What do you think?
Rate this book
Fandom: Fic Writers, Vidders, Gamers, Artists, and Cosplayers
Have you ever finished a book or TV series and wished for more? Created stories, art, or videos based on a game? Dressed up as your favorite character? If so, you've entered fandom. Fan writers expand and mix up stories, like sending the Star Trek crew to Hogwarts. Cosplayers sew Star Wars and Sailor Moon costumes, and fan filmmakers make music video tributes. Fans also enrich invented worlds with greater diversity, creating female and multiracial avatars for games peopled only with white male characters. Tour fandom's history and meet fan writers, video-makers, artists, costumers, and gamers who celebrate the things they love and shape fan communities online and in real life.
120 pages, Library Binding
First published January 1, 2018
10 people are currently reading
64 people want to read
About the author
Francesca Davis DiPiazza
22 books2 followersFrancesca Davis DiPiazza is an author and editor of books for young readers. She has written several Visual Geography Series® titles, including Mali in Pictures, Sudan in Pictures, Libya in Pictures, New Zealand in Pictures, and Zimbabwe in Pictures.
Ratings & Reviews
Friends & Following
Create a free account to discover what your friends think of this book!
Community Reviews
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews
March 23, 2018
Giving it 5 stars because I am in 99.9% of the fandoms discussed in the book. The book's strengths are that it is easy to understand and explains fandom culture well, but part of me also feels like if a teen is reading this book, he or she will have already figured out this information on his or her own. Either way, I enjoyed the read.
February 8, 2025
Un livre de recherches sur l'influence des fandoms, c'était très intéressant et ça me sera peut être utile pour mon sujet de recherche mais j'ai trouvé certains passages un peu long
May 8, 2021
So, this is another one I picked up for school, because I'm studying Fandom and Culture and how the two are inextricable with literally all of human history. It was a good overview of Fandom in its modern form with a nice brush of the deep roots behind it all.
This was okay.
Mostly, it's nice to see Fandom being taken mildly seriously by non-fiction writers as a legitimate area of academic interest.
Unfortunately, this account is a little all over the place and built up in a little too broadly blanket-statement kind of way.
It's also got a very unclear target audience. It seemed like it's trying to talk to the people already heavily involved in Fandom at some points, and then to total noobs at others. And the marketing is all geared towards people who already care about this stuff, but it doesn't really tell any of them much of anything they wouldn't already know.
Like it talks briefly about how old fic writing is, and how it goes way back to Homer and Plato and Aristotle, but it fails utterly to address the fact that even modern fic addresses the philosophical arguments of great thinkers like the classical Greeks. When people write fic, they're not just 'fixing it' for the sake of social justice or representation or anything, they are ALSO essentializing the necessary aspects of a canon media, boiling it down to the parts that make it what it is, and make fairly nuanced arguments for WHY the thing they change about canon is not something needed to be kept as-is in order to keep the story true to itself. That's a very Plato thought experiment. And ship wars get into huge Aristotelian debates over the whys and wherefores of their give OTPs, which was not discussed at all...
This also fails to go over how Fandom helps people organize on a broader scale for things that are NOT fandom related. It briefly mentions social justice and representation, and such, but it doesn't address the idea of how Kpop fans organized to troll Trump by pre-ordering tickets to rallies with zero intention of showing up, or how some of the Star Wars fans who brought the Leia Organa 'a woman's place is in the Resistance' posters weren't just alluding to fandom, but often actually coordinated themselves within fan forums to arrange rides and have people bring snacks and establish legitimate support structures for the protests even among those who could not march or could not stay the whole time or needed contact info for larger organizers. Like I know a good number of early leaders in the BlackLivesMatter got connected to each other and to a larger following due to the SuperWhoLock forums and the power of a hyper-fandom coalition.
The other big thing this fails to discuss is how Fandom and Religion and Sports-team-fanaticism are all built on exactly the same principles and how they all, not only FORM identity, but guide the cultural evolution that leads to practical, political and scientific change over the course of centuries.
The last thing that kind of annoyed me, even if it was a little thing, was that the Cosplay section was WAY over weighted. The Cosplay chapter has a solid 5 pages more than any other chapter, despite its history being well over 1000 years shorter than most of the other aspects of Fandom. Now, I frickin LOVE Cosplay, but I can acknowledge that it's not got quite the same level of pedigree that other aspects of Fandom do and it really shouldn't be treated as being as historically significant as everything else.
