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On the Amazon Fanfic deal
May. 23rd, 2013 10:17 amHonestly, I have to say I'm not surprised, and not particularly excited either. Over the last few years we've seen an emergance into the mainstream for fic writers, and the mainstream has been trying to tap our demographic for a while. This is just the latest incarnation of trying to make money off of fic writers. Remember the whole LotR fiasco when an archive site started charging a few years back? This is just more of the same.
The problem is that various entrepreners are eyeing the fanfic community and thinking 'here is a prime bunch of people with their hobbies, and no one is making any money out of it, if I can be the one to make fanfic start paying, I will be rich.'
And they'd be probably right, but I'm not sure Amazon has cracked it yet either. Most likely case scenario is that they'll be inundated with the worst from the Pit of Voles because I can speak from experience that the people who think their fanfic is teh awesome and totally publishable are sixteen years old and can barely spell.
Again, speaking from experience. Those were dark days.
And the more talented fanfic writers tend to be those more deeply imbedded in the community and thus less likely to want people to pay for their fic. There's a sort of honour system at play. It's also the reason why Katie Forsythe doesn't get paid for her writing, even though she really really really deserves to be.
For me personally it's a bit irrelevant, the only thing I'm writing at the moment is Fic From Hell, and there is no way I'm making the people at Amazon read that. That fic is too hardcore for anyone but kinkememe graduates and long-term dwellers of Ao3.
The problem is that various entrepreners are eyeing the fanfic community and thinking 'here is a prime bunch of people with their hobbies, and no one is making any money out of it, if I can be the one to make fanfic start paying, I will be rich.'
And they'd be probably right, but I'm not sure Amazon has cracked it yet either. Most likely case scenario is that they'll be inundated with the worst from the Pit of Voles because I can speak from experience that the people who think their fanfic is teh awesome and totally publishable are sixteen years old and can barely spell.
Again, speaking from experience. Those were dark days.
And the more talented fanfic writers tend to be those more deeply imbedded in the community and thus less likely to want people to pay for their fic. There's a sort of honour system at play. It's also the reason why Katie Forsythe doesn't get paid for her writing, even though she really really really deserves to be.
For me personally it's a bit irrelevant, the only thing I'm writing at the moment is Fic From Hell, and there is no way I'm making the people at Amazon read that. That fic is too hardcore for anyone but kinkememe graduates and long-term dwellers of Ao3.