1 [caption]: If Shakespeare had been born 400 years later...
1 Shakespeare: {typing at his computer} My plays are doing miserably...
2 Shakespeare: Nobody likes theatre any more. I need to find something I can write that will be truly appreciated and enduring.
3 Shakespeare: I know!
4 Shakespeare: Harry Potter fan fiction!

2012-09-08 Rerun commentary: Extract from Wikipedia's page on Harry Potter Fandom:

[J.K.] Rowling has backed fan fiction stories on the Internet, stories written by fans that involve Harry Potter or other characters in the books. A March 2007 study showed that "Harry Potter" is the most searched-for fan fiction subject online. Some fans will use canon established in the books to write stories of past and future events in the Harry Potter world; others write stories that have little relation to the books other than the characters' names and the settings in which the fan fiction takes place. On FanFiction.Net, there are over 593,200 stories on Harry Potter as of May 2012. There are numerous websites devoted solely to Harry Potter fan fiction. Of these, FictionAlley.org has grown to be one of the largest: it hosts over 80,000 stories and 20,000 works of fan art.

Now, just imagine how many of those are written by authors with the potential literary skills of William Shakespeare, but who can't get a publishing contract in this day and age.