#aboex

What is the ABO exchange?

ABO exchange is a fan creation exchange based around the Alpha/Beta/Omega trope. Participants sign up to create a fic or art based along a request made by another particpant. In return they will recieve a work based around their own request.

What is ABO?According to Fanlore:"Alpha/Beta/Omega or Alpha/Omega (occasionally Alpha/Beta) is a kink trope wherein some or all people have defined biological roles based on a hierarchical system, with the terms originating from animal behaviour research. There may be werewolf, knotting, or other animalistic elements involved, or the characters may be otherwise purely human."

What are the fic and art minimums?For fic, the minimum is 1,000 words. For art, the minimum is one 500x500 piece, or multiple pieces that add up to that.  Works must include at least one of the ships the recipient requested, and follow the guidelines for the ABO trope. You are not required to follow anything else from their request or letter, but please respect their do not wants as much as possible.

Why are there gaps in the schedule, like between nominations and sign ups?The gaps in the schedule are to allow enough time for the mods to make sure everything is correct at every step. After nominations close, the mods will accept and reject any remaining nominations, as well as merging any that need it. Other gaps are to give enough time for AO3 to run sign up matching after sign ups close and for participants to edit their works after they’re due or for pinch hitters to submit works.

Do I need an AO3 account to participate?Yes, you will need an AO3 account to participate as everything will be run through the ABOex AO3 collection. If you do no thave an account, you can request an invite from AO3 before sign ups by going to the Invite Request page and adding your name to the queue. The page will show you how long you'll have to wait for an invite, generally a few days.

How can I keep up with announcements?All announcements and reminders will be crossposted on the ABO Exchange livejournal and tumblr.

What are nominations?During nominations, people use an AO3 form to submit ships that they would like to see included in the fest. This will create a tag set which is used for making requests and offers during sign ups. Each person is allowed to nominate up to 6 fandoms and 10 ships. Mods will accept and reject nominations as they come in. You can only edit your nominations until they have been accepted or rejected.You do not have to nominate in order to participate or participate in order to nominate.

What ships are eligible?All fandoms are welcome in this exchange, including original work. For all RPF fics the following rules apply:RPF characters must be 18+ at the time of work reveals.Do not include non-famous RPF characters family or friends in your work.RPF nominations may be removed at the request of the of the person in question.

How does sign ups work?During sign ups, people use an AO3 form to request and offer the characters and/or ships from the nominated tag set. Each participant must sign up for 4 unique fandoms with at least 1 pairing for each fandom. You may sign up for up to 10 fandoms, and up to 10 ships per fandom. Each person must offer at least 4 fandoms with at least 2 ships per fandom.  You may offer up to 10 fandoms and 10 ships per fandom. You can edit your sign up at any time until sign ups end. For a detailed tutorial on how to sign up for any challenge on AO3, see this post.

What are “optional details”?“Optional details” is a space on the sign up where you can add extra information about your request. This can be a good chance to let the person creating for you know about the kind of work you would like to receive, or not like to receive. Good things to include might be AUs you like, do not wants, favorite tropes or genres, prompts, etc. You do not have to include any information here unless you would like to and the person creating for you has no obligation to include any of the “optional details” in the work they create. We do ask creators to honor any squicks, do not wants, or triggers.

What are Dear Creator letters?These are letters posted to personal journals, blogs, etc. that give creators more information about the kind of work you would like to receive. Like the “optional details” on the sign up, letters are entirely optional. We suggest that you put anything important in the optional details as there is no guarantee your creator will look at your letter.There will be a space on the sign ups where you can link your letter so your creator can find it easily. There will also be a post on the ABO Exchange livejournal where you can link your letter. This will allow other participants to see your requests in case they would like to create treats.

What are treats?Treats are unassigned works created just for fun. Treats do not have to meet the minimum requirements for the fest, though we do ask that you still honor squicks, do not wants, and triggers. There is no way to differentiate between assignments and treats, so you may want to mention in your author’s note that the work is a treat. There is no guarantee that you will get a treat, though having a letter linked in the letters post will increase your chances.

Can I contact my recipient? Can I talk about my assignment on my blog?We ask that if you really feel you need to contact your recipient for information, you do it anonymously. A better option is to contact a mod and have them work as an intermediary.

Please also do not publicly discuss the details of your work, including who it is for, or upload your work publicly anywhere else before author reveals.

How do I post my work?You can post your work in two ways. You can go to your “Assignments” page on AO3 and click on the assignment for this fest or go to the ABO Exchange collection and click Your Assignment. You can click either “Post to Fulfill” or “Default”. Clicking “Post to Fulfill” will take you to the posting form. This will automatically post your work to this year’s ABO exchange collection with your recipient’s name already filled in. Just fill out the rest of the form, preview, and post.

If you’re posting a treat, you won’t have a “Post to Fulfill” button, so you will need to go to the ABO Exchange collection and click “Post to Collection” and fill in your recipient’s name by hand. Then fill out the rest of the form, preview, and post.

You can post your work any time before the assignment due date. You may make edits and minor reveals before reveals, but please do not post an incomplete work. All works will show as “Mystery Work” by anonymous until reveals.

What is, and do I need, a beta reader?A beta reader is basically a person who goes over your work to make sure that there are no spelling/grammatical errors and they can even be of assistance in helping you with story lines, etc. It is highly recommended that a beta looks over your work before posting, whether you are doing fic, or art.

What are reveals?Story reveals are when posted works are switched from hidden to visible. Participants are notified by AO3 by email that they have a gift waiting for them, with a link to the work. You can also look under “Gifts” on your profile to find a gift work. Author names will still be hidden at this point. Logged in authors can reply to comments on AO3, which will under the name “Anonymous Creator” until author reveals.

Author reveals are when when author names switch from anonymous to showing the author name. At this point, authors may crosspost their works wherever they’d like.

Can I drop out?We have high hopes that everybody who signs up can actually finish their assignment, but real life can unfortunately get in the way and we completely understand! If you feel like you just cannot finish in time and no amount of assistance from us can help you, just let us know as soon as possible so we can find a pinch hitter. Participants who do not post a work, contact a mod for an extention, or default by January 7th risk being banned from the next round of the ABO exchange.

What is a pinch hitter?A pinch hitter is someone who comes in to create a work for someone whose original creator has defaulted. This makes sure as much as we can that everyone who signs ups receives a gift. Pinch hitters will generally have a much shorter timeline to create their work. Most will be due on the regular deadline of January 1. Some that are sent out after then may be due later. Post-deadline pinch hits need to be posted asap, though within 48 hours is preferable. Treats that meet the minimum fest requirements may be used as pinch hits in some cases.