I’m really questioning the “post a visual something with the story”. Who is this trying to catch? Thhe people looking on FA’s front page? Because your story may be on there for AT MOST two hours. Is it for your watchers? Shoudlnt’ they be clicking on it, period, since they’re watching you?
Who is the person that an image is supposed to catch?
I’m starting to feel that posting stories online is pretty pointless.
Posting a picture grabs the attention of the viewer. I am significantly more likely to read a story with an image avatar. What’s better is if you post the tags of your story instead of the image. (Inkbunny has a lot of these, and they work surprisingly well)
As for why is the image there, if it will only pass by after two or less hours, the answer is as follows:
When someone goes into your gallery, they can tell what stories are what. It’s not just a bunch of blank boxes.
It really doesn’t have anything to do with the front page of FA, but rather when they go into your gallery, or your main profile page on FA.
That’s why they are important. 
Well, personally, these days I’d rather be paid for a story first in a publication, and then put it online later on as a reprint, instead of posting original work online to FA or other places. Lately the only time I’ve been posting anything original online is when it’s something like flash fiction, or an exercise – something that, for whatever reason, I don’t feel is worth sending out to editors. So… I guess one possibility would be to put your focus mostly on what you’re working on for publication, and just let the online stuff do what it will – figuring that the readers who discover you in print will then seek you out online (instead of vice versa). That may not help as much for something like the Kickstarter, but it might be a more solid long-term strategy. shrug More food for thought, anyway.
The number of watchers is one thing, keeping those watchers interested is completely another. I don’t have the answer, but I’m using my reserve of infinite patience to try and be as interactive with the people I’m watching in the hope that my own little circle continues to expand its borders.
See, as a reader I feel the exact opposite. I find that authors who I don’t hear from for forever, unless they’ve REALLY established themselves in my mind as a fantastic author, are less likely to get a purchase from me than authors who post something to be read now and then; something not already available. It doesn’t have to be a long story, but just something to remind me why I like an author.
As a reader, I will have to respectfully disagree here. In fact, I’d go so far as to say that having a picture thumbnail on a story will actually discourage me from reading the story.
In the first place, I can often mistake a thumbnail for an actual picture rather than a story… not what I am looking for, moving on, and completely miss your story entirely. At least the “STORY” makes it clear that it is, in fact, written.
In the second place, thumbnails are often misleading, so I just skip them all together, unless it is from an author I already know and trust to have good quality writing. Too many on FA try to cover bad writing with a hot thumbnail. Which is exceedingly irritating.
In the third place, too many on FA blatantly rip off some random ‘hot’ image for the thumbnail without bothering to ask for permission first. This, to me, is just plain rude, and already makes me disinclined to look at it. Again, if it is an author I know and trust, then it will make no difference, but if it is a random stranger, I will flat assume the art is stolen unless proven otherwise.
In short, if I don’t already know and trust you, then a picture thumbnail will just about guarantee I will -not- click on it. If I do already know and trust you, then it will make no difference.
Again, this is just my personal opinion. I have no clue how many others would have the same thought process.
While many of your points are correct, especially in the whole ripping off hot images to use (which I have seen more than once), I think the most effective ones are the ones I mentioned later in my post.
Ones like the following:
As all three of these tell you at a glance and very nature that they are stories, and what they are about. (or in the case of the one, that you should go to chapter one if you are curious) By the way, these are just examples I quickly found and in no way represent what I read on FA and Inkbunny. To be honest, I don’t read anything on either of those sites because the format is trash and generally I find they are unedited.
I am officially flummoxed.
Last week, I posted online a story that previously been both published and featured on the Bad Dog Book Club podcast. I included the art it received in the anthology it was published. I received a LOT of activity on SF for it - several watchers, comments, favs, etc, and a few comments on FA.
Monday I posted a new story, with commissioned art. Yesterday the artist posted the picture on their FA and linked back to my story. I received quite a few favorites, but only one watcher. On SF, there has been zero activity, no comments, no favorites, no watchers, nothing.
I do not get it at all. The artist is popular, the picture is good, the story is good, but no traffic for me. It doesn’t make any sense. 
And I’m down $50.
Honestly… you could end up saying the same thing about why some books get tons of reviews and others don’t, some sell and others don’t, why some furry Kickstarters make thousands of dollars and others bomb. There’s no formula, inside the fandom or outside it – and if there ever was, there isn’t anymore. Yeah, there are basic things you can do to try to help things along and give it the best chance – the kinds of things we’ve already all talked about here – but in the end, it could be time of day something was posted, or subject matter, or a keyword, or somebody faving it that got other people’s attention, or the phases of the moon, or something you would never even think of and can’t duplicate anyway. I can’t remember if I’ve said this before in this thread, so apologies if I’m repeating myself, but I know in my own experience, whenever I’ve tried something that worked for somebody else, it didn’t work for me.
I think the only thing to do, for one’s own sanity if nothing else, is to take the longer view and not worry about trying to figure it out in each instance. Write, post, publish, try not to expect too much (something I’m still learning…), and see what happens.
Originally I wanted to run a Kickstarter, and needed more watchers just so I could possibly get it funded. But now I don’t think there’s any way I’d be able to fund a KS for a book, period.
This is incredibly frustrating. I have no job, so the only thing I can do, productively, is write. However I am not making headway. Stories rejected, getting no attention from online readers - I’m doing the “write more” and getting no results.
I’m not necessarily saying that writing more will get results. I’m saying that as writers generally, we have to focus on what we can control. We can’t control how (or whether) editors or readers react. I know it’s frustrating. I’ve been there. I’m still there, some days. It’s frustrating as hell to write something and be proud of it and share it and then realize that nobody else gives a damn about it, or so few people do that it doesn’t feel worth the effort. And it sounds like a platitude to say, be patient and keep going, but in the end, what else can you do?
I know for myself, all I can do is keep working, day by day, story by story, with things that work and things that don’t – and hope that if I keep working, there’ll be a break someday. There’s no guarantee that it’ll come, but it can only happen if I keep going, and I have to accept that whatever that ‘break’ I’m hoping for is, it’ll probably come when I’m least expecting it and not actively chasing it and obsessing over it.
Nice post. You’re right - control the things you can, do everything you can to maximise your chances, then place your offering in the lap of the gods.
NAILED IT.
EDIT: I have a certain method for gaining readers, it may work for you or it may not. What I do is hold a loaded shotgun up to the head of a friend and say, “Read this or else make your peace.” This works about half the time at first. After that, nine out of ten times, they beg to be shot. Your mileage may vary.