returns the favor and reviews one of my stories. I try to always thank and respond to reviewers (if possible - anon reviews on ff.net cannot be replied to; some sites will not send an e-mail notification when the author replies to a review, so the reader may never see it), but reading/reviewing my reviewers' stories is not an automatic response on my part. I do it occasionally, perhaps if I have some extra time for reading when I happened to get their review, or if we write for the same fandom/characters (not always the case!) But if a reviewer leaves comments on multiple stories/chapters, or writes long reviews, then there is a very strong chance I'll eventually check out their profile and at least see if there are any stories that may interest me.
Because of this, I think that if a person is discouraged by a lack of reviews for a particular story or on a particular site, one thing to do is to go review a bunch of other authors' stories and see if that attracts new readers to your story (who might be more apt to comment). It might not, of course, but it's the kind of good karma/ be the friend you'd want others to be type of action. It's a lot more proactive than just bemoaning your lack of reviews, at least. If you're new to a fandom or archive than interacting with other authors (by leaving thoughtful reviews for them) can serve as an 'introduction' to the community. But it's also true that if I find an online archive where none of the stories have any reviews (or extremely few and far between), I'm unlikely to post my own stories there - since that is a sign that the community is 'dead'. Entering stories in contests or participating in fic exchanges or something like that can also help to get feedback in some cases (not all).
I am more likely to leave a review if I loved a story than if I thought it was 'meh', but then, I'll also leave a review if I think it's a new author who would like some encouragement (*particularly* if I think the story is terrible). Everyone has to start somewhere. I don't have 'rules' for when I review, really; I just read stuff, and if I have something to say afterwards, I leave a review. If I don't...I don't.
I have an online friend who will faithfully read every story that I post to my livejournal account, regardless of whether or not he's familiar with the fandom. It's very clear that he does this to support and encourage me as a writer and friend, and I'm very appreciative of the encouraging reviews he leaves me. It's almost like having a real life friend read your stuff, because a reviewer who cares more about you than the story is a little different from what you usually find in online fandom. There really are all types of reviewers out there, though!
But the best way to get reviews is to write an awesome story that your readers will go gush to all of their friends about! ;)
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I have a friend who does that as well. She's not familiar with my primary fandom (Swordspoint) at all, but she reads and comments thoughtfully to every one of my stories. She's even participated in discussions in other people's journals when I've posted links to them in mine. The gift of her time is more precious than rubies.
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I think this is excellent advice.
One of my mottos, in fandom and out, is "Be the community you want to see." To give a non-fandom example, in the SCA, people always want to attend classes on how to do various medieval arts and sciences. I have been too new to really have much to offer, but as soon as I did, I taught a class on gilding. If I want to see more classes and more artisans sharing their knowledge, then I need to do my part to teach and share my own knowledge.
One of the things that kinda irritates me as a moderator is when someone will contact me, usually to say that they're not going to post anymore on one of the sites I manage, and they want me to know why. "I expected to get a lot of feedback here," they say, "but I only have x number of reviews." So I go and look up the person's account, and sure enough, they do only have x number of reviews ... but they've written even fewer comments on other people's stories, if they've written any at all. So they've basically posted to a community with the hopes of reaping benefits from said community but without wanting to commit any time at all to enriching that community. They're not being the community they want to see.
I'll also leave a review if I think it's a new author who would like some encouragement (*particularly* if I think the story is terrible)
I find this interesting! (And admirable. :) Back when I had more time, I tried to review the first story every newcomer posted on the SWG. It was sometimes a challenge picking out something nice to say, but I felt like it was important that a person's first steps into our community not be answered with only silence. One of the things I love about fandom is its inclusiveness, where one doesn't have to be a brilliant writer to participate (and those who do aspire to improve can do so within a supportive community).
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The Swordspoint community (_riverside is so tiny that we all tend to review every single story or bit of fanart posted there. I'm so exuberantly verbose in commenting on stories I love, that I'm afraid a simple "Well done! I enjoyed this!" which would normally suffice is misinterpreted as "Uh-oh, she really didn't like it...."
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