…its rated mature…it gets filtered automatically

@The Smiling Pony
 
This is exactly it. Even if you write those 10+ chapters, don’t release them all at once. Just keep dumping one down once or twice a week, to keep your story fresh in people’s minds.
 
As much as I’m loathe to give the fic credit for anything, it’s part of how Past Sins got so popular. It kept laying down chapters at a consistent timeframe, so that that huge, amazing commissioned picture was nearly always was on Equestria Daily’s front page.
 
This fic’s problem, though, is that it’s just another fucking FO:E fic. They’re a dime a fucking dozen on FIMFiction.

The trick to being popular is to become popular, then you will become more popular.

That summary is a snore.

Also, I’ve seen a lot of people dump an entire 10+ chapter fanfic in one go. That doesn’t work. Have 3ish chapters ready, and update once a week-ish. Write something novel, have a peer review, then submit to EqD.

Write everything you’ve got. Worry about reception after you’ve got a reasonable portfolio to show.
 
Also maybe share on fallout-equestria.com and cloudsville.

Well personally i steer clear of anything Fallout Equestria related.  
The idea just makes me think of sonichu too damn much.
 
Also having a gore tag is not helping either.

@Ebalosus  
Well, it’s long, not terribly written and has several well fleshed out OCs.
 
But yeah, Fallout is the main draw.

@The Smiling Pony
 
That’s it? Fair enough, but with all due respect to those whom like it, FO:E doesn’t sound that appealing (maybe because I’m not a big fallout fan)

@Ebalosus  
Fallout, but with ponies.
 
That’s it.

Ah, this may be the wrong place to mention this, but: Can someone please explain to me the appeal of the FO:E series? I really don’t get it…

Only character tag is “OC”, which aside from the associated stigma, makes it really difficult to stumble across on a simple search. On top of that, it’s in the mature category, which is censored from the search by default.
 
Not everyone is into FO:E for various, often different, reasons, so your audience is a niche within a niche. Targeting a such narrow group won’t earn the broad appeal you seek - even if it is a larger subset of fans within a large fandom.
 
Furthermore, any chapter over 10k words (much less that daunting 20k first chapter!) will scare off the casual readers, and unless you’ve got a great way with words even the serious readers might not consider such a lengthy read worthwhile.
 
TLDR; TLDR
 
P.S. If you were hoping for rage and trolls, you might want to repost this on /mlp/ for a good, colorful roasting.

I know it’s frustrating to work really hard on it and get no recognition, but it usually means you aren’t doing it right. Take a different approach and try again.
 
Personally I really don’t like FO:E.

 
You deserved it.

Oh shit. While I already knew that, it’s still depressing to see evidence that if I posted the fic I’m writing no one would give a shit.

Whereas this post required very little effort, and it’s got more comments than that story ever will have. Thus is life.

@Mattatatta  
If I knew how to properly display gifs here, you would earn all of the applause gifs for that comment.
 
Before I joined the pony fandom, I wrote Pokemon fanfiction for three years prior and got a small following. When I switched to pony fiction, not many followed me. I didn’t do it because it was THE thing to do, I did it because it was MY thing to do. I’m a writer at heart and I wanted to try it out. I earned another small following and I’m grateful as hell for them. If I can invoke feels in one person and that’s the one comment I get on a chapter, it makes me all fuzzy inside and makes me want to just get better at it.

@Psychopomf
 
Tell me your secrets oh wise one!!

@Yorec
 
Fortunately, this weekend I have a foolproof way to finally pic a fic to write!
 
@Mattatatta
 
But I like what you do!

*in both writing and illustrating.

@Mattatatta  
Hey, I fucking love “Survivor Shy”! It’s by far my favorite fan-fic. You’re talented as hell, both writing and illustrating.

wanna know how i did it?  
timing  
when i did it, there wasn’t as many fic writers nor fics on the subject matter of my famous one. if i was to do other fic, the only reason people would notice it quicker is because alot of people already know of me.  
now there are many fanfics and i’ll tell you, more folks are interested in art.  
if i started from scratch now, i’d have to be really unique, really good, based on something really popular, or two or all of the above. not to mention, if really want traffic, advertise. even if it’s not great, you want people to see it, tell them about it.

I’ve been creating things for the public online for a number of years now. I can show you everything I’ve done, and none of it you would’ve heard of. The things I’d show you would have a low number of views, comments, and ratings - but good ratings.
 
What I’m saying is that I’m more concerned with putting out something that has quality, that earns decent ratings and positive comments. If I get a low score or a negative comment, I find out why and work to improve.
 
At the end of it all, I’m not in ‘it’ for fame, I’m in ‘it’ to better myself. If I get a little recognition for what I do, then that is more than I asked for, but I show my gratitude regardless.

@Psychopomf
 
Same.

Yep, that’s about the size of it. I’ve got a 166k word story with only 80 likes and 110 comments, most of which are mine.