Here is a list I compiled with my lovely flist:

1) Have you made sure that your work is error free and quality?  

Post it at archive sites, use a beta and ask for help making it better. A lot of people say that want constructive criticism, but in actuality just want people to tell them it is good. So ask for help, acknowledge the help and actively work on improving the chapter. People are shy about sharing their criticisms and editing suggestions, because many people have offered them and then been ignored or the author has gotten mad at them. Understand this problem.

2) Still struggling to make your writing better?

Please check out writing tips in books and online. Writing does not come naturally. It is a trade that needs to be practiced. There is a reason why every college requires students to take English 101, and 102 as a minimum. If you were to actually pursue writing as a career you would have to take more classes, accept editors and learn to ask for help. This is said not to be mean, but for you to understand that every author has to practice, edit and revise.

3) So your writing is pretty good & you are still not getting nominated?

The next question is where are people reading your fics at? If they are reading it at an archive which does not list the dates that it was published you may not get nominated. Why does this even matter? Awards sites and people who nominate fics want to make sure that stories they are nominating are by active authors who will appreciate the award. If you have no date on your story then it could be several years old and you could have left the community. Without a date we don't know if you wrote it 5 years ago or 5 days ago. When archiving fics always make sure that there is a date and a referring url on your site (either your website or a live journal. Live journal is free and you can archive your own stories there). That was people will know you are still in the fandom.

4) More on Dates

You can still be nominated for fics that are older, the important thing is that there is a website or journal to link to so that people who are trying to determine if you are in the fandom still, can click on the link and check to see when your last update is. This is also important because some awards sites require that WIP's have been updated within a certain amount of time (2 months, 6 months, etc.). Final note on dates: If you have a website, please put dates on your site. If there are no dates, and no way to tell if you are active or not then people will not nominate you.

5) Another word on archives

Some archives are more likely to lead to nominations then others, as judges, award site owners, and readers tend to frequent certain sites. The bulk of nominations I receive or nominate myself come from three or four sites. I try to advertise everywhere - but some sites are more likely to have people nominate fics then others. Ironically, another site I judge at is composed of a ton of fics from an archive that I do not get a lot of nominations from.

6) Email

Does your fic have your email on it and does it work? Trust me on this one - if we can't find your email, or if email's bounce back your chances of receiving a nomination are zero. Furthermore, emails through hotmail and livejournal can get lost, it helps to have a reliable one like yahoo or gmail.

7) Availability and Readers

Where are you posting? If you are posting in places where people will not find your work then you will not get nominated. Cross-post. The more people reading your fics, the more likely you will find people to nominate you.

8) There is no place to link to your fic.

If your story is not located in an easy to link to place then you will not get nominated. Example: Fics archived on locked chat boards and Internet groups that are locked, judges might not have a password and will not get one to read your fic. It will be rejected. Also fics that are not archived into memories on live journal. Last, frame sets where you can not link to the specific page. If it will only go to an index page then some sites will disqualify the fic.

9) Socialize, make friends and respond to reviewers  

People are more likely to review if they know the nominations are appreciated. If you never respond to reviewers they don't know you care about their reviews. If you get nominated mention it and say a thank you even if you don't know who did. You crave feedback? Well so do the reviewers and people who nominate you. A simple thank you to people who review or people who nominate increases your chances of receiving another nomination.

10) Pairings

You write an unusual pairing that doesn't have many readers. People are less inclined to nominate fics with pairings they don't read. In this case you might need to search out and self-nom - people do it all the time. There are sites with specialized categories and ones that look for the unusual. Doesn't hurt to find them and nom yourself.

11) Self-Nominations

Don't be afraid to nominate yourself. Sometimes you might need to nom yourself, just to get the fic and your name out there and read. If judges and readers recognize your name from previous rounds, it can help you get some attention. However, I wouldn't do that unless you are sure it's an award-worthy story. You don't want them to remember that your nominated fic wasn't very good!

From my Flist: 

12) Note on having or asking people to nom you

Your friends, readers and reviewers should nominate you when they think you have a story that deserves recognition. However, I don't think your friends do you any favors when they nominate fics that really aren't award caliber just because they are your friends. Judges, readers, etc. will see those and perhaps dismiss any other noms you might get in the future, assuming, correctly or not, that it will be the same caliber fic. So that first, "your my friend and I want you to feel good" nom can come back to bite you on the ass if you have improved as a writer, or perhaps revamped a story so that it's better, and judges and readers don't bother with it because they were disappointed the first time.

13) Confirmations

Make sure that when you self-nom or if you know someone else nommed you and you didn't recieve confirmation about it, that the person filled out the form correctly.  A person not reading the rules, and thus filling out the form wrong is a common issue and often results in the deletion of the nomination.

14) Artwork

If you have artwork that is NC-17 you might want to include that with the author's note. Some judges are offended by art work that has nudity or sex acts. It might be an idea to put it in the top of any story that it will include this to prepare a judge or voter.

Please feel free to submit your suggestions as well!

Brought to you by the BTVS Awards

Well, based on this list, I seem to be doing pretty good! ;)  I will admit that I've self-nominated in the past. haven't won anything yet, but I definitely got more views of my stories. It really does take a while to get known when you're a new(er) author, especially if you start with a non-main pairing. I didn't write Spuffy until my 3rd story.

CM

I see nothing wrong with self nomming at all - as long as the story is deserving of a nomination. I have been known to self - nominate of course it always makes me feel better to recieve one when i have no clue who did it!

It does!

Caro Mio

I did it once, notice more traffic to my site too! But nothing is better than when you go to read your e-mail and see that someone has nomminated you at a site. Makes you feel all warm inside. Now, only if I can win an awards ROFL.

What you said!  Great suggestions.  Especially the ones about being sure the fic is accessible to the judges (*cough, pet peeve at the moment, *cough).  Actually, they are all important hints.  It's hard to single out one or two as being more important than others.

Stupid question,

Now when you're a judge you have to read every fic submitted? Or are you assigned a certain number to read? 

You have to read all the ones in the categories you are judging... and you try to read ones from the other categories too in order to give your Judge's choice.

Ah, I see.  Thanks! :)

It really depends on the site - I have been a judge at few that required you to read every fic submitted.  Since that was a hunderd or more I had to resign my position as judge not possible. Other sites I judge at require only one category, but some like Fang Fetish Awards have a minimum requirement (we require 4 categories)

You judged at a site that said you had to read 100 fics or more!? Gah... that's insane... I hope they gave you a LOT of time to do it in?

Nope they only gave me two weeks - needless to say I only did one round.... Luckily I had read some before (it was spuffy only) - but I didn't do as good as a job as I would have liked.