Somewhat random Ao3 advice thread:
1) Rate your fic. It helps you pick up visibility, and fics without a rating tend to get overlooked because people search for either explicit or teen.

Rate it like a movie:
G= G/PG
T= PG-13
M = R
E = NC-17

2) Creator Chose not to Use Archive Warnings is not the same as No Archive Warnings Apply.

What Creator chose not to Use means is that there could be content in your fic that fits the archive warnings but you're going to leave it untagged 1/2

Only use creator chose not to use archive warnings if there's a chance that something could come up or you choose not to put spoilers in your tags.

That said, please for the love of god tag triggering content. 2/2

3) Adding tags can only help you. Tagging tropes can help people searching for that trope to find your fic, hence why you see people tagging "first kiss" and "bed sharing" and not just using tags for triggery/squicky material.

Also, one man's trash is another man's treasure 1/2

trope. For real. Tag things. It really can only help you. Your fics can only get MORE traffic through tagging. It does the world wonders. 2/2

4) Readers, be mindful of what you put in your bookmark notes/tags. If you leave the bookmark public, the author can see it, so if you say something about the fic that might not be nice, they will see it and that can hurt people. Be mindful. Mark private if you need.

5) Having an estimated chapter count HELPS A TON. You can change it depending on how many more/fewer chapters the fic ends up being, but giving people an estimation of how long the fic has until completion builds trust.

6) I feel like most people know this but for those who don't: the "&" between two characters means the relationship is platonic and they're just friends. the "/" is for romantic pairings. If you're just using the "&" there's probably a chunk of readers you're missing out on.

7) To accept your work into collections people have invited it into, click on the collections page beneath bookmarks, hit manage collected works, and then BOOM you can approve or reject your work's addition into a collection.

8) (just thought of this one) Common TW/CWs to tag for:

- pregnancy
- professor / student
- any kink. ANY.
- power dynamics
- dubcon — if it goes into full rape territory dear sweet baby Jesus use the archive warning
- blood

There’s more, but point is: don’t be an asshole