Amazon to sell fan fiction?

[TheDreamMaster]

http://www.amazon.com/gp/feature.html?docId=1001197421

Get ready for Kindle Worlds, a place for you to publish fan fiction inspired by popular books, shows, movies, comics, music, and games. With Kindle Worlds, you can write new stories based on featured Worlds, engage an audience of readers, and earn royalties. Amazon Publishing has secured licenses from Warner Bros. Television Group's Alloy Entertainment for Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liars, and The Vampire Diaries, with licenses for more Worlds on the way.

The Kindle Worlds Self-Service Submission Platform will launch soon and enable you to submit your original works for publication. Can't wait to start writing? Learn more on our Kindle Worlds for Authors page.

Well that sure is...interesting. Not really sure how they plan on going about this, or what kind of content is allowed, but I'm wondering if this might actually affect fan fiction sites around the net, seeing as Amazon would have some sort of copyright on it.

 

[Teelie]

Most of what I've seen is it is a terrible, terrirble contract to sign. You may sell your fiction but the copyright owners have all rights to everything in it, even the ideas or characters you create and they don't pay you a dime for it. And thanks to that contract, they keep the rights to your material forever so you can't turn around and "Fifty Shades of Grey" it into a new book later.

Instead you get 35% of the $1-3.00~ (anything from .35¢ to a $1.05) per book sold for however long people are buying your fic.

John Scalzi among others has a good write up on it.

 

[Victarion]

I'm not big on fan fiction (my reasons are the same as GRRM's reasons). If you're going to make your own characters, you may as well put in the effort to make your work an original piece rather than fan fiction. So I'm fine with the contract.