History
2006:Wattpad Launches
Wattpad is released in November of 2006. Developed by Allen Lau and Ivan Yuen, Wattpad was originally intended to be a mobile e-book reader. The site hosts user-created fanfiction as well as fictional works, ranking its top works on a "Hot List" and hosting yearly awards and contests. The real-person fanfiction (RPF) community took off on Wattpad, with fanfiction about popular boy bands like One Direction or 5 Seconds of Summer dominating Wattpad's fanfiction catergory.
2009:Archive of Our Own Launches
Archive of Our Own (AO3) is opened for beta in November of 2009. The project, created by the Originzation for Transformative Works, is designed to be an archive for all fanworks, similar to FanFiction.net -- the site is designed to host audio and images as well. AO3 takes over FanFiction.net in popularity during the 2010s due to its user-friendly interface and robust tagging system.The site hosts more than 14 million fanworks currently.
2011:50 Shades of Grey is Published
50 Shades of Grey is first published on June 20, 2011. While the novel is an original work of fiction, it was originally conceived as fanfiction of the Twilight series. Author E.L. James published 50 Shades of Grey as a fanfiction titled "Master of the Universe" and later published it on her own site due to comments about its sexually explicit content. The novel would be the first of many fanfictions to have their "serial numbers filed off," as other popular fanfictions would see the same fanfic-to-book treatment during the decade.
Where Are We Now?
Today, fanfiction is stronger than ever before. The ease of access granted by the internet has fostered numerous platforms for hosting and sharing fanfiction. All three major archives (AO3, FanFiction.net, and Wattpad) have millions of fanworks in their database. AO3 alone has 7,000,000 registered accounts, hosting works for 68,000 fandoms. And of those 7,000,000 users, more than half are estimated to be women 18-31. It is clear that fanfiction is here to stay, and young female authors are leading the way, whether they are circulating zines or writing gay fanfiction about their favorite boy bands. Where do you think fanfiction could go next?
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