I want my MTV; or Money for Fanfic

[telesilla]

So in some discussions that have been happening on my flist and in other places, the idea has been put forward that money in exchange for fanfic wouldn’t necessarily be a bad, evil, immoral, wrong thing.

Some of the people I was discussing this with were unaware of the fact that Rockfic, for example, exists. There's an archive that charges a

Comments

[neery]

The thing is, if fanfic becomes something you have to pay for, I won't be able to afford to read anywhere near as much of it as I do now. I already have to ration my books. It would make me really, really sad if I had to start rationing how much fanfic I can read, too.

On the other hand, I am all for people making money as a writer, and I know that fandom isn't there to cater to me, so it's not that I'm morally opposed to the idea. It's just that I really can't afford to spend all that much money, and if fanfic were to go commercial, I'd be out of both a lot of money and my favorite way to spend the time.

And I do think that having to pay for fanfic would make the community a less fun place to be. One of the great things about fanfic is that we can try out new things - reading a pairing that we're not sure will work, giving new writers a chance, reading stories in a experimental style - because if it doesn't work for us, all we lose is some time. If they have to pay, I think most people would be a lot less likely to try out new things that might turn out to be a waste of money.

[mayqueen517]

First off: I'm Chrissy and I've been published, twice in fact, by Rockfic press.

From an insiders point of view, it IS nice. And the nice thing is that any fic that is published, that even if you can't afford the book - they're still up on the website. Sure, you have to pay 2 bucks to get into the archive, but...two bucks isn't that much.

And with Rockfic Press, it's so...mindblowingly amazing to see a story and to say "That's mine. That is MY story." and...it's amazing. (that aside, from being published twice in two different books, I've made less than five dollars. So...yeah.)

If they have to pay, I think most people would be a lot less likely to try out new things that might turn out to be a waste of money.

I think most of us from Rockfic aren't...the 2 dollar fee doesn't bother us. I'd rather have to pay for quality band fic than half the crapfic that's out there.

And as far as not trying out new things, you have to keep in mind that not every single story is published. So, like has been said in other comments it's...and I just totally lost my train of thought.

Ah well, I think you can get what I'm saying.

[neery]

Well, if the price for fanfiction is limited to $2 a year, that wouldn't be a financial problem, of course, but then it seems a little pointless to ask for a fee at all. Aside from keeping minors out, that is, which is something I personally just can't get that enthusiastic about, but I know it matters to other people.

And of course I have nothing whatsoever against people selling their fic as books in addition to putting them on the web. I mean, if I could afford it, I'd love to have all my favorite fics in a form I can take to the beach.

[screwthedaisies]

The fee is to offset the server cost. In summer '05 the server we were hosted on started crapping out regularly, sometimes for more than a day. People were willing to pay to move to a more reliable server, and since then we've had very few server problems. We didn't need to charge $5 or $10/year to cover the server costs--just $2. It sure beat selling ad space on the site (which no one wanted) or having to pass around the donation cup whenever funds got low (ugh!).

The decline in underage user registration (until we instituted a free 48-hour trial recently) was just a bonus.

[neery]

Oh, okay, that makes sense. Thanks for the information.

[screwthedaisies]

You're welcome!

[sidewinder]

The decline in underage user registration (until we instituted a free 48-hour trial recently) was just a bonus.

My bad - sorry for any incorrect info. (I think that was when I was MIA for a while...I just remember coming back to the site one day and saying, oh, okay, let me buy a lifetime membership, whatever's going on... :D I've paid $20 for crappy-ass 'zines before so it didn't take much more than a second's thought to sign up for good where I knew I'd find better quality stuff...)

[mayqueen517]

Aside from keeping minors out, that is, which is something I personally just can't get that enthusiastic about, but I know it matters to other people.

Heh, I was 17 when I tried to join rockfic the first time. I accidentally let it slip to someone and they advised me to tell rockfic, and I did. And she said, "well, sorry, but come back when you're 18," and this was before the fee was installed. And I think that if it had been there, I probably wouldnt' have tried.

So I waited until I was 18, rejoined....and here I am.

And I know from other experiences, a lot of the underagers who try to join up and actually get past the fee, etc, they cause a lot of trouble around the board. And I'm not saying all underagers would be like that (I wasn't), but they still cause some issues, mainly because they feel like they have to act like they're the big person on the board so we won't suspect them of being underage.