Shut Up & Read discussion

http://thenextweb.com/insider/2013/05...

I just saw this. I'm still going through their landing pages and listed conditions. It seems like it has a huge potential to go wrong, but if anyone can get intellectual property controllers to share with writers, it would be Amazon.

What do you guys think?

Well fan fiction is all over the place, violating copyrights but if they can come to a way that rewards both the creators of the characters as well as those with the new stories, it could be good.

Well, there's been plenty of stories I've wanted to write for other games.

Let's see, they're mostly video games, but I feel that there could be a lot of interesting stories within them.

X-Com Enemy Unknown
Castlevania
Ace Combat

If there's a possibility for me to gain permission to write stories about these universes AND make money. Well, I'd definitely jump in on the fun.

Interesting. Should be fascinating to see how they make it work.

Both John Scalzi http://whatever.scalzi.com/2013/05/22...
And
Chuck Wendig http://terribleminds.com/ramble/2013/...
Comment on this. I have to agree with most of John Scalzi thoughts after reading Amazons press release and then its page for authors. Chuck Wendig has interesting thoughts also.

The Scalzi piece covered most of my initial concerns. I suppose none of this matters to me too much, since I don't write fanfic. I can't imagine participating in this program, even if it could give me a little money for something I already enjoyed doing.

Reading the terms for authors on Amazon had me going "are you kidding me?" I'd rather give my work away for free... On the other hand the way I've been doing the world-building for my Jewish vampire stories being on the other side would work great for me... If only Amazon didn't take so many of the authors rights. Author terms at http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html... .

And I know everyone will be shocked to hear that the "professional" authors asked to write for the program are not seeing the same contract terms. It will be interesting to see Scalzi comparing the two side-by-side like he did with ebook only divisions like hydra. :/

I guess for me, since I've never planned on making additional money on the fan fic. I would personally be happy if a company would decide to use one of my stories and turn it into a movie.

Even though money compensation would be great, perhaps awesome. There's still that part of me that remembers that what I wrote for them is not 100% my original creation. If Konami or Firaxis wanted to use my story and turn it into a movie. Well as much as I'd love to be a part of the movie process, I wouldn't mind them doing so.

There have been plenty of professional writers hired to write stories about video games and most of those stunk rotten. I wouldn't mind being given the opportunity to write a better story at the cost of only earning meager royalties.

But how do you feel about Amazon selling your foreign rights and you not getting anything? I totally agree with you on how cool it would be to see your storyline or character on a show and you getting royalties on US amazon kindle sales... But how about if amazon uses your story in an anthology and doesn't pay you? Those are the things that would big me & its not clear on how the licensor is paid for those things either.

Tasha wrote: "But how do you feel about Amazon selling your foreign rights and you not getting anything? I totally agree with you on how cool it would be to see your storyline or character on a show and you gett..."

I basically look at it this way:

-If I want to own full rights to anthologies, royalties, and foreign distribution. I should write my own original story.

-As long as the content I'm writing about is based off of the original idea that someone else created. Then I can't really complain that I am not reaping in the benefits.

Rather than look at the program as a revenue generator, I'd rather look at it from a more marketing perspective. If you write an excellent fan fiction and people loved your work. Then they are going to naturally flock to your books where you will then reap the rewards.

The fact that they're even allowing fan fiction to be displayed in some official form is already a big, "WHA HUH!?" You can also look at it as a bargaining chip.

If the company really enjoyed your fan fiction and want more, then you can kindly suggest that they negotiate royalties on foreign distribution. (Might never happen, but hey, it's an idea at least.)

I dislike fanfic though I accept it...and I predicted the rise to legitimacy in a blog post a month or two ago. Did NOT see this coming.

Well, it seems like an interesting platform. And as Wilmar said, at least it'll work well as marketing rather than a fully effective revenue generator. I might consider it for the marketing possibilities if they gain licenses to things that have styles that I tend to work more with anyway (e.g. The Walking Dead, Silent Hill, The Dresden Files, etc.).

After reading all the comments on Scalzi & Jim C. Hines blog I'm having mixed feelings. I knew nothing about media tie-in contracts prior to this discussion which gives the whole thing a slightly different feel. I'm still not sure it will work and I'd like to know more about who the licensor is (publisher & original author or just publisher?) to know how I feel about fair compensation all around. But I sure did learn a lot between the announcement and today. I'm curious to see what kind of backlash there is in the fanfic community as well.

Well, from what I've heard from people who have acted as work-for-hire writers, it's not all that different from the rights and compensation that people who do work-for-hire end up getting. It's not ideal, but ultimately, it could be far worse. It could still be nothing.

The big differences seem to be:

1. You submit rather than are solicited

2. Royalty based rather than a 1-time fee so you could make more... Or less... How much is not guaranteed unlike work-for-hire

3. It's less clear who owns which rights to what: Amazon, Licensor, original creator...

4. What exactly are Amazons rights... Can they translate and sell in different languages? Could they decide to reformat and put out on nook/kobo/etc.? Could they create anthologies? If they can do any of these things as the current "contract" appears the author would not be compensated & its not mentioned whether the licensor is compensated.

5. Might Amazon start suing fanfic authors not using their site for the worlds they get licenses for?

6. You don't have to worry about being sued if your stuff is on Amazons world site