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Potential audiences.
I had a quick chat with ![[livejournal.com profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/external/lj-userinfo.gif)
ac1d6urn yesterday, and, as usual, the topic became stuck in my brain, and now my poor flist has to hear about it.
One of the most common mistakes a new writer often makes is in assuming that everyone will want to read his or her story. (It reminds me of one of the other major problems, which is the Inability to Narrow the Story Down to One Genre. "It's an action/adventure/romantic thriller/espionage/fantasy set in a Victorian world!" Yeah, just try to shelve that in a bookstore, and you'll see what I mean.) In reality, of course, nobody's story will appeal to everybody. For everyone who loves Mercedes Lackey, there's someone who deplores quick angsty fantasy books and adores long, intricately plotted books like Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norris. You get the picture.
When I first started selling crafts at craft shows, I thought most people would like what I was selling. In fact, the first time I set up, I wasn't certain that I had made enough items. I was convinced I was going to sell most, if not all, of the items. I brought nearly $2000 in merchandise. By the time the show ended, my sales totaled $100. Turns out that not everybody was interested in what I had made.
Fanfiction, of course, is quite similar. Some people read epics; some people, only drabbles. Some people only read certain pairings, or only Gen stories. Which brings us to what I was thinking about, which is how what you write narrows your audience, sometimes in ways you never considered.
Take the Last Sanguimagus, for example.
It's a ss/ofc fic. There is a large faction in fandom that will not read anything with original characters. There are also people who aren't interested (*gasp*) in reading about Snape. So subtract at least 50% of the reading audience.
It's 150,000 words long already. There are people who aren't interested in novel-length stories. Subtract another 25% of the reading audience.
It's a slow-burn romance, meaning that it takes awhile for the characters to be brought together. There are people who like their characters brought together quickly. Subtract another 10%.
It's rather plotty. There are people who don't like too much plot and background information. Subtract another 10%.
Even though these percentages are mostly (okay, completely) arbitrary, the general idea holds. Each subsequent layer dissuades another segment of fandom from reading the piece.
There are other reasons why people won't read your fic. Perhaps they're not drawn in by your summary, or perhaps your fic just isn't accessible to them. Perhaps you posted it to a comm on LJ, and they accidentally skipped it, or perhaps they missed a rec.
What I didn't expect about tLS is that the story would not appeal to everybody who liked Snape. I really did think that any Snape fan would be interested in it. But now I realize that it's my interpretation of Snape, and that truly canon-Snape seeking readers aren't interested, and that a lot of fanon-Snape seeking readers aren't interested as well. I never realized that some fans really do enjoy Snape Manor fics, fluffy!Snape, only-pretending-to-dislike-Harry!Snape, and just plain OOC!Snape. Just as fanfiction pairings alienate readers, so does the interpretation of the characters themselves. Everybody prefers a different mix of traits for their Snape. I remember the Build-a-Snape meme from a year or so ago...that was hilarious, but it was also eye-opening. Everyone has their own unique view of his character. Some traits are present in most fics; some rarely show up. And what happens it that a reader who likes Noble!Snape will be very put off by In-It-For-Himself!Snape. So even interpretation can be another layer.
When I first wrote tLS, I really didn't know what to expect. I had no idea if anyone would read it or not. Because I'd worked in a bookstore for so long, I knew that there would only be a small number of people who would possibly read it, though. (Most people who buy books have pretty well-defined reading habits. Romance readers will often narrow their purchases down to just Regency romances, or just historical romances set in Ireland, etc.) After a couple years in online fandom, I can see how that number gets reduced even further. In HP, like in many fandoms, there are specific groups--target audiences, if you will--of readers that are drawn together by certain pairings. There are people who read slash pairings, people who read het pairings, people who read gen stories, and people who read stories with original characters. Certainly some people jump in and out of groups at will, or belong to more than one group. But what I've found is that some people in the first three groups avoid the last group like the plague. After my discussion with ac1d, I thought about my own reading habits. I generally don't read anything with the kids in the story, unless they're adults. I did try to read them a few times, but I'm just not interested enough.
So there are entire areas of fandom that I'm completely unfamiliar with. I am not part of the potential audience for those fics, just like many readers are not part of the potential audience for my fics. The key must be maximizing your fic's exposure to the target audience, and hoping that you reach those readers. I'm always curious about how some of the reviewers who have reviewed tLS found it, and why they keep reading. I have mostly Snape het fans for an audience, but I know that there is an occasional slash fan who reads it as well.
I see that good writers often cross boundaries and attract more readers just from their writing style alone. I would normally never read a story with Draco in it, but once in a while one of my favorite writers will write a Draco story, and I'm more likely to try it. So the potential audience can be expanded, I think, with exposure, recs, and just plain word-of-mouth.
This isn't a very cohesive entry, but I just wanted to jot down some of the thoughts I had after I chatted with ac1d.
