Money for nothing and your fics for free

[inverarity]

So, yeah, everyone's talking about Amazon's Kindle Worlds program, which basically allows people to write and sell fan fiction as Kindle ebooks.

Now before you get all excited, it's only Alloy Entertainment allowing this so far, and only for certain properties (Gossip Girl, Vampire Diaries, and Pretty Little Liars). No doubt more publishers and

Comments

off point....

[wodcdre]

Hey inverarity,

Looked what my friend found up in Wisconsin....
https://m.facebook.com/home.php?__user=646355776#!/photo.php?fbid=10151544898991056&id=516651055&set=a.10151539930116056.1073741827.516651055&ref=m_notif¬if_t=share_comment&__user=646355776

I thought it was pretty cool that someone actually made one of these....was this what u were thinking of what a Hodag is or looks like......I kept on thinking of what Torvalds made in the snow with Stuart....dunno if this is it or not..Btu I thought it was cool to see.

Re: off point....

[inverarity]

That link isn't working, but was it perhaps this?

Re: off point....

[wodcdre]

Yup...that's the place

[swissmarg]

Thanks for the post. ;) I am interested to see how this changes the dynamics of fandom. In the fandoms I've followed (HP, Sherlock), there was a shift from posting on individual archives to LJ/IJ/DW, and then moving from journals to AO3 and tumblr. Also which authors or intellectual property owners join this movement, and how much money is actually in this market.

[ardys_the_ghoul]

My immediate gut response is something along the lines of, "What?! This could not possibly work!" And that trying to sell fanfiction is fundamentally wrong whether the original author is ok with it or not.

And yet, another part of my brain keeps poking me, because it thinks fanfiction for sale already exists. My understanding, albeit limited because I don't read it, is that the Star Wars Extended Universe is basically this, technically speaking. I mean, I know there's an important difference here, I'm just not sure what it is.

Feel free to correct me if I am mistaken or way off base with this assessment, because it's entirely possible I'm totally wrong here.

Tie-in fiction

[inverarity]

Yeah, tie-in fiction is basically licensed fan fiction. The only real differences are that (a) it's legal since the intellectual property owner has given permission, and (b) it's written by professional authors, so it's generally better-written than fan fiction.

Of course it's also significant that writing tie-in fiction is pretty much always invitation only - if they want someone to write a Star Wars Expanded Universe novel, they go to an established author and ask if s/he's interested. And the degree of freedom the writer has is limited. Some properties give tie-in authors a lot of latitude to write what they want with only a few restrictions (e.g., stick to canon, and you can't kill off Luke) while others pretty much dictate the storyline.

Re: Tie-in fiction

[ardys_the_ghoul]

That's pretty much what I figured, but I didn't know for sure.

The first fanfic I ever wrote, before I even knew "fanfic" was a real term, was a Star Wars fic, but I wouldn't want to show it to anyone--in fact, looking at it now would probably make my eyes bleed.

And even though I have written other fanfic, and even though I could use the money, I wouldn't want to sell my fanfic. That's not what I'm interested in writing, and not what I want to be known for, if that makes sense.

[hermione_vader]

I'm torn because I would love to publish my own idea, but this prospect is reminding me that I'd recently been thinking about how I'd love to see short film versions of an Avengers/Toy Story fusion series I wrote, which could theoretically happen since Disney owns both properties, but that would never happen, although this could happen for someone else.

I don't know if this system will work, but I feel like maybe the fan fiction author should get maybe a tiny portion of money if a film adaptation was made. They came up with that idea---the original author didn't.

(and I do not think that subset will ever include Harry Potter, Twilight, Lord of the Rings, Star Wars, Star Trek, anything Marvel or DC, you get the idea)

I think you're right, but why? Is it because the fandoms are too big and/or they just don't need that extra attention.

[inverarity]

Basically that - George Lucas and J.K. Rowling have no need or desire to let fans cash in on their creations, and Marvel superheroes, Star Trek, etc. are already cash machines, so they don't need stunts to get fans to create more buzz and an additional income stream.

The only way I see a really big, profitable property being opened up this way is if the creator has a real philosophical investment in encouraging fan fiction. Like, if Cory Doctorow wrote the next Hunger Games (and wouldn't that be awesome?), I could see him doing it.

ETA:

I don't know if this system will work, but I feel like maybe the fan fiction author should get maybe a tiny portion of money if a film adaptation was made. They came up with that idea---the original author didn't.

I suspect that if they really do end up making a movie and a franchise out of someone's fan fic, they will give that author some compensation, rather than just saying: "Read your contract: you get nothing!!!" But they're certainly not going to share the profits the way they would with an

[lunacorva]

As tempting as this idea may be, I think I'd pass. Mainly because the fan fic in question is a crossover between Harry Potter and an Original Setting of mine who's characters very much ARE my intellectual property, and who's stand alone story (which by itself has nothing to do with Harry Potter) is something I legitimately do want to try and publish. So as much as I'd appreciate the publicity, I don’t want to risk losing the rights to my Original Characters and being able to publish their story.

That being said however, There are several fan fics that I ABSOLUTELY feel deserve to have money paid for them.