Author's on Chyoa publish their work for free. For most of us, the payoff comes with the likes we receive. And even better, comments. I understand why people may be hesitant to write a comment, maybe they're not sure what to say or are a bit shy etc. But hitting the like button could not be easier. I think for the most part that readers don't realise how important the likes are to an author or just get so wrapped up in the story they forget. I'd like to see some support from CHYOA to encourage/remind readers to hit the like button. A simple message/text line on the front page asking readers to use the like button if they enjoy a chapter would work wonders. And, a similar, small, catchy line at the bottom of the chapter page saying 'Hit the like button if you enjoyed this chapter' would be amazing. I've no idea how much effort or how complicated doing something like this would be. But, likes are the lifeblood that feed the muse and keep us tapping away at our keyboards for the enjoyment of others.
I agree fully. I believe this really is the main issue. Readers don't make the connection that their like might be the deciding factor if a story gets continued or not This is where I would tackle the issue, show the readers that they have a genuine interest in hitting the like button
Bookmarks are much more motivating for me. When someone bookmarks the last chapter in a branch, I know there is +1 person who will read whatever I'll post next (assuming they are still on the site). Likes don't give such certainty
In terms of bookmarks and favorites I think it's worth asking if all users understand what function those two buttons have. On mobile they appear as two small unlabeled images tucked away at the bottom corner. I'd bet there are a number of people who don't know what they do or how they could benefit from using them. In terms of likes, the button is a bit more obvious and so similar to other social media I can't imagine anyone is misunderstanding it. I dunno if there's a way to encourage people to smash that like button other than just writing it in your story like a YouTube content creator. I do think it's a bit of presumption, though, to assume every writer on the site treats likes as lifeblood or even a weathervane for their writing (speaking hypothetically, because likes are happy, fueling notification flags to me personally). To that point, I don't know if that's a needed site improvement or a case where the author should simply be including an out-of-character "likes mean a lot" note when they care. And, of course, it's fine to reiterate that they matter to us here. Regardless of whether the forum reaches the site or not, can't hurt.
If someone adds to your story, even if it's not something you think you can add to, thank them with a like. If you like it enough to approve it, like it.
Would it be unfair if a bookmark automatically generated a like unless the reader conciously decided to unlike the Chapter? Feels like that would solve some of the problem of feedback, or is that too presumptuous? Alternatively could we have a public chapter-bookmarked that kept track of bookmarks as well? I know some writers (as noted above) use them as a metric for interest but unless I am missing something they are hard to keep track of.
For what it's worth, and this is just a hunch, but I notice bookmarking isn't tracked by the public User Activity page while liking or favoriting is. As such, I've suspected it is used as a tool by some accounts who wish for their reading activity to remain anonymous. If that was intentional, having a like joined to it would disrupt that function. That said, to your other point, a displayed number of bookmarks for the chapter would probably prove very useful for people who'd use it as a metric for what threads to continue.
You need a CHYOA account to leave likes, so the most of your readers probably aren't actually able to like your chapters.