But still, it's a really good overview that legitimizes Fandom as having a definitive historical pedigree of academic worth, which means that it's a great thing to hand off to relatives who dismiss your Fandoms as frivolous or pointless, but if you're already deeply involved in Fandom, it's just kinda meh.
This was okay.
Mostly, it's nice to see Fandom being taken mildly seriously by non-fiction writers as a legitimate area of academic interest.
Unfortunately, this account is a little all over the place and built up in a little too broadly blanket-statement kind of way.
It's also got a very unclear target audience. It seemed like it's trying to talk to the people already heavily involved in Fandom at some points, and then to total noobs at others. And the marketing is all geared towards people who already care about this stuff, but it doesn't really tell any of them much of anything they wouldn't already know.
Like it talks briefly about how old fic writing is, and how it goes way back to Homer and Plato and Aristotle, but it fails utterly to address the fact that even modern fic addresses the philosophical arguments of great thinkers like the classical Greeks. When people write fic, they're not just 'fixing it' for the sake of social justice or representation or anything, they are ALSO essentializing the necessary aspects of a canon media, boiling it down to the parts that make it what it is, and make fairly nuanced arguments for WHY the thing they change about canon is not something needed to be kept as-is in order to keep the story true to itself. That's a very Plato thought experiment. And ship wars get into huge Aristotelian debates over the whys and wherefores of their give OTPs, which was not discussed at all...
This also fails to go over how Fandom helps people organize on a broader scale for things that are NOT fandom related. It briefly mentions social justice and representation, and such, but it doesn't address the idea of how Kpop fans organized to troll Trump by pre-ordering tickets to rallies with zero intention of showing up, or how some of the Star Wars fans who brought the Leia Organa 'a woman's place is in the Resistance' posters weren't just alluding to fandom, but often actually coordinated themselves within fan forums to arrange rides and have people bring snacks and establish legitimate support structures for the protests even among those who could not march or could not stay the whole time or needed contact info for larger organizers. Like I know a good number of early leaders in the BlackLivesMatter got connected to each other and to a larger following due to the SuperWhoLock forums and the power of a hyper-fandom coalition.
The other big thing this fails to discuss is how Fandom and Religion and Sports-team-fanaticism are all built on exactly the same principles and how they all, not only FORM identity, but guide the cultural evolution that leads to practical, political and scientific change over the course of centuries.
The last thing that kind of annoyed me, even if it was a little thing, was that the Cosplay section was WAY over weighted. The Cosplay chapter has a solid 5 pages more than any other chapter, despite its history being well over 1000 years shorter than most of the other aspects of Fandom. Now, I frickin LOVE Cosplay, but I can acknowledge that it's not got quite the same level of pedigree that other aspects of Fandom do and it really shouldn't be treated as being as historically significant as everything else.
But still, it's a really good overview that legitimizes Fandom as having a definitive historical pedigree of academic worth, which means that it's a great thing to hand off to relatives who dismiss your Fandoms as frivolous or pointless, but if you're already deeply involved in Fandom, it's just kinda meh.
August 7, 2018
Fandom: Fic Writers, Vidders, Gamers, Artists, and Cosplayers by Francesca Davis DiPiazza, 97 pages. NONFICTION. Twenty-First Century Books, 2018. $36.99
Language – G (0 swears, 0 “f”), Mature Content – G; Violence – G
MS, HS – ESSENTIAL
Fandom gives a brief history of the doings of those obsessed with something, usually considered nerdy, to the point that they express their passion, specifically in the forms of the written word, video, costume making, visual art works, and game development. DiPiazza also explains common jargon that fans use and how fanfic works have evolved with further advances in technology.
The information put forth by DiPiazza is amazing and had me exclaiming, “No way!” the entire time. In reading about how passionate people can be and about their openness to express their love, I have both been inspired to do things that I have always wanted to and realized that I have made fanfic without even knowing that I have been. I promise that this book is more interesting than my synopsis makes it out to be—people and their imaginations are so cool! I loved reading Fandom and will probably be rereading it soon to continue learning how I want to learn to express myself.
Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen
https://kissthebook.blogspot.com/2018...
Language – G (0 swears, 0 “f”), Mature Content – G; Violence – G
MS, HS – ESSENTIAL
Fandom gives a brief history of the doings of those obsessed with something, usually considered nerdy, to the point that they express their passion, specifically in the forms of the written word, video, costume making, visual art works, and game development. DiPiazza also explains common jargon that fans use and how fanfic works have evolved with further advances in technology.
