snowgall

I'm interested in seeing how the popularity in HD fanfic has changed over time, and I thought one way to do that would be to look at how many fics get posted to fests each year.

I did a count for 2014 a couple of months ago, but before I can count how many fics were posted in 2013, 2012, etc. I need to know how many fests there were each of those years.

Question: Has anyone else already done this? I hope I'm not duplicating someone else's efforts!

To start with, I'm just going to look at Drarry-focused fests, not more general HP fests. I went through hp_masterlists and tried to come up with a chart of HD fests through the years. The html table is inserted below the cut. (You may have to use the slider bar at the bottom of the post to see the whole thing - I seem to have trouble formatting wide tables to fit within LJ's specifications. It's very frustrating):

Edit: screenshot here (click to enlarge). HTML table is still below the cut

General observations:

• There were a lot fewer fests before 2010 than after. This could be because I've inadvertently left some out. If anyone has any corrections please let me know.
• 2011 had more HD fests than any other year (counting communities who put on more than one fest that year)
• 2014 had the second most fests of any year, which seems to indicate that interest is not waning :)
• I chose not to include hds_beltane, since that fest also includes fics that aren't HD
• I also chose not to include comment fests, since those are harder to make counts of, but I could be persuaded to change my mind

Of course, more fests don't necessarily mean more fics. If could be that one year had a lot of fests with hardly any fics. I won't know until I've done a count.

But that brings up another question: should I count drabbles in the overall fic count? For example, in 2010, hd_birthdaybash had a couple of drabble-a-thons which produced several dozen drabbles. If I counted each of these as a 'fic', that would probably skew the count for 2010. Anyone have an opinion on this?

And again, any corrections or suggestions are welcome. And if you can't see the full table, let me know and I'll try to fix it (or if you know how to get LJ to like my tables, that would also be helpful :)