Jumping in here because I love studying fanfic dynamics.
I've noticed that "popular" pairings/stories meet the 90% crap criteria. That's because everyone's writing them, everyone's reading them.
For a niche fandom, or stories about Character X that only 10 people read about, you have a high percentage of good fic. That's because the authors are generally writing out of love of writing and because they truly believe. They know they won't get much (if any) feedback, they know they're writing for a small audience, so the desire to dash off something fast is quashed.
These same good writers exist for popular pairings/scenarios, unfortunately, they're drowned out by the masses (often teenagers) who are writing because they think it's cool, or they want feedback, or they think it's fun to type out 1000 words, spellcheck and post.
If there are people writing cr@ppy minor pairings/scenarios, then they have the problem of where to post/how to get their stories out there. Lack of specialist communities or archives means the stories will be hidden in personal journals or one story out of 100 on a 'general' community. Most people will skim right past. And if your stories are getting ignored on a community, are you going to continue posting there? Only the good writers would because they'd be confident in their own work. Novices generally sulk and give up.
Re: Also...
I've noticed that "popular" pairings/stories meet the 90% crap criteria. That's because everyone's writing them, everyone's reading them.
For a niche fandom, or stories about Character X that only 10 people read about, you have a high percentage of good fic. That's because the authors are generally writing out of love of writing and because they truly believe. They know they won't get much (if any) feedback, they know they're writing for a small audience, so the desire to dash off something fast is quashed.
These same good writers exist for popular pairings/scenarios, unfortunately, they're drowned out by the masses (often teenagers) who are writing because they think it's cool, or they want feedback, or they think it's fun to type out 1000 words, spellcheck and post.
If there are people writing cr@ppy minor pairings/scenarios, then they have the problem of where to post/how to get their stories out there. Lack of specialist communities or archives means the stories will be hidden in personal journals or one story out of 100 on a 'general' community. Most people will skim right past. And if your stories are getting ignored on a community, are you going to continue posting there? Only the good writers would because they'd be confident in their own work. Novices generally sulk and give up.