Hey there Everybrony.
I'm LateBronyWriter and my question is one I've ben asking everyone but no one seems to have a straight answer to the most crucial question on FimFiction. What does it take to get your story posted on the front page? I've polished my story to a reflective sheen worked to get word out there and generate a positive attitude towards my fans yet it seems tat only the stories hosted by the sites front page ever get any significant buzz. I'm still obsessed with delivering a good story to my readers, But it annoys me to no end that I can never get noticed when some authors post one thousand words and get one thousand likes by a day's end. So is there anything a new writer to this fandom do to get their story noticed by the almighty admins around here?
LateBronyWriter

4727858 It's not the admins that put the story on the front page. This isn't the dreaded Equestria Daily.

All stories are hosted on front page in their life times (under new stories). If you want your story to get into the feature box, however, it will need to gather enough 'heat'. For that to happen, it needs to be more catchy than 90% of other stories that get published here.

You should know that there is a lot of competition here. Each day, about a hundred stories are published on this site. Your story will be among them. If you want it to stand out, you will have to work your ass on it and will still probably fail.

My advice: write for yourself and don't publish for fame. The days when you could easily get popular in this fandom are far gone. You're setting yourself for disappointment if you do.

4727875 I guess you're right...... it's not lie fame falls out of the sky. But when I see authors get a hundred likes in a day and a thousand views and i'm still struggling to get one like at a time it really feels like my efforts are worthless. Luckily I do enjoy writing my story, as huge and cumbersome as it is, and I already have some cool friends that are waiting on baited breath for my next chapter (I might be exaggerating a bit).
Even though I know that my time would probably be better spent writing another chapter I guess that i'm just a fool searching for that lucky break. I know it'd be more rational to give up quests for fame but heck if it isn't fun to get out there and meet some new people sometimes. Thanks for answering my question though! I should have known that an acclaimed author would know the answer! Thanks Bad Dragon, I'll catch your next fic when it comes out!
LateBronyWriter

4727858

It ultimately takes a lot of people viewing your story all at once. The higher traffic your story has, the better chance of it being put on the front page. There's no science to it, it's based entirely on the fickle nature of everyone on the site.

So either you wrote something that people really seemed to like, and it got popular fairly quickly... or you wrote clop.

4727892

Hang in there man, and join the club. There's a lot of us who are in the same boat. At no point should you stop trying, though.

4727901 That's how I feel. It's daunting not getting any leeway sometimes, but ever person who says that they like my story gives me the drive to get back out there knowing that somewhere out on that vast web of clop someone's looking for a story like mine. And I Only hope that I can deliver.
LateBronyWriter

Hey man! Listen, featured stories work in a lot of ways that sometimes make you wonder what is going on.

Being an author myself with a story or two listed on the featured section constantly with each update, I can assure you that the most important reason and cause for stories and the box to join forces, would be the people itself. The readers are the main fuel to increase the featured milestone. Obvious as it, I can tell if a story is popular if people love what they see.

I'm still dissapointed that at least half of the stories in the featured box are clop.
I know. It still hurts.

However, a couple of the many factors that the story should be taken most in consideration, is both the title and the main story itself. Looking at the featured box right now, I can see that at least 4 adventure stories made it, 2 slices of life, and one (and a half) clop story. The rest are in-depth stories.

If you can't attract a person's attention to the story, no matter how much effort you put into your tale, they WILL NOT read your story. Simple as that.

What I suggest to do (if you want to, that is), is research something... catchy. Something that even yourself would watch, no matter how old it is. Something that calls you; DRAWS you closer to it. A highlight bringing all the attention for being different from others in some particular way. Something....

Original.

Now, now, I know that plenty of stories are original in their own ways, I'm aware of that fact. But reading your feed news, what kind of title and genre makes you stop scrolling down just to check that certain story? What would that be? Just what makes it so interesting? What in the world does a single line of feedback makes you click that link button? What?

So far, that is one of most powerful reasons to why some stories are featured and others... are not.

If you have any other doubt, I'll try my best to answer them if you desire so. There are dozens and dozens of factors that affect a single story, but I'm willing to help you understand more if you wish to.

Just, give me a call! I just hope this eases your mind.

*Not a real suggestion*

WRITE CLOP!

Somehow that always gets featured.