SMWLA Preview: Anna Todd’s Fanfiction Scores Her 800 Million Views (And A Book Deal)

Writer Anna Todd recently scored a six-figure book deal with Simon & Schuster‘s Gallery Books imprint, but her path to publishing has been far from traditional. Todd, the author of a One Direction-related fanfiction series called After, will talk at Social Media Week Los Angeles about her atypical rise to literary notability.

After is a fanfiction series that imagines a relationship between an edgier version of One Direction heartthrob Harry Styles and a relatively innocent college girl. It was widely proliferated on the literature-sharing site Wattpad, where it was the most-shared story of 2013. It has garnered 800 million reads to date. Simon & Schuster, no doubt encouraged by the success of 50 Shades of Grey

(which began as Twilight fanfiction), acquired the rights to After in June 2014. A reworked version of the story (with the names of real-life figures like Styles removed) is due out in November.

Todd will tell a more detailed version of this story at SMWLA, with a particular focus on her use of Wattpad as a distribution platform. Her event begins Tuesday, September 23rd at noon at The Broad Stage in Santa Monica. If you’re interested in attending, you can get a ticket for Social Media Week Los Angeles here. Use the code TF20 for 20% off. You can also check out the full schedule of SMWLA events here.