Popular author L.J. Smith of the Vampire Diaries series was terminated by her publisher and replaced with a ghostwriter. Some fans are content to continue reading the now ghostwritten series. Other fans are buycotting. What did L.J. Smith do? She is writing new Vampire Diaries stories as “fan fiction”. Fan fiction is understood as meaning stories written by amateur writers based on their favorite book, television or movie characters.
While some media companies routinely prosecute copyright infringement lawsuits against fan works, others have embraced fan fiction, such as the publisher of Fifty Shades of Grey series. Originally fan fiction (or slash fiction)based on the Twilight series, Random House successfully published the books after the author removed the Twilight characters.
The Wall Street Journal reports that Amazon has been making deals with publishers and fan fiction writers for the rights to use characters and fan writing to identify new blockbusters like Fifty Shades.