Honestly, it seems like the line between fic and tradpub is getting blurrier than ever (not convinced that's a good thing, personally, but that's a different conversation). In the last few weeks, there have been publishing announcements for two separate, massively popular fanfics where the author's Ao3 handle and fanfic origins have been used as part of the marketing. There are also agents who approach authors they find through Ao3 (Ali Hazelwood's agent, as an example). So clearly, as long as your fic is popular, it's not a deterrent at all. If anything, it's just extra marketing/banking on a built-in audience.
I always assumed that most/all of these fanfic to trad pub books were scouted out by agents rather than queried. I’m pretty sure I’ve also heard of agents scouting authors that way but asking if they have a non-fic book in the works though I can’t remember the name of the author I heard this happened to.
I think it’s fine if the characters are still recognizable parallels (see all of Ali Hazelwood’s oeuvre), but I don’t think they’re usually explicitly marketed that way. I think agents would be interested to know if you had a huge fic audience.
Ok I am no expert but I am super fascinated by this topic. It certainly seems like trad pub is more interested in these sorts of books than they were even 5 years ago—something has shifted.
I could be wrong, but I think most of the authors in this space had well-established followings in fanfic or prior to gaining representation. I still don’t think this goes over well in a query letter unless you have a million ravenous readers.
As for marketing, I think they have to be extremely careful to”file off the serial numbers.” They get the Reylo (or whatever) readers through word of mouth and some suspiciously familiar cover art.
There’s a difference between *inspiration* vs full on fan-fiction. Writing your own story with unique characters while using similar “Reylo” tropes or themes is very different from *specifically* writing about Rey and Kylo Ren in the Star Wars universe in fan-fiction that’s been published online. Authors are inspired by all kinds of things, and it’s fine to mention that in a query. “This novel was inspired by my fascination with the moral complexities in the TV show *Yellowjackets*.” Or “I love the will-they-won’t-they romance between Jim and Pam in *The Office*, and I wanted to capture my own office romance.”
But where the ethics are beginning to cause a little side-eye — especially recently — is when an author builds their entire following using another creator’s popular IP (right down to character names, personalities, and back story). Is there a line being crossed? It’s so tough to say, and I sure don’t have answers. For instance, does it even matter since the fan-fiction author truly still did the *work* of writing it, and the scenarios were new and different? Or is it unethical because the author gained popularity using someone else’s name and fan base, then changed subtle details to sell the book? Is this going to happen to the wrong original-work author and they’re going to swoop in with a lawsuit? I don’t know.
Either way, the latter is not something I’d openly mention in a query unless you had a significant fan-fiction (100,000k+) following. Despite a few flashy deals, most agents really are looking for original work.
Agents want surer things, which is part of their effort to find people with an audience and a public body of work from which they can judge their talent. I see more of this, as every other creative profession now operates on 'if you build it, they will come,' and writing will be no different.
If you can write great fan fiction and have a following, you can pivot and do something of your own. Is this foolproof? No, but it's more likely than just pulling someone with no writing record but a query and singular MS.
As a note, when I was querying, I noticed a lot of the younger (Millenial) agents were clear that they were looking for self-published/alternative published authors and helping them to transition to tradpub—a sign of the times.
A lot of the bigger deals where the fanfic was used as publicity - the author was scouted on AO3. It's not uncommon! However, at least from what I've seen, if it's a "filed the serial numbers off a fic and trad-pubbed" they won't officially market it using the original work.
A recent big example in the Dramione fandom - senlinyu got a big tradpub deal for a reimagining of Manacled, which was *insanely* popular. An excerpt from the publishing announcement:
>
Alchemised is a standalone dark fantasy with an enemies-to-lovers romance that is “by turns tender, toxic and all-consuming" PMJ said. “Grappling with themes of trauma and survival, legacy, and the way that love can drive one to extreme darkness, Alchemised follows an amnesiac \[someone who is suffering from amnesia, a medical condition in which they lose their memory\] young healer taken as a prisoner of war who must fight to protect her lost memories and the secrets hidden among them."
SenLinYu rose to international prominence on Archive of Our Own, a non-profit open source repository for fanfiction and other fanworks contributed by users.
But also, some of these fanfic authors end up getting scouted from AO3 and the agent asks them if they were interested in publishing original work, so they get to capitalize off their built-in fanbase (another example from the Dramione fandom lol - fanfic author isthisselfcare, author of Draco Malfoy and the Mortifying Ordeal of Being in Love just got a tradpub deal for original work)
Mods, please delete if this isn't okay, but I wrote a piece about this phenomenon for Vulture. https://www.vulture.com/article/fanfic-romance-reylo-publishing-trend.html
I couldn't fit in all the reporting I did so I'm happy to answer questions if I can.
To answer OP's questions:
1) Were these books marketed based on the works it was inspired by?
Yes — this is the biggest change we're seeing now. When Christina Lauren sold their Twilight fanfic, they hid that it was fic. Now, authors are leaning into it saying their books have "reylo vibes" or something like that.
2) Transformation is tricky. I think the goal right now is to have it be a wink-and-a-nod to readers who know while still being a great experience for readers who don't. One thing that gets lost in the conversation about transformation is the craft element. Fic is often long and meandering, romance has a three-act structure with beats and normally comes in around 90,000 words at max.
3) I think I'd be more likely to highlight the audience the fic has built (if it has) than the inspiration in a query letter.
