Creating a Successful Fanfiction Archive

If you are a big fan of a particular TV show, movie, book, or comic book, and you have participated in online fandom, chances are good that you've considered starting a fanfiction archive.

Thousands of other fans have had the same idea. And many do bite the bullet, and put together a fanfiction archive for their favorite fandom. Luckily, the automated fanfiction archive software that's available makes starting an archive much easier than it used to be.

Sadly, many fanfiction archives disappear before they really get up and running. And other fanfiction archives just sort of sit there, cursed with few stories and little traffic.

Why Do Fanfiction Archives Fail?

There are many reasons fanfiction archives fail. And one of the biggest is that the webmaster running the archive gets discouraged.

Imagine that you've spent several hours putting together an automated fanfiction archive. You're expecting the stories to start pouring in. You're also expecting tons of web traffic.

But a week passes. Then a month. Then several months. And, not only have very few stories been added to your fanfiction archive, but your archive is getting few, if any, visitors.

That can definitely be discouraging. As a result, you won't feel very enthusiastic about your archive any more, and will either just ignore that it exists, or take it down altogether.

Why Don't Fanfiction Archives Succeed?

The biggest reason why fanfiction archives don't attract a lot of writers or readers is lack of promotion. In a lot of cases, the webmaster doesn't seem to realize how necessary getting the word out really is. They might announce their story at one or two message boards, and maybe on their blog. Then, they just expect fans to find the archive through that.

You have to sell your fanfiction archive the way you would sell a commercial product. Announce your fanfiction archive to dozens, even hundreds, of message boards. Submit your archive to search directories. Tell people to tell other people about your archive. Do anything you can to get your archive noticed.

Another problem is lack of stories. When a fanfiction writer comes across an archive with only a handful of stories, they assume that the site doesn't get a lot of traffic, and isn't really worth submitting their own stories to.

And readers will give the archive a pass because there aren't enough stories to hold their interest.

You can't just wait for writers to decide to submit stories to your archive. You have to take an active part in adding stories to your fanfiction archive, at least at first.
Make a list of writers in your fandom who are good, and who have written a lot of stories. Send them an email telling them about your archive, and asking them to submit their stories. If 10 writers who have each written 10 stories in the fandom add all of them to your fanfiction archive, that's 100 stories right there. And most seasoned fanfiction writers have written much more than 10 stories.

Fanfiction archives are a fun way to show your appreciation for your favorite fandom. And, by taking a few simple steps, you can make sure your archive is popular and successful.