I had conclusive proof today of something I’d noticed before on several fanfiction sites: stories with happy endings get more hits, faster, than stories with unhappy endings.
(Author update, February 28, 2014: the two stories in question are in the same fandom, and are virtually identical in word count. The angsty one was released on February 14; the funny, positive one on February 20. The latter now has almost four times the number of hits as the former, and exceeds it in other metrics such as bookmarks, kudos, and comments.)
Hits generally equal reads, though you don’t usually know if the reader bails partway through. Reads (and comments) equal visibility. Visibility increases the chances of a reader remembering you, and searching out your other work. Visibility is the coin that drives social media sites, along with their billions-of-dollars of presumed worth as advertising.
This might fly in the face of ‘literary fiction’ authors’ expectations, but fan readers and romance readers are often of similar mindsets (generally not readers of obscure and angsty literary fiction, John Green aside.) Even if there’s no explicit sexual content in a story, the readers still crave that Happy Ever After or Happy For Now ending.
This isn’t a knock against them for that. This is a rough old world, and all artists are more-or-less prostitutes granting moments of joy or transcendence.
I found another example in the author comments on another writing site tonight: the erotica author expressed gratitude that fans were wanking off to her work. And telling her about it. That intimate connection drives her business. Now, I’m not a great fan of her work, because I have seen incredibly hot erotica that still managed to elevate itself slightly, while providing more than enough wank fodder. But this particular writer knows her audience and focuses on its goals with a passion verging on purity.
Self-pub marketing coaches constantly ask clients to winnow out their core, niche clientele. The ones who will build a following and a business.
I’m still learning. I love firing off a dark ending now and then, just to know I can still do it. But now I try to balance that with some joy.
This is an interesting blog. I love angst but I do like that happy ending pay off at the end, no matter how hard the journey has been to get there. Oddly, in fan fic I can read a sad ending much more easily than I can in orginal fiction. Probably because I know I can easily find a HEA story with the same characters to soothe my bruised heart after.
(And now I wanna know who the erotica author is lol).
I’m the same way with fan fiction, and probably for similar reasons. I really enjoy the h/c jolt that tragedies give, but it’s better in an environment where my stunted little brain knows it’s not ‘real’.
But when original fic authors get it right? Hooo, boy, I have bawled my eyes red and smiled through my tears, at passages from Terry Pratchett, Tanith Lee, Lynn Flewelling, and a few others. The key is that odd sense of triumph – the smiling part of the reaction. That lifts it from mere angstporn.
Out of Respect Your Fellow Writer, I won’t name the erotica author. We just have philosophical differences of opinion, that’s all.