Today I have the pleasure to fill in for my friend, Barbara Cornthwaite. Barbara and I go way back, back to a time when online fiction forums—and the Internet—were young. This was before Facebook and Instagram and good gracious, even before Myspace. It was indeed a heady time. Suddenly, thanks to the worldwide web, people were connected. How exciting it was to meet others who loved Jane Austen’s books!
And then there was the wonder of fan fiction.
Bits of Ivory and the Derbyshire Writer’s Guild were the two most popular forums then. These were set up as simple message boards for stories. Would any of us become published authors? Heavens, this was the stuff of daydreams. There was no way such a thing would ever happen. Self-publication was difficult, costly, and carried a stigma. We wrote and posted chapters on the forums simply for the joy of entertaining an eager audience of readers.
Oh, the adventure of clicking the “publish” button! Suddenly, my writing was available to everyone.
Everyone who wished to read it, that is.
Exciting times indeed.
I smile to see how far Jane Austen fiction has come. Self-publication roared to life with Amazon’s KDP, and it continues to grow in strength. Any stigma has disappeared. As for the genre itself, many expected it to die out. Ha! Each year lovers of Darcy and Elizabeth continue to stuff hundreds of new titles into their Kindles.
Long live Jane Austen fan fiction!
It’s been something to see how my “brand” has taken shape. My Jane Austen Regency fiction includes characters borrowed from her other novels. In the beginning, this was a bit of fun to stir things up and keep readers coming back for more. However, as each new story developed, one or two would come sneaking in. Those who read my books now expect at least one borrowed character. Needless to say, I am always on the hunt for a new mashup situation.
Speaking of mashups, have you discovered Barbara’s Much Ado About Persuasion? It’s a lovely combination of the Elliots and Shakespeare’s comedy that will have you smiling.
These days I am doing another thing I once would have said was impossible: I am having audiobooks professionally produced. So far, I have eight. These titles are wide, meaning they are carried by more than forty distributors, including Audible and public libraries. The newest audiobook, So This Is Love (which is a swashbuckling Charlotte Lucas romance), should appear at Audible in a week or two.
And now for news of my latest adventure. It is as if I have returned to the early days of fan fiction, offering my work to the wide world, simply for the joy of it. I have a YouTube channel.
That’s right, each of my eight audiobooks are waiting for you—free—at https://www.youtube.com/@LauraHileAudiobooks.
Thanks to YouTube, I am reaching a larger, more international audience. Many of them know nothing about Jane Austen fiction. I am hoping my channel will open the door for them to discover not only more audiobooks, but the wide world of Austen fiction.
Long Live Jane Austen fan fiction indeed.
Note: Our Barbara Cornthwaite will be absent from the blog due to family matters. Her friends and mine have agreed to fill in for her over the next couple of months. The JAFF community is one of the best because they genuinely care for each other. Keep Barbara in your thoughts and prayers. – Regina Jeffers
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