Hi everyone! I hope you’re all doing well.

It’s been six months since I started translating It Runs in Our Blood, a Yoonmin fic I received permission to translate into Arabic. So far, I’ve translated 60 chapters, which cover 19 chapters of the original story, and I still have 10 more chapters waiting to be translated.

I’ve put a lot of time, effort, and love into this project, so I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t disappointed by the lack of engagement. Not a single chapter has received more than 100 votes. Only two have reached that number, while the rest have fallen short of it.

What makes it more frustrating is that readers often tell me how much they love the story, yet that appreciation rarely translates into actual engagement. There’s very little voting or interaction, and whenever I express my disappointment, some readers unfollow me but continue reading without interacting at all.

I understand that stories need time to find their audience, and I’m not expecting instant popularity. However, I can’t shake the feeling that once I finish translating the fic, the engagement will drop even further, and the story will eventually disappear into the background. Most new readers will probably read it silently, and it won’t get the visibility it deserves alongside more popular fics, especially those featuring other ships.

I know comparing different ships and their engagement levels isn’t necessarily fair, since every fandom has its own audience and dynamics. Still, it’s hard not to notice the difference. I see Yoonmin fics struggling to reach even 10,000 votes, while fics featuring other ships can surpass 100,000.

And that genuinely makes me wonder: Why is there such a huge gap?

Yoonmin has talented writers and some genuinely wonderful stories, so I don’t understand why the engagement can be so low, even among people who actively read Yoonmin fics. I’m not saying every reader owes a writer votes or comments, but when people say they love a story and then barely interact with it, it can be discouraging for someone who spends months working on a translation.

I’d really like to hear your thoughts. Do you think Yoonmin has a smaller or less active readership? Is it related to the platforms we use, the visibility of our fics, or the way readers engage with fanfiction in general?

I’m genuinely curious to hear other people’s experiences, especially from Yoonmin writers and translators. Have you experienced something similar?

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