Fanfiction’s Rise: How Online Fandom Reshaped Publishing

The piece argues that fanfiction has become a powerful, transformative force in mainstream publishing: sparked by Fifty Shades of Grey, it has influenced romance, YA, and fantasy by grafting fan culture’s techniques and audiences onto traditional publishing, while training writers, drawing agents, and driving adaptations. It also examines tensions around monetization, representation, and prestige, suggesting that fanwork’s pleasures and methods can both empower and complicate what counts as literature today.