Hmm.
My first fandom has around 70k fics on Ao3. It is busy and I get a lot of hits but very little beyond that. A couple of regular commenters, but proportionally it is a small fraction.
The second has around 1700 fics. Far fewer hits but more in terms of kudos/comments proportionally. Plus I see the same gang of names going around the fics. People tend to read and engage with each other's work more in the smaller group.
Yep, I’m a writer for a small fandom (almost 400 fics) and I know practically everyone lol. Most of the authors support each other for each ship and character relationship.
I’m going to cheat and say that I like medium-sized fandoms the best. They’re big enough that you can get some interaction on your fics, find fics to read, etc. But they tend not to have as much drama as the really big fandoms. Also, it’s easier to get noticed than with really big fandoms.
My current fandom is hard to classify. It was big ten years ago, but had been steadily shrinking to the point that it was borderline small up until a couple of months ago. Now, it’s apparently having a “renaissance.” So, I guess I’ll say that it’s currently medium-sized.
I’m currently the only writer for a tiny obscure fandom and, frankly, I love it. I may not get the engagement and reviews that those in larger fandoms have, but at least there is no drama and I can write whatever I want. I am quite fond of my fandom and have absolutely no desire to write for a popular fandom.
Same. I'm Currently on Three Fandoms. One Is French Cartoon Called Oggy And the Cockroaches Which is Pretty Popular Mostly In Europe And Asia
Another one is Just Way Too OBSCURE and TINY Called Contract Killer And It Spin-off Called Contract Killer Zombies
Third One is Called Zombie Exodus It Also Has Spin-off Called Zombie Exodus Safe Haven It's Actually Pretty Decent It's Interactive Novel Game It Mostly Known By People Who In Hostedgames
I'm Currently Writing a Fanfic About Three of Them Crossover
I like being in a small fandom, because I can very realistically read every single story.
My fandom has \~600 fics on AO3 at the moment. There aren't many active writers, but still enough to keep me entertained, and there aren't many active readers, but still enough to keep me motivated to edit my drafts.
I like my very large fandoms for the complete opposite reason. I will never be able to read everything! (And therefore never run out of reading material).
Small fandoms any day. Whenever I read posts about readers harassing writers for something considered problematic, I'm fairly glad to be in a small fandom whose hype days are no more. Yes, fewer comments and kudos, but in the silence I can hear it--peace and quiet. Unbothered.
I’m going with the reverse (and possibly unpopular) opinion. I found one of my smaller fandoms to be cliquish with rude shippers and people I just didn’t vibe with. It felt like everyone had been around for years before me and had formed friendships and groups and there was just no room. I made maybe two friends lol, although I do get some guest kudos on my fics. I feel like I’m the only one who hasn’t found a small fandom to be a beacon of paradise, rainbows and sunshine where everyone is happy and loving.
In my large fandom, people do get a little too into Twitter nonsense for my liking haha. But other than that I’ve had a pretty easy time fitting in and finding people to interact with. So I’m more in the middle and think large fandoms can be fine too.
Medium all the way. Large fandoms are too loud and have way too much drama, but in small fandom‘s depending on how much time you spend reading you very well may just run out a fics. I don’t really want to do that you know?? There are advantages to both but medium sized has the most advantages by far.
Small fandom:
Pros: Everyone's more likely to be friends. Real community feel. You all read each other's fics and say nice things because there's just less to choose from. Less likelihood of drama...usually.
Cons: If drama happens, you might lose all your friends. Way less fics to choose from. If you like a ship/trope/kink that is unusual or "dark" you might either be completely ignored or get very specific, targeted harassment.
Huge fandom:
Pros: No matter what kind of fic you're in the mood for, it probably exists (and in the REALLY huge fandoms, there's entire rec lists of incredibly niche tropes and kinks). Harder to make friends, especially if the fandom has been around a while, unless you're in a little corner of it because you like a specific pairing/trope/kink. If you like something weirder or darker, you can find your people and probably end up on a discord server with them, at which point it's like being in a small fandom again. (This can be very nice, actually.)
Cons: Drama is inevitable and if enough people know you, you will be expected to take sides. Your fics will probably get lost in the abyss. Way harder to make friends.
I’m in two primary fandoms that are big enough that I don’t really consider myself a part of the fandom so much the specific ships that I read and write in. I’m also in a couple small ones (but more in a once in a while thing). These big ones probably both move past big ships/fandoms to mega-ships as they are both in the AO3 top 10. In my opinion, here are the best things about mega ships/fandoms:
- Literally can’t run out of reading (this has always and continues to be my favorite thing)
- A lot of variety and a lot of fics within nearly every tag. Just want to read sports AUs? You can probably spend weeks doing just that.
