I don't like going on rants, but I've seen so much of this recently that I need to get off it off my chest.  I was going to throw out the challenge in the New Year, but that's months away.

Writers out there.  If you are going to hold chapters to ransom, or request, beg, demand or any other kind of entreaty for comments, at least make the effort to reply to some of them.  Or upvote them.  Or only reply to the long ones.  Or something that shows the reader you've noticed and you thank them for their time, somehow.

I'm not even joking – I went on a reading spree a little while back and out of about twenty fics, at least fifteen of them had the authors demanding comments, asking why nobody was commenting, and then when I scrolled down to the comments, whaddayaknow, there are some there (some quite long ones, too) that have no replies and look like the writer has just ignored them.  Or, in most cases, no replies at all.  None.  Nada.  Zilch.

Okay, everybody likes comments.  I'm not gonna lie: I personally love them.  I'd rather receive a long comment over an upvote or a dozen new subscribers anyday, because I love knowing what people think about my writing, and often as not somebody will offer some valuable insight or pick up on something I've missed that I need to change or edit, and just as often, I end up having really interesting discussions and making friends with my readers.  Most of my fics have a few readers who will comment on literally every single chapter, too.  I know I'm lucky and privileged, and that not everybody has that, but let's be real.  There are three ways you're going to get people commenting on your work when you upload chapters.

1) You already have a massive fanbase.

2) Your writing is exceptional.

3) You make the readers feel like their opinions on your work are worth something.

1) is largely down to luck.  2) is sort of down to luck, because there are some truly fantastic works of art out there that are barely known, but a lot of people will go out of their way to comment on something they think is genuinely amazing, even if it's only once when you've finished it.  3) is entirely down to you.  Entirely.  If you want to cultivate a readership base, you either have to hit the jackpot or you have to work for it.

If you ask for comments, and people comment, and then you don't do anything about it that they concretely feel/see in response, then they will give up and think it isn't worth it.  It's very simple.  And it's not I've given them a chapter, so them commenting is gratitude/their side of the author-reader deal/whatever – well, yes and no.  You provide a chapter.  It's not mandatory for anybody to read it.  It's not mandatory for anybody to comment.  It's not even mandatory for you to provide the chapter in the first place.  For a lot of people, their way of showing their appreciation is subscribing and (if they can) upvoting, which fulfills the deal of tacit appreciation on both end (even though the author's end is an awful lot of work).  A comment is beyond that, and some readers find them scary to write.  They don't know what to write.  They don't know how to approach the author.  If the author's well known or written something the reader really likes, it's kind of a will senpai notice me? moment.

Well, to be honest, it's like approaching somebody and saying something, and then being totally blanked if there's no response.  That's disheartening.

It's different, too, when you don't ask for comments and don't reply to comments.  You haven't asked for anything extra.

To the writers out there, please just consider this.  Most people commenting on your stories really like them, or they wouldn't be commenting.  Upvoting a thoughtful comment is like smiling to somebody who approaches you and says something.  Replying is like responding to that person.

Yes, replying to comments takes time.  You don't have to reply to every single one.  Upvoting the comments is literally a click.  Maybe just reply to one comment for each chapter posted.  If readers realise you respond to them, they're more likely to comment next time, and the time after, and the time after that... and other people will be encouraged to comment too when they see that you reply to them.  If you ask, at least consider responding.  Responding to one comment each time, or upvoting comments, really does not take a lot of time out of the day.  Responding to every single one you receive does take more time (I know from experience), but it's oddly rewarding – though not for everybody.

And to the readers out there, writers love comments.  They really do.  Some won't respond because there isn't a conversation opener in the comment, or because they don't know how to, or because they're really, really busy, but receiving a comment a couple of lines plus about what you like in a chapter will quite often be what gives them the motivation to write the next one.

So here's my challenge to you.

If you're a writer, see if you can't pick one story where you make an effort to respond to comments, whether by upvotes or replies.

If you're a reader, see if you can't pick one story to follow where you attempt to comment every few chapters, or more frequently, with at least three sentences per comment.

(It would be nice to somehow spread this challenge and see if it catches on, but I might save that for a later date.)