What Is Up With All These Ads Cropping Up On AO3?!

I just got a comment on my fic Life Drinkers this morning and responded before taking both comments down. I want to show you, but at the same time I don’t want to give this asshat any attention. Please don’t read the fanfic they mentioned (or do…but…). I checked out the site and saw the ratings and comments. I believe most positive comments are bought and the whole fic is just a money making scheme (if not anything worse).

I don’t know, maybe times are just changing. Are fic authors posting new chapters of their fics on Patreon before posting to fic sites? That’s what this guy’s doing. Clearly he’s just trying to make money.

Don’t get me wrong, it’s okay to make money, but not from fanfiction. That’s why I have my originals on sites like Barnes & Noble and Smashwords. I love fanfiction, but I also want to make money doing what I love.

Here’s the comment he/she left and my reply (Sorry, I know it’s a little hard to read).

So is it just me, or is this an ad? I feel like their guest username is a giveaway.

Ok, just did some more digging. Not only is this story on fic sites and Patreon, it’s also on Youtube as an audiobook. But apparently the chapters are so short that they have multiple (a.k.a 15!) to pad out the runtime. So their getting money on Patreon and Youtube ad revenue for fanfiction.

Ok, so the account on Youtube is called Mythic Audiobooks and they are a brand new account (Joined Feb. 10th 2024) . So far I’ve heard two different voices narrating these chapters.

So I just found out this fic has over 400 chapters! What?!

Is this actually a company putting this fic out there? What is going on? I feel like I just stumbled upon a rabbit hole. I still have not read this fic, just comments, but maybe I’ll do a deeper dive and find out more shit. But anyway, this isn’t normal, right? I’m not crazy, right?

I have to go to work right now, but I’m not done talking about this. I’m going to keep diving into this shit.