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chordatesrockI didn't expect to post anything besides my scheduled meta for a while, but this is important. I want you to take note. Yes, you. Are you even vaguely interested in creativity, as a producer or consumer? Great. Read on.
Kindle Worlds is a Bad Idea. You can read more on this topic at A Response to the Kindle Worlds Announcement.
Please do not participate in or support Kindle Worlds.
The contract terms are bad. What you sign away includes but is probably not limited to: all of your OCs, the right to post the fic on your LJ, and the right to decide whether the story gets to stay up or not.
The content guidelines mean your fic probably doesn't make the cut. Crossovers and porn are both disallowed. I'll explain why this is a concern in a moment. Additionally, so are drabbles and most lengths of flash fic.
Fandom is a gift economy. Does this mean that free fanfic is Just The Way It Is and that being paid is unacceptable because it's a breach of tradition? No, not at all. What it means is that fandom has some unique cultural aspects that are, in my opinion, worth preserving. That culture is tied to fanworks being free. Could some aspects of it be preserved anyway? Almost certainly. However, I would advise exercising caution before taking that risk.
This could hurt professional tie-in writers. Why undercut their prices? This might convince rights-holders not to license tie-ins for better compensation, if they weren't already this cutthroat.
This might hurt fans who write for free. It might or it might not. Why might it do so? Suppose Fan X agrees to this and publishes a fic this way. The canon rights-holders benefit financially. Suppose Fans Y and Z don't want to, and keep posting their fic elsewhere. Fans Y and Z are already not helping the canon rights-holders (this is not true-- they recommend the work to others-- but canon rights-holders usually undervalue this service), so it doesn't harm the rights-holders if they're forced underground; on the other hand, it benefits, the rights-holders if they agree to participate in this new system. Fans Y and Z might be getting cease and desist letters.
If that does happen, it hurts creativity. Remember that they don't allow crossovers or drabbles.
Is this likely to happen? Probably not. I suspect this will fizzle and die because everyone realizes how bad it would be otherwise.
Kindle Worlds is a Bad Idea. You can read more on this topic at A Response to the Kindle Worlds Announcement.
Please do not participate in or support Kindle Worlds.
The contract terms are bad. What you sign away includes but is probably not limited to: all of your OCs, the right to post the fic on your LJ, and the right to decide whether the story gets to stay up or not.
The content guidelines mean your fic probably doesn't make the cut. Crossovers and porn are both disallowed. I'll explain why this is a concern in a moment. Additionally, so are drabbles and most lengths of flash fic.
Fandom is a gift economy. Does this mean that free fanfic is Just The Way It Is and that being paid is unacceptable because it's a breach of tradition? No, not at all. What it means is that fandom has some unique cultural aspects that are, in my opinion, worth preserving. That culture is tied to fanworks being free. Could some aspects of it be preserved anyway? Almost certainly. However, I would advise exercising caution before taking that risk.
This could hurt professional tie-in writers. Why undercut their prices? This might convince rights-holders not to license tie-ins for better compensation, if they weren't already this cutthroat.
This might hurt fans who write for free. It might or it might not. Why might it do so? Suppose Fan X agrees to this and publishes a fic this way. The canon rights-holders benefit financially. Suppose Fans Y and Z don't want to, and keep posting their fic elsewhere. Fans Y and Z are already not helping the canon rights-holders (this is not true-- they recommend the work to others-- but canon rights-holders usually undervalue this service), so it doesn't harm the rights-holders if they're forced underground; on the other hand, it benefits, the rights-holders if they agree to participate in this new system. Fans Y and Z might be getting cease and desist letters.
If that does happen, it hurts creativity. Remember that they don't allow crossovers or drabbles.
Is this likely to happen? Probably not. I suspect this will fizzle and die because everyone realizes how bad it would be otherwise.
no subject
Date: 2013-05-24 04:50 pm (UTC)And I'm an Anne Rice fan, so I've seen what it does to a fandom when the C&D letters start flying. :S I do think that commercial fanfic creates commercial pressures - rightsholders who were unaware of fanfic or prepared to turn a blind eye may well see things differently when free fanfic is competition for their own enterprise.
no subject
Date: 2013-05-25 04:10 pm (UTC)I'm not in that fandom; what happened?
Sorry for the teal deer...
Date: 2013-05-25 05:04 pm (UTC)http://www.angelfire.com/rant/croatoan/
This was a couple of years before I got into the fandom, but fans who'd been around for that shitstorm told me that the effect (which persists to this day) was to decentralise and scatter the fandom. Previously everyone congregated on alt.books.annerice and fic circulated in the usual ways, but when she started C&Ding fans, people took down their fic, or indeed their websites. Many fansites from that era don't survive because they were hosted on Geocities, but those that remain on Reocities or similar often have very visible disclaimers stating that they do not host fic/specs - NOBODY wanted to get in her firing line.
A lot of fic was lost because people didn't have saved copies, and what stayed online has been very, VERY much on the down-low ever since, with a vigorously enforced don't-give-her-reasons-to-sue-us culture. At the time, FanFiction.net banned AR fanfic to avoid attracting legal problems, and I believe Adult Fan Fiction did so either at the same time or in the years afterwards. Unfortunately, a few years ago (I think 2008 or 9) she proved that she hadn't tempered her views - the closest thing to fic that existed in the open for years was RP forums, and one of the major ones came to Rice's attention that year and was C&Ded.
I believe the last big panic happened two years ago when a prominent sycophant on AR's Facebook page drew AR's attention to a manga of Interview with the Vampire, and AR flipped. (Especially ironic since the manga was originally a licensed adaptation, but then something happened - I forget the details - and it never saw publication outside Japan.)
I think the perception outside of the fandom is that there is no fic, and indeed little or no fandom anymore - to the extent that older fans are often a bit alarmed to see teens who were little kids when all this went down roleplaying openly on Tumblr. Like many book fandoms without subsequent TV/film adaptations, I'm sure this one would naturally have dwindled after the final Vampire Chronicles book was published in 2003, but Rice's attitude has absolutely damaged the fandom's ability to grow and flourish, and she's become a panfandom byword for hostile creators, which is a sad state of affairs all round.
Re: Sorry for the teal deer...
Date: 2013-05-25 05:14 pm (UTC)That's absolutely terrible. I'm sorry.
How does AR fandom work now?
Re: Sorry for the teal deer...
Date: 2013-05-26 08:36 pm (UTC)