Come and wail about AO3 with me

[birdsofshore]

I noticed today that my Smoochfic, Hungry, has been read 5000 times on AO3. 5000 times! Who are all these people? It feels very strange to know that people are reading my fic, which is quite a personal and even, in a way, private thing to me, and I have no freaking clue who they are, or if they liked it, or anything.

I never even wanted to be on AO3! I am such a Luddite, I was going to stay on LJ forever and ever, where it is safe and warm and cosy and I know (kind of) everybody. I blame those wicked hd_smoochfest and hd_erised mods! *shakes fist and blows kisses simultaneously* But now I am on there, I want to understand it.

Some random questions:

Why do we put our fics on AO3 (if we do)? To get more reads / comments? I can't imagine anything else I post to AO3 would get this number of reads; I presume it's because it was in the Smoochfest, which is an adored, popular fest. But for all those thousands of reads, I got erm, I think 8 comments on AO3, and 5 of those were from people I know on LJ anyway, who probably would have read it if I'd just posted it to LJ only. I don't know. *shrugs* I suppose I don't really care how many thousand people have read it, if I don't know whether they liked it?

Bookmarks. What's that all about? If someone bookmarks your fic, does it mean they are halfway through and want to come back later? Or that they liked it a lot and are marking it as a favourite, to read again?

Finally, how do you stop feeling paranoid that only a few people commented because they all hated it? Hungry had Angry!Ron and Mean!Gryffindors in, and I get the feeling that was not so popular with everyone. Maybe 5000 people CLICKED on it, and 4952 of them then BACKBUTTONED because they loathed it?

You see, AO3 is really not good for me. It looks all shiny and tempting, with its stats and all those readers waiting with open hands, but it's perplexing and makes my brain hurt.

Anyway, those 5000 clicks can be two fingers up to Mr Birds who thinks there are only about 20 of us deviant Drarry-lovers in the whole wide world. He thinks the handful of people I talk to on LJ are the only ones who could possibly be weird enough to be into it, and that we have all found one another and are clinging together like this purely by luck :DDD.

The other thing that cheers me up is thinking that maybe Draco was one of the 5000 clickers. If so, I like to think that this would be his reaction:



by Microbluefish on Deviantart

Comments

[amorette.livejournal.com]

See, I don't think it's pretty! That's one of the things people say about it that I never understood. I think it's ugly, to be frank lol. I hate the way it looks soo much! It doesn't feel clean to me, but messy. And why are the lists in your "masterlist" listed in these big blocky formats with all those icons representing the rating and explicit content? I don't want to have to memorize those icons, they don't even look like what they mean.

Sorry, I just had to butt in :P I clearly have ~feelings~

[omi-ohmy.livejournal.com]

CHILLAX

Well, actually, flail all you like about this. I think it's normal to feel anxiety about some aspect of posting your writing online and then getting/not getting feedback. You've seen how much I can read into a comment (although I think I've got a bit better about this now). So panic away, and I'll hold your hand and tell you how wonderful you are. :)

[birdsofshore]

YOU ARE SO RIGHT, Draco loves it. Look at him blushing and he can't take his eyes off the screen. This comic is so great, I love his face and hair too! And his cute robes and polo neck :D

I find AO3 really good for reading on the phone, the best site, definitely, with all the browsers. Some other sites I can only use Opera to browse, and I don't really like the navigation on there.

I never search for fics on there, and I have not had any rudeness at all, so I can't comment on your other points. I am quite amused by the tagging system, though. I like it when you go to tag your fic and you type in a couple of letters and get suggestions. I have seen some really funny tags that way.

Have you seen who_la_hoop's amazing tag poem? You have to read it:
http://archiveofourown.org/works/591845

[capitu]

Yeah, it isn't per individual user, each time it's refreshed and things using the same browser, it adds another visit, which can lead to paranoia. Man!

[evilgiraff.livejournal.com]

I love AO3. As a reader, it's so much easier to navigate - all of an author's stories are listed, and multi-chapter stories are easy peasy to read. You don't have to contend with other people's unfortunate choice of backgrounds or lack of next-chapter-link-providing or lack of masterlists as you do on LJ. I use bookmarks to keep track of particularly enjoyable fics - and other people's bookmarks can serve as rec lists. LJ is good for the community feel and commenting, but otherwise I honestly can't stand it. If my ipad didn't have the "reader" function for most LJ fics, I'd read a good deal fewer of them.

