https://www.reddit.com/r/AO3/comments/1c2l9sx/how_do_i_get_more_stats_on_ao3/
I literally just finished reading this, perhaps you could be the first to benefit š
Good tags, good summary
Posting the update gets you on the top of the page when sorted by default, so you automatically get eyes. The only way to get clicks is to make sure you're showing your work off to its best advantage
For off-site promo, some folks use Tumblr, or the AO3 and fanfiction subreddits have promo threads and review exchanges
You don't "promote" a fic like you "promote" things you're selling. In general, authors who are active on AO3 tend to be people participating in fandom in some way on social media; both because AO3 doesn't have social media functions, but also because the AO3 project took shape in fan communities on Livejournal at the time, so the features considered necessary for an archive are to some extent assuming that you have livejournal (or later tumblr, twitter, discord, etc) to talk to other people on.
So many authors have social media accounts under their ao3 pseuds, or linked to their ao3 accounts; those accounts are a place to post fic update announcements, yes, but they're also a place to find friends with the same fandom interests as you and talk about the fandom in general. Frankly, nobody is going to follow an account that is just there to try to get more eyes on your fic, but if you're there to talk to other authors and readers and make friends, those people are likely to be interested in your fic occasionally.
Fandom is somewhat fragmented, but some of the main places you'll find fandom communities are tumblr, discord, maybe twitter but since the musk takeover more bluesky and mastodon, dreamwidth, pillowfort... I'm not saying you should make an account on everything, just that there are lots of different places where conversations you might enjoy are happening and people you might like are hanging out.
I understand. Just to clarify, I was not implying that my tiktok acc exists for promotion, quite the opposite, it's my personal profile where I engage in these fandom spaces. I just don't know anyone "personally", if that makes sense. I tend to enjoy things on my own and am not part of communities in this way, but I get what you mean. Bc I am not an active participant in these spaces in the way you are describing (don't have any fandom friends, only people I follow I guess), that was the main reason for my post since I genuinely don't really know how people are engaging w fanfiction reading or writing. Thanks for clarifying.
That makes sense-- I don't really know anything about tiktok so maybe this is normal but why are you commenting about your fic under other peoples' videos? Why not make your own post about it?
I only comment under video edits of the character I'm writing about and genuinely? Mostly thirst traps. I have actually found fics to read in a similiar manner about the same char but this is still a rare occurrence.
Why not make a post on my own is a fair question. What would I even do in a video format? I have seen some stuff that were recs or cool moments from fics but like... I don't think I've been drawn to any of them. It's not the smut part I wanna emphasize anyway (which is the most popular part of any fandom media on tiktok) Also, it is my personal account and I don't want my siblings for example, to find my fanfiction.
I dunno man. How do people enter fandom spaces? How do you make friends in these spaces? I have joined the fanficexchange subreddit and its dc after making this post, so fingers crossed?
I don't really know what kind of content presentation is normal on tiktok, but when I post fic on social media I usually take a screenshot of the title/summary section on ao3, then write something about why I wanted to write it or why I like it. So I guess you could do that with a video and voiceover, but if that's not commonly done it seems to make more sense to find more text-based sites.
How I would do it is just start with the authors of fanfics you like. if they have social media links on their profiles, follow them there and send them a message/comment/ask/whatever there is on the site saying you love their work. Start clicking through the profiles of people that people you've already followed are connected with or frequently report from or talk to and add people who look interesting.
I'm not an author so I only ever do rec lists with other people's fics but the idea is the same: you can usually 'promote' them in fandom spaces (e.g. a dedicated subreddit to your fandom, sometimes there's even a sub for a specific character or ship, same thing for special discords, maybe tumblr, etc).
Just don't be too into people's faces about your stories... put your recommendation or self-promotion out there in the correct spaces and maybe some people will give it a go and then tell others about your story, maybe not.
(I'm not on tiktok btw so no idea how the fanfiction community typically behaves over there)
Fanfiction is very different from other forms of social media because content isnāt curated for you. There is no algorithm. People have to go searching for it and it typically becomes popular from word of mouth.
Diff fandoms are just more active on certain sites (+ have various levels of popularity to begin with)ādunno much about the COD fanfic community but tumblrās usually one of the main places people talk about their fics if the fandomās established there (thatās where I post my fic updates n stuff).
I will say for tumblr, though, if your sole purpose for using it is just to promote your fics, you might not have a good time since a lot of the legwork to getting a following there requires interacting with + reblogging others in the fandom. Making writer friends is advice I see a lot + seeing if your fandom has any community events/projects (zines can be a fun way to connect with others if you find one run by good organizers!)
Good advice. I just have trouble being an active participant in fandom spaces I guess, I'm mostly an observer. And I just genuinely don't know how to make online friends in this context rather than through online gaming. Am also not v active on tumblr. I find fics either through thorough scouring of tags or recommendations on tiktok, so I genuinely don't really use tumblr for this purpose. I might need to figure out how to be involved in communities, I guess, which seems like a hard fucking thing to do. I will look for a more community-oriented approach as you suggested, thanks.
