A ****MAJOR**** WRITER ALERT! BEWARE!!
First let me say this was just wonderful (NOT!!) news to come home to!
Anyone who is a writer needs to sit up and take notice of this warning and pass it to any other writers that you know. Yes it is that important, so writers follow the cut and get informed!
There's a new shark in the water people. A website (In beta release right now) has emerged that is a SERIOUS danger to your work and might possibly leave you vulnerable to being sued.
The folks at Fanlib.com have been suckering writers into posting their stories to their website under potentially dangerous (For the writers not for the site!) circumstances.
Here is a link that can sum up the danger far better than I can; as it is fairly complex and sadly at least one writer I'm familiar with has fallen for this already and unwittingly given up the rights to their own work!
EDUCATE YOURSELF about Fanlib.com
I hope that by passing on this information that; should you choose to feel that giving up the rights to your work is something worth it to you; you'll do so understanding the pitfalls. I can't urge writers straongly enough to boycott this site that is taking the rights for the work being posted yet leaving the writers posting it legally responsible if the site is ever sued over having the story posted.
For those that may have found the above link a little too much to digest, I'll do my best to break it down for you in shorter fashion.
They want your work so they can attract advertisers, MONEY people it's always about the MONEY when 'big name' companies get involved in anything to do with the fans. They're making MONEY off of you, that you'll never see; but could be used against you if the rightful owner DOES sue in which case they'll basically blame you for having posted it even though they now technically OWN it. The only 'payment' you MIGHT get is a t-shirt or some lame prize while they use the content you provide with your work; that attracts readers to look at their ads, which trust me they're being paid hundreds if thousands per advertiser to run; and you basically get a pat on the head!
This opens up a serious legal issue for anyone posting their work. Fanfiction is largely a rather difficult thing to prosecute for the simple fact that no money is made on it. You can't sue for damages because it's difficult to prove that any damage has been done due to the non-profit nature of fanfiction. Well people guess what money IS being made on it, by FANLIB.COM! Your work is being used to make MONEY and that can be the basis of a NASTY LAWSUIT with **YOUR** name on it! The rightful owners aren't going to care that the site is making the money and not you; because the site has a disclaimer blaming YOU and making you responsibile! All they care about is there's money involved and they're not getting it so they want it from the one responsible and Fanlib.com says that is *YOU* for posting anything there.
In what universe does that sound like it would be a good idea in? It's not in MY universe I can tell you that much!
So please writers, I urge you, look before you leap. Because if you take the long fall off that cliff that site is perched on, they're NOT going to catch you.
Hoping all of you dodge this potential bullet!
~J~