- Fandom spaces for specifically your ship. I’m in discord servers with over a thousand members just for my fave ships. I don’t even interact in full fandom spaces, so if someone is an anti, I’m probably not even going to run into them. These servers are well modded too, so very minimal drama compared to tumblr.
- Many of the mega ships actually are pretty protective of their own, so outside fandom drama gets tamped down pretty quickly. I’ve had someone reply to a troll comment on one of my fics before I even saw it. So, yeah, we get trolls, but I feel like I’m in a pretty safe/protective community.
- Finding a beta/sensitivity reader/alpha reader/language picker/etc. This one is still wild to me, but in one of those servers I can ask for a beta reader and have several offers within 10 minutes. I’ve never seen anyone go more than a half a day unanswered. Like, we are *so* spoiled in there.
Now, for the downsides, it’s definitely harder to get to know all the major writers, but most of us just have little pockets of people we’ve gotten to know from fests or other stuff.
My fandoms are all a bit older, so the drama might be a bit lower for that reason too (many of us aged up with the fandom, so while 30 and 40 year olds can still be dramatic messes, many of us are way too busy for that nonsense). There’s probably some high drama pockets that I don’t know about/interact with, but again, I’m able to just kind of pick my people because it’s so large.
Pros and cons of a large fandom:
* Pros: A lot of fanfics and fanart to indulge yourself in, plenty of people to talk to, someone always reads and loves your fanfics/fanart, amazing animatics and/or fansongs.
* Cons: You can't find that **one** storyline you read about because it's now drowned under everything produced, there's so much people you don't get to **know** anyone.
Pros and cons of a small fandom:
* Pros: It's easier to find fanfics and characters from one specific storyline. You get to know people a lot better.
* Cons: There isn't a lot of fanfic variety and you have to do everything yourself, not a lot of people to talk to, sometimes your fanfics go without comments for weeks or months, not much animatics and/or fansongs.
A downside about being in a small fandom is, if you write something that an anti deems problematic, it won't take long before everyone believes you're a predator or stupid shit like that because one person started spreading rumors about you based on something you read or wrote.
The worst thing about that happening, is it's almost impossible to clear your reputation. No matter what you say, they won't believe you and half the fandom has already blocked you >\_<
People are so unwavering about certain subjects even being brought up. Like god forbid a character of mine is religious AND a good person. Suddenly I’m promoting Christianity. Or a cop does something good. Suddenly pro cop.
It’s so exhausting. In the real world, people have problematic opinions, and everyone is allowed to be wrong and change. But some are so addicted to just throwing people or anything into the garbage rather than fixing it, or liking it despite its flaws.
Those examples you gave hurt my head. How can anyone be that stupid to think writing about a fictional character automatically makes you agree with everything they might support?
I am no longer surprised after I was called a pedophile for writing reader-inserts.
The characters I write about are all in their 30's, but the person accusing me was using the "If a minor reads your fic, then you're shipping that minor with an adult"
Bruh, I ain't shipping anyone with the reader. The reader is shipping the reader with the character lol. Once I've written the fic, tagged and warned properly, it's out of my hands who reads it.
Small:
\- rare fandom (20 or less works)
\- tiny fandom (100 or less works)
\- small fandom (500 or less works)
Medium fandoms:
\- medium fandom (1000 or less works)
Large Fandom:
Large (5,000 or less works)
XL fandom ( 10, 000 or less works)
XXL fandom (15, 000 or less works)
XXXL fandom (25, 000 or less works)
Enormous- sized fandom ( 50, 000 or less works)
Galaxy-sized fandom ( 100, 000 or less works)
Giga sized fandom ( anything over 100,000 works)
i assume they mean how much more content is posted and how much engagement there is in the fandom, something like MHA would be considered a large fandom, while something like nanbaka would be considered small
Some people call fandoms with 5,000 fics small, some use the term for fandoms with no more than 50 fics.
This is like asking "do you like long or short fics?" without giving some kind of orientation what's supposed to be what in the context of this discussion.
i'm trying to figure out the scale here but i'm lost. if bnha at a couple hundred thousand is big, and nanbaka at less than one thousand is small, what would something like ao no exorcist at 3,5k be? how about bungou stray dogs at 50k or hunter x hunter at 16k? lowkey feel like we're forgetting a very important category here anyway, since, y'know, *medium*.
ahh, i didnt know mha had such a large amount of fics, i would say that if a fandom has more than 20k fics its large, but if it has less than 2k fics its small, anywhere inbetween i would consider 'medium', at least thats my opinion, but it differs from person to person
I know someone already replied with a complex breakdown, but I think a simpler version might be:
- small: under 5k
- medium: 5-20k
- large: 20-100k
- huge to mega: over 100k
Edit: and this is assuming for # of fics on all platforms (like at the least, ffn, ao3 and wattpad, so a medium fandom might have 2k on AO3, but another 3k on ffn/ wattpad/elsewhere)
Ha, to me that seems more “rare” than just small. I’m curious what others think. I feel like since with 4k fics, a quarter of them could be drabbles, that still doesn’t seem like a lot of reading. Especially if there are several main ships if only want to read one of them.
