Authors: Check Out These 21 Fan Fiction Sites By Scott Lorenz, Westwind Communications
Join me in welcoming back, Scott Lorenz, book publicist and president of Westwind Communications, as he discusses “Authors: Check Out These 21 Fan Fiction Sites.” Enjoy!
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Overview: Fan Fiction is a great way for aspiring authors to hone their craft.
Amanda Hocking started out writing fan fiction and she was signed to a multimillion dollar book deal. Fifty Shades of Grey author E. L. James started writing fan fiction after she finished reading the Twilight saga, and hasn’t stopped since. Here’s a list of 21 Fan Fiction sites for authors to consider.
Ever thought about writing fan fiction? Many authors started out writing on fanfic sites.
Amanda Hocking started out writing fan fiction and she was signed to a multimillion dollar book deal. Fifty Shades of Grey author E. L. James says “I started writing in January 2009 after I finished reading the Twilight saga, and I haven’t stopped since. I discovered Fan Fiction in August 2009. Since then I have written my two fics and plan on doing at least one more. After that… who knows?” Taking a stab at fan fiction under the pen name Snowqueens Icedragon has certainly served James well. The fan fiction morphed into the Fifty Shades of Grey trilogy, which has earned the British author $95 million, including $5 million for the film rights.
Keep in mind that these websites translate very easily across various technologies. People will be able to read your work on a desktop, tablet, or smartphone. Review my list of these top 21 fan fiction sites and see where your work could fit in and stand out.
- Good Reads. http://www.goodreads.com/story/tag/fanfiction. With over 18 million users, members of the site can share their work, about 400 of which are fan fiction. The most popular books are inspired by Twilight, Harry Potter, and Naruto.
- https://www.fanfiction.net. FanFiction is considered to be world’s largest fan fiction archive on the web. The site launched in October 1998 and currently has well over 2 million users. The most popular sections on FanFiction are Harry Potter (675,000 titles), Twilight (215,000 titles), and Lord of the Rings (51,000 titles).
- http://www.fictionalley.org/. Founded in 2001, the site boasts over 60,000 registered users. Also, in 2006, FictionAlley launched HarryPotterWiki, which was the first wiki to blend information about the Harry Potter book series’ characters, places, magic and things, with fan theories, stories, art, vids and music.
- http://www.wattpad.com/stories/fan-fiction. Based in Toronto, Wattpad’s monthly audience is over 10 million readers. Every minute, the site connects more than 10,000 readers with a new story. Wattpad is more about fanfic driven by celebrities and comics. There are over 100,000 stories about One Direction. You can also find fanfic about Selena Gomez, Taylor Swift, or Zac Efron.
- Internet Archive. http://archive.org/search.php?query=fan%20fiction. Internet Archive is a non-profit digital library. The Internet Archive allows users to download digital material, but also to upload their own.
- Fan Works Inc. http://www.fanworks.org/. This site launched in 2003 and while Twilight and Harry Potter are the most popular categories, be sure to check out fan fiction inspired by The Outsiders and Hitch-Hiker’s Guide to the Galaxy.
- Archive of Our Own. http://archiveofourown.org/. Archive of Our Own is a project founded and operated by the Organization for Transformative Works. It’s a non-profit, non-commercial archive for fan fiction of all formats, including writings, graphic art, videos, and podcasts. Currently there are over 170,000 users.
- http://www.asianfanfics.com/. Asianfanfics is mostly about Asian characters, and topics that often revolve around Asian culture. One-shot fan fiction, which is characterized as stories no longer than one chapter, is very popular on Asianfanfics, with over 35,000 stories listed in the category.
- http://www.tumblr.com/tagged/fanfic. You can stay logged into your favorite network and search for new, fresh fan fiction; it’s just a matter of using the right tag to search the posts, and finally picking up Tumblr posts you want to follow. Try searching #fanfic, #fanfiction, or any book title you’re a fan of and read what Tumblr has to offer.
- http://ficwad.com/. FicWad is an archive of both fanfiction and original work, launched in 2005 and managed by K&D Lynch. The site is currently in beta stage, but you are able to read the stories even if you are not a registered user.
