Obscurity, much?/Literature

The world of literature- aka books- is known for having several famous authors and launching a successful industry (you know it's big when schools encourage children to read books). But literature, like everything else, *can* have a tendency to become obscure if it doesn't become universally beloved.

A few restrictions on this page:

* While this trope isn't exclusive to fiction, informational books shouldn't be documented if a new edition comes out every year.
* With the exception of legacy examples (documented before January 1st, 2023), books should only be documented six months after their initial release in their country of origin. Likewise, for book series, examples should only be documented six months after the final book's release, mainly to make sure no more books are coming out.
	+ If it has an adaptation in any form, unless the adaptation is more popular than the source material, the book in question probably doesn't qualify for this trope.
* Keep in mind that this subpage is only for actual books; manga is documented on a different subpage already. Light novels are also not to be documented here.
* Short-length poems and pre-1939 works of literature are best not documented as examples; literature has been around even before paper was even invented, thus we'd be here forever if we listed every single obscure piece of literature ever written.

* Let's start off with the obvious first- if you visit your local library, chances are more often than not you'll find books that fall under this trope, with some of the classics and/or popular books in-between.
* The author of *Freak the Mighty* also wrote a book called *The Last Book in the Universe*. While popular enough to still be in some schools' libraries, it was never popular enough for a movie, which *Freak the Mighty* got (albeit under *The Mighty*).
* This can even happen to *children's books*. For example, *Chloe* doesn't have its own Wikipedia page. Even its *author*, Peter McCarty, only had *two of his books* (neither of them being about Chloe) getting a Wikipedia page, the author himself not getting one at all.
* As *South Park* shows, *The Catcher in the Rye* would've been subject to this- the story itself wasn't vulgar- if not for a controversy involving the death of John Lennon. And that's all we'll say about it here.
* Despite half of its plot being made relevant in the wake of the release of *The Elder Scrolls V: Skyrim*, a child born on that same day being named "Dohvakiin", and *South Park* making fun of that fact in *The Stick of Truth* nearly 3 years later, *Chrysanthemum* still manages to be semi-obscure, *especially* in print form.
* The Japanese novel series *Gakkou no Kaidan* by Toru Tsunemitsu. (In Japan, novels and light novels are distinguished differently.) A series of popular books (in Japan), yet completely obscure everywhere else. It says much when people in North America know more about the anime adaptation than the books themselves.
* Despite being the inspiration for a cartoon series, which itself is documented on Teletoon's own page, *Wayside School*, while *far* better known than the cartoon is, is still this outside of North America. Seriously- it got to the point where countries such as South Korea got the cartoon but not the books it was based on.
* No matter how popular a book is, any sequels to books for the young adult demographic (with the exception of perhaps those within the *Harry Potter*, *The Lord of the Rings* and *Twilight* series) are more often than not *guaranteed* this, especially if said sequels do not get film adaptations.
* Despite running for over 40 books, *Left Behind: The Kids* never got a film adaptation that covered the entire series, and thus became more and more obscure as the years flew by. While its focus on religious themes might have had something to do with it, this was possibly because it would've been too costly to make at the time.
* The *Middle School* books normally shouldn't fall under this trope. But *Middle School: My Brother is a Big, Fat Liar*, which doesn't even focus on Rafe (but rather his sister), fits this trope, as it's a cult hit *at best* compared to the rest of the series.
	+ Which is nothing compared to the fact that James Patterson hasn't authored a single entry in the series since 2015, likely to work on other books (there *is* a film adaptation, with another in the works).
* *Diary of a Wimpy Kid* does this, both for meta examples and in-universe:
	+ Before the far better-known print version, Jeff Kinney wrote a web version of the novel. It's semi-obscure compared to the book series it started, and the only reason fans of the series read it anymore was to find out how much changed between then and the first book.
	+ Downplayed in-universe. Neither Greg's father nor Rowley knew that Corny's forbade ties because they weren't "fun"; Greg writes that if they see anyone with a tie, that tie is on the Corny's Wall of Shame- a reason why Greg *knew* about this rule by the time he, his date, and Rowley visit Corny's; Greg circumvented this rule by hiding it, then putting it back on after he walked out the door.
* *A Series of Unfortunate Events* had some books fall under this. Only applies to spin-off books, however.
* *Charlie and the Great Glass Elevator* managed to somehow avert this just as much as its prequel *Charlie and the Chocolate Factory* despite Roald Dahl forbidding film adaptations of it... except, it turns out that it only applied to *theatrical* films, meaning Netflix found a loophole in this. The planned third book, however, got cancelled before release and is almost completely forgotten.
* Children's books of children's TV (especially if said show is not aimed at preschoolers) more often than not will become more obscure than *the source material itself* once said source material is cancelled/ended. This includes books based on *Disney's Doug*, *Pepper Ann*, *The Powerpuff Girls (1998)*, *Rugrats*, *The Fairly OddParents*, and *Bobby's World*. This is also one of the reasons why the novels based on *Code Lyoko* remain untranslated for English speakers.
	+ It also doesn't help that many of these books, such as those based on *The Fairly OddParents* and *SpongeBob SquarePants*, are based on plots from certain episodes (*Lemonade with a Twist!* is based on "Nectar of the Odds", for example).
	+ One exception to this are the *Gravity Falls* books, as they explain additional lore based around the titular town. Considering *Gravity Falls* is very plot-based, this might've been for the better.
* Markiplier once found that a biography was written about him, and he revealed in a vlog that he didn't know about it until he stumbled across it.
* *Star Wars* is a massive juggernaut consisting of a film trilogy, *another* film trilogy, *yet another film trilogy*, countless cartoons and spin-off movies, comics, and books. How can it *not* avoid this trope? Enter the earlier books based on the franchise. Even if you know they're related to *Star Wars*, you're more likely to have seen the films than you'll have read the books based on the franchise. Currently averted with newer books.