Amazon has a plan to monetize fan fiction: It's called Kindle Worlds (Carolyn Kellogg, Los Angeles Times).

As described by The Guardian’s Alison Flood, Amazon announced yesterday that it had secured licences for the bestselling Gossip Girl series by Cecily von Ziegesar, for Sara Shepard's Pretty Little Liars and for LJ Smith's Vampire Diaries from Alloy Entertainment. The licences will allow fans to publish authorised stories set in the different fictional universes as ebooks for the Kindle, with royalties paid to both the original author and the fan fictioneer.

According to Christian Science Monitor’s Husna Haq, Kindle Worlds will officially launch in June with more than 50 commissioned works from authors like Barbara Freethy, John Everson, and Colleen Thompson, according to Amazon. Amazon Publishing will set the price for the works, with most priced at $0.99 to $3.99.

( And a whole lot moreCollapse )

However, as The Guardian’s Mathilda Gregory observed, the royalty offered is a lot less than Amazon's normal cut for other self-published authors who use their own characters. Franchise owners will be getting a chunky cut and authors also won't own the copyright to their ideas. If the owners of the characters you play with produce something similar and earn squillions, you'll apparently have no comeback, it seems.

Telegraph’s Catherine Scott wrote Even for writers who are happy to sign up to these conditions, there remains a major question. If E L James made a fortune from unlicensed fan fiction without having to cede any royalties to the original author, why would anyone voluntarily credit and pay the author if they do not have to? Fan fiction writers may prefer to sell their work independently of Amazon, and simply gamble on the assumption that the original author won’t take legal action.

In the Toronto Star, Malene Arpe wrote Of course, one of the joys of fan fiction is the ability to play with the characters like little literary puppets. But once you step in into Kindle Worlds, there are strict guidelines to be adhered to. MSN was more blunt: But here comes the bad news — the fan fiction cannot include any sexually explicit material. Do they not know what fan fiction is?!

But, according to PC Magazine’s Chandra Steele, when asked if Fifty Shades of Grey would violate the "no pornography" clause, an Amazon spokesperson said, "Fifty Shades of Grey involves consensual sex between adults and does not violate our content guidelines." So how Amazon defines pornography is definitely somewhere outside the "I know it when I see it" dictum.

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Finally, though his blog is outside the usual scope of these roundups, several of these articles reference it, so I will too: John Scalzi laid out his initial response to Kindle Worlds in Amazon’s Kindle Worlds: Instant Thoughts.

Tom Hiddleston went to Eton and read Classics at Cambridge? This is the CV I expected from Benedict Cumberbatch, to be honest. Sometimes a platypus conforms to all the stereotypes.

Thank god for netflix or I might have to do something productive while footloose and fancy-free.

My horrible Beast (Eudora) goes to her first dog training class today. This should be interesting as she refuses to walk on a leash. Have you tried to coax at 40 lb 6 month old dog to come along, just come on! How about have you had to then just give up and carry her? I think I'm going to get a cart and toss her into it when I get to Petsmart because I don't have handicapped parking privileges and I'm not carrying 40 lbs for 100 yards. That would be, like, exercise.

My cousin is coming to visit for whoever knows how long as she's a college student. I've been assigned to chaperone her as she's underaged and basically minime (she's majoring in philosophy--hey now, I did give her a lecture on that--and writes for a music blog...yeah, the seam runs deep), how this is a good idea, I have no idea. When I was in Tallahassee last time I ended up at some dubstep concert and everyone in the place was rolling their asses off and *I* was the reasonable one. She has all kinds of "plans" for things to do. I didn't even ask.

Do you remember when you were little and you fantasized about your "real" parents coming to get you because you'd been adopted/kidnapped/something went wrong at the hospital? Sometimes I still feel like that. I wouldn't trade my mom, so I guess I'm totally fucked because this is her family. DAMN IT! I would totally be cool with George Clooney being my real dad. He's even from here!

While Geeklet was performing in the school play, the Director got cherished alone-time with tqoh.

tqoh:  Director, what do you want to do?

Director:  Could we be, like...I'm like the queen, but I'm not a queen...

tqoh:  Like a queen, but not a queen...?

Director:  Like, I tell you what to do, and you do everything I say?

tqoh:  OH.  You mean, like a dictator.

Okay, this is because a.) exhaustion and b.) lack of sleep, so paranoia is probably rampant at the moment.

Amazon Worlds, earlier post about it here.

Again, my defense is paranoia:

I figured out what was bothering me as a writer about this.

Okay, assuming this takes off and paid fanfiction is a thing; would that be grounds to start C&Ding free fanfiction on the net? The thing is, right now, the original media is not in competition with free fanfic, and they also aren't losing money because there is no paid equivalent. However, with the advent of paid fanfiction--that they get money from as well--free fanfiction would be considered competition.

Anyone legal or economic or philosophically inclined have any kind of odds on it becoming worth the effort to C&D free fanfiction since it would actually be direction competition and because money theoretically is being lost for every fic that is downloaded for free from AO3?

