Personally I subscribe to many stories with similar themes after checking their forewords then read them one by one. So I might end up not liking a story and unsubscribe after a week or something. My question is why do you ask because isn't it quite obvious? Mostly people don't like what they see at the beginning or when the story continues or the ending so they obviously unsub. I also don;t find logic in unsubscribing from stories you have completed, like why? Leave it there. Only if it's an oneshot that ends awfully(not sad end but badly written end or unrealistic or childish or stuff like that) do I unsubscribe after completing it because it's one chap not many,it is very rare that you reach 50 chapter and you unsub at 51 that is the ending because you didn't like it, like you can see where it;s going right? If it's a plot-twist and you just didn't expect it it means that the fic was good because for you to have continued till then you like plot, character etc right? So yeah that's it.

Personally I subscribe to many stories with similar themes after checking their forewords then read them one by one. So I might end up not liking a story and unsubscribe after a week or something. My question is why do you ask because isn't it quite obvious? Mostly people don't like what they see at the beginning or when the story continues or the ending so they obviously unsub. I also don;t find logic in unsubscribing from stories you have completed, like why? Leave it there. Only if it's an oneshot that ends awfully(not sad end but badly written end or unrealistic or childish or stuff like that) do I unsubscribe after completing it because it's one chap not many,it is very rare that you reach 50 chapter and you unsub at 51 that is the ending because you didn't like it, like you can see where it;s going right? If it's a plot-twist and you just didn't expect it it means that the fic was good because for you to have continued till then you like plot, character etc right? So yeah that's it.

i rarely unsubscribe but when i do is because:
it is a ,subscribe to read, completed, one shot story and i finished it (i rarely read one shot)
i lost interest at the story, the storyline is too cliche and the writing style doesn't make it better. cliche stories are good if the author make it interesting, like the moments in the story, writing style.
it's been a long time since the author update and i forgot the story, meaning that the story isn't good enough for me to remember.

I mainly use subscriptions to help me keep track of the stories I have not read, but do plan on reading. I generally only read stories that are completed because I have poor memory and probably won't remember what happened in between chapters if I have to wait for updates. So in that case, subscriptions also help me keep track of whether or not a fic is finished. The only time I unsubscribe is after I have finished reading a fic. But I never forget or lose that fic because I then save it under one of my labels. This way if I want to read it again, I can easily find it. As an author, I always feel bad when I unsubscribe. But the system really helps me keep organized and it works for me.

There are many reasons:
1) if a fic is in subscribers-only and a reader wants to check out the story, she'll subscribe. If it turns out the fic doesn't suit her taste, she'll unsubscribe.
2) if a reader has been subscribed to you story for a long time, and unsubscribe, it means she wants to read the fic once it's completed since she doesn't like new story updates notification anymore
3) or if the author hasnt updated for a long time but updates all of a sudden, the reader might have already lost interest in the fic so she unsubscribes.
4) either way, subscribers-only or not, People subscribe and unsubscribe all the time. Do not be discouraged and feel like your story is terrible. Every fic has an audience that it targets.


I know this is gonna stray a bit from your question but I just need to voice this out:

Ppl in this site only think about from the reader's perspective and not from the author. Probably because they haven't experienced to write and be plagiarized. Not all authors want to gain subscribers so they put it in subscriber's mode.
Have ppl actually thought that maybe, the subscribers-only fic is not for the prospective readers but for the REAL SUBCRiBERS who have been reading the story since it began?