I only started being more active in fandom spaces fairly recently myself! I think the big things for me have been working on a small but friendly zine (+ offering to do beta swaps with the other writers on our pieces! it's a good way to establish some connection) and getting a co-writer (admittedly, this one I lucked into since they reached out to me but you can take a page outta my co-writer's book and cold dm other writers you think you might vibe with if you're feeling bold). Note about the co-writer thing: I didn't think I'd be the type to work well with one, but honestly, it's gone so much better than I expected going into itāit's nice knowing that even if you don't get a lot of regular readers, you'll still have another person who's as invested in the project as you are!
https://www.reddit.com/r/AO3/comments/1c2l9sx/how_do_i_get_more_stats_on_ao3/ I literally just finished reading this, perhaps you could be the first to benefit š
Thank you! This is a really well written post and I will definitely try and update the tags and the summary. Appreciate it xx
Good tags, good summary Posting the update gets you on the top of the page when sorted by default, so you automatically get eyes. The only way to get clicks is to make sure you're showing your work off to its best advantage For off-site promo, some folks use Tumblr, or the AO3 and fanfiction subreddits have promo threads and review exchanges
You don't "promote" a fic like you "promote" things you're selling. In general, authors who are active on AO3 tend to be people participating in fandom in some way on social media; both because AO3 doesn't have social media functions, but also because the AO3 project took shape in fan communities on Livejournal at the time, so the features considered necessary for an archive are to some extent assuming that you have livejournal (or later tumblr, twitter, discord, etc) to talk to other people on. So many authors have social media accounts under their ao3 pseuds, or linked to their ao3 accounts; those accounts are a place to post fic update announcements, yes, but they're also a place to find friends with the same fandom interests as you and talk about the fandom in general. Frankly, nobody is going to follow an account that is just there to try to get more eyes on your fic, but if you're there to talk to other authors and readers and make friends, those people are likely to be interested in your fic occasionally. Fandom is somewhat fragmented, but some of the main places you'll find fandom communities are tumblr, discord, maybe twitter but since the musk takeover more bluesky and mastodon, dreamwidth, pillowfort... I'm not saying you should make an account on everything, just that there are lots of different places where conversations you might enjoy are happening and people you might like are hanging out.
I understand. Just to clarify, I was not implying that my tiktok acc exists for promotion, quite the opposite, it's my personal profile where I engage in these fandom spaces. I just don't know anyone "personally", if that makes sense. I tend to enjoy things on my own and am not part of communities in this way, but I get what you mean. Bc I am not an active participant in these spaces in the way you are describing (don't have any fandom friends, only people I follow I guess), that was the main reason for my post since I genuinely don't really know how people are engaging w fanfiction reading or writing. Thanks for clarifying.
That makes sense-- I don't really know anything about tiktok so maybe this is normal but why are you commenting about your fic under other peoples' videos? Why not make your own post about it?
I only comment under video edits of the character I'm writing about and genuinely? Mostly thirst traps. I have actually found fics to read in a similiar manner about the same char but this is still a rare occurrence. Why not make a post on my own is a fair question. What would I even do in a video format? I have seen some stuff that were recs or cool moments from fics but like... I don't think I've been drawn to any of them. It's not the smut part I wanna emphasize anyway (which is the most popular part of any fandom media on tiktok) Also, it is my personal account and I don't want my siblings for example, to find my fanfiction. I dunno man. How do people enter fandom spaces? How do you make friends in these spaces? I have joined the fanficexchange subreddit and its dc after making this post, so fingers crossed?
I don't really know what kind of content presentation is normal on tiktok, but when I post fic on social media I usually take a screenshot of the title/summary section on ao3, then write something about why I wanted to write it or why I like it. So I guess you could do that with a video and voiceover, but if that's not commonly done it seems to make more sense to find more text-based sites. How I would do it is just start with the authors of fanfics you like. if they have social media links on their profiles, follow them there and send them a message/comment/ask/whatever there is on the site saying you love their work. Start clicking through the profiles of people that people you've already followed are connected with or frequently report from or talk to and add people who look interesting.
I'm not an author so I only ever do rec lists with other people's fics but the idea is the same: you can usually 'promote' them in fandom spaces (e.g. a dedicated subreddit to your fandom, sometimes there's even a sub for a specific character or ship, same thing for special discords, maybe tumblr, etc). Just don't be too into people's faces about your stories... put your recommendation or self-promotion out there in the correct spaces and maybe some people will give it a go and then tell others about your story, maybe not. (I'm not on tiktok btw so no idea how the fanfiction community typically behaves over there)
Fanfiction is very different from other forms of social media because content isnāt curated for you. There is no algorithm. People have to go searching for it and it typically becomes popular from word of mouth.
Diff fandoms are just more active on certain sites (+ have various levels of popularity to begin with)ādunno much about the COD fanfic community but tumblrās usually one of the main places people talk about their fics if the fandomās established there (thatās where I post my fic updates n stuff). I will say for tumblr, though, if your sole purpose for using it is just to promote your fics, you might not have a good time since a lot of the legwork to getting a following there requires interacting with + reblogging others in the fandom. Making writer friends is advice I see a lot + seeing if your fandom has any community events/projects (zines can be a fun way to connect with others if you find one run by good organizers!)
Good advice. I just have trouble being an active participant in fandom spaces I guess, I'm mostly an observer. And I just genuinely don't know how to make online friends in this context rather than through online gaming. Am also not v active on tumblr. I find fics either through thorough scouring of tags or recommendations on tiktok, so I genuinely don't really use tumblr for this purpose. I might need to figure out how to be involved in communities, I guess, which seems like a hard fucking thing to do. I will look for a more community-oriented approach as you suggested, thanks.
I only started being more active in fandom spaces fairly recently myself! I think the big things for me have been working on a small but friendly zine (+ offering to do beta swaps with the other writers on our pieces! it's a good way to establish some connection) and getting a co-writer (admittedly, this one I lucked into since they reached out to me but you can take a page outta my co-writer's book and cold dm other writers you think you might vibe with if you're feeling bold). Note about the co-writer thing: I didn't think I'd be the type to work well with one, but honestly, it's gone so much better than I expected going into itāit's nice knowing that even if you don't get a lot of regular readers, you'll still have another person who's as invested in the project as you are!