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I attended a World Convention last year. One panel was filled with mid-list authors who went off on a rant about fan fiction. A bit of irony here is that at least one of those writers got started with fan fiction.
When Star Trek was canceled in the 1960's writers were so frustrated they began writing in the Star Trek universe. Eventually a whole industry was established around that particular fanfic base.

As I walked around and talked to people I discovered many best selling writers weren't bothered by fan fiction. I thought at first this might be because they were secure and could afford to be kind to the bottom feeders. Then, as the convention went on, I noticed something else-the big names were nice to EVERYONE and the mid-list people tended to be nice only to people who could either do something for them or were gushing fans. Hmmm.
The big guys were careful to tell fanfiction writers they could not look at their work and would not, but they also seemed to realize they were being paid a compliment. To be able to create a world that others can believe in is no small feat and the top writers realize this.
I came away from the convention with the idea that some people stay mid-list, not because of their writing ability, but because of the way they act and react to other people. The lowly person you snub today may be someone you really need to know in the future. Those people who are using your world to create stories are the same people who are buying your work. Do you really want to piss those people off? If they stop buying your books and tell others it is because you are not a nice person you may be doing yourself far more harm than any piece of fanfic ever could.
One of the top agents says that the one thing that can't be bought is WOM - Word Of Mouth advertising. They don't know what creates it or when it will strike, but it is the single most important factor in making a book a New York Times Bestseller. Therefore, those little people writing fanfic may be an important part of the base that creates bestsellers.

Learn more about this author, Elizabeth J Baldwin.
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