So, fun fact, the fic counting is back. Kind of humorous to see Venom go from 8 to 60 fics overnight. 0_0
Think it's pretty clear to distinguish between tie-in fiction and fan fiction; one is solicited, the other isn't. Or, looking at these examples, plenty of authors continue to write Sherlock Holmes stories today, but they're all in isolation of each other, whereas the Star Wars books are outsourced by Lucasfilm and strive to be in canon with one another.saint of m said:Like everyone else said, it probably a poor metric. It can indicate something is popular, as there were fan writing and publishing their own Sherlock Holms stories at the time it was being written, but then you look at the Expanded universe of Star Wars and its almost entirly fan fiction when it comes down to it.
At times, though it can come back. Warcraft for instance, tends to get a surge every time an expansion is released, but then settles back down.Other times its a temporary thing. You see an influx as something gets popular then the move on.