I noticed something really crippling here that I think is pretty prevalent throughout most of these top HF artists and their OCs, and that's the concept of "barriers of entry," specifically for the casual user. Almost all of these OCs, especially the stories written about them, expect the people that frequent HF to already have domain knowledge and desire for them. I don't know what the hell I gain from trying to piece things together. I am not part of the HF inner-communities, won't be for a long time, and I definitely don't know anything about the universes that compliments their creations. So how can you promote something when there are plenty of people who don't know anything about it? And even if I did, they make almost no effort to demonstrate what's so valuable or appealing about their OCs that I can't replicate myself in my own mind with characters from already established mainline franchises.
If this gets downvoted, then it only proves that my statement is true.
@harem 1. Some of the OC serve as mascots like Owler's "Howler" or DR. G's "Sweater Girl". And there is not much to them or any "universe" they inhabit. 2. A lot of artists post stories in the description or on their profile/private blogs. You might not see it because you aren't reading the descriptions, clicking the "stories" tab on their profiles, or clicking any of their links to tumblrs and blogs that go into depth. 3. No offense to your interest (and I mean that), but a lot of people fapping don't really care about back story. Perhaps leaving a comment on an artist's page asking for more info could clear it up. I hope you get what I've been saying and didn't take any of it the wrong way.