Read for reads— basically ‘If you read x number of chapters of my story, I’ll read x number of chapters of yours’, is something that a lot of new authors do in order to increase the read count of their stories.
But are they really helpful?
I, personally, don’t care for them because more than half the time, people are only reading your story so you can read theirs— and they usually don’t even give any feedback! Some of them only post a screenshot of the loading screen of the last chapter they read as proof.
I want people to read my story because they like it, not because they’re doing it so I can read theirs.
I don’t really like read for reads, since they only work somewhat to promote your own story, they’re less useful than feedback, and I don’t think they’re a good kind of story promotion.
It depends on if the person is going to give you advice on any parts. I really do not care for read for reads since it’s just people trying to get others to read their stories without any real constructive information to go off of. I like to point stuff out during a read for read but when that time comes they ghost me each time which annoys me so much.
They’re helpful to get your read count up, but you don’t actually gain many readers that like your story or will continue reading it.
If I actually write something, maybe. I’ll probably do R4R if I like a person’s story. R4Rs take a lot of time and give very little payout, so I’m not so sure about that.
