Eoin Colfer became so concerned by internet campaigns to stop him writing a sequel to Douglas Adams’s The Hitchhiker’s Guide to the Galaxy series that he joined one of them to defend himself, he told an audience at The Times Cheltenham Literature Festival.

The Irish author, best known for his Artemis Fowl books for children, said that he had a crisis of confidence when he finished the authorised book, fearing that he would become a hate figure.

“As soon as I pressed the send button, I thought, ‘Oh, God, Jane [Belson, Adams’s widow] is going to hate this. Douglas’s agent is going to hate this, and the hatred is going to trickle out, and everyone’s going to hate it, and the fans are going to hunt me down’.”

Colfer resolved to avoid any contact with fans, but could not resist looking at his Facebook account.

“At the side there’s a bar inviting you to join this and that society. I ignore them, but one day a bar came up: ‘The Stop [Eoin Colfer] Writing Hitchhiker’s Society’. It’s just random. It must have gone out to millions of people.

“I did join, and it backfired on someone, because it turned out to be the best thing I could have done. Initially I was there to defend myself, but then I decided, I’m not enjoying this, so I decided [to post messages saying], You know what? Yes, Eoin Colfer is an a***hole. I’ve known him for many years and I don’t like him.” He also wrote: “Eoin Colfer spent an entire summer with a Bay City Rollers scarf around his wrist” and “Eoin Colfer buys jeans online . . . in the teenager section”.

He realised that by insulting himself he attracted sympathy. “It went really well and a lot of people sent encouraging messages and that’s when I decided: that’s the attitude to have. I’m going to have a sense of humour.”

Colfer, 44, confronted fans face to face on Sunday at Hitchcon, a conference for Adams fans where he chose to launch the book. “There were 1,000 fans there, all in dressing gowns. Imagine walking out to that. These guys are staring at you, boring lasers into your head, but they were nothing but kind. The reviews have been great. I’m waiting for the other shoe to drop. But I’ve said I’m clinging on to this moment.”

The Hitchhiker books, which feature Arthur Dent and Marvin the Paranoid Android, pictured left, sold 16 million copies. Adams wrote Mostly Harmless, the fifth and last, 16 years ago.

Despite the bleak ending in which all the main characters seem to die, he told friends he wished to revive the series. He died of heart failure in 2001, at 49, while exercising in a gym.

Hard acts to follow

Devil May Care James Bond’s 36th outing, by “Sebastian Faulks writing as Ian Fleming”, came out last year. Despite mixed reviews, it became Penguin UK’s fastest selling hardback novel ever, with 44,093 sold in the first four days

Scarlett Alexandra Ripley’s 1991 sequel to Margaret Mitchell’s classic Gone with the Wind received generally negative reviews. The New York Times branded it a “fearless act of cultural cannibalism”

The Willows in Winter William Horwood continued the exploits of Ratty, Mole and Mr Toad from The Wind in the Willows. Readers inundated the author with letters, thrilled with his effort to recapture the whimsy of Kenneth Grahame’s work

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