Factors Which May Increase or Decrease The Amount of People Who Read Your Fic
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For shits and giggles and oh god what the hell am I doing theoretical algebra and statistics for at one in the morning,
Factors Which May Increase or Decrease The Amount of People Who Read Your Fic
Let X equal the amount of people who see the fic advertised, as determined by A (the number of people on your friendslist) + B (the amount of people in any livejournal communities you crosspost the advertisement to) + C (audience outside livejournal as determined by stalking your ljtoys, AO3 and FFN hitcounts)
X = A + B + C
Let N equal the amount of people who click on the advertisement, as determined by several potential multipliers of X.
D: Day of Advertisement
If the fic is posted on a Wednesday, D = 1.
For each day outside Wednesday in either direction, decrease D by one tenth. Fics posted on Tuesdays and Thursdays have a T of 0.9, Mondays and Fridays a T of 0.8, and weekends a T of 0.7.
T: Time of Advertisement
If the fic is posted during fandom’s boom time (between 6 and 10 PM EST for US-based fandoms, 6 and 10 GMT for UK and Continental European fandoms, etc.) T = 1.
For each hour outside boom time in either direction, decrease T by one tenth. So a fic posted at 11 PM EST has a T of 0.9, a fic posted at midnight 0.8, and so forth.
Q: Quality of Advertisement
Let Q have a base of 1 and a limit of 0.01.
For every typographical error in the advertisement or header, decrease Q by two tenths. If there are more than four typographical errors, let Q stand at 0.01, do not make any further calculations, and get yourself a better beta reader.
If your fic is rated R or NC-17 due to sexual activity between consenting adults, increase Q by two tenths.
If you employ witty cut text or a compelling summary, increase Q by two tenths.
If you fail to use a fandom-relevant icon, decrease Q by one tenth.
If your fic has cover art or a tasteful header, increase Q by one tenth.
P: Pairing and Characters
Let P have a base of 1 and a limit of 0.01.
If the main character of your fic is the main character of the series, increase P by one tenth.
If the main character of your fic is the ensemble darkhorse or fan favorite, increase P by two tenths.
If, after thorough research of your fic community, you determine the central pairing of your fic to be the most popular pairing in the fandom, whether it is canon or fanon, het or slash, fluffy or snarky, double your current value of P.
If you are writing fic that contains no canon main characters, decrease P by one tenth.
If you are writing fic that features a contentious pairing containing one member of the fan-preferred pairing, decrease P by one tenth.
If you are writing fic that features original characters in central roles and relegates the canon characters to the background, decrease P by two tenths.
If you are writing fic for general audiences, with no pairings, halve your current value of P.
If P at any point dips below zero, resolve it to its limit of 0.01 and consider writing original fiction instead.
Therefore,
N = XDTQP
N is the number of people who will click on your advertisement and view the fic behind its cut text.
Let R equal the number of people who actually read to the end of your fic, as determined by several multipliers of N.
W: Quality of Writing
Let W have a base of 1 and a limit of 0.01.
For every typo the fic contains, decrease W by 0.05.
If the typo is egregious, takes place during a climactic moment, or occurs in the middle of a sex scene, decrease an additional 0.05.
For every formatting error the fic contains, decrease W by 0.05.
If the formatting error is egregious, such as a breach of lj-cut, unmarked bold that fills the entire fic, or overused strikethrough, decrease an additional 0.05.
If the fic is in first person, decrease W by 0.1.
If the fic is in second person, decrease W by 0.3.
If the fic changes tenses at any point and is not because of a storytelling convention within the fic itself, decrease W by 0.2.
If you actually had to think about whether your fic has a storytelling convention, see ~ for Pretension below, and decrease W by another 0.05.
If W at any point drops below zero, resolve it to its limit of 0.01 and for the love of god, get a better beta reader.
L: Length
If the fic is between 1000 and 5000 words, let L equal 1.
If the fic is under 1000 words, let L equal 0.75.
If the fic is between 5001 and 10000 words, and still fits in a single LJ post, let L equal 0.75.
For every 5000 words by which the length of the fic increases, decrease L by 0.05.
If the fic is chaptered and advertisements are posted with each additional chapter, double the current value of L, to a maximum of 0.5., unless you post every damn day, in which case no one will read your fic at all, or anything else you ever write, you attentionwhore.
G: Genre
Let G have a base of 1 and a limit of 0.01.
