#I rely on tagging mostly to get my views but that wont help if my fic gets buried

[sharkbaitsekki]

As an FE3H fanfic author...

... I just want to make a quick note to thank everyone who comments or reacts to fanfics. In general, yes, but especially for 3H fics nowadays. Thank you for taking the time to share your thoughts and feelings with the authors who worked so hard to create the fic you’re enjoying, before it’s lost to time. 

I say that because the 3H fandom is booming right now. It’s in its prime, and on a rapid expansion course on all social medium platforms, and although this is excellent for enriching the fandom as a whole, I feel like individual content creators suffer for it. 

I’m not making this up. A quick glance at the 3H fandom tag on AO3 (on 19/10/15, 1:30PM) shows this: with filters set to “Complete works only” and “English” as a language, in the first four pages, the grand majority, above 90%, have less than 5 comments (most of them have 1-2, honestly), or less than 100 kudos, or less than 600 hits. The fics posted yesterday are already on page 4. The fics posted 2 days ago are on page 8. 

And yes, of course the older the fics get, the more hits they get, and they’re likely to have more kudos and comments as well, but they’re also hidden much farther in the tag. If a work was posted a week ago, you can forget about anyone finding it while browsing, unless they’re browsing a specific tag. Even then, how specific does the tag have to be? On the “M/M” tag, fics posted two days ago are on page 5 (and these are with incomplete works filtered out). 

Content is being posted at a mind-blowing rate, and I’m all for it. But I guess I just want to draw attention to the fact that with the sheer volume of works being added to the fandom, tagging a fic appropriately and advertising it outside of AO3 are the only viable strategies in getting more readers. Otherwise, it will most likely have no traction at all, and be swept away into the fandom archives. While browsing, I saw EXCELLENT fics with very little kudos or comments to them, and it made me sad. 

And I’m not gonna lie; as a content creator, it makes me sad, too, because this is happening to my works as well. I don’t write for reacts; I write because it’s fun, and because I like creating things I know don’t exist anywhere else. But I won’t lie and say I don’t write to share my creativity with others, too. I love hearing from readers, I check every reblog, every retweet, every bookmark to see if people wrote anything expressing their thoughts about my work. I look for opportunities to discuss with people. It thrills me to know that I’m enjoying my writing alongside other people who are enjoying it just as much. 

So when I post something and get very little feedback on it, not because it’s bad, but simply because it just isn’t being seen, it does break my heart a little. Past the first 24 hours after release, I no longer expect anyone to comment. I barely even expect anyone to see the fic, unless they’re following a link from Twitter or Tumblr. And I won’t stop writing for it, but I will definitely not write with the same excitement to release my ideas to the world. I love 3H, I love these characters, I love the fandom and I love to write. But man, writing for 3H doesn’t really make me happy at all. 

That being said, there is no “fix” to this issue. It doesn’t need to be “fixed”; lots of great content is being put out for the fandom to enjoy, and I think that’s a good thing in the end. I love seeing creators working hard to share their love for the game with others. I just think that the fandom could stand to be a little more supportive of these creators, whose reach depends solely on timing, and some good luck. So... Reblog and retweet your favourite fics. Recommend them on your social media. Share, share, share, because if these fantastic works are not recirculated at the top of timelines and dashboards, they’ll be lost underneath the sheer volume of new content rolling in hourly without end in sight.