You can actually determine which authors put their fics in subscribers-only merely to gain subscribers by looking at their pattern of behavior. IF the author puts a "completed" story to subscribers-only, I hate to break it but it's most likely he/she wants to make it exclusive to the readers who have been reading the story ever since. I used to write tagalog fics here and if I could set my completed stories here to subscribers-only, I would, so only original subscribers can read my fic. IT'S NOT FOR THE PROSPECTIVE READERS. It's for the ORIGINAL SUBSCRIBERS. I wish AFF can even change this feature so whiny readers like most of you can already stop whining about subscribers-only fic when in fact it's not even supposed to cater to new readers like them. Do u get my drift? It's not like you're doing me a favor by clicking that subscribe button to my story. I giv zero bull about being featured because this is AFF - being featured is not an accurate basis how good a story is. In fact, authors r the one spending the effort to create fics like that because writing isnt easy. But what happens when our precious stories get plagiarized? Do we put the story hidden? I would, if that happened to me. But no. Authors still put the story up no matter what. Subscribers-only doesnt do much to protect the story but it gives a certain message that "you subscribed, I hve a record of you subscribing to my story, so if you plagiarize this story, I already have a pool of suspects that I can hunt down- those who subscribed to read the exclusive content of this story". I know Tracking the plagiarizer like that is not easy but the subscribers-only mode definitely gives a message. Besides, look at the pattern of which of their stories are in subscribers-only. If all of the author's fics are in subscribers-only, then it MIGHT be possible that all she wants is to gain subscribers. But say if, only the completed ones are in subscribers-only, then the clause that Ive mentioned above may apply. I've seen authors who put their fics in subscriber-only after it's completed because they want ONLY THE OLD SUBSCRIBERS to read it (I would do that to if I can). But I guess it's AFF's feature to let even the new readers to subscribe to the "already completed" story. If u ask me, I'd rather have a subscribers-only feature that's only locked to my loyal readers so whiny, judgemental users cannot read my completed story, because they didnt giv sh!t to have any inputs to the story while it's still being updated. It's not like I asked you to click subscribe to my completed story so why the hell r u now complaining that I put it in subscribers-only mode when u dont even know half of the story of y I did it. Sorry to be rude and harsh but Im just saying what I think. Sometimes, its not only what the readers think that matters. Sometimes, authors should also have a say in things; we're not slaves that only put out stories to satisfy readers in this site. We put out our mind and hearts to write stories (some stories r not even meant for raeders to read but only a mere outlet for us) so I think we deserve to do whatever we want With our fics. Don't like subscribing because u think we're only about gaining subscribers? THEN DONT. NO one's forcing you to subscribe.

So to the judgmental people, stop assuming that authors put up their stories in subscribers-only to get more subscribers. There are many reasons why certain authors do such. There are the greedy ones and there are those who do it for a reason. It's easy to judge when you havent even experienced writing a fic - it's not easy. So you'll utilize what's utilizable in writing sites to protect the fic that you made for many sleepless nights.

@mirrue Yes, exactly!

Some argue that it's a way to help prevent people from stealing, but... It's a weak argument, at best, in my opinion.

@Nathalaia i don't see a good point of subscriber-only stories too. sometimes, it's a major turn-off for me. ive always assume that the author of subscriber-only story cares too much about his/her subscriber's number.

If I'm intrigued enough, I subscribe. If then the next couple of chapters aren't good enough, I unsubscribe again. Simple. I don't see the point in being subscribed to a fic I don't like. I do not really see a point in 'subscribers only' fics, either, but usually a look at the first chapter is enough to tell me if subscribing for more is worth it or not. Again, if I subscribe and am disappointed, I unsubscribe.

Some may unsubscribe when the fic is finished. I tend not to, just in case there are news of, say, a sequel or some , but that could be another reason for people to unsubscribe.

Really, people subscribe to things they like, and unsubscribe to things they don't like. It's as simple as that.

