let’s talk about ao3 profiles

They’re so under-used, and it’s a real shame. Your profile is a place where you can talk about yourself and your fandoms. It’s where you can link out to your social media or other ways to contact you outside of your comments section.

Do you have an instagram account for your fanart? Do you make fanvids and post them on youtube? Are you part of a fan or writing discord server? Link that stuff so that other people can find you and say hi.

Profiles are also a great place to put a permissions statement. This is a statement that lets other creators know that you welcome fanart of your fic. Or fanfic of your fics. Or you’d be happy if someone recorded your story as a podfic. You can give permissions for translation, transformation, printing, and whatever else you think someone might want to do with your fic.

Giving people the tools to contact you and the up-front permission to transform your fic makes it easier for them to do those things. Not only do you give them the tools they need to do so, but you also remove the anxiety of not knowing whether you’d be okay with it.

If you haven’t used your profile page before or don’t know where to find it, look in your AO3 dashboard. It’s in the left hand sidebar (if you’re on desktop. If you’re on mobile, it’s in the links at the top of the screen).

If you need help with formatting in html, here’s a How to Guide you can reference. For more information about profiles, here’s the AO3 FAQ about them. For more information about permissions statements, check out this Fanlore article (and the various links inside it)

Tell people what they need to know in order to reach out to you ❤