The thing is, while the original media doesn't make money off this, neither do fanfic writers. Now they have a way to make money off fanfic, will AO3 be the textual equivalent of Pirate's Bay in the future?

Yes, paranoia. It's been a hell of a week.

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It's been forever since I've updated my recs site...

Okay, so here are 8 new Avengers fic recs (mostly Clint/Phil), with many, many more to follow in the coming week.

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I am so tired that I actually forgot to wash in the shower this morning. Like, I washed my hair, and I stood under the spray! I just forgot the part with the squooshy thing and the shower gel. Mmph.

Decisions have been made about my future. Big ones, even. And have survived rigorous devil's-advocating by my mother.

's 'citin'.

… aka Stoker was brilliant and devilishly sexy and turned my brain to mush!

( Stoker | Magic Mike | Beautiful Creatures | I Melt WIth You | Hotel Transylvania. Spoilers under the cut.Collapse )

My dogs are so ridiculous that I have to basically do a twister routine to sit in my chair. Dogs aren't just your best friend, they're your barnacles. Remember this when you go to the pet fair. You will never be alone again...read that in a horror movie voice.

( Belated pic of my puppyCollapse )

So the piece of metal that protects your engine from getting ice/snow/salt/water/squirrels in it mostly fell off from under my car. I duct taped it (oh hell yeah I did!) but the duct tape keeps coming off because it's raining all the time (isn't it supposed to be water proof? isn't that the whole POINT of duct tape?). This morning I went to this body shop down the road from me that looks like everything in there could give you tetanus and the employees are extras from Sons of Anarchy. Dudes busted out and riveted the FUCK out of the broken whatever you call it. Ten minutes I was there, tops.

Me: How much do I owe you?
Dude: Oh, nothing.
Me:...um, but you fixed my car?
Dude: If you were my daughter I'd expect anyone to do that for free.
Me: ?????????????? Can I pay you anything?
Dude: Ok, five bucks if you really need to pay me.
Me: *hands over five dollars*

Look, I live in John Boehner's district and constantly bitch people out for being racist/sexist/anti-gay but I will say that middle America does have some things going for it. I also include the time I got a flat tire and had no spare and some random dude changed my tire and GAVE ME HIS SPARE. Life is a paradox.

Owwwwww.

This is my reaction to carrying over a huge box of food to my coworkers in the Loop today. I walked over a bridge and thought it was fine, but that box was crazy heavy, and now my arms and hands are shaking as I type at work. I think that means that upper arm strength is mayyyybe a thing I can work on at the gym. Exciting.

The "owwwww" is also my reaction to last night's Blackhawks game. When you read something by Sam Fels and it actually makes you feel better, you know it's Dark fucking Days.

I keep alternating between "THERE IS STILL HOPE OKAY" and uhhh it would be so good for me to have this go to 7 and send Detroit off into the east the loser of THAT series and, you know, moaning feebly.

WHO STILL HAS HOPE??? (Sorry, I can't talk to anybody who's not feeling it right now. I don't have the upper arm strength for punching people out of sadness, but let's keep it hopeful UNLESS/until we can't anymore)

- I just had the first office drinking party of the year that I can say I actually, 100%, start-to-finish enjoyed! Yaaay. (Not that there was anything fundamentally anything wrong with the other ones; it's just been a bad combination of me not being in the right emotional place to enjoy alcohol at all, and a few really stuffy formal events of the kind where you spend more time listening to people give speeches + finding that all your tablemates have deserted you in order to "strategically mingle" than actually eating or drinking.)

- At work proper, this week I had the delightful opportunity to read 150 student essays on "two truths and a lie." By process of elimination, I found that some of my students have kissed cats, attacked teachers, accidentally eaten marbles, and followed me around the local mall.

- For a show I am never going to watch because of its scariness/gore content, it's been really fun the past couple of days to browse gifs and read recaps of NBC's Hannibal! It's hitting that "singled out by a sociopath to be his special friend/enemy/obsessive pet project" narrative itch that series like Monster and Ace Attorney have scratched for me before, and the actors all have astonishingly perfect faces. No idea how the actual acting is since I haven't seen any of it, but it's a fun distraction for now.

- A couple days ago I saw a bagworm for the first time! Then I looked up bagworm moths on the internet, and found that they have a really depressing life cycle. With a lot of varieties, adult males don't have any mouths, and adult females don't have any mouths, wings, legs, or eyes, so their adult lives pretty much solely consist of mating and then dying a day or two later, leaving 1500 eggs or so to hatch around their dead bodies and carry on their legacy. D:

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Okay, I am at my college reunion, so response might be slow, but I think this is a good exercise for me.

I have 41 works (of around 550, I went to go see b/c I was curious, and then loled) archived on AO3. Pick a number between 1 and 41, and I'll tell you three things I like about it.

Here's that AO3 meme that's going around:

I currently have 38 works archived at the AO3. Pick a number from 1 (the most recently posted) to 38 (the first thing I posted there), and I’ll tell you three things I currently like about it.

