I was just wondering about that kudos rate you mentioned and 10 % seemed really horribly low. But then I just read something for maybe the fifth time, because I love it so much. I've already commented, bookmarked and left kudos the first time around, so I

It is rather low, and I don’t know if this is still the case with most fandoms, but when this person told me this, it was about ten years ago. Things may have shifted. It’s about true for most of my stories, though, and you’re right - that doesn’t taken repeat reads into consideration! 

On ao3 I can see my stories displayed by hits, kudos, bookmarks, or comment threads in my stats. If I look at my top three most popular stories for the hits/kudos ratio, let’s see: 

Best of Three (posted February 2014): 71,246 hits, 3,019 kudos (4.2% kudos to hits)

Vena Cava (posted February 2014) : 33,584 hits, 1,641 kudos (4.9% kudos to hits)

Second Chance (posted May 2014): 33,474 hits, 2,133 kudos (6.4% kudos to hits)

So yeah, it’s not even 10%. I think that does vary with stories that get a lot of re-reads, though. It gets worse if you look at the ratio of comments, though. 

Best of Three: 71,246 hits, 468 comments - except that half of those are my responses, because I consider it rude not to reply, so it’s actually 234 comments. That means that only 1/300 readers commented. 

Just out of curiosity, I had a quick look at one of the most super-popular stories in the fandom just to see if it’s comparable. (I hope you don’t mind that I chose yours, @madlori!)

Performance in a Leading Role (posted July 2011) by @madlori. 511,512 hits, 10,483 kudos, 1,491 comments. Those numbers are incredible, of course! But percentage-wise, it breaks down to a 2% kudos to hits ratio, and even if I count all of the comment responses, 1/343 readers commented. 

I’m not complaining per se - this is just the accepted reality of writing fanfic, and it’s why a lot of writers try to make the switch so that they’re at least getting money, if not feedback. And I mean this: I’m one of the lucky ones! I’m well aware that there are TONS of writers who are receiving far fewer hits, kudos, comments, bookmarks, recs, etc. I have a solid base of readership and I’m immensely grateful for them all! And I mean this, too: I don’t mind people lurking, just reading quietly and not saying anything. I’m also well aware that just because someone clicked on a fic doesn’t mean that they: a) finished it, or b) liked it. And personally, I’d far rather they didn’t say anything if they didn’t like it and just quietly hit the back button rather than have them leave hate in the comments. 

Either way, what it comes down to is that I don’t think any of us are complaining! My comments on that post were more just meant to encourage people to take the time to say something to the artists and authors whose work they appreciate, that’s all! Have you really read stuff of mine five times???? That’s crazy! Thank you!!!