F A N D O M S ! W H AT ’ S T R E N D I N G A N D H O W

Y O U C A N B R I N G F A N S T O Y O U R L I B R A R Y

P C I W E B I N A R S | C A R R I E R O G E R S - W H I T E H E A D |

R O G E R S - W H I T E H E A D @ H O T M A I L . C O M

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

Fandom trends

• Streaming services

• TV

• Graphic novels

• Podcasts

• Gaming

Bringing fans in the library

• Outreach

• Marketing ideas

• Social media

• Partnerships

• Displays

References

FA N D O M & G E E K T R E N D S 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

BBC

The Walking Dead

AMC

Star Trek Discovery

CBS

MORE POPULAR TV FANDOMS

Bob’s Burgers

FOX

Sherlock

BBC

A Discovery of Witches

AMC

VIDEO GAME FANDOMS

• Mobile games

• PC Games

• RPGs

• MMORPGS

• Console games

SOME VIDEO GAME FANDOMS

World of Warcraft

MMORPGS

Fortnite

All platforms

Mario

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

Amazon Prime

Runaways

Hulu

Westworld

HBO Now

D I S N E Y O W N S M A R V E L , S T A R W A R S , D R E A M W O R K S , P I X A R A N D 2 1 S T C E N T U R Y F O X

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

OG of fictional podcasts spanning a

wide fandom, international tour and

rabid fanbase

Alice isn’t Dead

Quirky podcast spinoff from Nightvale

creator

The Bright Sessions

Fictional recorded therapy sessions

with a Dr. Bright. Being adapted for TV

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

GR APHIC NOV EL TR ENDS

• 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?

B R I N G I N G FA N S I N T H E L I B R A R Y 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

T H A N K S ! | R O G E R S -

W H I T E H E A D @ H OT M A I L . C O M