- http://www.twilighted.net/. Twilighted calls itself all-inclusive, high quality Twilight fan fiction. Founded in 2008, the site already has a large following. The most popular, and arguable most interesting, category is AU-Human: stories in which all the vampires are humans.
- http://www.quizilla.com/. Quizilla features a “stories” section chock full of fan fiction. You can also select the “read a random story!” button if you’re not in the mood to sift through the site.
- Feed Books. http://www.feedbooks.com/userbooks/top?category=FBFNF000000&lang=en&range=week. Feed Books features works uploaded by the site’s users into its Original Books section. You can easily upload any of the 800 fanfiction pieces to a book application or an e-reader, as they are available in mobi (Kindle), epub and pdf formats.
- http://www.secretdraft.com/category/fanfiction/. While SecretDraft is a relatively new site, it offers a fan fiction section that is largely inspired by Doctor Who and Harry Potter. The site features a ticker of newly uploaded titles for easy browsing.
- http://browse.deviantart.com/fanart/fanfiction/?order=9&q=fanfiction. There are 176,092 deviations for fanfiction, grouped in 6 categories: drama, general fiction, horror, humor, romance, and sci-fi. The most popular one, however is Not in Harry Potter, with quotes and words that should be included in Harry Potter books – but aren’t.
- Harry Potter Fan Fiction. http://www.harrypotterfanfiction.com/. This site is obviously for the Harry Potter fans of the literary world. Founded in 2001, this site has a large inventory with over 78,000 stories and receives over 50 million hits per month! The site’s filtering options make it easy to target exactly what you’re looking to read.
- Lord of the Rings Fanfiction. http://www.lotrfanfiction.com/. With 4,936 members, this fan fiction site dedicated to Lord of the Rings offers well over 4,400 stories, which you can sift through by author, title, or category.
- Fiction Press. https://www.fictionpress.com/. This is the fan fiction site for all things sci-fi and fantasy. One unique attribute of Fiction Press is that there are many dedicated communities of authors on the site who help edit and encourage the work of one another.
- http://www.mibba.com/. Mibba is a community that welcomes fan fiction and utilizes forums for help with writing and connecting with people who have similar viewpoints.
- Sugar Quill. http://sugarquill.net/. This Harry Potter fan fiction site favors the Harry and Ginny love match, as well as the Weasley family in general. The site was founded in 2001 and is very well organized and easy to navigate. It also has a page of daily affirmations, lest you forget.
- Kindle Worlds. An Amazon publishing platform that lets authors sell fan fiction based on properties like Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liarsand Vampire Diaries. Amazon Publishing retains the rights to the works and sets prices. There are strict parameters and limited offerings but Kindle Worlds pays fan fiction authors a royalty of 35 percent for works of at least 10,000 words, and a royalty of 20 percent on works between 5,000 and 10,000 words. The authors of the original properties also get royalties.
Bonus: This just-in: http://www.archiveofourown.com. It’s a growing fanfiction archive that’s almost as big as fanfiction.net and deviantart right now.
The Bottom Line: I encourage you to post on fan fiction sites and take your writing to the next level. Reach out to new readers, get feedback from others and fine tune your craft. You never know, it might be the start of something big!
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Book publicist Scott Lorenz is President of Westwind Communications, a public relations and marketing firm that has a special knack for working with authors to help them get all the publicity they deserve and more. Lorenz works with bestselling authors and self-published authors promoting all types of books, whether it’s their first book or their 15th book. He’s handled publicity for books by CEOs, CIA Officers, Navy SEALS, Homemakers, Fitness Gurus, Doctors, Lawyers and Adventurers. His clients have been featured by Good Morning America, FOX & Friends, CNN, ABC News, New York Times, Nightline, TIME, PBS, LA Times, USA Today, Washington Post, Woman’s World, & Howard Stern to name a few.
Learn more about Westwind Communications’ book marketing approach at http://www.book-marketing-expert.com or contact Lorenz at scottlorenz@westwindcos.com or by phone at 734-667-2090. Follow Lorenz on Twitter @aBookPublicist
Great list! But there is also a new and promising site that needs to be included! http://www.penana.com
Calvin, Thanks for the addition to the list!