Free Publicity
American companies could learn a lot by studying how the Japanese handle fan relations as discussed in this article. Rather than slapping fans who use their properties with a cease and desist or worse, Japanese companies actually show support for fan-created manga (doujinshi) and allow creators to sell them to cover costs. They wisely see the benefit of free advertising.
Fan works often help sustain interest in a series or property for longer than the original work could on its own. They not only give fans new material (admittedly, much of it very bad, especially in the cesspool that is fanfiction.net) to focus their attention on, they also give the fan creators a more personal connection to the property. In both cases, fans have a reason and a means to continue being fans, rather than jumping over to the next big thing.
Buffy the Vampire Slayer has been off the air for over a year now but the original RPGs and fanfiction (7131 currently on fanfiction.net) continue to thrive. Harry Potter, a hugely popular property with an equally huge fan response (59,608 fics currently on fanfiction.net), maintains its fanbase easily despite the large lapses of time between book releases. The films help, as do fan debate and analysis, but it’s the amount of time and effort fans put into creating their own art based around the series that, at least to me, shows just how much this world means to them and the extent of their personal determination to do what they can to make it not only survive but grow.
It seems to be more the companies that own the rights that have issue with fan works. The creators in general seem to be more open-minded, perhaps because they themselves know how hard it is to ignore those creative impulses. J.K. Rowling, author of Harry Potter, is rumored to read HP fics on occasion, and praises them on her website:
“Fan fiction is really fun, though, and I am so proud to think that Harry Potter inspired so much creativity!”
YA fantasy writer Tamora Pierce says the following of fanfiction:
“On fanfics in general, I think they’re one way to develop your skills as a writer. Sometimes it’s easier to keep a story going if you don’t have to create the setting and some of the characters yourself. I’d hope that sooner or later people writing fan fiction would branch out into creating their own worlds and books (hey–I need something to read, too!), but at least they’re having fun as they write fan fiction. Besides, when I was a kid, I wrote “Star Trek” and Lord of the Rings stories–we just didn’t call them “fan fiction” back then.”
I would argue that maintaining a consistent feel when you use existing characters/worlds can be harder than working with original ones, but anyway…
Above all, fanfiction and the like serve as free promotion for properties. As long as they aren’t for profit or actually impeding sales of the original work, they are an asset. The sooner US companies realize that, the sooner they will stop driving their own fans away.