Hello!
I am relatively new to WN, an amateur I guess. I have been wondering how more experienced authors get the silent audience of readers engage in the comment section. Is it matter of novel popularity or probably quality of chapters? I wouldn’t call it “luck” as I don’t believe in such lol.
I know it is a board question and probably there is no one-size-fit-all but wanted to ask in case someone has tips or has observed a pattern...possibly?
Thank you for your time! (:
neaht3 welp I've been here for a year or two I think rarely though cause I'm mainly on Wattpad. I only transferred one work here that is currently on a stand still. After 45 chapters I decided to leave it be for a bit. From what I have noticed though is that I get way more reads here but I still have ghost readers although I have been getting some power stones sometimes, not much reviews. Mainly people adding it to their collection. Also I have noticed male readers read it more yet my main character is a female but perhaps it's the sarcasm and humour I included that captures their attention? Welp that's all I got from my observations.
Thank you for your time to reply!
I read somewhere on forums that there are bots which may generate a big amount of views. 
I am a bit anxious now and then that even the little I have might be just bots and I am being delusional that I have stable readers when I don’t.
I usually try to follow the updated views compared to the old number with each update. I have noticed a stable 100-200 views but that can be anything - not necessarily a revisiting reader.
I guess frequency comes with big number of chapters? I wonder if readers go after novels that have, perse, 40+ chapters. 
I wish you all the best with your novel! Thank you again. 
neaht3 Yes well it could be bots not sure but I got power stones? Bots can give you stones? Welp I was just testing this site I'm mainly on Wattpad. I have two incomplete works here and 18 incomplete works there... Lol but I'm currently taking a long break cause I can't juggle all of them and also I can only write good content when I am really motivated and right now I'm not. I like giving readers quality not so much quantity. Best of luck to you too.
xcares Oof the harshness... currently feel like an anime character being impaled by that statement... Lol I know you speak in general but honestly most books here are cliche although I have no idea what mine was I just wrote to have fun and I used my own funny and sarcastic humour that not many understand I suppose. Well it was fun...
I truly hope there are a lot of silent readers, otherwise I would probably go curl up in the corner and cry, lmao.
But seriously, the most accurate way to see who are actively reading your stories or at least are interested in your story are the ones who add it to their library. So, collections are the most accurate form of estimating it. :)
(Although, my collections drop and rise and drop and rise all the time, so I really don't want to look at it anymore, or I'll lose motivation...)
neaht3 Hey man, a bit off topic but just wanted you to know i have your novel in my to be read list. Skimmed the first chapter and the writing quality looked pretty good, the plot also sounds interesting. I do have a self rule of waiting till there are at least 50 chapters to start a novel, as i have realized that is kind of the magic number to not only have a good entry to the story and also kind of a small guarantee at the authors commitment to it.
neaht3
comments come with a high amount of readers/popularity. Very few people will comment on your novel. Even fans of my novel (paying subscribers) very few of them comment. You can suggest in your end author note for them to comment/vote for extra chapters, that's the only way you can really affect it.
neaht3 On the topic of reader engagement, i am no author, but i can tell you what i think on it and observed. The first thing i can tell you is, most of the meaningful engagement will probably come over negatives. People generally tend to focus on negatives rather than positives because there may not be much to say about a positive. I mean, yeah the story is going great, the quality is great, everything is logical and there are no plot holes, there is not much to say when everthing is going fine and dandy. In my case, if you have logic errors or plot holes, i will be sure to be there to point that out haha! Yeah i know that's probably something you would rather avoid, not exactly a positive, but can still be constructive in the end i guess. If there is something funny, cute or ridiculous going on in the plot, there may be jokes and puns about it, not exactly much engagement but it is still something i guess. Other than that, if you want more positive and constructive engagement, having some mystery is always a great way to do it. It doesn't have to be some grand scheme or anything. Just having some kind of unknown is enough, unknown is always fun to discuss, no matter what it may be. If you want direct engagement, you can try leaving author notes and asking questions to readers you would want to know about. Oh, and people might discuss something interesting about the characters etc. So, having interesting characters and some kind of unknown that people can contemplate on will probably get you some comments. Characters that have their own kind of mascot lines and quirks will get some attention. I'm probably missing a lot but that's what i can think of at the moment.
N0xiety
For my novel they won't discuss anything. Like literally anything. Sometimes I feel I am only writing and I am only reading
Yeah, it can be a real ghost town.
Sometimes I wonder, how many collections are needed before ensuring that you are going to get replies. I mean how is it that out of 100 collection no one comments.
