Trivia / Andrew Neiderman

• Cash-Cow Franchise: Despite the original V. C. Andrews having died in 1986, romance novels written under her name have continued to be published on roughly a yearly basis since then.
• Executive Meddling: The reason why recent books are either short series of two-three books, or simply stand-alone novels; the ghost writer said that the publishers didn't want them because later books in the traditional family saga format didn't sell well (particularly prequels).
• Follow the Leader: The Kindred series (consisting of Daughter of Darkness and Daughter of Light) and the one-off Into the Darkness were seen as pretty blatant attempts to ride the post-Twilight paranormal romance wave by readers.
• Franchise Zombie: She only wrote 8 books during her life, but a ghostwriter has written over 60 since under her name. To some, the quality of the books declines sharply after the Casteel series, which was the last to be written by Andrews herself.
• Inspired by…: Two of Andrews' paintings served as inspiration for two ghostwritten short stories, Cage of Love and The Little Psychic.
• Intimidating Revenue Service: A rare posthumous example. One of the mysteries surrounding Andrews' death was exactly when the ghostwriter took over, as Andrews' publisher gave out varying stories. At first they stated that the ghostwriter had "completed" the contracted novels left incomplete at the time of her death. Then the official word was that the ghostwriter was writing works based on Andrews' notes. With the ghostwriter under a complicated non-disclosure agreement, it seemed that his true contribution to the franchise would never be known...until eight years later, when the IRS stepped in to claim that the now-trademarked name "V.C. Andrews™" was a taxable asset. The ghostwriter's contributions became a matter of public record. In the end it was revealed that the Andrews estate had never given the publisher or ghostwriter access to any manuscripts left incomplete at the time of Andrews' death, nor was he given any notes. Furthermore, the estate had forbidden the ghostwriter to create new works from existing characters after the final contracted series (Casteel Series) was completed.^note Twenty-five years later, after the death of Andrews' last living relative, rights reverted to the publishers and works based on Flowers in the Attic and My Sweet Audrina began to appear. The IRS won its back taxes, and the publisher quietly dropped the pretense that any later books were the product of V.C. Andrews.
• Keep Circulating the Tapes: The two short ebook stories, Cage of Love and The Little Psychic, were only available for a short time before the publisher took them out circulation. Unlike the Hudson prequel novella Gathering Clouds they're pretty easy to find.
• What Could Have Been
  • Cage of Love and The Little Psychic were to be the start of a new series of short stories published as eBooks. For some reason, those plans were scrapped.
  • The Secrets series: Nest of Orphans became Secrets in the Attic. Its sequel, Attic Whispers, became Secrets in the Shadow.
  • Sage's Eyes had its title changed to avoid controversy of its original title's use of the slur 'Gypsy'.