Have you ever seen those automated “Works inspired by this one” notes at the bottom of a fic on AO3, and wondered how to get those working? A few folks have asked me how to list covers I make for them like that, and I realised that some people might be missing info on how this feature works.
When I make my fanfic covers, I mark them as “inspired” works in the AO3 upload interface. But recently, it’s come to my attention that not everyone knows that you have to approve these inspired works to get them to show up. The same goes for translations, btw.
Normally, when someone posts a work and marks it as a translation, or inspired by something you’ve written, you should receive an email. However, sometimes these emails don’t come through, and sometimes I think people just skim them and don’t notice that they have to manually approve the works.
So, to approve the work(s), go to your AO3 dash and scroll to the bottom of the navigation menu, to the option that says “Related Works”. At the top, you should see any pending related works that other folks have created for you. Simply click the button to approve them, and the links between them will be automatically generated.
If you ever feel the need to revoke these links (you feel they no longer suit the story, you had a falling out with the creator, whatever), you can just go back to that page and click the “Remove” button and the links back and forth will disappear.
Useful info! o/
One small clarification: If you click the “Remove” button for a work relationship, it will only remove the link at the bottom of your own work. The “Inspired by” information will still be displayed on the remix/fanart/translation/podfic etc. The other person will have to remove this information themselves to unlink the works in both directions.
Oh, good to know! Thanks! I’ve never removed one personally.
Handy guide!