@hocbaidi Don't take it to heart too much :) I think every author can relate to you though, that's why I rarely check the numbers of subscribers I have and rather stay blissfully ignorant ^^''

@honeyandclover Yeah I think it was roughly the same, at least over 1000 xD So I decided that it's too much and now it's around 50 ^^

A lot of stories (if not the majority of them) are set to 'subscribers only', which basically forces you to subscribe even if you are unsure whether the story will be to your liking. For me, when the description hasn't convinced me that I'm totally going to love the story, then I read up to about five chapters and then decide whether I want to continue reading or not. Unless, of course, the first chapter is absolutely horrendous and makes my eyes burn (eg. terrible grammar, absolutely no paragraphs, using too many (and unnecessary) Korean words, etc); then I click unsub immediately without a second thought!
Also, I personally do not see the point in staying subscribed to a story after you've finished reading it and you know there will be no future updates. Why stay subscribed when the story is completed? If I want to find a story I loved again and reread it, then I'll simply use the labels feature and add the story to my 'favourites' list. Staying subscribed to all those stories will only clog up your subscriptions tbh.

Actually, I tend to unsub from stories more often than graphic/layout shops, because I really enjoy looking through the creations the artists make. c:

I'm one of those people too. Sometimes, I subscribe to a story just so that I can keep track of it (either to continue reading or checking it out later). If I find it boring, cliched or simply too horrible to bear, I'll unsubscribe. Also, same as others, usually I'll subscribe to check out the subscribe-only stories but every single time, I'll unsubscribe because most of them have cliched concepts.

Unlike others, I'll stay subscribed to a story that I love even though it's completed for tracking purpose. I don't read much here at AFF.com so I don't have much stories in my subscription list. Also, I don't unsubscribe the review or graphics shops, so that I can track them back if I ever wanna use their service again. Plus, I check out new random stories in that way. Sometimes, I'll check out those stories that requested from the same shops as I did.

I usually try to read everything of the story, even though I might not like where it was going. But I unsubscribe when I finished reading, just to clear my subscription mess.
I just faced the situation recently, when a reader unsubsribed to my story upon my latest update. Maybe she lost interest or found my writing lack, or she doesn't like the process. She has every right to do so. But I'm just bitter that my story is open for non-subs too. It bugs me with the negative thought that I disappointed with the update. Therefore, I lost motivation (but it's over now, thankfully).
I may sound like a who whines over one loss of sub. But considering my story doesn't have that many subscribers, I have to care.

@blue_deer i'm wondering how many subscription do you have. i've around 1500+ lmao

usually for me it because the author itself makes their story to subscriber only with interesting foreword but when i read the chapter it turn out to be cliche, boring and have lots of grammatical error.

I do that sometimes, not always. It's usually for a couple reasons. The first one is that I legitimately don't like the story, it's either really cliche, or written distastefully. The second is if the grammar (in whatever language I'm reading it in, whether it's English or Spanish, but usually English) is so bad, that I have alot of trouble understanding the story itself. I remember reading one once, that the gist of the story seemed really good, but I could barely read it due to the grammatical errors. It was a shame, but I couldn't continue it. There are some stories that are set to 'Subscriber Only', so I have no choice but to subscribe before I check out the story. If I don't like the story, I unsubscribe. I feel bad leaving comments to correct grammar because I know alot of people use it as a 2nd, or 3rd language (I'm one of them), so I prefer to just leave as if I didn't read it in the first place. My standard of what I like has also changed quite a bit since I joined almost 2 years ago as well, so that's a part of it, too.

I assume people just don't really like the story after all. I do it, no matter what the story is set to. If I don't like it when I start reading, I see no reason to continue and I see no reason to stay subscribed.

Most stories are set to subscribers only (I'm guilty of doing this) so after reading the first chapter, if I don't like the story I unsubscribe

I do this. One reason in because so many stories are set as subscribe only. So I subscribe to read if I like it, and then unsubscribe if it turns out I don't.

Urgh I always forget about sending the message by pressing the enter key, sorry.
Before I started unsubscribing I would just keep the subscription to be able to find the stories again or to know whether I already read it, but ever since the tags were introduced I started using them instead to sort my stories so I don't really need the subscriptions anymore except for the new chapter notifications

I have to admit that I'm one of those people. After I finished reading a story I usually unsubscribe because I read a lot in general and I don't want to have so many subscriptions piling up. Obviously if the story is not finished and I like it I won't since I'm waiting for the new chapters :)