What do you think of the fandom, and potential audiences within it?
ac1d6urn yesterday, and, as usual, the topic became stuck in my brain, and now my poor flist has to hear about it.One of the most common mistakes a new writer often makes is in assuming that everyone will want to read his or her story. (It reminds me of one of the other major problems, which is the Inability to Narrow the Story Down to One Genre. "It's an action/adventure/romantic thriller/espionage/fantasy set in a Victorian world!" Yeah, just try to shelve that in a bookstore, and you'll see what I mean.) In reality, of course, nobody's story will appeal to everybody. For everyone who loves Mercedes Lackey, there's someone who deplores quick angsty fantasy books and adores long, intricately plotted books like Jonathan Strange and Mr. Norris. You get the picture.
When I first started selling crafts at craft shows, I thought most people would like what I was selling. In fact, the first time I set up, I wasn't certain that I had made enough items. I was convinced I was going to sell most, if not all, of the items. I brought nearly $2000 in merchandise. By the time the show ended, my sales totaled $100. Turns out that not everybody was interested in what I had made.
Fanfiction, of course, is quite similar. Some people read epics; some people, only drabbles. Some people only read certain pairings, or only Gen stories. Which brings us to what I was thinking about, which is how what you write narrows your audience, sometimes in ways you never considered.
Take the Last Sanguimagus, for example.
It's a ss/ofc fic. There is a large faction in fandom that will not read anything with original characters. There are also people who aren't interested (*gasp*) in reading about Snape. So subtract at least 50% of the reading audience.
It's 150,000 words long already. There are people who aren't interested in novel-length stories. Subtract another 25% of the reading audience.
It's a slow-burn romance, meaning that it takes awhile for the characters to be brought together. There are people who like their characters brought together quickly. Subtract another 10%.
It's rather plotty. There are people who don't like too much plot and background information. Subtract another 10%.
Even though these percentages are mostly (okay, completely) arbitrary, the general idea holds. Each subsequent layer dissuades another segment of fandom from reading the piece.
There are other reasons why people won't read your fic. Perhaps they're not drawn in by your summary, or perhaps your fic just isn't accessible to them. Perhaps you posted it to a comm on LJ, and they accidentally skipped it, or perhaps they missed a rec.
What I didn't expect about tLS is that the story would not appeal to everybody who liked Snape. I really did think that any Snape fan would be interested in it. But now I realize that it's my interpretation of Snape, and that truly canon-Snape seeking readers aren't interested, and that a lot of fanon-Snape seeking readers aren't interested as well. I never realized that some fans really do enjoy Snape Manor fics, fluffy!Snape, only-pretending-to-dislike-Harry!Snape, and just plain OOC!Snape. Just as fanfiction pairings alienate readers, so does the interpretation of the characters themselves. Everybody prefers a different mix of traits for their Snape. I remember the Build-a-Snape meme from a year or so ago...that was hilarious, but it was also eye-opening. Everyone has their own unique view of his character. Some traits are present in most fics; some rarely show up. And what happens it that a reader who likes Noble!Snape will be very put off by In-It-For-Himself!Snape. So even interpretation can be another layer.
When I first wrote tLS, I really didn't know what to expect. I had no idea if anyone would read it or not. Because I'd worked in a bookstore for so long, I knew that there would only be a small number of people who would possibly read it, though. (Most people who buy books have pretty well-defined reading habits. Romance readers will often narrow their purchases down to just Regency romances, or just historical romances set in Ireland, etc.) After a couple years in online fandom, I can see how that number gets reduced even further. In HP, like in many fandoms, there are specific groups--target audiences, if you will--of readers that are drawn together by certain pairings. There are people who read slash pairings, people who read het pairings, people who read gen stories, and people who read stories with original characters. Certainly some people jump in and out of groups at will, or belong to more than one group. But what I've found is that some people in the first three groups avoid the last group like the plague. After my discussion with ac1d, I thought about my own reading habits. I generally don't read anything with the kids in the story, unless they're adults. I did try to read them a few times, but I'm just not interested enough.
So there are entire areas of fandom that I'm completely unfamiliar with. I am not part of the potential audience for those fics, just like many readers are not part of the potential audience for my fics. The key must be maximizing your fic's exposure to the target audience, and hoping that you reach those readers. I'm always curious about how some of the reviewers who have reviewed tLS found it, and why they keep reading. I have mostly Snape het fans for an audience, but I know that there is an occasional slash fan who reads it as well.
I see that good writers often cross boundaries and attract more readers just from their writing style alone. I would normally never read a story with Draco in it, but once in a while one of my favorite writers will write a Draco story, and I'm more likely to try it. So the potential audience can be expanded, I think, with exposure, recs, and just plain word-of-mouth.
This isn't a very cohesive entry, but I just wanted to jot down some of the thoughts I had after I chatted with ac1d.
What do you think of the fandom, and potential audiences within it?
Re: Here via the Snitch
But yeah, you're right, I was mostly talking about how the audience you generate is not being drawn from a very wide-reaching pool...how each particular detail or setting you add to the fic seems to limit your potential audience even further.
Re: Here via the Snitch
I think that's a real function of fanfic, which is the genre-est of genre writing, often. The bad side is if you're one of those who chooses to branch out, you do risk alienating your loyal followers, like a romance novelist who writes a crime drama or v.v.