Ho there, how many chapters do you have right now? Tbh, most of readers will spend much more time on a developed novel. Keep writing and build up your plot and stockpiles a little bit. Webnovel has internal system will support new authors to get fanbase but u have to be publishing chapters consistently. In addotion, as long as your published word counts beyond 4000, your book will be reviewed by our content editors, no one will be missing.
N0xiety Thank you for your time to reply. I do agree that my novel is still in its beginning and the readership might be hesitant to begin as it might get dropped. I am happy that you consider reading it in future. Hopefully I really hit the 50+ chapters and hear some criticism! I do swap reviews but I am not entirely sure how honest they can be. I think the swapping follows the principle of “What goes around, comes around”? I might be wrong. However, I am grateful for the positive reviews, I don’t want to appear ungrateful. (:
I have always been struggling with descriptions and synopsis, even “about me” pages lol. I remember someone messaged me once to tell me that my novel description is bad and it should be less revealing. I have considered the criticism and I might slightly change it once the novel hits a solid number of chapters.
Back on the topic.
I love history. My novel actually is based on real history and lore but bent through the prism of fantasy. I like my readers recognizing battles or worldwide issues even if disguised. I do agree with you. I believe readers might comment on the negatives and plot holes though I always reread the chapters myself to avoid such. In fact, I create “Memory Page” every 10th or 20th chapter which contains a vital extraction of information about the novel. That way I and even the readers can always open it and refer to the information there. Saves the time to go through all chapters, lol.
I am also careful with the unknown. I believe that if used too much, readers might get “overdosed” and find it either nonsensical or boring.
I think it is in our nature to find mysteries and the unknown interesting. So, again, I agree. It is just different when you are not a reader but the author. So to say, even if I read myself - it doesn’t mean I know what the majority of readers enjoy lol. I also have been observing WN community and have encountered comments that the popular novels follow a status quo which is slowly becoming banal (e.g. Reincarnation plots). Again, this is my personal observation of the community and doesn’t have to be true.
Thank you again. I will keep your opinion in mind.
Dan_Ryder I have thought asking readers to vote and comment but how to explain it...Don’t get me wrong. I agree. I mean, if one wants something - work for it or at least say what you want. People can’t read minds on the web. However, I am also a reader myself and such author comments have never affected me. If I want to comment, regardless whether the author asks or not, I comment. So to say, what I am afraid of, I guess, is reversed psychology. You ask one to do something but he/she will do the opposite. I wonder if I managed to explain my point of view.
Thank you for taking your time to advise me. It is nice to have experienced authors give you hints.
Sally112425 Thank you for your attention! I am sorry I cannot contribute to the tips given here as I am still exploring the website. I have 13 collections for the one month I have been here. However, as N0xiety wrote, some readers might be waiting for a solid number of chapters before they begin your novel journey. I have never thought it myself but I think it is very true. So, I know it might not refer to your novel but I guess it might hold some truth for such that are under 50 chapters?
Whatever the case is, I do wish you luck with your novel endeavors! 
WEBNOVEL_OFFICIAL Thank you for your attention on the topic. I have 23 published chapters and several to be scheduled for next week. I usually write at least one chapter ahead from the ones already released. Yeah, I believe my word count is nearly 35000 words. I will then patiently keep writing and await the dynamics of readership. I only wanted to ask experienced readers/writers if they have observed a pattern to when and how the readers begin engaging in the comment section.
Thank you again! I wish you a nice weekend ahead.
xcares Well yes I am planning on becoming an actual author with a real book not just one online. I proof read and edit my own work though and sometimes I let my artistic side get the best of me I suppose. I was inspired by Roald Dahl as a kid and he used to invent his own words. That creativity I found inspiring well when I was a kid anyway. The book I wrote on this site however is a crack book so it was on the basis of fun and well my own dead humour I suppose. In the beginning it was pretty boring but it takes a bit of chapters to get into. I always change up the story. Sometimes I'm off track but sooner or later the story pieces together. I like skipping ahead sometimes and jumping back. Also sometimes I'm too descriptive with surroundings but I like the reader being able to see the scenery through my descriptions. So well maybe it's not that of a good book and perhaps it's not for everyone. I wouldn't recommend it for serious old folk but well I put everything even if it sounds silly into that book and as I grow as a writer I will improve. I started the book when I was in gr 12 anyway... each chapter was me growing as a writer and it improves as I push on.
Good for you to start so early 
