Just something I was randomly curious about. I started posting my first try at a fanfic (asoiaf) recently. I just stuck it on fanfiction.net because thats where most of the fanfics ive enjoyed are (archive of our own always seemed a bit porny) and I stuck it on space battles too, because i post/read there now and then. Ive gotten like a half dozen pms since then though: "Dont post it here, fans go to A03" "you should post it on fanfiction.net AND archive of our own" "whatever you do don't post it in multiple places, it spreads readers out."

Now, if i'm honest, I don't really care that much on a personal level. Like I said, i just posted where *I* go.

But it got me wondering about fandom in a larger sense. Where IS the most popular place to post *good* fics these days? How much of an impact does where (and how many) places you post a fic have on its exposure? Do you find that 'hidden gems' are located on certain posting sites? Are certain fandoms focused in certain areas? Like harry potter on fanfiction, asoiaf over on the archive, etc? Has where to post/go changed over time? Like are older good fics found in location X and newer ones on location y?

Just curious for peoples opinions as it got me wondering about the norms.

 

Based purely on Supergirl, which is my primary fandom atm, AO3 is the place to be - FF.net has 4.2k stories total, whereas AO3 has 8k just for one pairing tag. It's also literally the only fanfic site I've ever seen mentioned anywhere other than DLP.

 

Personally, when I do (which happens rarer and rarer these days, unfortunately) I post them on ff.net, AO3 and SB. DLP kinda but only in the WbA section so not sure that counts for you. The rationale behind that is rather simple. A) I also frequent all three sites with varying degrees so I'm reasonably knowledgeable about them and their customs and b) the more places you post your stories, the more potential readers you have a chance of attracting.

In that light, I am not sure I fully agree with the "don't split your readerbase" thing. I get that there are people who will only read on one or two sites (like there are people who are on SB but will not, for the life of them, read anything on SV but that is true with any given combination of the sites available) but rather certain those are a minority and even with them, having the story on several sites doesn't really split anything, imo. People will read it where they want and having options is a fine thing. If a fanfic is on three sites or something, I will generally go to the ff.net version because I love the cellphone app and download stories to read them later whereas Ao3 and SB can have their stories incorporate techniques of their medium that ff.net can't and some stories do take advantage of that.

Of course, with SV and SB being forums, there is a level of engagement there that you as an author have that isn't present on ff.net and AO3 (for better or for worse) but that is up to you, how much advantage or interaction you draw from that. Me personally, not so much, but there are certainly people who heavily engage with their audience their via discussing things, which then generates views and also keeps the story on the main page, allowing more chances to be seen by people who are browsing for stories. Or if your story is that interesting that people are discussing things about on their own. (or argue incessantly about pointless stuff, which can apply to you if you are writing ASOIAF story as I would strive to never ever mention the word canals, 4 crop farming or similar)

On the flipside, if your thread does not have much discussion or engagement, that also means that your thread can be swept aside by the more popular threads a lot more quickly and overall, the pure fanfic sites are easier to navigate and find stories on. It also seems to encourage a culture of writing lots of short updates in order to keep the story on the front page which I am honestly not fond off or think that it's one that leads to healthier writing, but that is just me and if you like shorter chapters, might be just up your alley.

So personally speaking, I quite like the traditional ff.net and AO3 options, can't really go wrong with either of those. Can't go wrong with SB much either. Worse case, it goes by unnoticed there, best case you drum up something of a readerbase.

Not sure about other sites, there are probably fandom specific forums, but don't think there are any bigger pure fanfiction sites than Ao3 or ff.net.

So yeah, post where you like and good luck.

 

Excellent question! Here are a few,

SpaceBattles: a fandom forum website basically, with all that entails, cringy and slightly autistic but generally if you reference something there generally anyone will get it. Post a fic from any fandom really and someone will probably be interested.

Here is some good ASIOAF stuff from here,

Purple Days, Joffery time loop.

Grumpkins and Snarks, SI Witch in ASOIAF.

Writ Small, Tyrion time traveled to Tywin.

Birds of a Feather, SI is Robin Arryn

Greyjoy alla Breve: SI is Theon Greyjoy and an engineer. This is the only techlift I will ever recc

Thats about it, worm is far more popular here.

SufficentVelocity: Basically spacebattles but a lot more quest oriented and has a way more annoying staff.

Some ASOIAF stuff from here,

A Sword without a Hilt, its a 2.2m word quest. If that doesn't tell you the quality I dunno what will. a Viserys / DND quest.

Raiders of the Lost City, Tywin charges Tyrion and a motley crew with trying to locate Brightroar after his brothers lost ship is spotted near the Ballisk Isles

A Dragon of the North, Arlan the Dragonborn dies, and his memories are sent to the young Jon Snow, his story. Starts on SB but later transfers to SV. This is a quest.

Bastard Quest, the bastard son of Jon Arryn.


QuestionableQuesting: The aforementioned two but with the alliance of smut, and its mostly smut.

its all smut.

AlternateHistory: a forums board for discussing alternate history, they really like ASOIAF over there and SI, ISOT style stories.

Here are the highlights from here, mind you, you have to register an account to see these

Chasing Dragons, Robert and Ned right after the war chase Rhaegar across Essos, with a merry band of men

Rhaegar the Great: Some guy is SI'd as Rhaegar at about 15 or 16. He decides he doesn't know a lot about Tech lift or whatever, so he does what he knows, and produces Shakespearean plays applied to Westeros, with varied effects.

Thats about all I know here.

AO3: Its a successor to FFnet is the best way to put it, not very good at succeeding but there was an attempt. ASOIAF and GOT are extremely popular here, mind you its mostly GOT because of the show, if you are ASOIAF purist like myself, you will find it hard to actually find ASOIAF fics here

will add some later.