Well then. C'moooooon, Dresden!!!

 

Eh, I'm not enthused.

To be frank, I wouldn't pay to read fanfiction. The odds are far too high that I'd buy some crap fic. And the few authors who are truly skilled, like those who publish here, I'd rather see them focus on creating their own original stories.

And those fandoms? I have no interest in them at all.

 

I second that, Tomato!

 

I'd probably not want to buy a fanfic based only on a summary, but if some of my favorite fanfics were released this way, I'd buy them. Just to help out the author and reward them for it and maybe make them slightly more famous (Amazon ranks!).

Will only completed Fanfics be released this way? Or will there be regularly updated ones too?

 

JKR will not allow HP to be a part of this. In an interview she said that she considered permanently killing Harry at the end of DH just to kill off this kind of continuation.

And yeah, Cheddar, I used to read Buffy novels, which were similar in terms of the quality range.

 

I was browsing ArsTechnica and came upon an interesting article that reminded me of DLP.

http://arstechnica.com/business/2013/05/amazon-sets-up-system-to-trade-on-controversial-fan-fiction/

Hopefully it'll inspire more quality work - no word on Rowling signing on though.

Also means there's someone whose sole job is to go and read Fanfiction and determine if it's worth selling. Anyone unemployed?

 

If it improves FF I'm all for it, but I think it somewhat goes against the grain of FF.

FF allows authors to write things that won't neccessarily be commercial hits. It's a bit hard to ignore the potential profit when you're writing a long story. If you put in all that time and work in, why make a plot point that might alienate a lot of readers?

So a mixed bag really. I hope they ban works that have originally been released online. I would hate to see FFnet, et all lose tons of stories overnight. Not to mention it would be infuriating for readers to read a story that closes shop halfway and moves to Amazon.

 

I can see this getting big and making a name for some authors.

 

It all depends on which authors sign up. Thirty-five percent isn't a bad deal for just licensing out the name, but I suspect many authors would baulk at the thought that their story could be perverted to the whims of some random dude off the Internet. Particularly if that author was planning to continue works in that world, or pop off a few sequels.

I could see it working for authors who have given up making more money off a series. They create the world and write the obligatory six sequels, then sell the name off to Amazon and watch the money roll in.

Honestly, I can see this being a big moneyspinner for Amazon. Ever since 50 Shades of Grey, marketing execs have been looking at fanfiction and rubbing their hands together in glee; this is the logical extension. Well done to them for thinking it up and getting it implemented. We'll wait with interest and see how it goes.

 

I'm with Scalzi on this. I won't lie, the possibility of being paid for fanfiction is appealing - not that I think Rowling will ok this - but there's definitely some offputting stuff about it. It's one thing for stuff that's finished, but it's all too easy to see the author/writers of some on-going series taking all their inspiration for later instalments from fanfiction available through this.

I dunno. It's a nice idea, but it does leave me feeling a little wary about it.

 

Pulling a Narnia would have been infinitely better than the Epilogue. I defy anyone who says otherwise. She could have even gone ahead and killed off everyone she wanted to originally, like Hagrid, because you'd see everyone again at the very end, one last time. Like Harry gets off the train, and walks into something that is niether Hogsmeade nor Diagon, but something in-between. There's Dumbedore and Grindelwald, young and laughing. There's Ariana, smiling happily and eating ice cream out in the sun. There's Neville with his parents, talking animatedly.

And there's James and Lily, smiling, beckoning Harry to sit down and eat with them.

He does. And the story ends.

In regards to the news itself, I'm actually quite thrilled. I echo the sentiment that I don't really care about any of the settings that are open thus far, but I'm excited not for what this is now, but for what it could ultimately become.

I doubt some series, like the Dresden Files, will ever open up under this, and I know for a fact Harry Potter won't be one, as Taure stated already. But there are some settings that could make serious use of this kind of thing.

Like Star Wars.

Or Marvel.

Or DC.

Giving fans a chance to write for their favorite comic characters in particular I see as being far more a positive than a negative. Marvel and DC both have come under heavy criticism in recent years for some of their decisions and choices about the directions they've taken their various comic runs. Giving fans the chance to pen and publish their own interpretations and stories would, I think, have a significant positive effect on the Marvel and DC worlds.

I don't like where this is yet, but I'm extremely interested to see where this could end up going, provided it doesn't run out of steam and die.

 

I can see this happening for authors that want more money from their series without having to put the effort in.

 

I have a bad feeling about this. I'm not sure where the dick is coming from, but someone is getting it up the ass, likely the amateur writer.

And I hope it fails. Epically. Motherfuckers pay the rights holder if the amateur writes something. The same is not true if the rights holder releases something based on -- or outright copying -- what the amateur did.

Perhaps this is the first step and conditions slowly improve for "fanfiction" writers. I can see a talented writer going well beyond what the rights holder can do and getting pissed off when he isn't paid for adaptation, translation and other rights.

For now? No thanks. Let someone else get fucked over rights first.

 

No slash? I can't help but laugh.

I do hope Rowling/the license holders to HP do agree to this.

I have a feeling that Meyer will sign on - Twilight is pretty popular for, *ahem*, certain types of people, so this'll rake in even more dough for her.

Same deal with 50 Shades of Crap, though that in itself was fanfiction, too.

 

That is a potentially big problem, yes. You run into this issue where fans might accuse a writer of stealing their stuff. How then would that even work? Would there just be some kind of disclaimer that says that the amature writers have no rights or claims whatsoever on their work beyond the fee they get paid?

It's a potentially hairy situation, because there's a possibility of both sides getting screwed, here.

What if a fan guesses what the writer was going to do, and then beats them to the reveal? That could ruin a story all by itself, potentially. Even worse, what if the writer goes through with it, and then the fan accuses the writer of stealing from them? Or what if the fan doesn't, but other fans do?

On the flip side of that, what if a fan actually does have something stolen from them by the actual author? Can anything be done about it at all, or is it just a deal with it situation?

There's a lot of very muddy legal ground to cover here, but I'm still optimistic about it, because it could be a huge boon to settings that are already multiverses/expanded universes on their own. This is also pretty much nothing but profit for a series that is already done and finished, because then the author doesn't really have anything to lose.

 

Oh, you know, work, education, etc.

Not writing currently but if I do write it will be in the late summer. I'm taking a break from schooling for a bit, so who knows.

Ill be hanging around a bit more soon! I'll have to browse the library and get current.

 

On the one hand, I think this is a bad idea. On the other hand, I think this is an EXTREMELY bad idea.

But there is one thing about it that makes me happy: the fact Harry Potter will never be a part of it means that a certain author will never make a fucking cent for Methods of Rationality.