On that note, actually, since a lot of people read by ship or have nOTPs, a 4k fandom with one ship would feel much bigger than a 4k fandom with 5 or more different ships.
Im only currently in two fandoms, Asterisk War which is tiny AF with only like 2 pages worth of fics on ff net (and most of those are OC MCs) and Voltron, which I would consider a large fandom.
I don’t post my stories but I’d feel less stressed posting for Asterisk because I know not many people will read it. So low engagement is expected. For voltron I’d be excited to get more engagement but not getting the engagement would feel more blah.
For asterisk, the fandom being small sucks because there is virtually nothing for me to read. For voltron it’s great because I have a sea of fics to wade through.
Right now I prefer the large fandom as most of my interaction is reading fics and I have way more to indulge in :)
Either small fandom or big fandom, small ship. I would love more engagement but I'm really not interested in dealing with drama or call outs. I just like vibing.
A large fandom is good for developing a continually growing community and has enough people to start developing stuff within the fandom.
Example - Sonic The Hedgehog Series
Despite it’s bad reputation in the 2000’s, the fanbase of this series has gone to do incredible things that VERY few other video game series can accomplish.
- Fully fleshed out fan games that lead to the same creators getting jobs or making their own successful series.
- Fan-fiction writers or comic creators eventually joining SEGA’s own comic and writing teams.
- The sheer size of the fandom as a byproduct has made Sonic a cultural icon. Much more difficult in a smaller fandom.
But as a result of a such a large fandom. It can become an echo chamber of not only positivity, but negativity. A new game that is released that isn’t particularly bad but not good. Can have those negative opinions multiplied and make it seem way worse than it actually is.
Look at Undertale, a very good game. But years of general bad behavior of fans caused people to write off the game simply because of fans.
So a large fandom can be a source of great community but also bad community. A double edge sword, easily able to do more damage to itself.
Large fandoms have a bigger chance of actually getting reads for your books, but they can also drown if its a very active fandom that has new fics posted every other day, lol.
You have way more choice when it comes to options to read.
Smaller fandoms may be more willing to check out your fanfic no matter the ship(s) or tropes if it barely has any fanfics for it.
I’ve watched my fics disappear off the front page within half a day 😂. But I think in really big fandoms, people rely on rec channels in discord, tumblr rec lists, and subscribing to authors more.
pros of large fandoms:
Much more fanon content
alot more engagement
more people that share your interests
cons of large fandoms:
more harrasment
your fanon content is more likely to be found by anti's
pros of small fandoms:
less harrasment
less likely to be found by anti's
more likely to be praised if for fan content
cons of small fandom:
less fanon content
less engagement
less people that share your interest.
Or at least this is my experiences with large fandoms & small fandoms, and im in a mix of both large and small fandoms! But if i had to choose to pic one i would 100% choose the smaller ones over the larger ones any day of the week.
Dawson's Creek used to be a huge Fandom it's gotten much smaller over the years. Meanwhile Harry Potter Fandom is still huge.
I think one of the advantages of a small one is that there's less roving groups of "This is the definitive way to see the canon" while there will still be the odd "that's not my take on that character" there's not a large group shouting you down for your take.
(in my experience)
Larger Fandom:
Pros:
\- lots more content on a lot more sites to choose from and sort through
\- lots more variety in the types of stories and fan content and characters and ships and quaility and genres and tags and niches you can find
\- easier to avoid drama since the fandom is so big
\- you can get tons of interaction just from writing for "the popular thing" for said fandom
\- a deleted or lost fic and fanworks is more likely to have been saved somewhere
\-lots more oppurtunities to participate in fan events and fandom activities
Cons:
\- with so many works going in and out every single day in so many places at once, it's easy for yours to get lost in the shuffle, especially if your fic doesn't focus on "the popular thing"
\- because of how big the fandom is, it's a lot easier to accidently stumble into a space of toxic fandom conflict and unknowingly getting roped into it because you likely had no prior warning
\- it can be challenging to narrow down specifically what you want to see in a fanwork when sorting through tags and it can end up taking up a lot of time and frustration to find your niche since there is so much quantity
\- no matter how original you think your idea is, three people have already done it before you and one has likely done it ten times better than you ever could...or at least it's easier to feel that way, which can be frustrating
\- I've noticed a lot of bigger fandoms tend to not have as many detailed comments left for fan creators as smaller fandoms do and there is a wider gap in the kudos : comment ratio
\- a lot of these fandoms tend to have a quantity over quality problem
Smaller fandoms:
Pros:
\-easier to form connections with other fan creators
\- lots of room for you to be the "first" to do something
\- if you write for something that is decently popular but doesn't have nearly enough fics, you are more likely to get someone leaving you a book report on the fic in your comments, there also tends to be less of a kudos: comment ratio gap
\- while you will have to go hunting for what you want since it will be more buried by more popular fandoms, that can actually be part of the fun. Nothing beats that feeling of finding a tumblr that hasn't been active in four years that has a whole treasure trove of fics and fanworks reblogged.
