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§26.8. A short concluding homily
It's natural to want to make a huge splash with a story, but in the IF community, instant widespread adulation for any work is pretty uncommon.
For one thing, players tend to play when they get around to it... which may be weeks, months, or even years after the initial release. Reviews trickle rather than flooding in. Appreciation builds slowly. And sometimes works that placed unspectacularly in a competition, or seemed to be overlooked in the annual XYZZY Awards, gradually come to be regarded as classics because of some pioneering technique.
So it's wise (if difficult) not to judge a story's success entirely by its immediate feedback. Even after its debut, a story can often use a little care and attention if it's to reach all its potential fans -- whether that means building further releases, posting hint files or walkthroughs, developing new websites, or approaching outside reviewers.
