we can do the tango just for two

rumregrets:

prettyarbitrary:

itriedthatonceitwasabadmove:

prettyarbitrary:

thescienceofobsession:

Amazon is now monetizing fan-fiction. I mean, I guess? The press release (with scads more detail) is right here. I am of two minds on this. Maybe three minds. MAYBE… Read The Rest ’

I don’t even know, man.

Amazon is negotiating with copyright holders for licensing permissions, and then yes, allowing fanfic writers to publish their works through Amazon for money.

Assuming you fit all the licensing requirements and whatever contract details Amazon includes, of course.

And you’ll want to read the contract closely, to find out whether you retain any rights to your own work once you start publishing through Amazon.

And the 20%-30% royalty is…well, I suppose that compared to traditional book publishing it’s not too bad, but on the other hand THOSE guys typically get paid an up-front advance.  If you’re looking for loose pocket change, this might not be bad, but only a small fraction of people who do it would see a significant profit.

And finally, once Amazon starts doing this, I expect that we’ll start seeing other companies—ones with a better deal for writers—begin breaking through that wall too.

So!  

1:  HOLY SHIT, THEY’VE ACTUALLY GOT THE BALLS TO START PUBLISHING FANFIC FOR MONEY.

2: I wouldn’t go into this assuming that they’ll treat you fairly or with respect.  Do your research if you want to try it.

3:  Personally I’d also hold off for a little while to see what sort of backlash and repercussions this has.  If our little fanfic-writing minds are boggled, you can bet that copyright holders are going to be experiencing epidemics of exploding brain matter.

I…am kind of excited but also wary.  Because I know a lot of fanfic writers blow off issues of information policy and intellectual property, but we may be on the brink of finding out just how much they really matter.  I’m not 100% certain that the “pay the studio, then earn money off your work” model is one we want trickling through fandom, especially when there have been noises in the legal world that actually lean in favor of NOT NEEDING permission from the copyright holder to create transformative works from their original material.  (Before you go out and sell your fanfic on your own terms, though, I’ll also note that it’s early enough in THAT discussion that the leaders in the crowd are still moving targets.  If you’ve got the guts and you’re willing to sweat the legal fees, more power to you!)

A dear friend of mine was on the team that developed Kindle Worlds, and I helped pitch in fanficcy advice every now and then through the process.

The way it works is that Amazon has spent the last year developing contracts with various property owners (Hasbro, Marvel, etc) to decide WHICH of their properties are cool for fanfic-publishing. So you can’t just stroll in with a kickass Stargate fic and assume it will be published, it has to fall under one of their okay-ed categories first.

There’s no guarantee this will work, seeing as all that quality material is already available for free. But depending on which writers jump on this opportunity (and which properties Amazon has acquired), it could be a game changer. At the very least this entire thing is proof that big companies want to start taking fanfiction and transformative works seriously, which is a big deal.

Itriedthatonce sums up my ambivalent feelings beautifully!  It’s REALLY COOL that these companies are ready to start taking fanfic and transformative works seriously!  But on the other hand, I’m leery of it happening this way, for a lot of reasons.

The most important and immediate reason is that I don’t want to see fanfic writers taken advantage of.  Many of us have waited and dreamed of the day when we might be taken seriously.  And this looks a lot like that day, but the contract terms sound like they still might be predatory.  

When it comes to the subject of fandom, I don’t think Kindle Worlds is single-handedly going to disrupt and destroy everything we hold dear.  The fact that it DOES only encompass certain fanworks and certain parameters is actually a good thing, as it leaves that wall between ‘for profit’ and ‘for love’ standing.

It’s an experiment, that’s pretty clear, with contained borders for all concerned.  Everyone involved in this—fandom, Amazon, the rights owners—are probably going to be approaching this cautiously, feeling out how it might work.  

Just, if you want to try this, DO YOUR RESEARCH.  NEVER assume that any publisher is automatically going to take your best interests to heart.

I resent, though, the implication that I should start paying Amazon for the *privilege* of reading things I’ve been reading for free. Furthermore (and not to sound like a snot but you know this is a concern *I* would have) - is there any sort of quality guarantee? Am I going to be paying to read something full of grammar mistakes and mary sue’s?

The other thing that worries me is that they are bringing up the issue of intellectual property in a way that is unprecedented in the realm of fic. This is bringing attention, big money attention, to something we have been protecting through obscurity for a while now. As long as we’re not making royalties from it then I don’t see where the issue should lay but money (and I know they’re getting special licenses for the ‘worlds’ even so) money is a game-changer.

It’s interesting that they’re looking at it as a form of writing to promote, but it’s a whole kettle of fish i’m distinctly uncomfortable with. I reckon this spells danger for AO3, for instance, in the future.