If the fic contains graphic violence, decrease G by one tenth.
If the fic is AU, AT, or AR, decrease G by one tenth.
If you know the difference between AU, AT, and AR, come to my apartment and I will give you a cookie.
If everything in your fandom is an AU, AT, or AR, and so is your fic, disregard the previous calculation, and please have fun when season 4 of Merlin comes out.
If the fic contains thoughtful political considerations, discussion of warfare, gratuitous historical references, or anything requiring footnotes, decrease G by one tenth.
If the fic contains literary references to anything that is not popular culture or within the scope of the canon itself, decrease G by 2 tenths.
If the fic is in any way meta-, halve the current value of G.
S: Smut
Let S have a base of 1 and a limit of 0.01.
For every kink on the following list that the fic contains, decrease S by 0.05:
dubcon, noncon, coercion, underage participants (count once for every underage participant), slavefic, sex while pregnant
For every kink on the following list that the fic contains, decrease S by .1:
necrophilia, vore, breathplay, watersports, scat, mpreg, bloodplay
If you can think of something else in your fic that might require a deduction, decrease S by 0.05 for creativity, and tell me about it in the comments.
~: Pretension
Let ~ have a base of 1 and a limit of 0.01.
If you think your fic is high art, please stop applying this proof to it, as you will only bruise your ego.
If you think your fic has applicability to a current real-life issue, increase ~ by one tenth.
If your fic is funny, and you intend it to be funny, increase ~ by two tenths.
If you and your beta the only ones who thinks your fic is funny, disregard the previous calculation.
If your fic contains any storytelling conceits other than prose, such as poetry, song lyrics, a musical component, an extratextual component, script format, Twitter or AIM or chat conversations, or puzzles, halve the current value of ~.
If at any point you make use of ~edgy~ humor, racial slurs, or anything that could get your fic mocked on an anonmeme, increase ~ by 10, but you’ll have to delete it eventually.
Therefore,
R = NWLGS~
And there you have it: R, the number of people who probably read your fic from beginning to end on its initial posting and cross-posting. If your fic is fortunate enough to be recced, the number will increase accordingly.
Divide R by 20, and you have your estimated number of comments, kudos, and recs.
.
For shits and giggles and oh god what the hell am I doing theoretical algebra and statistics for at one in the morning,
Factors Which May Increase or Decrease The Amount of People Who Read Your Fic
Let X equal the amount of people who see the fic advertised, as determined by A (the number of people on your friendslist) + B (the amount of people in any livejournal communities you crosspost the advertisement to) + C (audience outside livejournal as determined by stalking your ljtoys, AO3 and FFN hitcounts)
X = A + B + C
Let N equal the amount of people who click on the advertisement, as determined by several potential multipliers of X.
D: Day of Advertisement
If the fic is posted on a Wednesday, D = 1.
For each day outside Wednesday in either direction, decrease D by one tenth. Fics posted on Tuesdays and Thursdays have a T of 0.9, Mondays and Fridays a T of 0.8, and weekends a T of 0.7.
T: Time of Advertisement
If the fic is posted during fandom’s boom time (between 6 and 10 PM EST for US-based fandoms, 6 and 10 GMT for UK and Continental European fandoms, etc.) T = 1.
For each hour outside boom time in either direction, decrease T by one tenth. So a fic posted at 11 PM EST has a T of 0.9, a fic posted at midnight 0.8, and so forth.
Q: Quality of Advertisement
Let Q have a base of 1 and a limit of 0.01.
For every typographical error in the advertisement or header, decrease Q by two tenths. If there are more than four typographical errors, let Q stand at 0.01, do not make any further calculations, and get yourself a better beta reader.
If your fic is rated R or NC-17 due to sexual activity between consenting adults, increase Q by two tenths.
If you employ witty cut text or a compelling summary, increase Q by two tenths.
If you fail to use a fandom-relevant icon, decrease Q by one tenth.
If your fic has cover art or a tasteful header, increase Q by one tenth.
P: Pairing and Characters
Let P have a base of 1 and a limit of 0.01.
If the main character of your fic is the main character of the series, increase P by one tenth.
If the main character of your fic is the ensemble darkhorse or fan favorite, increase P by two tenths.
If, after thorough research of your fic community, you determine the central pairing of your fic to be the most popular pairing in the fandom, whether it is canon or fanon, het or slash, fluffy or snarky, double your current value of P.