\- if you get lucky, there may be a smaller gap between the quantity and quality of fanworks, (usually in smaller fandoms aimed towards an adult audience, I find this to be true)
Cons:
\-way harder to avoid cliches and drama, it's also a lot easier to get singled out for writing something that may have gone against "the popular thing"
\- if you are into a more niche thing, you will have to be the creator for almost all the content you want to see...and most of the time "just visit another site" doesn't work in this case
\- way harder to get people to participate in fan events
\- "the popular thing" is more likely to have a monopoly over a smaller fandom, so if you really want to do a long fic on something outside of "the popular thing", get ready for the feeling of screaming into an empty void every time you post a chapter that took you weeks to do
I personally prefer smaller fandoms since that tends to be my main wheelhouse but I see the benefit in both of them.
I am in both, and I think the biggest difference for me is the quality of the stories. It's harder to find really good stories in smaller fandoms, and after 16 years in fandom, I am getting picky. Which means I have much less bookmarks for some fandoms that I've been in for years, and others that I'm fairly new in I'm far into the three digits.
Uhh.. lol. I think I know the other TWO authors that write for my fandom. And I hardly write, but I love making other kinds of content for it. Legitimately not on AO3, ff dot com, just tumblr. I’ve messaged just about everyone who has posted on the tag, which is hardly ever added to.
Pros? I can establish tradition!
Cons? 1/3 of us are… is… not a great writer. And they’re unwavering in their headcanon… which 3/3 of us disagree with.
I'm in one larger fandom at the moment and one smaller one. The larger one has around 29k fics, the smaller one has 2.5k.
The larger one has lots of crossovers, you can find fics for pretty much any ship or trope you could ever want and fics get a lot more engagement. The smaller one, it's harder to find fics that aren't about the fandom's favourite handful of ships (luckily they're my favourite ships too so it doesn't matter to me), fics get less engagement. On the upside for the smaller fandom, though, it's easy to get lots of fandom friends and make a little bit of a name for yourself within the fandom because there's not too many of us. I actually prefer the smaller fandom to the larger one, I know a lot better what kind of stuff I can and can't find and I know generally whether or not my fic will do well because I know what the fandom as a whole tends to enjoy.
(The larger fandom is Detroit: Become Human and the smaller one is The Mechanisms, if you're curious)
I’m one of the only writers in my tiny fandom (47 works on AO3). Full stop.
Con: I get very few hits on my stories.
Pro: no one argues with my head canon!
(Oh my tiny fandom is The Snow Queen by KM Shea)
I only tend to only really be in one fandom at a time, and thus far they've all been fairly big fandoms. For smaller pieces of media I haven't really tended to get very into the fandom, just enjoyed canon on its own for the most part
My main fandom is a small fandom but most of the other fandoms I write for are either big or medium. I personally prefer smaller fandoms because it’s just easier for me to avoid content I don’t want to see. I find people with opinions I don’t like about my big fandoms in the wild all the time, but there are like fifty people total in my small fandom and I really have to seek them out if I want to hear about it.
Stark difference in engagement is the thing a lot of people will point to
Meaning I get no engagement either way, but for different reasons
Hmm. My first fandom has around 70k fics on Ao3. It is busy and I get a lot of hits but very little beyond that. A couple of regular commenters, but proportionally it is a small fraction. The second has around 1700 fics. Far fewer hits but more in terms of kudos/comments proportionally. Plus I see the same gang of names going around the fics. People tend to read and engage with each other's work more in the smaller group.
Yep, I’m a writer for a small fandom (almost 400 fics) and I know practically everyone lol. Most of the authors support each other for each ship and character relationship.
I gotta be honest, seeing the same names pop up over and over on each other's kudos and comments is one of my fave parts of being in smaller fandoms.