As a writer... My fics get more traffic and more comments on AO3 than LJ - and I love the kudos buttons. I put them up for people to read, after all! It is interesting how fandoms seem to prefer different platforms, though. My Twilight fics see more action on fanfiction.net, and everything else does better on AO3. Maybe I'm just crap at finding friends-who-will-comment on LJ?

In short: LJ is great for comms, meta, and general babbling. Fic is much, much easier to read and find on AO3. Fanfiction.net is similar to AO3, but is more glitchy and restrictive about what you can post.

[fantasyfiend09.livejournal.com]

I agree about the shiny fics on AO3. It's actually why so few of my stories are on there. I feel like I would have to clean them up to a level beyond even fest-worthy. It's kind of intimidating.

I also agree that there are ruder comments there than on LJ. I was shocked more than once during Smoochfest. I think because of the community feel of LJ, people are more likely to keep their unkind thoughts to themselves. AO3 is almost too anonymous.

I like AO3, but if I could only have one sight it would be LJ.

[fantasyfiend09.livejournal.com]

Embrace the feelings! :D

I personally find it easy to read (no weird fonts or garish colours), but it's more like a book than a website (which means it's not so much pretty as simple).

[fantasyfiend09.livejournal.com]

I rarely comment on old fics, especially if there is no sign that the person is still active in the fandom. And I was definitely a lurker when I first entered the fandom. I felt way too insecure to comment. What if I said I thought something was clever when lots of stories did the same thing! I'd look like a n00b!! *shakes head at own insecurities*

[0idontknow0]

That is a lovely reaction for Draco to have, haha. It so fits.

And I know nothing about AO3 so I'm not even going to say anything about it.

[calrissian18.livejournal.com]

I LOVE AO3 SOOOOOO MUCH!!! But not for the Harry Potter fandom at all. Nothing really happens there in that land and I thought it was just me but, checking in with others, no - nothing really happens there in that land.

AO3 for a stupidly active fandom like Teen Wolf is the greatest thing that will ever happen. People there are like, have a Kudos, have a comment, I have soooo many of them, why not toss a few your way? I understand it's pretty great for Star Trek too but I can't speak to that personally.

I got an invite to AO3 in June 2012 so I could have a nice, grown-up looking site to post a bang fic and not have to split it into parts (the way I would've had to on LJ). *crickets* Then I didn't use it. At all. Because HP fics do *blows raspberry* nothing. They go there to die be archived. The only fic that's done any damage there is my smoochfest fic and that's because it was in a massively well-read fest, otherwise nothin'. Then I started posting Teen Wolf fics there in Feb 2013 and now I use it ALL THE TIME.

I even read fic pretty exclusively on AO3 now because I love the formatting and all the options. As for having your fic read there: in only that fandom, there seems to be the same give and take as on LJ, people engage. HP, yeah, there's no point in posting your fic there. It doesn't really matter to me if my HP fics are there aside from the purpose of having a masterlist (which I still don't have *headdesk*).

The Bookmarks option is the same as Favoriting. There's a specific 'Mark for Later' button for fics that you would like to read/are in the middle of reading and mean to come back to. It's also brilliant for WiPs because you can subscribe to them and get updates emailed to you every time the author adds to it. You can subscribe to authors too and download fics and it just has very neat options for things but without the horrible formatting or obnoxious teenagers of ff.net.

I've found - and this might just be me - but AO3 also seems very hooked in with tumblr. Or maybe it's that Teen Wolf fandom on AO3 is very hooked-in to tumblr (as that's my only real experience there) but that's great for someone who's trying to figure out tumblr, like myself!

[celestlyn.livejournal.com]

I love AO3 because it is owned and run by fans, not some obscure company that doesn't care about fan issues. There are few if any restrictions on what you can archive. It's a far better place to archive than ffdotnet. As for the massive number of reads...people are downloading and putting fic on their devices! AO3 makes that very easy! I sadly, I have heard it has now become saturated with the teen crowd that has migrated over from ffdotnet. I know comments are lovely, but at least it's getting many reads. Plus, if someone rec'd it on tumblr that will add hugely to the readership. Relax and enjoy.

[mab.livejournal.com]

you can change the skin on Ao3 so it doesn't look like that Mari. The one I use is called "plain text" and I find it quite easy to look at. Go to your preferences and change site skin.

