If the fanfic is subscribers only and I'm interested, I subscribe to it to read chapter 1, but if I'm not interested anymore I just unsub

I unsubscribe. And when it asks reason, I just skip, because I don't want to hurt their feelings. If the story is good, I wouldn't unsubscribe.

And also if it's a shop and I got my thing already I unsubscribe if I'm sure I won't need a thing from there again because I don't want notifications for nothing. (I also tend to get super excited if someone has added a new chapter so I don't want to get disappointed)

Depends on the story. I often stay subscribed and think to myself, I'm gonna read it soon. Although deep down I know I won't.

Looks like everyone is just going to unsubscribe without an explanation. Including me. I usually can't find the right word that describes why I unsubscribe (sometimes I just don't like it for no reason so ..) so I leave it at that.

I don't mind if a person does that kind of thing to my fic. I mean most of them are subscriber's only.............. XD and no, if I don't find a story interesting anymore, I just unsubscribe and leave it at that.

for me i will unsubscribe the fic and i already came across that though but i don't let the author know why i unsubscribe it.

I usually unsubscribe if the plot of the fic bores me or the author's writing style doesn't suit my taste. I don't let the author know why I unsubbed though, and I never really question when my readers unsub. I just assume that my story didn't click with them.

I think that's the thing about author's marking their stories as subscribers only. As a reader, I often comes across this situation. I was always intrigued by the description and foreword but it didn't give me enough details of the author's writing style and the journey that I was about to go in if I decided to stick to the story. I need to subscribe first to read the first chapter and if I find that the writing style of the author isn't to my liking, or if the flow of the story doesn't suit my taste, I will unsubscribe. You can just think this situation as testing the water. Hence, which is why I always decided to read fics with no 'only subscribers' tag because I know how disappointed the author would feel once the suddenly lost subscribers when they just gained them.

I just realized I haven't actually answered the question, but in my case, when I do face a work that's only for subscribers, I never unsubscribe unless I find something very offensive about the fic. For example, if it contains elements of gore, abuse, dubcon without having trigger warnings, I leave the subscription list. Also, if I see the author ranting something very offensive and saying insensitive things, I unsubscribe. Otherwise, I stay subscribed, and wait for the author to update and do their magic. ^_^ Hope it helps!

I share the same views as some of those who responded already. I use another account on here to write, and I deliberately choose not to put 'Subscribers only' on the settings because it feels like a big commitment I'm requiring from my readers, for them to be able to access my work. In the same way, it saddens me when I go to Livejournal or A03 (Archive of Our Own) and find some works to be locked. I feel deprived from something, and having experienced that sadness, I don't want to inflict it on anyone ever.

I usually unsubscribe when I don't like the authors writing style or it's not what I thought it would be and still doesn't capture my attention. I don't stay subscribed just for the reason of keeping track of the fanfics I'm actually reading or would like to go back to since I know I would not go back to that fanfic in particular so there would be no reason to stay. I usually just hope authors don't take it personally. I don't know if that makes sense, but yeah. I usually go back and give fanfics another shot when I'm especially bored and it keeps on coming up when I go on a fanfic hunt.

@KalaCR ahh gotcha.

@tumbleweed yeah, I'm not really worried about the subs, I'm happy with what I have, I do get excited every time I get a new subscriber but that is to be expected. this instance was just weird to me but like you said to each their own. TaeTae in your profile is the cutestttt!! sorry I couldn't help it.

@Sunchild The foreword shows entirely. But most of the time, the forewords sometimes don't do the story justice so I read the first few chapters as well.

@KalaCR wait, you can't see the entire foreword if you don't subscribe? ok that's weird. I might change my story than. I don't want to feel like I'm trapping people into subscribing.

@Nathalaia also the person I found was only because they had a really long name and the second time they subscribed I remembered that they had already subscribed but then a few days later they weren't on the list so I don't know, could be a lot of reasons. I just found it weird.

@Nathalaia I do think there are some pretty good subscribers only fic out here. But I did change my fic from subscribers only to no subscribers but it's back again only because I wanted to get a sense of my readers or like to thank them personally for supporting my work. also coming here from wattpad, where you can see the demographics and where your readers are from (not like individually but percentage wise) I guess subscribers only is the only way to kinda find the niche.

Personally, if I read the foreword/first few chapters and I'm not hooked, I unsubscribe.

I generally tend to dislike subscribers only. I do not like being forced to subscribe to a fic I will not necessarily like. More often than not, the fics I give a try that are subscribers only aren't worth it, so I unsubscribe. Why should I stay subscribed to a fic I don't want to read due to whatever reason? I wouldn't let the author know why, either, unless explicitly asked, maybe. I wouldn't want a comment saying they don't like this and this and this and that's why they unsubscribed after reading the first chapter or whatever, although it's a little different if the feedback is constructive and neutral, I guess.

Do they subscribe and then immediately unsubscribe? If it's a question of a few days between subbing and unsubbing, I know some readers like subbing to fics they're reading to find them easily. It could be why.

Hm. I think it's a matter of devotion and if the work is something you'd be excited to read when there's an update. For me, I'd usually unsubscribe, although I do feel bad doing so. The person you are describing might have subbed but then unsubbed due to the story not being what they expected. The second time? Not sure,, sounds fishy but to each their own. But what I'm trying to say is that imo if someone isn't ready to read something and commit, it would be better to unsub. It's more sad to see that your stories have subs but your chapters don't have views. Personal experience. :p anywho, don't fret too much over it. Write at your own pace and the subs will come to you in time.