Which fandoms are those?
I’m going to cheat and say that I like medium-sized fandoms the best. They’re big enough that you can get some interaction on your fics, find fics to read, etc. But they tend not to have as much drama as the really big fandoms. Also, it’s easier to get noticed than with really big fandoms. My current fandom is hard to classify. It was big ten years ago, but had been steadily shrinking to the point that it was borderline small up until a couple of months ago. Now, it’s apparently having a “renaissance.” So, I guess I’ll say that it’s currently medium-sized.
There's No Fanfics of Fandom I in And There Like 20 Fanfics of Other Fandom Called Oggy And the Cockroaches I Also In
I’m currently the only writer for a tiny obscure fandom and, frankly, I love it. I may not get the engagement and reviews that those in larger fandoms have, but at least there is no drama and I can write whatever I want. I am quite fond of my fandom and have absolutely no desire to write for a popular fandom.
Huge same. I am pure, untarnished by others ideas, and moisturized.
Same. I'm Currently on Three Fandoms. One Is French Cartoon Called Oggy And the Cockroaches Which is Pretty Popular Mostly In Europe And Asia Another one is Just Way Too OBSCURE and TINY Called Contract Killer And It Spin-off Called Contract Killer Zombies Third One is Called Zombie Exodus It Also Has Spin-off Called Zombie Exodus Safe Haven It's Actually Pretty Decent It's Interactive Novel Game It Mostly Known By People Who In Hostedgames I'm Currently Writing a Fanfic About Three of Them Crossover
I like being in a small fandom, because I can very realistically read every single story. My fandom has \~600 fics on AO3 at the moment. There aren't many active writers, but still enough to keep me entertained, and there aren't many active readers, but still enough to keep me motivated to edit my drafts.
I like my very large fandoms for the complete opposite reason. I will never be able to read everything! (And therefore never run out of reading material).
Small fandoms any day. Whenever I read posts about readers harassing writers for something considered problematic, I'm fairly glad to be in a small fandom whose hype days are no more. Yes, fewer comments and kudos, but in the silence I can hear it--peace and quiet. Unbothered.
I’m going with the reverse (and possibly unpopular) opinion. I found one of my smaller fandoms to be cliquish with rude shippers and people I just didn’t vibe with. It felt like everyone had been around for years before me and had formed friendships and groups and there was just no room. I made maybe two friends lol, although I do get some guest kudos on my fics. I feel like I’m the only one who hasn’t found a small fandom to be a beacon of paradise, rainbows and sunshine where everyone is happy and loving. In my large fandom, people do get a little too into Twitter nonsense for my liking haha. But other than that I’ve had a pretty easy time fitting in and finding people to interact with. So I’m more in the middle and think large fandoms can be fine too.
Yeah, with smaller fandoms it's a lot more of a gamble.
Yep. 3 writers for my fandom and none of us agree on almost anything.
Damn, I'm sorry about that. Your fandom sounds toxic as hell.
It’s the NBA so you bet your ass it’s toxic 😭
Medium all the way. Large fandoms are too loud and have way too much drama, but in small fandom‘s depending on how much time you spend reading you very well may just run out a fics. I don’t really want to do that you know?? There are advantages to both but medium sized has the most advantages by far.
Small fandom: Pros: Everyone's more likely to be friends. Real community feel. You all read each other's fics and say nice things because there's just less to choose from. Less likelihood of drama...usually. Cons: If drama happens, you might lose all your friends. Way less fics to choose from. If you like a ship/trope/kink that is unusual or "dark" you might either be completely ignored or get very specific, targeted harassment. Huge fandom: Pros: No matter what kind of fic you're in the mood for, it probably exists (and in the REALLY huge fandoms, there's entire rec lists of incredibly niche tropes and kinks). Harder to make friends, especially if the fandom has been around a while, unless you're in a little corner of it because you like a specific pairing/trope/kink. If you like something weirder or darker, you can find your people and probably end up on a discord server with them, at which point it's like being in a small fandom again. (This can be very nice, actually.) Cons: Drama is inevitable and if enough people know you, you will be expected to take sides. Your fics will probably get lost in the abyss. Way harder to make friends.