I know, it's hardly that many stories, but pick a number.

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Cliche alert.  Right now, I'm going to be one of those parents who overshares about their children's poop stories.  Avert your eyes if necessary.

( Could not keep straight face.Collapse )

Guys, HP fandom spoiled me for every other fandom!

That being said, I'm so into Game of Thrones, it's not even funny. I'm also dreaming Cumberbatch dreams these days and about to plunge fearlessly into Sherlock, which I had avoided before... but life is short! :P

I need more people to geekgasm with over GoT, though...

Kindle Worlds for Authors

You know, I'm actually not sure how I feel about this in specific.

Link Roundups

Tis the End Times by morgandawn

Another corporate attempt to corral and profit from fanfic? by ithiliana

I'm warily working my way through the links so far, and I would probably be doing a lot better at the pros/cons bit if I hadn't had really intense meeting today about the new build at work.

Includes:
Kindle Worlds by flourish - I like her breakdown a lot.

Seriously, Is This Happening?

Weirdly enough, approaching this from a reader standpoint, I seriously love beyond words this. I can pay my favorite authors for my favorite fic. This is like a dream come true. I mean, the ones without offensive porn, incest, or violence (per observation by coffeeandink) which are usually my favorites. I'm assuming A/B/O Sam/Dean SPN fic isn't going to be widely available there, is what I'm saying.

As a writer--I don't think I've written anything without two of the three above (three of three on a good day). And--okay, I'm not sure how I feel about pay-only access, either, if it can't be archived (which this going to Amazon's copyright ownership terms, that would be a no).

This would happen a week before a major deployment at work. Jesus, the timing.

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Ok, so I was prompted by "friends" to watch further Mad Mikkelson material after I posted my slobbering comments about Hannibal.

( A Royal AffairCollapse )

( Valhalla RisingCollapse )

Hm, Danish appears to be even more like English than German. I'm kind of surprised by that since Dutch sounds to me like half garbled English/German. Rosetta Stone here I come.

Note to self: get thee to Denmark because everyone there is clearly really hot.

I can't be the only one that watches historical fiction and can't turn off the "they must smell so bad/their breath must be so bad from rotten teeth" button, right? God, imagine what pirates smelled like! *flutters perfumed hanky*

Things that have made me really happy in the past few days:

- Star Trek, obviously, but also all the great art/commentary/gifsets on Tumblr - this one is is a favorite so far (spoilery)
- Elementary finale asldfjslkd suxing and I yelled about all our feelings to each other, but basically it was GREAT and so much better than I'd expected and more than I knew I wanted.
- SJM are the cutest on Weibo, but Kyuhyun especially. Using actual Chinese instead of pinyin! Complaining to his fans about being sick! o m g
- New pictures of Jesse Eisenberg yess thank you NYSM events
- Lee Hyori's comeback MVs - I actually like the jazzy look and sound of Miss Korea a lot, and whoa the Bad Girls MV/song was not at all what I was expecting with that title, but so, so excellent! Now I hope she goes on all the variety shows again. :DDD Also, have you seen her Vogue and Cosmo photoshoots? Because that shit is gorgeous.


Also, this is a pretty accurate satire piece: 24-Year-Old Receives Sage Counsel From Venerable 27-Year-Old

We all fake the life wisdom! But there is some truth in how much flux the lives of 20-something-year-olds are in, though. Three years can actually make a big difference in where your life is and how settled you feel in it (and in yourself).

[Read the full article here.]

We’re gonna go ahead and assume that Amazon didn’t realise what kind of Pandora’s box they opened when they announced Kindle’s new fanfic store.

According to Amazon’s statement today, Kindle Worlds is “a place for you to publish fan fiction... engage an audience of readers, and earn royalties.” The small print being that your fanfiction must be set in “featured Worlds,", which currently include Warner Bros. shows Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liars, and The Vampire Diaries. So people looking to profit from their Harry Potter or Teen Wolf opus may have to wait a little while longer. 

The deal is that writers will receive a 35 percent royalty for stories of over 10,000 words, or 20 percent for shorter fanfics. Sounds like a pretty good deal, considering the fact that most fanfic is posted online for free. On the other hand, there’s no mention of editorial input in Kindle Worlds’ terms and conditions. Will authors receive any help from editors or publishing professionals before their stories are uploaded to Kindle Worlds, or is this simply a system for Amazon and Warner Bros to profit from 65 to 80 percent of any successful fanfic’s sales? 

The problem is, even online publishers like Wattpad and Amazon aren’t quite up to speed with the realities of fandom culture. While Gossip Girl and The Vampire Diaries are popular among teenagers, they don’t measure up to mega-fandoms like Sherlock or The Avengers. Basically, there isn’t much overlap between Gossip Girl viewers, hardcore fanfic readers/writers, and people with the disposable income and desire to pay money for fanfic. [READ MORE]

Line from the first episode of the Avengers Assemble animated series:

( Spoiler cut? Eh, suppose I oughta.Collapse )

...I can't be the only one who found that line unbearably arousing, can I?

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