So, about a month and a half ago, four or five posts into Mud and Iron, I decided I’d submit it for review/inclusion on Web Fiction Guide. I punched in the link and info, and it went into the queue, behind about 30 other things. When I checked in a week or so later, it had only moved up a few spots, so I figured it was going to take a while and then sort of forgot about it.
Today, I remembered it again, and decided to check the queue. It wasn’t there any more, which confused me a little at first. Had it been removed? I took a second look at the list. None of the titles I remembered being just before or after mine were on the list any more either. I checked the date of the latest submission on the list. May 12th. May 12th? I submitted Mud and Iron before that, didn’t I? Does that mean…?
I spammed my back button until it took me back to the main page, and looked down at the New Listings section. Sure enough, right there, between listings entitled Inconsistent Pacing and Babe Ruth: Man-Tank Gladiator, there was Mud and Iron.
Huh, I thought. Cool. Right there on the front page. It doesn’t look like it has any reviews yet, but neither does almost anything else on the new list. I wonder if I’ve gotten any traffic as a result?
Before this week, Mud and Iron had about 50 views (of all pages individually) from about 15 people, about half of whom I know personally and could probably name. In the past 3 days since it went up on Web Fiction Guide, I’ve had 22 visitors and over 100 new individual page views. Every page on the blog has at least 5 new views. Every page.
My mind is mildly boggled right now. Mud and Iron was, at the time this was written, just under 20,000 words long, longer than any work I’ve shared with anyone before. And five different people, from at least two countries, sat down with the prologue and decided to read it all the way through.
Even if this is Mud and Iron‘s most popular week, it’s already surpassed any expectations I had when I started posting it. So to those who’ve given me their time and attention: thank you! I hope you’re enjoying the story so far! And stick around, because there’s a lot more coming!
(Shameless self promotion bit: And if you want to post a review or recommendation on Web Fiction Guide or vote for Mud and Iron on Top Web Fiction, that’d be cool of you! Thanks.)
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