The information put forth by DiPiazza is amazing and had me exclaiming, “No way!” the entire time. In reading about how passionate people can be and about their openness to express their love, I have both been inspired to do things that I have always wanted to and realized that I have made fanfic without even knowing that I have been. I promise that this book is more interesting than my synopsis makes it out to be—people and their imaginations are so cool! I loved reading Fandom and will probably be rereading it soon to continue learning how I want to learn to express myself.
Reviewer: Carolina Herdegen
https://kissthebook.blogspot.com/2018...
March 31, 2018
I received this e-book free for an honest review.
I love being a part of a Fandom and that’s what this entire book is about. It goes into some detail about how different fandoms express themselves though video games, art, movies, books, cosplays, etc. I felt like I was apart of one giant Fandom that includes any person who has a strong following to something and knows what a Fandom is. I got all warm and fuzzy every time the book mentioned a fan base I follow.
The information in the book was neat to learn. Although I do consider myself a big fan, I have never participated in cosplays or conventions (though I would like to go and see). It was interesting to learn some of the other things that fans do to honor their fan favs that I hadn’t thought of or considered.
Good book and informative, I’m just not sure why you would need to read it, unless you are researching the concept of Fandoms. Obviously, if you would just love to know more about Fandom in general you could read this book for enjoyment.
I love being a part of a Fandom and that’s what this entire book is about. It goes into some detail about how different fandoms express themselves though video games, art, movies, books, cosplays, etc. I felt like I was apart of one giant Fandom that includes any person who has a strong following to something and knows what a Fandom is. I got all warm and fuzzy every time the book mentioned a fan base I follow.
The information in the book was neat to learn. Although I do consider myself a big fan, I have never participated in cosplays or conventions (though I would like to go and see). It was interesting to learn some of the other things that fans do to honor their fan favs that I hadn’t thought of or considered.
Good book and informative, I’m just not sure why you would need to read it, unless you are researching the concept of Fandoms. Obviously, if you would just love to know more about Fandom in general you could read this book for enjoyment.
June 7, 2018
Language – G (0 swears, 0 “f”), Mature Content – G; Violence – G; Fandom gives a brief history of the doings of those obsessed with something, usually considered nerdy, to the point that they express their passion, specifically in the forms of the written word, video, costume making, visual art works, and game development. DiPiazza also explains common jargon that fans use and how fanfic works have evolved with further advances in technology.
The information put forth by DiPiazza is amazing and had me exclaiming, “No way!” the entire time. In reading about how passionate people can be and about their openness to express their love, I have both been inspired to do things that I have always wanted to and realized that I have made fanfic without even knowing that I have been. I promise that this book is more interesting than my synopsis makes it out to be—people and their imaginations are so cool! I loved reading Fandom and will probably be rereading it soon to continue learning how I want to learn to express myself.
Reviewed for https://kissthebook.blogspot.com/
The information put forth by DiPiazza is amazing and had me exclaiming, “No way!” the entire time. In reading about how passionate people can be and about their openness to express their love, I have both been inspired to do things that I have always wanted to and realized that I have made fanfic without even knowing that I have been. I promise that this book is more interesting than my synopsis makes it out to be—people and their imaginations are so cool! I loved reading Fandom and will probably be rereading it soon to continue learning how I want to learn to express myself.
Reviewed for https://kissthebook.blogspot.com/
October 24, 2022
Full of gems - did you know Rudyard Kipling wrote Jane Austen fan fiction? And that for a Yuletide fanfiction swap someone wrote a zombie version of Wait wait called Wait Wait Don’t Eat Me? And that a fan artist made an image of a Dalek from Doctor Who knitting while chanting “Exterimi-knit”?
This book is a fun overview of the history and current state of fan art, fan fiction, fan film, cosplay, and fan gaming (did I miss any)? Oh yes fan podcasting. Suitable for middle school. A fun, informative read. I was surprised by the number of famous folk who dabbled in fandom of one kind or another (I’m looking at you, Tolkien).
On a more serious note, fandom is frequently used to make space for BIPOC and LGBTQ+ identities excluded from the original works. And sometimes that embrace of diversity in the fandom can lead to an embrace of diversity in future works from the original creator (assuming they are still alive & creating, that is).
