try to write a cliche love story or put very famous idols in your story (like EXO and BTS. they're like the God of AFF) or just advertise your story if you have enough kp haha. I once advertise my story but it doesn't get featured lol because the number of upvotes is important. I barely get 100 for the story tho hahahaha
back in the days when AFF was still a new site, the stories were featured based on how many subscribers a story has. I kinda disagree with the upvoting stuff since sometimes the author was demanding for upvotes even though their story is not....really interesting.
@Jenday You would think so. I love the idea that I earned something, but others want things quickly. They want it right then and right now so I guess that makes sense too.
@SavorySins some people bid for the front page advertisements, which helps bring traffic to a story and might end up getting it featured. buying ads is kind of a hit or miss, though - it's crazy expensive (it takes a lot of time/effort to get enough karma points if you're not using real money) and doesn't guarantee a feature, so it's not exactly worth it. speaking from the two bids that I've won that didn't do much, lol.
on the other hand, I'm pretty sure buying upvotes is considered cheating. people usually get wind of this pretty quickly and such stories end up getting taken down, which is probably why aff made it so you need at least 25 karma points to upvote something. I don't know why people do this, isn't it better to work your way up instead of buying praise?
@neonflowers I 100% agree that the system doesn't make any sense, hahaha. sometimes it "resets" itself and stories that have been featured before are up there again. surely there are times where the top stories have the same number of votes, so maybe there's a second factor that determines what goes up and when.
Nah man the AFF FAQ saying the stories with the most number of upvotes that is the one that gets featured is total BS or they have some wonky kind of algorithm to get stories featured that I don't understand. I've been featured, so I speak from experience. The first time around-- I advertised it and it gained like 50 upvotes that day. So ok, that's quite many, I guess. But the second time my story got featured, I haven't updated it in more than two weeks. I didn't get a single upvote the day before it got featured so I'm really surprised that it did. I remember being extremely shocked when I got informed by one of my readers via Instagram that my story was up on the home page. I've seen fics that haven't been updated since like, 2015 getting featured, so clearly the number of upvotes aren't the sole deciding factor on fanfic features.
With that being said though, I believe you do need to have a certain number of upvotes before you get featured. Above 300 would be a good bet, but I've seen stories with 180ish get featured too. If your subscribers, views, and comments statistics are okay, I'm pretty sure you'll get featured eventually too. All in all, upvotes and other story statistics do play a part but in the end it's up to the system and your luck haha!
Once again, I'm not interested in getting featured, I do not believe my works are that good. And the asking for a friend bit was a joke...as I have none. :/ I've just been noticing that the feature seems to stay with certain people more so than others. Idk...I read the description and that has to pull me in or I won't click on your story. But I guess that's where difference of opinions come in. I didn't know that you could actually buy the feature though...is it like one of those pages where you submit your story and they flood your page with upvotes in exchange for karma or do you legit pay money for it?
@Jenday I agree with the points you made; the popularity contest thing: not to blatantly just "hate" or "whine" on the featured stories or anything, but I do see a trend with the pairings or characters and it does indeed serve/appeal to majority of people here on AFF. There are indeed quite a few featured stories I've encountered with some pretty bad grammar etc, but the plotline still grabbed people's attention and the story was consistent. Also agreeing on the point that subs and votes will come to you; recreation is imo the main point fanfiction even exists lol but quite the few here on AFF are focused on getting featured and it turned into a competition... not exactly a healthy one either.
if you read aff's FAQ then it straight up tells you that the feature system is based on upvotes, but also if 1) the story hasn't been featured before and 2) if it's not rated m.
it's basically a popularity contest. good plot, the right tags, decent story, and popular characters are all factors of a featured fic. it doesn't matter if you have spelling mistakes or grammatical errors, lmao. perfect writing does give you a higher chance of being featured, but an imperfect story that moves its reader is worth more than a bland one with no errors at all. that being said, an author who writes consistently well and produces good stories is more than likely to have multiple features. I've heard rumours about people buying upvotes, but those sometimes get taken down.
@tumbleweed said that it's better to write what you like instead of aiming towards a higher sub count, and it's true. you don't really have any obligation to write here, so it should be just for your pleasure - other people just have the opportunity to see what comes out of it. I have two features under my belt: a rated exo fic that I offered to write for someone else, and a vixx fic ( I think it was first vixx story to be on the main page, actually). both stories are actually kinda terrible in terms of grammar and beauty, but I enjoyed writing them nonetheless, so they got recognition. in short, if you're just looking how to get something featured, just keep writing and don't think about it. it'll come to you lol
Yh that's why it's 'usually' rather than always ^^ some authors would rather buy the featured status? I think there's a way to do that through karma points? I'm not too sure :/ but many authors I've read, who have a lot of their works featured have had beautiful writing I must say, and ofc many unfeatured ones too which have every right to be but aren't as well known. And undeniably, there are less than impressive featured fics (imo) too with plenty of errors but at least, they don't seem to be the majority? I've acc read a few fics of authors whose stories from their first featured fic to their latest featured fic, has had great improvements in their work which was nice to see
@ChiShika Idk. I think that's a matter of opinion. I've read featured stories with all kinds of grammatical errors and misspellings so I'm hesitant to say it's because all of them are such awesome authors.
those people usually write impeccably amazing stories is probably why xD so if they manage to get one of their awesome stories featured, their other awesome stories will also be read and ofc liked because they are usually amazing, hence, they also get featured.
Usually if you write a famous group or otp that will get you featured. Like, Baekyeol, Kristao, Woogyu, etc. You will notice if you look at the groups and pairings that got featured.
[deactivated]
6 years ago
Well, it depends on which story had the most upvotes that day. Some writers are already pretty known for their writings and maybe post their stories somewhere else to have them checked out who haven't seen them here. And if they like it enough, they upvote it. And like already said, if it got featured once, they maybe check the other stories out. Basically, it really just depends on how many upvotes it has. And kinda if the writer is known or that the fic gets known, recommended, stuff like that.
Eh. I'll never get featured. No one likes my work that well, however, I just find it a bit odd because it seems like the same people get featured multiple times.
Usually, once you get featured, all your readers eventually go to your other stories and read those and upvote them as well. It's kinda like a singer. If they get featured or produce a hit song, people will usually check out their other songs and then the artist blows up. And yeah, some of us try to get featured but it's quite the struggle. Imo though, rather than trying to get featured, it's better if you write what you like. (not assuming that you or your friend are trying to get featured though, just a thought) :-)
