Alan Harnum and various others wrote:

Oh, how I wish that were true.  But the reality is, unless your 'fic is 

a

Ranma one, you're unlikely to get much response, 

I would disagree with that to a certain extent. Ranma's the most popular
series for fanfics and usually gets the most responses, but I've gotten
more than a handful of responses for other series I've used. Just because
it isn't Ranma doesn't mean it will be ignored (and likewise, just because
it's Ranma doesn't mean it will get C+C either.) 

However, it is also true that if you write a Detonator Orgun/RG Veda
crossover it probably won't get much of a response due to a lack of
familiarity with the source material. It's the price that is paid for
relative obscurity. I'd recomend that if someone writes a story using a
lesser known anime/manga (ex. City Hunter) that you enjoy, take the time
out to heavily C+C and post it to the public. Who knows, you might even be
able to start a thread on it, and encourage others to write on the subject
as well.

as far as I can tell.  
Even

my most trivial Ranma spamfics have gotten me more comments than I 

generally

get for "Sailor Moon 4200."

This is an example of what I just said (for me anyway). I know next to
nothing about SM, and find it difficult to comment on most of the fics I
read involving it.

Well, I for one can count the number of responses that I received for 
the last two chapters of "Waters Under Earth" on the fingers of one 
hand.  

That I do find surprising since it is one of the better fics on the list,
IMO. I know I haven't had a chance to comment lately because I fell behind
in reading it and still have to catch up. Unless the quality of the series
has dropped considerably (and I find that difficult to believe since it had
such a strong start) people that sent C+C to you before are still reading
it, they just feel they have nothing to say or don't have the time to C+C
as much as they would like to.

I have received so little response for some chapters that I have 
at points wondered whether anyone reads them at all.  

There are over nine hundred people on the list. Your material is being
read. I'm thirty+ chapters into Shampoo 1/2 (almost at the one year
anniversary. Yay!) and I still get people that haven't commented before
,saying that they have been reading it since it first appeared and have
enjoyed every bit of it, yet they never said anything up to that point. 

That's NOT a complaint, just an observation. I would never complain about
anyone willing to take the time out to send comments to me, even if it is
only a sentence or two. I love hearing from someone new that hasn't sent
C+C before (and people that have sent C+C before, and people that are just
thinking about it etc. etc.. ^_^)  Some people will simply read something
and not say a word about it until some detail or event catches their eye
and then they feel the need to comment.

From my experience, if you want to get commentary, write short, one-shot 
Ranma pieces.  "Time, Out of Mind", for example, generated more comments 
than any chapter of WUE ever did; granted, much of the commentary was 
along the lines of "who are you and what have you done with the real 
Alan Harnum?", but it was commentary all the same.  ;)

How can I put this? The advantage to a one shot is that the whole story is
there, and people can have one total reaction to the work. In the case of
an ongoing series there is no (final) conclusion to the chapter, and a
reader's full reaction isn't there. So they wait to see what will happen
next rather than comment on just a part.

I know that the above is somewhat garbled, but the words I wish to use to
explain this clearly, elude me. Hopefully someone can make out what I was
saying there.

I went without pre-readers for a long time because I was hoping that 

the FFML

would provide the kind of criticism I was after.  But the truth is, I 

seldom

got anything.  So when I started getting thoughtful, extremely helpful 

comments

-- from someone who read my stuff off the newsgroup; she isn't 

connected to the

FFML -- I asked her if she'd keep it up.  The result has been 

dramatically

helpful.

I myself have considered sending out a call for prereaders for WUE for 
exactly the same reasons as yours, mainly that I had hoped the FFML 
would provide the function that prereaders normally do (detailed 
criticism that would help me improve my writing), but it has, 
unfortunately, not done that to the extent that I had hoped.

As nice as it would be, few of us have the time to dissect and analyze
every fic that comes along, giving them attention they deserve. (I know I
sure don't. *SIGH*) Most of the time I can't do more than read a fic and
give a sentence or two of commentary on whether or not I read and enjoyed
it. And even then I don't do it that often as I'd like. So instead I C+C
intently on a few fics and give cursery evaluations on others. It's not
that I don't like a fic, it's just a matter of time I have and how I can
spend it. 

I have no intention of leaving the FFML.  There've been a number of 

times

when I've had valuable feedback from its members.  But still, for it to 

be

useful, people do have to make an effort.

There have been times (more often in some of the early chapters) that I 
have received useful commentary for WUE, but for the past few chapters, 
I have received so little that I've begun to wonder whether it is 
genuinely worth my time to post chapters here.

It is worth it. 

... And I have to admit that I'm somewhat lax in that regard myself.  I 

do

send comments on occasion, so I don't think I'm entirely dead wood, but 

I

think the appropriate grading would be "must try harder" ...  :)

Yep. As Gary says, the best way to get C+C is to give it. Also if you give
a lot of C+C to a paticular author, oftentimes they return the favor and
will take the time to do yours (not always, but sometimes). That's happened
several times with for me, although I still feel I should try harder to
give C+C myself.

Well, enough ranting.

D.B Sommer