Kindle Worlds - money for your fanficiton

chronodekar

chronodekar

Obsessively signs his posts
Staff member
#1
#1
http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/22/amazon-kindle-worlds-fan-fiction/

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1001197421

At least, the way I understand things, they are trying a new scheme to give authors, original owners ... etc a cut of the money they make from SELLING fan fiction.

On one hand, I'm kind-of happy to support a fanfiction author I like, but on the other hand ... well, I'm a bit uncomfortable with the possibility of people actually having a chance to earn a living from fanfiction. It adds an element of 'my life depends on this story to sell well' attitude that makes me worry.

-chronodekar
 
M

Meinos Kaen

Well-Known Member
#2
#2
chronodekar said:
http://www.engadget.com/2013/05/22/amazon-kindle-worlds-fan-fiction/

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?ie=UTF8&docId=1001197421

At least, the way I understand things, they are trying a new scheme to give authors, original owners ... etc a cut of the money they make from SELLING fan fiction.

On one hand, I'm kind-of happy to support a fanfiction author I like, but on the other hand ... well, I'm a bit uncomfortable with the possibility of people actually having a chance to earn a living from fanfiction. It adds an element of 'my life depends on this story to sell well' attitude that makes me worry.

-chronodekar
Click to expand...
... OH, COME ON! NOW?! WHERE WERE THEY WHEN I WAS WRITING FANFICTION ALL THE TIME?! *grumbles* Oh, well. I guess I will have one more reason to not drop fanfiction completely like, ever.
 
G

Glimmervoid

Well-Known Member
#3
#3
Meinos Kaen said:
... OH, COME ON! NOW?! WHERE WERE THEY WHEN I WAS WRITING FANFICTION ALL THE TIME?! *grumbles* Oh, well. I guess I will have one more reason to not drop fanfiction completely like, ever.
Click to expand...
Unless you write fanfiction for Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liars, or The Vampire Diaries it doesn't matter yet. Those are the only ones Amazon have the licence to do this for. It may expand in the future but we'll just have to wait and see.

On a personal note, I'm uncomfortable about this. Keep fan fiction as purity of the art thing IMO. It could also incentivise authors to go after free fanfiction more than they currently do.
 
M

Meinos Kaen

Well-Known Member
#4
#4
Glimmervoid said:
Meinos Kaen said:
... OH, COME ON! NOW?! WHERE WERE THEY WHEN I WAS WRITING FANFICTION ALL THE TIME?! *grumbles* Oh, well. I guess I will have one more reason to not drop fanfiction completely like, ever.
Click to expand...
Unless you write fanfiction for Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liars, or The Vampire Diaries it doesn't matter yet. Those are the only ones Amazon have the licence to do this for. It may expand in the future but we'll just have to wait and see.

On a personal note, I'm uncomfortable about this. Keep fan fiction as purity of the art thing IMO. It could also insentience authors to go after free fanfiction more than they currently do.
Click to expand...
Oh. Only that? Nevermind, then.

MOVING ON!
 
G

GaelicDragon

Well-Known Member
#5
#5
How long until Amazon sends ff.net a cease and desist order with storing fanfiction.

The other issue, is who here is going to actually buy fanfiction?
 
J

Jomasten

Well-Known Member
#6
#6
Goddamnit, and sure enough, soon fucking copyright companies are going to start purging all 'unlicensed' fanfiction because corporations want more money.

If it comes that, I'll probably be one of the many people that's going to petition a stop to this bullshit.

For now, their licenses are in fandom that I don't care about. So let's wait and see.
 
S

ShotgunWilly

Well-Known Member
#7
#7
My understanding is that the Amazon terms say that the World-owner or whatever they call it will continue to own their universe, characters, etc. However, you own the copyright to any original elements that your story has, (i.e. the world itself, OCs, etc.) - the catch is that by giving it to Amazon to sell, you automatically give the world-owner license to use your original elements as they see fit without any further compensation.

Also, slashfics, crossovers, and NC-17 content are prohibited. I'm pretty sure other copyrighted material is prohibited (song lyrics, etc). If it's not explicitly stated somewhere then it's probably still true 'cause that would screw up the whole royalties issue even more - which is the reason they don't want crossovers.

On the topic of slashfics being prohibited, I feel a great disturbance on the Internet, as if millions of female voices cried out in despair and were suddenly silenced. :p

Really though, I don't see it taking off very much. From my observations, several big fandoms have copyright owners which aren't very fond of fan-work. For example, I know that the Tolkien estate keeps a tight hold on the LotR stuff, and Disney (which now owns Star Wars for those of you living under a rock) has a history of trying to stomp out fan-works. Not sure what JKR's reaction would be. But, of course, they won't allow fanfiction unless the copyright owners say so.

I also understand that they intend to sell fanfiction for between $0.99 and $3.99. In order to get the promised 35% royalties, your fic has to be greater than 10,000 words. I sincerely hope they'll have quality requirements. And they probably won't be taking incomplete fics either.

I'm honestly more interested in seeing if this influences the authors who are anti-fanfic (e.g. Terry Goodkind, Anne Rice, George R. R. Martin to name a few) into allowing fanfiction since they'd get a cut from it. I'm pretty sure their stubbornness about not allowing it stems from a concern that fanfiction will take away from book sales... foolishness, really. lol

Either way, while it's not a bad thought on Amazon's part, my reaction is more along the lines of "Don't mess with my fanfiction, dammit!" :p
 
Z

zerohour

Well-Known Member
#8
#8
I don't see this affecting fanfiction writing all that much. As Shotgun said, they probably won''t accept incomplete works, which the majority of fanfiction ends up being. It's a lto easier tow rite a single chapter than an entire novel.

Most people will probably post on FF.net, then once they get to an appropriate end, they'll publish it through Amazon.

People are used to fanfiction being free, or at the most, requirign you to register for a site. I doubt this will eclipse the usual pracitices unless they use this as a launchign point for a crusade to end all free fanfiction. People will probably read it for free, then purchase the story if they really enjoyed it and want to support the author.

At least, that's what I'm hoping.
 
H

half baked cat

Well-Known Member
#9
#9
Even if they try to end all free fanfiction, there will be people that just move the fanfiction to other sites and it will just become a bit more underground while they get counter-sued for infringing on the First Amendment. Then there will be all sorts of lawsuits until it is determined what the legal lines for fanfiction is.

Personally, I support the idea of fanfiction authors who manage to finish their stories, or, at least, get to a bookend, to be able to make money by selling the story. It would make it easier for such authors to later sell original fiction if they wanted to since they understand the process already.

I also agree that if you are making money by playing around in someone else's world that some of the profit should go to the original creator.

I think the wait and see approach is best in this situation. See how the first wave of this new market works out in a mechanical sense and make judgements from there.
 
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