AO3 hit/kudos/comment meme

[tielan]

The hits and kudos lists look very similar, the comments list is a bit more varied.

By hits
And Baby Makes Eight (Avengers/MCU) – Maria Hill, Team, & SHIELD, with Steve/Maria
Prince Of Camelot: Choice And Destiny (Merlin (BBC), Black Jewels - Anne Bishop) – Merlin, Merlin & Gwen
Give A Girl A Moment And She'll Take You For All You've Got (Avengers/MCU) – Maria Hill, Natasha Romanoff, Jane Foster, Pepper Potts, Darcy Lewis
A Woman Of Edges (Avengers/MCU) – Steve/Maria
The Pursuit Of Phenomenally Unlikely Payoffs (Avengers/MCU) – Clint/Natasha, with team, & SHIELD
Assembly, Care, and Feeding of a Queen's Court (Avengers/MCU, Black Jewels - Anne Bishop) – Maria, with team & SHIELD
Every Day, Every Day Of The Year (Avengers/MCU) – team & SHIELD
What Happens In Vegas (Avengers/MCU ) – Steve/Maria, with team & SHIELD
Galatea, Shaped By His Hand (Bourne Trilogy (Movies)) – Jason/Nicky, with Pam Landy
from the earliest days we were dancing in the shadows (Avengers/MCU) – Clint/Natasha, with Team & SHIELD

By hits is pretty much Avengers/MCU with the exceptions of Prince of Camelot (Merlin) and Galatea(Bourne Trilogy) fic from Yuletide 2010.

Prince of Camelot (Merlin, AU) has a hitcount close to 3K but not even 20 kudos. I think it might have been posted before AO3 had the kudos option.

And I'm always slightly surprised by Galatea's popularity - it's more gen than Jason/Nicky, from Pam and Nicky's POVs as they cope with the aftermath of the events of The Bourne Supremacy.

Although, interestingly, the next three fics in the hit count are Percy/Annabeth (Percy Jackson) porn battle, Merlin/Morgana (Merlin) kink bingo, and John/Teyla (SGA) kinkmeme.

By kudos

And Baby Makes Eight (Avengers/MCU) – Maria Hill, Team, & SHIELD, with Steve/Maria
A Woman Of Edges (Avengers/MCU) – Steve/Maria
Give A Girl A Moment And She'll Take You For All You've Got (Avengers/MCU) – Maria Hill, Natasha Romanoff, Jane Foster, Pepper Potts, Darcy Lewis
The Guy, The Spy, His Not-Wife, And Their Handler (Avengers/MCU)
Marching To The Beat Of A Tony Stark Drum (Avengers/MCU)
Every Day, Every Day Of The Year (Avengers/MCU) – team & SHIELD
The Pursuit Of Phenomenally Unlikely Payoffs (Avengers/MCU) (6969 words)
A Day In The Life Of (Disney Princesses) (3182 words) - Megara, Jasmine, Belle, Ariel, Tiana
from the earliest days we were dancing in the shadows (Avengers/MCU) – Clint/Natasha, with Team & SHIELD
Assembly, Care, and Feeding of a Queen's Court (Avengers/MCU, Black Jewels - Anne Bishop) – Maria, with team & SHIELD

So, overall, Avengers fans are most appreciative when it comes to hitting the 'like' button. Or, more likely, they're the most conversant with AO3 and the 'kudos' button. Also, they're willing to 'like' more widely. SGA fans tend to be...fairly narrow in their avenues of appreciation.

I think 'A Day In The Life Of' was unusual enough - even in Yuletide - that it got a lot of appreciation: the Disney Princess Detective Agency. I've always wanted to return to that world, but never really had the chance or the inspiration.

By comments

And Baby Makes Eight (Avengers/MCU) – Maria Hill, Team, & SHIELD, with Steve/Maria
Metamorphose (Young Wizards - Diane Duane) - Kit/Nita
Give A Girl A Moment And She'll Take You For All You've Got (Avengers/MCU) – Maria Hill, Natasha Romanoff, Jane Foster, Pepper Potts, Darcy Lewis
Like Fish Need Bicycles (Avengers/MCU)) - Maria/Clint, Maria/Natasha, Maria/Tony, Maria/Bruce, Maria/Thor, Maria/Steve
A Woman Of Edges (Avengers/MCU) – Steve/Maria
Galatea, Shaped By His Hand (Bourne Trilogy (Movies)) – Jason/Nicky, with Pam Landy
Prince Of Camelot: Choice And Destiny (Merlin (BBC), Black Jewels - Anne Bishop) – Merlin, Merlin & Gwen
Indenture (Stargate Atlantis) - John/Teyla
Assembly, Care, and Feeding of a Queen's Court (Avengers/MCU, Black Jewels - Anne Bishop) – Maria, with team & SHIELD
A Day In The Life Of (Disney Princesses) (3182 words) - Megara, Jasmine, Belle, Ariel, Tiana
To Serve A Queen (Stargate Atlantis, Black Jewels - Anne Bishop) - Elizabeth/Ronon, & ensemble
Beyond Understanding (Young Wizards - Diane Duane) - The Lone Power, The Winged Defender

And Baby Makes Eight is unusual in that it has fifty-five comment threads - although it's in seven chapters, so some people commented on all seven chapters, and some people only commented on the final chapter. The next most popular is Metamorphose which only has 21 comment threads - and that was Yuletide and so got quite a few comments that year. I think it was #3 or #4 in popularity before I started writing Avengers fic.

Otherwise, I don't seem to be the kind of writer whom readers feel compelled to talk to. Or the people reading my stuff have less spoons.

Overall, And Baby Makes Eight is not unexpected as the all-around leader: it's long, babyfic, with team-as-family, cute moments, snappy lines, about 1/3 of it is action/drama/conflict, and I kind of yanked people's feels all around in it for every character in the MCU, then finished up with a cutesy/snappy ending.

Plus, I know a couple of people on my f-list recced it - thank you!

There's a part of me that's a bit surprised by the relative popularity of my Avengers fics. I know I can write a good Maria Hill, I'm just surprised that anyone wants to read about her given that she has absolutely none of the flags for fannish favourite in any way shape or form.

She's not male. She's not emotional or dramatic. She's not geeky or science-oriented. She doesn't have a romantic interest, and nobody is romantically interested in her.

The only extra hit she could take would be to be played by an actress of colour. And there's still grumbling about that every now and then on tumblr. (At one point, the only posts about Maria on tumblr were people ranting that she'd been cast as a white woman.)