@fic writers: here’s how to fix the ao3 updating/posting glitch
@awesomeavocadolove updated “Consider the Moon,” and her tumblr thread reminded me to share this tidbit:
DON’T POST FICS BETWEEN 12 AM AND 5 AM UTC.
Have you ever posted/updated a fic, and it appears pages behind the list of newly updated fics? It’s a well-known glitch, and it’s caused when one of two things happen: a) you post between 12:00 AM and 5:00 AM UTC or b) you’ve posted from a draft you’ve already created. Here’s how to fix:
a) Convert UTC to your time zone, and be careful to post either before or after that time slot. Your fic should then appear on the first page and should stay there for several hours. I used to post at 8:00 CST until I learned that my “unsafe” time slot was 6:00 pm to 11:00 pm CST. Now I always post around 5:00 pm.
Here’s a link for a converter site: https://www.utctime.net/utc-to-cst-converter
“This can also affect chapters being added to works, as once the system thinks a work is backdated, it will treat it as being backdated forever. To fix this, you can go in and edit the chapter to update the date to the current day you’ve posted it. It may not put it all the way to the top of the fandom list, but it should get it much closer.“
Go back and edit! Don’t let your hard work be robbed of its well-earned visibility!
b) Always make a new draft, paste the final version of your fic into it, then post it immediately. If you publish from a draft, it will post the fic on the day the draft was created. So, if I created a draft on Monday and posted Thursday, my fic would appear several pages back along with the other fics that were updated on Monday. If you’re worried about the italics/spacing glitch, do the following:
1) Italicize the quotation marks/punctuation/whatever comes before and after the italicized word(s). Ex (using bold to demonstrate italics):
“What are you doing.” vs. "What are you doing.”
“Are you okay?” vs. “Are you okay?”
Always do the latter–before and after the italicized word.
2) If you’re writing in Google Docs, select all your text, go to “Line Spacing,” and click “add space after paragraph.” Then, when you past to ao3, you’ll have normal line spacing. If the double line spacing is your thing, then don’t worry about it.
For more information about formatting, see: https://archiveofourown.org/works/6981169/chapters/15908851
For more information about the posting glitch, see: https://www.reddit.com/r/FanFiction/comments/ck8w85/be_careful_posting_on_ao3_between_12_am_and_5_am/
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