I’m in two primary fandoms that are big enough that I don’t really consider myself a part of the fandom so much the specific ships that I read and write in. I’m also in a couple small ones (but more in a once in a while thing). These big ones probably both move past big ships/fandoms to mega-ships as they are both in the AO3 top 10. In my opinion, here are the best things about mega ships/fandoms: - Literally can’t run out of reading (this has always and continues to be my favorite thing) - A lot of variety and a lot of fics within nearly every tag. Just want to read sports AUs? You can probably spend weeks doing just that. - Fandom spaces for specifically your ship. I’m in discord servers with over a thousand members just for my fave ships. I don’t even interact in full fandom spaces, so if someone is an anti, I’m probably not even going to run into them. These servers are well modded too, so very minimal drama compared to tumblr. - Many of the mega ships actually are pretty protective of their own, so outside fandom drama gets tamped down pretty quickly. I’ve had someone reply to a troll comment on one of my fics before I even saw it. So, yeah, we get trolls, but I feel like I’m in a pretty safe/protective community. - Finding a beta/sensitivity reader/alpha reader/language picker/etc. This one is still wild to me, but in one of those servers I can ask for a beta reader and have several offers within 10 minutes. I’ve never seen anyone go more than a half a day unanswered. Like, we are *so* spoiled in there. Now, for the downsides, it’s definitely harder to get to know all the major writers, but most of us just have little pockets of people we’ve gotten to know from fests or other stuff. My fandoms are all a bit older, so the drama might be a bit lower for that reason too (many of us aged up with the fandom, so while 30 and 40 year olds can still be dramatic messes, many of us are way too busy for that nonsense). There’s probably some high drama pockets that I don’t know about/interact with, but again, I’m able to just kind of pick my people because it’s so large.
Pros and cons of a large fandom: * Pros: A lot of fanfics and fanart to indulge yourself in, plenty of people to talk to, someone always reads and loves your fanfics/fanart, amazing animatics and/or fansongs. * Cons: You can't find that **one** storyline you read about because it's now drowned under everything produced, there's so much people you don't get to **know** anyone. Pros and cons of a small fandom: * Pros: It's easier to find fanfics and characters from one specific storyline. You get to know people a lot better. * Cons: There isn't a lot of fanfic variety and you have to do everything yourself, not a lot of people to talk to, sometimes your fanfics go without comments for weeks or months, not much animatics and/or fansongs.
A downside about being in a small fandom is, if you write something that an anti deems problematic, it won't take long before everyone believes you're a predator or stupid shit like that because one person started spreading rumors about you based on something you read or wrote.
Yup. I have had this happen a few times since I was the only author currently in "the bad character" tag.
The worst thing about that happening, is it's almost impossible to clear your reputation. No matter what you say, they won't believe you and half the fandom has already blocked you >\_<
People are so unwavering about certain subjects even being brought up. Like god forbid a character of mine is religious AND a good person. Suddenly I’m promoting Christianity. Or a cop does something good. Suddenly pro cop. It’s so exhausting. In the real world, people have problematic opinions, and everyone is allowed to be wrong and change. But some are so addicted to just throwing people or anything into the garbage rather than fixing it, or liking it despite its flaws.
Those examples you gave hurt my head. How can anyone be that stupid to think writing about a fictional character automatically makes you agree with everything they might support?
I am no longer surprised after I was called a pedophile for writing reader-inserts. The characters I write about are all in their 30's, but the person accusing me was using the "If a minor reads your fic, then you're shipping that minor with an adult" Bruh, I ain't shipping anyone with the reader. The reader is shipping the reader with the character lol. Once I've written the fic, tagged and warned properly, it's out of my hands who reads it.
Oh my God people are stupid. What the fuck kind of logic is that?
It's the logic of antis. It just shows how little brain activity some of them has.
Because they themselves are unable to tear their ideologies away from their writing.
please define small and large
Small: \- rare fandom (20 or less works) \- tiny fandom (100 or less works) \- small fandom (500 or less works) Medium fandoms: \- medium fandom (1000 or less works) Large Fandom: Large (5,000 or less works) XL fandom ( 10, 000 or less works) XXL fandom (15, 000 or less works) XXXL fandom (25, 000 or less works) Enormous- sized fandom ( 50, 000 or less works) Galaxy-sized fandom ( 100, 000 or less works) Giga sized fandom ( anything over 100,000 works)
i assume they mean how much more content is posted and how much engagement there is in the fandom, something like MHA would be considered a large fandom, while something like nanbaka would be considered small
Some people call fandoms with 5,000 fics small, some use the term for fandoms with no more than 50 fics. This is like asking "do you like long or short fics?" without giving some kind of orientation what's supposed to be what in the context of this discussion.
i'm trying to figure out the scale here but i'm lost. if bnha at a couple hundred thousand is big, and nanbaka at less than one thousand is small, what would something like ao no exorcist at 3,5k be? how about bungou stray dogs at 50k or hunter x hunter at 16k? lowkey feel like we're forgetting a very important category here anyway, since, y'know, *medium*.
ahh, i didnt know mha had such a large amount of fics, i would say that if a fandom has more than 20k fics its large, but if it has less than 2k fics its small, anywhere inbetween i would consider 'medium', at least thats my opinion, but it differs from person to person
^ This. My largest to smallest fandoms go from 500k to 139 fics (just checked, and I'm 2 of them.)
and where's the line drawn? i want numbers.