So don’t write fandom off. Done well, done enough, it can change things for the better for all of us.
This book is a fun overview of the history and current state of fan art, fan fiction, fan film, cosplay, and fan gaming (did I miss any)? Oh yes fan podcasting. Suitable for middle school. A fun, informative read. I was surprised by the number of famous folk who dabbled in fandom of one kind or another (I’m looking at you, Tolkien).
On a more serious note, fandom is frequently used to make space for BIPOC and LGBTQ+ identities excluded from the original works. And sometimes that embrace of diversity in the fandom can lead to an embrace of diversity in future works from the original creator (assuming they are still alive & creating, that is).
So don’t write fandom off. Done well, done enough, it can change things for the better for all of us.
January 1, 2019
I'm not sure who the audience is for this book. I'm already a fan, and learned about fan culture through looking for content online. Does anyone really learn about fandom from published books?
I appreciated the nod to online bullying and how to address it at the end. A lot of fandoms got ignored, and I'm surprised webcomics and Kickstarter didn't get more attention, but I guess there's limited space in such a short book. Honestly, I'd have stuck with more mainstream fandoms that everyone's guaranteed to have heard of, like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, for the generic examples of current content.
I appreciated the nod to online bullying and how to address it at the end. A lot of fandoms got ignored, and I'm surprised webcomics and Kickstarter didn't get more attention, but I guess there's limited space in such a short book. Honestly, I'd have stuck with more mainstream fandoms that everyone's guaranteed to have heard of, like the Marvel Cinematic Universe, for the generic examples of current content.
August 14, 2021
Interesting read on the different aspects of fandom. This book explores the varies areas of fandom, giving a bit of history and highlighting stories and people. At times, it just skims the surface of a topic and other times in goes in depth. It is informative and does not assume the audience knows the fandom lingo. This books is geared more towards people interested in learning what is a fandom or those barely getting involved than people who already participate and know about fandom. My favorite part was the Further Reading, Viewing, and Websites section which as titled is a list of books, articles, videos, and sites to learn more about fandom.
December 18, 2019
on the surface this looked interesting but honestly? i was kinda wanting more of the history of fans creating things and less hand-holding re: definitions of terms and ideas that are now pretty mainstream
Read
December 19, 2024“how i love being a *fangirl*”
in all seriousness tho, it is always heartwarming to read about the history and origin of fandom and how we are just like hundreds of generations that before us. how we are continuing on their legacy while creating our own!
in all seriousness tho, it is always heartwarming to read about the history and origin of fandom and how we are just like hundreds of generations that before us. how we are continuing on their legacy while creating our own!
January 19, 2018
I like the "Further Reading" suggestions. Will definitely check those out.
May 17, 2019
Really surface level overview of fandom
June 13, 2019
What a fascinating book on the world of fandom and its various sub-genres and microcosms. Definitely opened my eyes on a few things. I highly recommend it.
November 6, 2019
Good book, easy reading
June 9, 2020
considering my interest in history and how long I've been in fandom, I probably should've read this earlier. v good
January 24, 2024
Good intro to the subject.
December 27, 2024
This is a really weird book. Its header is “For fic writers, vidders, gamers, artists, and cosplayers” and it talks quite comprehensively on each of them. It talks about Hamilton far too often. It quotes a Tumblr post in a comically serious manner. It’s one of the strangest books I’ve ever read, but it’s an okay introduction.
April 23, 2018
Well written book for teens. Have done a review for MadReads, so will post the link once it is up.
Here is the link for my review posted on Madison Public Library's book blog:
https://www.madisonpubliclibrary.org/...
Here is the link for my review posted on Madison Public Library's book blog:
https://www.madisonpubliclibrary.org/...
December 28, 2018
Fun discussion of fandom that certain readers will really enjoy delving into.
April 25, 2018
It's wonderful to see this community represented and validated. The tone is very positive and encouraging and reminds us that anything is possible, but be kind and respectful. It's a great balance between an academic analysis of the community and and invitation to participate. Some of my middle schoolers will be turned off by the amount of text, but I think it's just right. It fills a niche. Those students of mine who are willing to read it will be rewarded.
Read
June 26, 2018I continue to be unimpressed by the books available on fandom culture. This one offers some interesting factoids, but could have also used a few more fact checkers and tends to go on tangents.
Displaying 1 - 22 of 22 reviews