Twice I have tried, I used all the typical info , noobs <psr, <kdr , ap ab ect. I sat there for 10 minutes the first time and almost 30 minutes the second time. I never got more then 3 people joined. I really don't see how you ever host a game without stacking it with a bunch of friends. Personally I know myself when I search for games I always hit the sort button and look at the games with 9 or 8 players already, how do you ever get enough people on for it to fill up?
Yeah, create some type of game which is likely for people to join. But first, you should check that there doesn't exist a similar game, because then you should join that, as 1 game is more likely to fill than 2.
So create some game which people will search for. As you're ~1800 prs you should make some 5v5 1817+ games or something. It isn't nowhere near my psr range, so I don't really know. Sometimes you just have to wait 5 mins, sometimes it fills pretty fast. Also, host games when a lot of people is online, as more people are likely to show up.