FANDOMS! WHAT’S TRENDING AND HOW YOU CAN BRING FANS TO YOUR LIBRARY

PCI WEBINARS | CARRIE ROGERS - WHITEHEAD | ROGERS - [email protected] I’M A BIG GEEK • I love the power of fandoms to bring people together. Their universal stories bring together people of different cultures and backgrounds. WHAT THIS WEBINAR COVERS

Bringing fans in the library Fandom trends • Outreach • Streaming services • Marketing ideas • TV • Social media • Graphic novels • Partnerships • Podcasts • Displays • Gaming References

FANDOM & GEEK TRENDS TV, BOOK, MOVIE, AND VIDEO GAME TRENDS TV FANDOMS • CW- Gen Z station and place for YA adaptations • The 100 • Supergirl • The Flash • Riverdale • Batwoman (new!) • Arrow • DC: Legends of Tomorrow SOME POPULAR TV FANDOMS

Dr Who The Walking Dead Star Trek Discovery BBC AMC CBS MORE POPULAR TV FANDOMS

Bob’s Burgers Sherlock A Discovery of Witches FOX BBC AMC VIDEO GAME FANDOMS • Mobile games • PC Games • RPGs • MMORPGS • Console games SOME VIDEO GAME FANDOMS

World of Warcraft Fortnite Mario MMORPGS All platforms Video games ESPORTS

“Over half of eSports fans are between 18- 34 and many teens make up the fan base. …These typical fans are highly engaged. Like a football fan who has a season pass and tailgates each home game, an eSport fan will spend a significant amount of time and even travel, for their games.”

“Fans aren't just spending time on eSports, they're spending money. It's estimated by Mindshare North America that expenditures on eSports will reach over a billion dollars in 2019. Some of the biggest celebrity players in eSports make six figures. eSports is a growing part of the gaming landscape, and is not going away any time soon.”- Carrie Rogers-Whitehead, Digital Citizenship: Teaching Strategies and Practice from the Field

NETFLIX AND FANDOMS

• Netflix has made older shows popular and brought new audiences to certain genres • It has greatly increased it’s original content, creating new fandoms NETFLIX AND ANIME

Netflix is the exclusive distributor of lots of anime Netflix has brought back popular shows like Evangelion Netflix has popularized many anime Netflix Originals aren’t created by Netflix, but Netflix has the exclusive rights such as: Ajin, Castlevania etc. CURRENT POPULAR ANIME

• My Hero Academia- Shonen adventure story about superheroes • Attack on Titan- Shonen action with humans fighting giants • Isekai- Which are stories where people are transported to video games, or even reserve isekai where video games players are in the real world • KonoSuba- Isekai with goddesses and an ordinary teen boy • One Punch Man- Shonen about a hero who destroys things with just one punch • Dr. Stone- dystopian series in the future where people are turned to stone OTHER STREAMING FANDOMS

Good Omens Runaways Westworld Amazon Prime Hulu HBO Now DISNEY OWNS MARVEL, STAR WARS, DREAMWORKS, PIXAR AND 21 ST CENTURY FOX DISNEY PLUS

Shows coming up on Disney Plus (so far): • Star Wars: Clone Wars • Mandalorian • Loki • WandaVision • Hawkeye • Mighty Ducks and Sandlot reboot • Monsters at Work • Muppets Revival • Lots more…

PODCAST FANDOMS

Nightvale Alice isn’t Dead The Bright Sessions OG of fictional podcasts spanning a Quirky podcast spinoff from Nightvale Fictional recorded therapy sessions wide fandom, international tour and creator with a Dr. Bright. Being adapted for TV rabid fanbase and a YA series POPULAR GEEK PODCASTS • Rocket Talk- sci fi author podcast • Nerdist Podcast- very large following • Tabletop- where Wil Wheaton and friends play games and talk • Adventure Zone- comedic DnD podcast • More to Come- podcast about comics and graphic novels by Publisher’s Weekly GRAPHIC NOVEL TRENDS

• Creators on Twitch IRL channels creating meet ups • More content on digital platforms • The medium is flourishing, allowing for smaller publishers to compete • More than 1 billion in sales in 2017 • More comics being supported through crowdfunding

WHAT’S YOUR FAVORITE FANDOM? BRINGING FANS IN THE LIBRARY MARKETING, OUTREACH AND MORE PASSIVE GEEK COMPETITION DISPLAYS

Fandom voting Battle of the geeks Versus: DC vs. Marvel Where to find geeks on social media • Reddit • Tumblr- although not as much as in the past • DeviantArt • FanFiction.Net and AO3 (Archive of our own) • 4chan- Beware! • Discord • And traditional social media: Facebook, Twitter, Instagram etc. 23 VISUAL NOVELS

• Interactive game genre, think Choose Your Own Adventure • Usually has anime style art • Sometimes visual novels are turned into light novels or manga. They are very popular in Japan and growing in popularity in the US. • How can libraries capitalize on visual novels? COLLECTION DEVELOPMENT • Group by series • Keeping graphic novels near the drawing books • Video game novel section • Pulling out in between books, like Diary of a Wimpy Kid, that aren’t graphic novels but aren’t fully novels • Book into movie display GEEK OUTREACH

• Conventions • Comic Book Stores • Renaissance Faires • Gaming Stores- go to a gaming night or host the game store • Cosplay/Costume stores • Live podcast shows • Stores with gaming like Microsoft, Best Buy

For geek news • Nerdlist • Buzzfeed Geeky • io9 • Geek Tyrant • Den of Geek • Geek Insider • Polygon • IGN 27 FREE COMIC BOOK DAY

• First Saturday in May • Run by Diamond Comics Distribution • Contact Diamond Comics way in advance • Every year there are different comics • There are comics for kids, teens and adults REFERENCES

• Rogers-Whitehead, C. (2018). Teen Fandom and Geek Programming: a Practical Guide for Librarians. Rowman and Littlefield. • Free Comic Book Day https://www.freecomicbookday.com • https://www.publishersweekly.com/pw/by-topic/industry- news/comics/article/78393-selling-graphic-novels-in-a-changing-american- marketplace.html • “Top 5 Ways to Celebrate Batman Day 2017,” DC Comics, http://www.dccomics.com/blog/2017/08/23/top-5-ways-to-celebrate-batman- day-2017 • Visual Novels Database https://vndb.org • https://www.whats-on-netflix.com/originals/anime/ • https://www.themanual.com/culture/best-fiction-podcasts/ QUESTIONS AND DISCUSSION

THANKS! | ROGERS - [email protected]