in slightly less morose news...

[lirazel]

So snickfic did this, and I thought it looked like fun. Unfortunately, unlike her I don't have stats from my lj, because I suspect those would skew heavily towards my Buffy/Spike fic. However, here are the stats on my 10 most-hit fics at AO3.

title	hits	comments	kudos	fandom	word count	notes
how the heart approaches what it yearns	1414	9	46	Downton Abbey	909	Yuletide Madness
Of Ill-Advised Imprints and Rather Fetching Ewok Queens	1304	41	4	Dollhouse	5494	Yuletide
they that go down to the sea in ships	492	20	55	the Witch of Blackbird Pond	3680	Yuletide
and i said "who am i to blow against the wind?"	434	2	13	Downton Abbey	864	Yuletide Madness
May the Moon and Sunlight Seem	420	4	17	Harry Potter	2125
The Sun If by Night, the Moon If by Day	373	5	23	Ladyhawke	1662	Yuletide
Requiem	358	3	1	SPN, FNL, BtVS, FF, HP, and Heroes	3944	crossover*
Commas and Ampersands	342	1	8	Gilmore Girls	3235
Basiare	322	2	3	Buffy the Vampire Slayer	3998
Afterglow	286	2	1	Chronicles of Narnia	708

*I say crossover, but none of these characters interact with any fandom but their own. It's basically a collection of different stories built around one theme (blame May).

All of these fics, with the exception of "they that go down to the sea in ships" were posted before kudos were introduced, so it's not surprising that it has by far the most amount of kudos.

What have I learned? that Yuletide and Downton Abbey are sure ways of getting hits, and that nobody's reading my Buffyverse fic over there. Interesting! I'm pretty sure the reason "Requiem" is as high as it is is because it's archived under 6 separate fandoms, so it's six times more likely to get hits. All of my Yuletide fics are in that top-10, which doesn't surprise me. And I'm 90% sure that "May the Moon and Sunlight Seem" got recced somewhere fairly recently, because I saw like three comments pop up on it all around teh same time. So recs really do make a difference!

Comments

[upupa-epops.livejournal.com]

WHOA, those numbers are incredible! I had no idea Downton Abbey was so popular. The Vampire Diaries feels so tiny now...

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

The vaaaast majority of my fic doesn't have numbers nearly that high. I kind of can't get over how much of a difference Yuletide makes--after the first two over the thousands, it drops down to below 500, and all of my non-Yuletide fics except for the 1 Harry Potter one are below 400.

Apparently AO3 is the place people go when they want DA fic. Who knew? I wonder where everyone is with the TVD fic?

[upupa-epops.livejournal.com]

Apparently AO3 is the place people go when they want DA fic. Who knew? I wonder where everyone is with the TVD fic?

No idea... I mean, there are communities, but the communities I check are half-dead when it comes to fic. Same goes for AO3. Generally, I have an impression that there's very little new TVD fanfiction being published? Though I might be seeing it like that because I'm currently obsessed with Damon/Elena, and I mostly look for them. Maybe it's just that there's very little interest in this ship?

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

That is so strange. I would think there would be LOADS of D/E fic, if Spuffy fandom is anything to go by (they have a similar dynamic, at least superficially, and a lot of Spuffy fic is very superficial). Sometimes I'm baffled by which things take off fandom-wise and which don't. Like, all that Homestuck fic? Okay? But very little TVD fic?

[upupa-epops.livejournal.com]

I can't tell you why, I really can't. I'm a Spuffy shipper who went crazy on D/E, so I'm a good example that those ships should attract similar kind of shippers... I guess things are developing pretty differently in TVD? Things are getting darker and darker, the dynamics is very different than it was in s1. So people who don't like it dark are disappointed and they move to different things, and new fans who do like it dark aren't attracted to TVD in general (because, let's be serious, the premise of the show sounds ridiculous, and the way it's advertised has nothing to do with what actually happens in the show), because they don't know there's something in it for them.

But that's just my speculation.

[gryfndor-godess.livejournal.com]

Holy crap, you've written Ladyhawke fic?!? I feel like hardly anyone's seen that movie! (I grew up on it because a relative loved it). Must read that fic once my finals are over!!

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

I grew up on it, too (we had it on VHS), and it's one of my faves. Yay for you having seen it!

[snickfic]

I highly recommend the fic. I'm a bit biased, because I beta'd it, but: it is VERY GOOD. It inspired me to go watch the movie. :)

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

♥

[kikimay]

I'm here too!
And I want more Buffy/Spike, especially when it comes to the Spike!pregnancy. I swear that I wasn't nto mpreg before reading this fic. Spuffy!mpreg is like the dark side: tastes and smells like cookies! çOç

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

Haha! I might have to write more at some point, then! I wasn't into mpreg until snickfic, so we can all blame her!

[ruuger]

nobody's reading my Buffyverse fic over there.

Nobody's reading anyone's Buffyverse fic over there, it would seem. I have no idea why. Is it because there are already so many established archives for Buffy, or maybe because Buffyverse is even more resistant to change than most fandoms (as shown by Seasonal Spuffy's moving debacle)?

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

True. It's very strange. I think either/both of your theories could be the correct one, but I guess we'll never know.

Possibly, also, maybe it's because such a high percentage of the fic over there was written before the site existed, so fans had already read the fics elsewhere? And they really only go there for new stuff in new fandoms, like Downton Abbey?

[snickfic]

I think the established archives and the timing are both big factors. Buffy fic is so heavily driven by Spuffy and Spander, and if that's what you're into, why would you fuss with AO3 when you could go to an archive focusing just on that? I think AO3 is a much better resource for reading in small fandoms that don't have active communities of their own, and also for minor ship/character fic for the bigger fandoms. Like, I've read all the Faith/Giles fic at AO3.

AO3's always my first stop for new fandoms, though, like Downton Abbey or the Korean drama I was watching recently. I suppose for lots of folks, the default archive is ff.net, but I've never gotten comfortable there.

[redsilverchains.livejournal.com]

Your Sybil/Branson >>>>>>> The show's Sybil/Branson.

This reminds me that I need to check outyour Witch of Blackbird Pond fic. I just read the book a few weeks ago.

[penny-lane-42.livejournal.com]

You know what? I'm not even going to pretend to be modest--I agree. I hate so much about what the show decided to do with them. THEY WERE SO PRECIOUS IN S1. THEY HAD SO MUCH POTENTIAL. And then the show turned my love into seething resentment. UGH.

DID YOU LIKE THE BOOK???? I imagine it didn't have nearly as big of an impact on you as it did on me reading at, like, 11 or so, but I hope you liked it!