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

[anatsuno]

I would - and probably will someday - put some of my fic up for pay. I think people get upset at that way too easily, for one (including me getting upset easily back at them for it), I think it should be legal, for two, and won't ever be i we don't push the envelope; and I also think that people tend to see in huge black and white things. The fact that I might put *some* of my fic up for pay someday doesn't mean I will/would decide to only ever write fic for money ever again, you know? Like RockFic shows, there's all sorts of little things to be tempted. Someone could over the years gather a nice readership and a small but steady trickle of fic-sales even without being a huge bnf. It's not about best sellers and making millions- hell, this is the long tail economy we're talking about, and even traditional publishing is starting to feel the ways in which lack of material products and transport/shelving issues affects the landscape

[screwthedaisies]

If it were totally legal, would you buy fanfic for a modest price?

I would buy fanfic the same way I buy original fic, which goes a bit beyond the "Only if it was written by someone I really think is good or it was recced by someone I trust" option because I would also take a chance on fanfic that was in a genre I like (horror, "seduction of a straight man", cyberpunk, post-apocalyptic stuff), particularly if it featured a fandom, and especially if it featured a pairing, that I like. BUT I'm fortunate in that I can afford to buy five, six, seven books a month, so I'm less risk adverse than some.

Also, I'm willing to purchase fanfic that I've already read online in book form, if it's put together well. (Which is how Rockfic Press came about--some of us wanted to read the stories we love in a form we love. There's nothing quite like the feel of a book in your hands.)

[chaosmanor]

I'm one of the writers who are making the jump to charging for fiction, some of which started out as fanfic. Do I think everyone could charge, even a token amount, for fanfic? Not a chance. About two posts above this, on my flist, was a post from someone ranting about the crap standards on ff.net. I think the consumer isn't going to pay (more than once) for text from a particular author that's poorly written and presented. There would be some kind of name recognition/reccing status meter for fic, so that the higher standard fic was more expensive than the dross. And there'd be a money-less barter system almost immediately

[redjacket]

Okay, I don't know if I'm expressing this well but, I thought it should probably be said so

[jrho]

I feel like people often 'pay' for fic nowadays in a barter sort of fashion. You drew a great John/Rodney pic for me, so now I owe you a team fic. You beta'd my twenty chapter Viggo/Sean fic, so I wrote you a three-part Sean/Orlando fic. And so on.

If people start charging money for fic, will this lead to other people charging to beta, to host stories, to compile rec lists? I think this would be a set up to reward good writers, but it could be taken advantage of and turn a lot of people off of fanfic with a more mercenary community atmosphere.

Also, I love David Hewlett so much after viewing his dorktastic rap! The little dance at the end was great.