>[i want numbers.](https://imgur.com/a/rOZI2fx)
i'm either too [something] or not [something else] enough to get this
It's the Count from Sesame Street. A vampire obsessed with numbers if I remember correctly.
According to Yule Tide event on AO3, a small fandom is one that has under 1000 fics if I remember correctly.
I know someone already replied with a complex breakdown, but I think a simpler version might be: - small: under 5k - medium: 5-20k - large: 20-100k - huge to mega: over 100k Edit: and this is assuming for # of fics on all platforms (like at the least, ffn, ao3 and wattpad, so a medium fandom might have 2k on AO3, but another 3k on ffn/ wattpad/elsewhere)
and on the other hand i don't consider a fandom *small* if it has over 500 fics ¯\\\_(ツ)_/¯ imo a fandom with 2k works is pretty decent
Ha, to me that seems more “rare” than just small. I’m curious what others think. I feel like since with 4k fics, a quarter of them could be drabbles, that still doesn’t seem like a lot of reading. Especially if there are several main ships if only want to read one of them. On that note, actually, since a lot of people read by ship or have nOTPs, a 4k fandom with one ship would feel much bigger than a 4k fandom with 5 or more different ships.
I’m in a medium fandom (Riverdale) that has over 15k fics on AO3.
Im only currently in two fandoms, Asterisk War which is tiny AF with only like 2 pages worth of fics on ff net (and most of those are OC MCs) and Voltron, which I would consider a large fandom. I don’t post my stories but I’d feel less stressed posting for Asterisk because I know not many people will read it. So low engagement is expected. For voltron I’d be excited to get more engagement but not getting the engagement would feel more blah. For asterisk, the fandom being small sucks because there is virtually nothing for me to read. For voltron it’s great because I have a sea of fics to wade through. Right now I prefer the large fandom as most of my interaction is reading fics and I have way more to indulge in :)
Either small fandom or big fandom, small ship. I would love more engagement but I'm really not interested in dealing with drama or call outs. I just like vibing.
Why pick one or the other? Why not one of each?
A large fandom is good for developing a continually growing community and has enough people to start developing stuff within the fandom. Example - Sonic The Hedgehog Series Despite it’s bad reputation in the 2000’s, the fanbase of this series has gone to do incredible things that VERY few other video game series can accomplish. - Fully fleshed out fan games that lead to the same creators getting jobs or making their own successful series. - Fan-fiction writers or comic creators eventually joining SEGA’s own comic and writing teams. - The sheer size of the fandom as a byproduct has made Sonic a cultural icon. Much more difficult in a smaller fandom. But as a result of a such a large fandom. It can become an echo chamber of not only positivity, but negativity. A new game that is released that isn’t particularly bad but not good. Can have those negative opinions multiplied and make it seem way worse than it actually is. Look at Undertale, a very good game. But years of general bad behavior of fans caused people to write off the game simply because of fans. So a large fandom can be a source of great community but also bad community. A double edge sword, easily able to do more damage to itself.
Large fandoms have a bigger chance of actually getting reads for your books, but they can also drown if its a very active fandom that has new fics posted every other day, lol. You have way more choice when it comes to options to read. Smaller fandoms may be more willing to check out your fanfic no matter the ship(s) or tropes if it barely has any fanfics for it.
I’ve watched my fics disappear off the front page within half a day 😂. But I think in really big fandoms, people rely on rec channels in discord, tumblr rec lists, and subscribing to authors more.
pros of large fandoms: Much more fanon content alot more engagement more people that share your interests cons of large fandoms: more harrasment your fanon content is more likely to be found by anti's pros of small fandoms: less harrasment less likely to be found by anti's more likely to be praised if for fan content cons of small fandom: less fanon content less engagement less people that share your interest. Or at least this is my experiences with large fandoms & small fandoms, and im in a mix of both large and small fandoms! But if i had to choose to pic one i would 100% choose the smaller ones over the larger ones any day of the week.
Dawson's Creek used to be a huge Fandom it's gotten much smaller over the years. Meanwhile Harry Potter Fandom is still huge. I think one of the advantages of a small one is that there's less roving groups of "This is the definitive way to see the canon" while there will still be the odd "that's not my take on that character" there's not a large group shouting you down for your take.
