⎯⎯ IT'S SO WEIRD being an author who writes for themselves BUT post for engagement. My brain fails to calculate how I'm receiving 100+ views per chapter, maybe 10–20 votes , nearly 30 on good days, but 1 or 2 to 0 comments? Like do no one have anything to say? Not one laughing emoji? Not one 'they crazy asf' or 'wtf is going on'? Or 'I love them'? Or not 'I really love this book!'? Nothing? It's weird to have been doing this for some years and I'm supposed to be motivated to continue writing...

        Don't get me wrong, I'm eternally grateful for the success I have now and I don't wish to come off ungrateful, I just refuse to not say anything. Because at the end of the day, this is genuinely how I feel and it just gets to a point. It's possible my perspective on this situation is entirely different than what others are viewing on the outside. I do have the habit of viewing the details of a picture rather than the bigger picture.

        However, the decline of engagement is continuously growing. Maybe not for everyone, not for you, but it is for me and on my side of wtp with other authors such as myself. Comparing Black Pearl's engagement to maybe Warm-Blooded that has 4 written books in one in a shorter timeframe than the 5 years it took to complete ONE book is crazy. Drastically different.

        It just sucks for projects I'm genuinely passionate about. Projects I'm spending months writing on. Hours editing on. Meticulously outlining my plots and just investing so much damn time into books that's getting paid dust. And I'm not talking about books that's actually collecting dust but books I've actually been keeping up with. Cause I'm at the point of unpublishing them and keeping them for myself to write on whenever I want. Maybe work on side projects where ppl are actually engaging in like TOHL, ADT, and Perfect. Which I understand isn't fair to the 1–3 readers who are engaging, but I'm entirely open to adding those individuals to the Google Docs of those books.

        Or maybe it's a sign to finally leave Wtp behind to finally give my publishing career full focus. At least I wouldn't care TOO much as I'm actually getting paid. No longer am I writing for FREE and on my own time, expecting comments as payment.

        And I get it—readers forget. Readers don't want to. Readers are scared to. Reader don't know what to say. Readers like to wait until the book is completed to comment on the last chapter. And they're not obligated to and maybe there's nothing for them to comment on, but fuck is it frustrating to put so much work into my books, thinking I dropped a bombass chapter just for no one to say anything. Maybe like 1 or 2 individuals occasionally and I love them down.

And I LOVE talking with my readers too, but it always feel like there's a disconnection. But 10+ chapters later and there's still nothing to say? It's like I'm posting for nothing. I have all these followers for nothing. I'm genuinely wasting my time.

Truthfully, I don't care about views and votes cause what's that telling me at the end of the day? Anyone can vote on something especially without reading it. Anyone can click and click out of a chapter and rr their favorite books which adds to the view count—even me just clicking on my shit will add to the view count LMAO. Sometimes I feel it's my fault for having such different plots and ideas vastly different from each other + writing fanfics and original ideas that my reader base is all over the place. And I won't change that part of myself but it's definitely a thought in the back of my mind.

This isn't to pressure anyone into doing something they don't usually do. I'm not keeping tabs on usernames and marking them down whenever they don't comment, despite noticing the difference between my usual commenters, and the usual voters. I have no vendetta against anyone. I'm not here to discuss and compare what readers—as myself—do outside of reading wtp when reading published books because it's not comparable. I'm not getting paid. These books aren't currently selling in bookstores. Wtp literally works on an algorithm. It's supposed to be an engaging site to build a community.

I just wanted to rant. Get some shit off my chest. Maybe shed light as to why I've been slacking with updates, not caring as much to keep an update schedule. Maybe I need another break. Idk. It's not like anyone will find this chapter unless I post about it. And if you do find it, I'm happy to discuss your frustrations with it too or however else you're feeling.

Anyway, these SS from another author says it better ;

And another one