Yearly AO3 stats meme

[john_amend_all]

Memed as usual from thisbluespirit: Top ten AO3 works by various metrics.

(For comparison: Stats from 2016 | 2015 | 2014. I don't think I did the meme last year, though I did make a start on collecting the figures.)

As usual I've had to update the download utility — this time because AO3 now requires a secure HTTPS connection.

Top 10 by Hit Count

This was easy, because it's the same top 10 as in my 2017 draft. Conclusion: Fics' position in this list is determined in a short period soon after posting, and after that they're fixed forever.

1. Persistence (Austen; Anne Elliot / Frederick Wentworth; 8209 words) [3434]
2. Noblesse Oblige (Austen; Elizabeth Bennet / Fitzwilliam Darcy; 147 words) [2167]
3. Double the Trouble (Doctor Who; Amy / Amy; 1121 words) [1474]
4. Mimic (Sapphire & Steel / Look & Read; Sapphire, Steel; 1776 words) [1071]
5. Vox et Praeterea Mysteria (Doctor Who; Ace / Oswin; 3730 words) [986]
6. 22 Pairs (Doctor Who; multiple pairings; 2400 words) [790]
7. Gamesmanship (Doctor Who / The Culture; Two, Jamie, Romana I; 518 words) [785]
8. The Murder of Cardinal Tosca (Sherlock / Monty Python; Sherlock, John, Sarah, Ximinez; 653 words) [715]
9. 24 Pairs (Doctor Who; multiple pairings; 2500 words) [699]
10. The Crawford Ritual (Doctor Who / Austen; Liz Shaw, Mary Crawford; 410 words) [642]
11. Ac Velut in Somnis (Doctor Who / Knightmare; Ten, Rose, Treguard, Majida, etc; 30179 words) [580]

(As previously, Mimic is excluded because its total is the result of glitching or weirdness).

As usual, I used my download tool to pull down the raw figures, and did a 'hits per day' sort. Since this is inclined to bias in favour of recent works, I omitted my most recent 20 works to get:

1. Persistence [2.39]
2. Double the Trouble [1.22]
3. Noblesse Oblige [1.03]
4. Unconventional Courtship ficlets (Doctor Who / Babylon 5 / Austen / Red Dwarf; Multiple; 1251 words) [0.61]
5. The Rags of Time (Doctor Who; Zoë Heriot, OCs; 40947 words) [0.60]
6. Vox et Praeterea Mysteria [0.52]
7. Mimic [0.51]
8. Out for the Count (Dracula; Lucy / Mina; 972 words) [0.46]
9. Language Transparency [0.43]
10. The Crawford Ritual [0.41]

The oddity here is Noblesse Oblige, where the hit rate has actually increased. I don't think any of the others is particularly surprising; the more recent ones probably haven't sunk to their final resting place yet.

Top 10 by Kudos

1. Persistence [176]
2. Vox et Praeterea Mysteria [87]
3. Noblesse Oblige [76]
4. 22 Pairs [40]
5. The Problem of Darley Place (Sherlock Holmes/Miss Marple; Holmes, Watson, Jane Marple; 2837 words) [40]
6. A Spy Unmasked (Doctor Who / RPF; David Attenborough, Kate Stewart, Frobisher; 778 words) [33]
7. Legman (Miss Marple / Red Dwarf; Jane Marple, Ace Rimmer; 515 words) [32]
8. Disassembly (Doctor Who / Girl Genius; Agatha Heterodyne, Zoë Heriot; 1051 words) [31]
9. Double the Trouble [30]
10. Restitution (Doctor Who; Jamie / Victoria; 1011 words) [23]

The Problem of Darley Place continues its ascent. Whether it's Sherlock Holmes or Miss Marple driving it, I don't know.

New entries were Disassembly (my Girl Genius crossovers on AO3 always seem to pick up a fair amount of traffic) and Double the Trouble (Amy / Amy is a booming market?)

I also did kudos / hit (aka, 'Satisfied Customers'). As usual, I omitted works posted this year:

1. You'll Have Had Your Alternate Reality (You'll Have Had Your Tea; Hamish, Dougal & co; 1000 words) [35%]
2. Record Breaker (Doctor Who / Archer's Goon; Ace, Awful; 100 words) [21%]
3. Designated Driver (Doctor Who; Ace, Jamie, Martha; 365 words) [18%]
4. Andromeda (Doctor Who; Ace, Ray; 510 words) [17.3%]
5. Aposiopesis (Doctor Who; Eight, Grace; 593 words) [16.3%]
6. Regrettable Day (Adam Adamant Lives!; Adam, Georgie, Simms; 595 words) [15.3%]
7. It's A Dirty Job (SJA; Clyde, Rani; 313 words) [15%]
8. Pillion (Doctor Who; Eight, Grace; 100 words) [17.5%]
9. Running Repairs (Doctor Who; One, Ian, Barbara; 100 words) [14.3%]
10. Ghost (Adam Adamant Lives!; Adam, Georgie; 100 words) [14.3%]

Looks like what my readers crave is brevity.

Top 7 by Comment Threads

1. Exchange Students [10]
2. Persistence [10]
3. Vox et Praeterea Mysteria [9]
4. Dimension Breach [7]
5. Works Outing [5]
6. Genius and Geniality [5]
7. The Rags of Time [5]

It isn't possible to impose a meaningful ordering below 5 comment threads, because there are nine fics with 4 threads. Comparing this list against last year's, the number of threads on some of the fics appears to have decreased. I haven't been deleting comments, so I don't know what's going on there.

The major new entrant is, of course, Exchange Students, which attracted a vast number of comments despite being for an obscure and obsolete subfandom.

Top 9 by Bookmarks

As with comments, a meaningful top 10 isn't possible so I've stopped where it falls into a general sea of noise. The new entries here are Work Experience, Permute and Combine, and 22 Pairs.

1. Vox et Praeterea Mysteria [25]
2. Persistence [24]
3. Noblesse Oblige [11]
4. Restitution [6]
5. Work Experience [6]
6. Permute and Combine [6]
7. Murder at the Mill [5]
8. 22 Pairs [5]
9. A Spy Unmasked [5]

Top 2 by Subscriptions

The only two works with more than one subscription:

1. Genius and Geniality
2. Persistence

I've never been too sure why people subscribe to completed fics; most of my fics with subscriptions are one-shots. Maybe some people do it as an alternative to bookmarking?

Most Obscure

The lowest four hit counts, excluding recently-posted works:

1. Slow News Day (Absolute Power; Charles Prentiss, Martin McCabe; 835 words)
2. You'll Have Had Your Alternate Reality (You'll Have Had Your Tea; Hamish, Dougal & co; 1000 words)
3. Family Resemblance (Wylder's Hand; Dorcas/Rachel; 562 words)
4. Snap (Big Finish Doctor Who; Karen/Lucie; 566 words)

There was a Lucie/Karen fic bouncing around at the bottom last time, too. But not the same one.