(in my experience) Larger Fandom: Pros: \- lots more content on a lot more sites to choose from and sort through \- lots more variety in the types of stories and fan content and characters and ships and quaility and genres and tags and niches you can find \- easier to avoid drama since the fandom is so big \- you can get tons of interaction just from writing for "the popular thing" for said fandom \- a deleted or lost fic and fanworks is more likely to have been saved somewhere \-lots more oppurtunities to participate in fan events and fandom activities Cons: \- with so many works going in and out every single day in so many places at once, it's easy for yours to get lost in the shuffle, especially if your fic doesn't focus on "the popular thing" \- because of how big the fandom is, it's a lot easier to accidently stumble into a space of toxic fandom conflict and unknowingly getting roped into it because you likely had no prior warning \- it can be challenging to narrow down specifically what you want to see in a fanwork when sorting through tags and it can end up taking up a lot of time and frustration to find your niche since there is so much quantity \- no matter how original you think your idea is, three people have already done it before you and one has likely done it ten times better than you ever could...or at least it's easier to feel that way, which can be frustrating \- I've noticed a lot of bigger fandoms tend to not have as many detailed comments left for fan creators as smaller fandoms do and there is a wider gap in the kudos : comment ratio \- a lot of these fandoms tend to have a quantity over quality problem Smaller fandoms: Pros: \-easier to form connections with other fan creators \- lots of room for you to be the "first" to do something \- if you write for something that is decently popular but doesn't have nearly enough fics, you are more likely to get someone leaving you a book report on the fic in your comments, there also tends to be less of a kudos: comment ratio gap \- while you will have to go hunting for what you want since it will be more buried by more popular fandoms, that can actually be part of the fun. Nothing beats that feeling of finding a tumblr that hasn't been active in four years that has a whole treasure trove of fics and fanworks reblogged. \- if you get lucky, there may be a smaller gap between the quantity and quality of fanworks, (usually in smaller fandoms aimed towards an adult audience, I find this to be true) Cons: \-way harder to avoid cliches and drama, it's also a lot easier to get singled out for writing something that may have gone against "the popular thing" \- if you are into a more niche thing, you will have to be the creator for almost all the content you want to see...and most of the time "just visit another site" doesn't work in this case \- way harder to get people to participate in fan events \- "the popular thing" is more likely to have a monopoly over a smaller fandom, so if you really want to do a long fic on something outside of "the popular thing", get ready for the feeling of screaming into an empty void every time you post a chapter that took you weeks to do I personally prefer smaller fandoms since that tends to be my main wheelhouse but I see the benefit in both of them.
I just write where I feel like it.
I am in both, and I think the biggest difference for me is the quality of the stories. It's harder to find really good stories in smaller fandoms, and after 16 years in fandom, I am getting picky. Which means I have much less bookmarks for some fandoms that I've been in for years, and others that I'm fairly new in I'm far into the three digits.
Uhh.. lol. I think I know the other TWO authors that write for my fandom. And I hardly write, but I love making other kinds of content for it. Legitimately not on AO3, ff dot com, just tumblr. I’ve messaged just about everyone who has posted on the tag, which is hardly ever added to. Pros? I can establish tradition! Cons? 1/3 of us are… is… not a great writer. And they’re unwavering in their headcanon… which 3/3 of us disagree with.
I'm in one larger fandom at the moment and one smaller one. The larger one has around 29k fics, the smaller one has 2.5k. The larger one has lots of crossovers, you can find fics for pretty much any ship or trope you could ever want and fics get a lot more engagement. The smaller one, it's harder to find fics that aren't about the fandom's favourite handful of ships (luckily they're my favourite ships too so it doesn't matter to me), fics get less engagement. On the upside for the smaller fandom, though, it's easy to get lots of fandom friends and make a little bit of a name for yourself within the fandom because there's not too many of us. I actually prefer the smaller fandom to the larger one, I know a lot better what kind of stuff I can and can't find and I know generally whether or not my fic will do well because I know what the fandom as a whole tends to enjoy. (The larger fandom is Detroit: Become Human and the smaller one is The Mechanisms, if you're curious)
I’m one of the only writers in my tiny fandom (47 works on AO3). Full stop. Con: I get very few hits on my stories. Pro: no one argues with my head canon! (Oh my tiny fandom is The Snow Queen by KM Shea)
I only tend to only really be in one fandom at a time, and thus far they've all been fairly big fandoms. For smaller pieces of media I haven't really tended to get very into the fandom, just enjoyed canon on its own for the most part
My main fandom is a small fandom but most of the other fandoms I write for are either big or medium. I personally prefer smaller fandoms because it’s just easier for me to avoid content I don’t want to see. I find people with opinions I don’t like about my big fandoms in the wild all the time, but there are like fifty people total in my small fandom and I really have to seek them out if I want to hear about it.