Discussion Amazon Kindle worlds, Licensed paid Fanfic

I'm very concerned that this will lead to a wholesale crackdown on Fanfic in general as companies (a) realize that they can make money off it if and only if the free competition is eleminated and (b) realize just how much is out there. Anything that brings spotlight on the community is something that worries me.

 

These are my thoughts exactly. If a fandom allows this commercial enterprise it would make sense for them to not allow their fandom to be written at free sites.

 

This is good news I have a original novel [title removed] it focuses on a werewolf who uses his gift to protect a city lets just say a lot of things happen.

Mav Edit: We don't allow talk of titles of stories, original or fanfic in resource. If you have a link to an original story you may put it in your sig.

 

Initially I thought this was an interesting idea. Then I read this in the Kindle Worlds for Authors page:

"We will also give the World Licensor a license to use your new elements and incorporate them into other works without further compensation to you."

With that one sentence they turn this platform into a conduit for the original content owners to mine the fanfic posted there for any original content (characters, plots, etc) they care to use absolutely free.

 

Every commentary I have read about this announcement has singled out that particular quote as a red flag the size of the Death Star. It may be appealing to think you're going to get paid for writing fan fic, but that line shows how bad this idea is.

There's also the fact that (unfortunately) plagiarism does exist in the fan fic world, and how is Amazon going to control that?

 

Yes, this is quite the bit of fine print in the contract to watch out for. I suppose if you have a bit of fanfic, that uses just Star Wars characters and situations, then it probably doesn't matter. But if you really have something that you think is new and original and that you love, best save it for yourself.

I wonder what happens if you do sign the contract with amazon .... are you required to take any of your free stuff off the internet then? If might look odd to have free and for-pay fanfic out there. I rather think that we won't really have to worry about this -- SW is not lacking in pro-writers. It would be a huge management task just to screen the fan submission they could get if Disney wanted to get in on this.

 

Here's a question that I forgot about. Does Timothy Zahn own Admiral Thrawn? Does Michael Stackpole own Corran Horn? If another author uses them in another SW book, do they get any extra compensation beyond their own books? I've heard about authors asking others about using their characters, but as far as I know, they're not required to. This clause might not be anything worse than what the pro-wirters have already signed up for.

 

That's a good point. Any author that goes into writing for Star Wars knows that any characters, planets, species, etc. that they create could show up in something that someone else wrote. I don't think they get any additional compensation nor do they always know what they are going to do with their characters. I think I heard that Zahn heard they were going to kill Mara but only after it was already a done deal and he had no say in it. I guess that's just the nature of the beast.

 

I actually would be quite flattered and giddy with head exploding joy if my characters and plots were made official after I sold the fan fic to Lucasbooks through Kindle. I honestly wouldn't care if I didn't get paid for their use outside of my writing. I would be able to say to my friends "See! Those are my creations! MY ideas and its now canon! Booyah!"


Honestly though if you're going to play in someone else's sandbox with your toys, expect the other kids to play with them too and pray they don't get broken in the process. Whether you sell the story or post it online somewhere, the copyright owners can take and use it without your permission anyway so arguing over that clause is moot. Be glad that you have a chance to officially play in their sandbox and get paid for each story you do sell them.

If you don't like it, well you can always go build your own sandbox.


Edit: Speaking of stealing fan ideas, back in the day when NJO was the big book series at the time, here on TFN over in the newly minted RPF, we had a NJO Rpg going on. We came up with plots, characters, strategies etc in a GFFA vs Vong conflict many months before the books came out. We had noticed that some of the things that had happened in the books had been thought up by us and RPed out prior to the books release. Coincidence? Perhaps. But I dunno. War of the Galaxies Rpg was a very big game at the time sporting over at least 20 participants. I would not be surprised if it inspired the authors and editors a little. We know they visit this site.

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Use the light switch, Luke. Trust your feelings!

 

I think I would feel that way until my OC was now the most popular SW character with action figures and featured in the new movies and Disney just made a zillion dollars off the copyrights. Meanwhile, I got $860 in ebook sales. I know the chance of that is zero to none, but it would kill me if it did.

 

Yeah, missing the extras on the franchise for an OC you created would be annoying, but does Timothy Zahn get anything extra for anything done for Mara Jade? I doubt it.

 

I doubt it either, but I am sure he got a boatload of money to write his authorized books. I am just saying if the disparity is huge that would kill me. If I got $100,000 for writing a book (I have no idea what Zahn gets) and Disney makes a billion...that would be acceptable. If I got $1000 in eBook sales and Disney make a billion...I would think that would bother me.

When I was young my brother starred in a low budget movie. He was offered $2000 for him to act (this was in the '70s, so that was worth a lot more) or he could have 5% of the profits after it was released. He was married and had a kid with another on the way. He said he needed the money and he doubted the movie would succeed...so he took the $2000. Well, it went on to make money and two sequels and the people who took the percentage became rich. Not horribly rich, but comfortably rich. He said it bothered him for a very long time.

It's not quite the same situation, but if his friends only made a hundred thousand dollars profit he probably wouldn't be bothered, but since they all were worth at least a million...that bothered him. So in a way it is the disparity of money that I think would be the issue.

 

The way I see it is that if an ebook written by a fan becomes suddenly popular, you are likely to be asked to write more and land a bigger contract. A smart franchise would hire the original author of the characters in order to stay true to what makes it popular rather than hand it over to another author who might mutilate the character and lose money instead. Force knows we've seen that happen to Mara Jade a couple times and fans have made a big stink about it.

So yeah it might be disheartening to see someone else make bigger moolah off your creation, but you are playing in their sandbox and it is an opportunity to get noticed and possibly jump start a career in writing or in that franchise. I wouldn't pass it up just because someone else might make more money on it than I would.

It's a stepping stone towards becoming professionally published, really.

 

True, true...I guess it is a moot point for me. I'm never going to write a novel.