A completely legal way to earn royalties off fanfic what now

[sincere]

AMAZON’S LAUNCHING A PROGRAM TO SELL FANFIC. YEAH, YOU READ THAT RIGHT. via The Mary Sue

/hyperventilates

I can't even tell you how long I've been wrestling with "I want to write for a living and be published" and "I want to write fanfic because I love it so much", so this news is legitimately freaking me out.

I'm super wary -- there's long been a backlash in fandom against people charging for fanfic even though it's perfectly acceptable to charge for fanart; and everyone gets upset when an author goes the cheap route, pulls a fanfic, changes some names, and calls it original fiction. It's entirely possible that it won't take off, that no one will pay for what they can get for free, or that it will only be possible for the most popular authors with hundreds of fans and recs. And of course that's without even going into the realm of "Will these fan-authors be treated fairly by Amazon".

But... freaking out all the same.

Comments

[sincere]

Thanks for linking the article! That's an interesting read. It seems like his only real point of critique is the -- admittedly large and glaring -- fact that they can do whatever they want with your fanfic once they've paid you your pittance for it. That is definitely not an equitable deal.

But compared to earning nothing and being recognized for nothing, it might... be worth it. I mean, if nothing else, it's a spot on your resume -- and, depending on how much you get robbed for, can be a pretty big one. Look, I was actually published. Look, I was reprinted in five languages. Look, they used my storyline in Season 7 of the popular Vampire Diaries TV show. Does it suck that they didn't pay you for it? Sure. But maybe it's worth it if you can get proof that your writing and plotting is quality. Those credentials can get you a real career where people will actually pay you.

With that said, I am definitely not going to line up on opening day with a Vampire Diaries fanfic to get in on the ground floor. I'm going to see how this falls out, what changes along the line, what these "guidelines" are, if it even works -- because let's be real, fandom hates paying for fanfic. Maybe it genuinely is more of an idea-stealing model than a payment-model. But it's definitely an interesting development.

[havocthecat]

You're welcome! And you have some very good points. I signed up for alerts and I'm going to see how it shakes out - but since I regularly steal from my fanfic to write original works, for me, this doesn't look so hot. But for others, it might do very nicely!

(I've been pondering trying to monetize my own fanfic for a while now. Just have to figure out how best to do it. And also how to avoid hitting 'post comment' too soon.)