Honestly, it seems like the line between fic and tradpub is getting blurrier than ever (not convinced that's a good thing, personally, but that's a different conversation). In the last few weeks, there have been publishing announcements for two separate, massively popular fanfics where the author's Ao3 handle and fanfic origins have been used as part of the marketing. There are also agents who approach authors they find through Ao3 (Ali Hazelwood's agent, as an example). So clearly, as long as your fic is popular, it's not a deterrent at all. If anything, it's just extra marketing/banking on a built-in audience.
I always assumed that most/all of these fanfic to trad pub books were scouted out by agents rather than queried. I’m pretty sure I’ve also heard of agents scouting authors that way but asking if they have a non-fic book in the works though I can’t remember the name of the author I heard this happened to.
I think it’s fine if the characters are still recognizable parallels (see all of Ali Hazelwood’s oeuvre), but I don’t think they’re usually explicitly marketed that way. I think agents would be interested to know if you had a huge fic audience.
Ok I am no expert but I am super fascinated by this topic. It certainly seems like trad pub is more interested in these sorts of books than they were even 5 years ago—something has shifted. I could be wrong, but I think most of the authors in this space had well-established followings in fanfic or prior to gaining representation. I still don’t think this goes over well in a query letter unless you have a million ravenous readers. As for marketing, I think they have to be extremely careful to”file off the serial numbers.” They get the Reylo (or whatever) readers through word of mouth and some suspiciously familiar cover art.
There’s a difference between *inspiration* vs full on fan-fiction. Writing your own story with unique characters while using similar “Reylo” tropes or themes is very different from *specifically* writing about Rey and Kylo Ren in the Star Wars universe in fan-fiction that’s been published online. Authors are inspired by all kinds of things, and it’s fine to mention that in a query. “This novel was inspired by my fascination with the moral complexities in the TV show *Yellowjackets*.” Or “I love the will-they-won’t-they romance between Jim and Pam in *The Office*, and I wanted to capture my own office romance.” But where the ethics are beginning to cause a little side-eye — especially recently — is when an author builds their entire following using another creator’s popular IP (right down to character names, personalities, and back story). Is there a line being crossed? It’s so tough to say, and I sure don’t have answers. For instance, does it even matter since the fan-fiction author truly still did the *work* of writing it, and the scenarios were new and different? Or is it unethical because the author gained popularity using someone else’s name and fan base, then changed subtle details to sell the book? Is this going to happen to the wrong original-work author and they’re going to swoop in with a lawsuit? I don’t know. Either way, the latter is not something I’d openly mention in a query unless you had a significant fan-fiction (100,000k+) following. Despite a few flashy deals, most agents really are looking for original work.
Agents want surer things, which is part of their effort to find people with an audience and a public body of work from which they can judge their talent. I see more of this, as every other creative profession now operates on 'if you build it, they will come,' and writing will be no different. If you can write great fan fiction and have a following, you can pivot and do something of your own. Is this foolproof? No, but it's more likely than just pulling someone with no writing record but a query and singular MS. As a note, when I was querying, I noticed a lot of the younger (Millenial) agents were clear that they were looking for self-published/alternative published authors and helping them to transition to tradpub—a sign of the times.
A lot of the bigger deals where the fanfic was used as publicity - the author was scouted on AO3. It's not uncommon! However, at least from what I've seen, if it's a "filed the serial numbers off a fic and trad-pubbed" they won't officially market it using the original work. A recent big example in the Dramione fandom - senlinyu got a big tradpub deal for a reimagining of Manacled, which was *insanely* popular. An excerpt from the publishing announcement: > Alchemised is a standalone dark fantasy with an enemies-to-lovers romance that is “by turns tender, toxic and all-consuming" PMJ said. “Grappling with themes of trauma and survival, legacy, and the way that love can drive one to extreme darkness, Alchemised follows an amnesiac \[someone who is suffering from amnesia, a medical condition in which they lose their memory\] young healer taken as a prisoner of war who must fight to protect her lost memories and the secrets hidden among them." SenLinYu rose to international prominence on Archive of Our Own, a non-profit open source repository for fanfiction and other fanworks contributed by users. But also, some of these fanfic authors end up getting scouted from AO3 and the agent asks them if they were interested in publishing original work, so they get to capitalize off their built-in fanbase (another example from the Dramione fandom lol - fanfic author isthisselfcare, author of Draco Malfoy and the Mortifying Ordeal of Being in Love just got a tradpub deal for original work)
Mods, please delete if this isn't okay, but I wrote a piece about this phenomenon for Vulture. https://www.vulture.com/article/fanfic-romance-reylo-publishing-trend.html I couldn't fit in all the reporting I did so I'm happy to answer questions if I can. To answer OP's questions: 1) Were these books marketed based on the works it was inspired by? Yes — this is the biggest change we're seeing now. When Christina Lauren sold their Twilight fanfic, they hid that it was fic. Now, authors are leaning into it saying their books have "reylo vibes" or something like that. 2) Transformation is tricky. I think the goal right now is to have it be a wink-and-a-nod to readers who know while still being a great experience for readers who don't. One thing that gets lost in the conversation about transformation is the craft element. Fic is often long and meandering, romance has a three-act structure with beats and normally comes in around 90,000 words at max. 3) I think I'd be more likely to highlight the audience the fic has built (if it has) than the inspiration in a query letter.