If you are writing fic that contains no canon main characters, decrease P by one tenth.
If you are writing fic that features a contentious pairing containing one member of the fan-preferred pairing, decrease P by one tenth.
If you are writing fic that features original characters in central roles and relegates the canon characters to the background, decrease P by two tenths.
If you are writing fic for general audiences, with no pairings, halve your current value of P.
If P at any point dips below zero, resolve it to its limit of 0.01 and consider writing original fiction instead.
Therefore,
N = XDTQP
N is the number of people who will click on your advertisement and view the fic behind its cut text.
Let R equal the number of people who actually read to the end of your fic, as determined by several multipliers of N.
W: Quality of Writing
Let W have a base of 1 and a limit of 0.01.
For every typo the fic contains, decrease W by 0.05.
If the typo is egregious, takes place during a climactic moment, or occurs in the middle of a sex scene, decrease an additional 0.05.
For every formatting error the fic contains, decrease W by 0.05.
If the formatting error is egregious, such as a breach of lj-cut, unmarked bold that fills the entire fic, or overused strikethrough, decrease an additional 0.05.
If the fic is in first person, decrease W by 0.1.
If the fic is in second person, decrease W by 0.3.
If the fic changes tenses at any point and is not because of a storytelling convention within the fic itself, decrease W by 0.2.
If you actually had to think about whether your fic has a storytelling convention, see ~ for Pretension below, and decrease W by another 0.05.
If W at any point drops below zero, resolve it to its limit of 0.01 and for the love of god, get a better beta reader.
L: Length
If the fic is between 1000 and 5000 words, let L equal 1.
If the fic is under 1000 words, let L equal 0.75.
If the fic is between 5001 and 10000 words, and still fits in a single LJ post, let L equal 0.75.
For every 5000 words by which the length of the fic increases, decrease L by 0.05.
If the fic is chaptered and advertisements are posted with each additional chapter, double the current value of L, to a maximum of 0.5., unless you post every damn day, in which case no one will read your fic at all, or anything else you ever write, you attentionwhore.
G: Genre
Let G have a base of 1 and a limit of 0.01.
If the fic contains graphic violence, decrease G by one tenth.
If the fic is AU, AT, or AR, decrease G by one tenth.
If you know the difference between AU, AT, and AR, come to my apartment and I will give you a cookie.
If everything in your fandom is an AU, AT, or AR, and so is your fic, disregard the previous calculation, and please have fun when season 4 of Merlin comes out.
If the fic contains thoughtful political considerations, discussion of warfare, gratuitous historical references, or anything requiring footnotes, decrease G by one tenth.
If the fic contains literary references to anything that is not popular culture or within the scope of the canon itself, decrease G by 2 tenths.
If the fic is in any way meta-, halve the current value of G.
S: Smut
Let S have a base of 1 and a limit of 0.01.
For every kink on the following list that the fic contains, decrease S by 0.05:
dubcon, noncon, coercion, underage participants (count once for every underage participant), slavefic, sex while pregnant
For every kink on the following list that the fic contains, decrease S by .1:
necrophilia, vore, breathplay, watersports, scat, mpreg, bloodplay
If you can think of something else in your fic that might require a deduction, decrease S by 0.05 for creativity, and tell me about it in the comments.
~: Pretension
Let ~ have a base of 1 and a limit of 0.01.
If you think your fic is high art, please stop applying this proof to it, as you will only bruise your ego.
If you think your fic has applicability to a current real-life issue, increase ~ by one tenth.
If your fic is funny, and you intend it to be funny, increase ~ by two tenths.
If you and your beta the only ones who thinks your fic is funny, disregard the previous calculation.
If your fic contains any storytelling conceits other than prose, such as poetry, song lyrics, a musical component, an extratextual component, script format, Twitter or AIM or chat conversations, or puzzles, halve the current value of ~.
If at any point you make use of ~edgy~ humor, racial slurs, or anything that could get your fic mocked on an anonmeme, increase ~ by 10, but you’ll have to delete it eventually.
Therefore,
R = NWLGS~
And there you have it: R, the number of people who probably read your fic from beginning to end on its initial posting and cross-posting. If your fic is fortunate enough to be recced, the number will increase accordingly.
Divide R by 20, and you have your estimated number of comments, kudos, and recs.
.