[amorette.livejournal.com]

Oh, cool. I will definitely try it!

[kedavranox.livejournal.com]

I'm going to read the comments on this after, but I have to say, my heart breaks a little every time a fest says they're going to post on Ao3 because it means I have to either kill myself to read it on their horrible layout or, copy and pate into a doc, change it to a readable font and then read.. THEN remember to go back and comment on LJ (not a03 cause no one ever comments there) ..at least on my fics o_O

Apparently there are skins on A03 or whatever, but honestly, it's too much of a hassle for me to find a readable skin with a readable font that doesn't upset me, and then that still doesn't help the ridiculous spacing. Chances are, if a fest is run on a03 (alone), I'm going to read maybe 80% less of the fics I'd usually read.

As an author, ao3 is irritating because it messes up the look of your fic. At least on LJ, you can code it so that everyone sees it the same way. On a03, with all the different skins people are using, you have no idea if they're seeing it the same way etc etc. But they're still in beta, and it's easy to post, so I'm not hating on them. (before someone gets on me for hating on a03) I just don't like the look. I also dislike the rating system. Makes no sense to me.

--thus ends my a03 rant.

As for bookamrks, I use it for fics I absolutely love...and I've used it once or twice to mark fics I want to read later. Also I've pressed by accident a few times, too. SO I think the bookmark thing isn't anything special.

I post on a03 cause it negates the need for a masterlist. Honestly. That's the only reason. If I were to gauge my popularity by A03, I'd probably stop writing, because I'd figure no one likes my fics anyway, so why bother writing.

Ao3 is great for all the reasons everyone else thinks it's great, but. Yeah. That's how I feel about a03 :P

[enchanted-jae.livejournal.com]

I don't know anything about AO3, but the cartoon is hilarious!

[birdsofshore]

oh LOL I completely understand that. When i was new I looked at old fics and though "I can't leave a comment on that, nobody else has commented for YEARS, I will look an idiot..." I don't really know what I was worrying about. But I suppose we tend to keep quiet and look about for a while when we join a new 'tribe' :D

[dannyfranx.livejournal.com]

First off, I will say that I am just as freaked out by AO3 as you are. It's weird and unsettling and I use it only for kindle related reading and archiving (or at least I will use it for archiving eventually, when I can get my shit together.)
Now, to the scurrilous comments made by Mr Birds. I have written what can only be described as a very short paper, regarding the ways in which he is so wrong it is unfathomable but as it is rather too long for me to post in your comments (and involves a graph) I have put it on my journal.
http://dannyfranx.livejournal.com/18375.html

[birdsofshore]

You are always unique with the way you see things. It's part of what makes me love you! :DD

[birdsofshore]

I am such a blabbermouth that I adore commenting. I have left some comments where I am sure the writer has thought "for the love of god, woman, SHUT THE FUCK UP!" :DD
But yes, other times you just want to click "Kudos". What amazes me is how many people don't even click Kudos! But that's up to them, I'd imagine they don't even imagine for a second that writers could be having a conversation like this about clicks and reads.

[birdsofshore]

That makes a lot of sense. I thought people just loved long multi-chaptered fic so much, LOL!

[birdsofshore]

You did! LOL I forgot your screenshot! Of course THAT's not obsessive, no not in the slightest ;-)

Bloody hell, I have been driving up my own stats! I feel like I got caught bidding on my own items on ebay or something :DD

[birdsofshore]

So actually only TEN PEOPLE read my fic, yes? They just did it REALLY SLOWLY? :D

[birdsofshore]

You were pure class about your Merlin comments. I was ready to bang a few heads there!

I don't so much panic as niggle. It niggles away at me. Because NUMBERS and it really should MEAN something and.... yes.

[birdsofshore]

Oh, no, I didn't see any bad comments! That's the first thing I said to Omi when I saw the Smoochfics were going on AO3, "OMG we will get BAD COMMENTS!"

[birdsofshore]

Interesting! It sounds like it depends which fandoms you write for. I agree with you about LJ for comms and babbling. I love the interaction. When I'm too tired for interaction, I go to tumblr. I can't imagine how much time I would need to have on my hands to actually browse AO3 looking for fic... it hasn't happened yet. I've always got a long list of fics from recs or fests that I am behind on, so random browsing never happens here.