The publishing industry is facing turbulent times. The rise in e-books has been a huge challenge with changes in how books are written and published, not to mention read, all contributing.
The rise in fan fiction is one such development. This is where readers become authors, typically with fans of a TV series or novel writing their own take on a story and trading it online for free.
Abigail Gibbs is the latest author to be part of what some say is a publishing revolution.
Aged just 15, she started posting stories inspired by the vampire-themed fantasy series Twilight on the online writing website Wattpad.
She got 16 million views and three years later she has been signed up by a publisher for a six-figure two-book deal starting with The Dark Heroine: Dinner With A Vampire.
Abigail started posting chapters with no intention of writing a finished novel, but she was so inspired by the feedback from her readers she carried on.
Writing via the website meant her work was shaped by her fans and Abigail says there are huge advantages to writing in this way.
"It allows you to build a fan base and to prove that your book is marketable and that it will sell and for me it's sped things up massively," she said.
"It went from the deal to publication in two months, so yes, it’s definitely changed publishing for the better."
Fifty Shades Of Grey, the staggeringly successful start of a series by EL James, also began life as online fan fiction. The genre is nothing new, but it is definitely a growing phenomenon.
Fifty Shades has sold more than five million copies - 1.5 million of those being digital, a clear sign that fan fiction can sell.
EL James says her success has come as a huge surprise.
"I'd never heard of fan fiction, I just started reading a couple of things and thought this is a bit of a laugh," she said.
"Everyone said you can't publish off fan fiction, you can't do this, you can't do that, and then a friend of mine pulled his fan fiction and re-wrote it and got it published and I thought, if he can do it, I'll have a go - and I so I did."
Simon Winder, the publishing director of Penguin, says despite the challenges he believes the industry is in a strong state and the future is surprisingly good.
"I think from the point of view of being in publishing it's a very exciting time, I mean there's loads going on," he said.
"it's been an incredibly good year in many ways for books, the phenomenal success of Fifty Shades Of Grey for example, and so going forward all I can see is lots and lots of people are reading, all the evidence is that there are tons of children reading.
"I cannot see why people would be gloomy about the future of publishing."
Winder was talking at the Woodstock Literary Festival where more than 100 authors and speakers appeared at Blenheim Palace and a number of venues in Woodstock from September 12 to 16.
