{"id":20381,"date":"2013-05-22T12:54:20","date_gmt":"2013-05-22T16:54:20","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/?p=20381"},"modified":"2020-07-07T11:49:21","modified_gmt":"2020-07-07T15:49:21","slug":"fan-fiction-goes-mainstream-with-amazons-kindle-worlds","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/quotulatiousness.ca\/blog\/2013\/05\/22\/fan-fiction-goes-mainstream-with-amazons-kindle-worlds\/","title":{"rendered":"Fan fiction goes mainstream with Amazon’s Kindle Worlds"},"content":{"rendered":"

People tend to have strong opinions on fan fiction (well, people who know it exists, anyway). This development<\/a> will polarize fan ficcers very quickly:<\/p>\n

The Twitters are abuzz today about Amazon\u2019s new \u201cKindle Worlds\u201d program<\/a>, in which people are allowed to write and then sell through Amazon<\/em> their fan fiction for certain properties owned by Alloy Entertainment, including Vampire Diaries<\/em> and Pretty Little Liars<\/em>, with more licenses expected soon. I\u2019ve had a quick look at the program on Amazon\u2019s site, and I have a couple of immediate thoughts on it. Be aware that these thoughts are very<\/em> preliminary, i.e., I reserve the right to have possibly contradictory thoughts about the program later, when I think (and read) about it more. Also note that these are my personal thoughts and do not reflect the positions or policies of SFWA, of which I am (still but not for much longer) president.<\/p>\n

1.<\/strong> The main knock on fan fiction from the rights-holders point of view \u2014 i.e., people are using their characters and situations in ways that probably violate copyright \u2014 is apparently not at all a problem here, since Alloy Entertainment is on board for allowing people to write what they want (within specific guidelines \u2014 more on that in a bit). Since that\u2019s the case, there\u2019s probably a technical argument here about whether this is precisely \u201cfan fiction\u201d or if it\u2019s actually media tie-in writing done with intentionally low bars to participation (the true answer, I suspect, is that it\u2019s both). Either way, if Alloy Entertainment\u2019s on board, everything\u2019s on the level, so why not.<\/p>\n

2.<\/strong> So, on one hand it offers people who write fan fiction a chance to get paid for their writing in a way that doesn\u2019t make the rightsholders angry, which is nice for the fan ficcers. On the other hand, as a writer, there are a number of things about the deal Amazon\/Alloy are offering that raise red flags for me.<\/p>\n

[. . .]<\/p>\n

4.<\/strong> This won\u2019t spell the end of unauthorized fan fic, and I\u2019m very sure of that. For one thing, the Kindle Worlds program says it won\u2019t accept \u201cpornography\u201d which means all that slash out there will still be on the outside of the program; likewise crossover fan fic, so those \u201cVampire Diaries meet Dr Who\u201d stories will be left out in the cold. And besides that, there will be people who a) have no interest in making money and\/or b) don\u2019t write well enough to be accepted into the Kindle Worlds program (there does seem that there will be some attempt at quality control, or at least, someone has to go through the stuff to make sure there\u2019s nothing that\u2019s contractually forbidden). So if this was an attempt to squash fan fic through other means, it\u2019s doomed to failure. But I don\u2019t suspect that\u2019s the point.<\/p><\/blockquote>\n

Update<\/b>: <\/p>\n

\n

This Amazon FanFic announcement means I can finally realize my dream – a vampire version of “50 Shades of Gray,” without the sex!<\/p>\n

— John Kovalic (@muskrat_john) May 22, 2013<\/a><\/p><\/blockquote>\n