Fan fiction that gets published.

Apparently, some time ago, Amazon was publishing fan fiction via Kindle World, or something like that. I avoid kindle so I on't know too much about what they do or dont do. That then stopped, no idea why.

Are there any otheer sources out there that publish fan fiction and allow the author to make money from it ?

 

1) When you say 'publish', do you mean 'put out, such that other people can read them'? FanFiction.net and ArchiveOfOurOwn.org (henceforth AO3) both allow you to 'publish' fanfiction, if that's what you mean, but you probably already knew that. Do you have a different definition?

2) Supposing you're using the definition I mentioned: I read several authors on AO3 that say something to the effect of 'If I've brought you entertainment with this piece, please consider donating to my patreon/ko fi account', by which means that author makes money off of their fanfiction.
I'm not 100% sure that's 'legal', but fanfiction has some very fuzzy legal rules, so I'm not about to call the IRS on people because somebody who got their rocks off to fanfiction donated $3 to an author.

3) If your definition of 'publish' is 'charge people to read your stuff', that definitely doesn't sound like something I've heard of and I wouldn't know anything about that.

 

Publishing as a normal author would get published and paid for.
I didn't think it was something that was done but i've just bought two books that were, there are authors comments saying this was fan fiction published through kindle world.
Just looking up the wiki on Kindle Worlds it says


Kindle Worlds was a publisher service of the online retailer Amazon, devoted to providing a commercial venue for fan fiction creations of specific licensed media properties. It was established on May 22, 2013 as part of Amazon Publishing.[1] In August 2018, Amazon shut down the Kindle Worlds website.[2]

The purpose of this service was to publish fan fiction stories of certain licensed media properties to be sold in the Kindle Store with terms including 35% of net sales for works of 10,000 words or more and 20% for short fiction ranging from 5000 to 10,000 words.



It would be interesting to find out if something similar existed elsewhere and what works you could write about.

I think it's an excellent idea. Off the back of the fan fiction I ended up buying all the books (eight) of the original series the fan fic was based off of. Also, for those looking to get stuff published, they could look at the licensed media and would have to buy authors books to be able to write about them.

Don't have time to check it out but apparently there is something called storyshop that might be doing something similar.

 

Interesting. I haven't heard of either, I might have to check it out.

 

Big Finish have created an entire business model off this. They license the character's for use and then essentially publish fan fiction for Doctor Who, Blake 7 etc.

Although it's generally written by people who've had some prior involvement with the show or professional writing credits elsewhere.

 

What are the rules, if any, about publishing what is essentially fan fiction in setting only?

For example, if you wrote a story based on a specific world, but introduced new characters and plot and didn't mention any of the established characters. So while it may be obvious to those familiar with the source material where it's set at, the story and characters are all new.

Could such a story be included as part of an anthology for example? Or even as a standalone work?

 

But what if the setting itself is never mentioned directly, only implied?

Full disclosure: I occasionally submit short fiction to a local literature newsletter, and a few months ago I had a story published there that was essentially fanfic-ish from the movie Field of Dreams, or more specifically, Shoeless Joe by W.P. Kinsella. My story was told from an entirely different perspective with no existing characters involved.

The setting was implied-only. If anyone who read my story had NOT seen the film or read the book, they wouldn't bat an eyelash - it would all seem original to them. For those who have, my story is simply set in a variant of that world; a side quest, if you will. So it was/is fan fiction, but only to an extent. The main reason I bring it up is I'd like to include it in a small anthology I'm looking to self-publish.

 

Right, that's what I was thinking, and the publisher of the newsletter said basically the same thing you did.

Also, really only one scene takes place in a ballpark in cornfield in Iowa, which isn't even revealed until the end anyway. I had one reader tell me they thought they were just reading about some cool baseball afterlife from the perspective of the MC until the very end when they realized where it was.

The whole thing started off as historical fact anyway...then gradually blended into Kinsella's world. I love taking small real life events and building them into a fictitious world, or fanfictitious in this case

 

This is an interesting question for me.

I wrote a story in an imitation of Jack Vance's Dying Earth stories. The setting is very similar to those stories - an Earth far in the future where the sun is dying and there's magic and talking monsters. I've also tried to imitate his writing style.

But, the stories don't use anything explicit from his setting. No names, no places, no characters, no events etc.

So I wonder if that would count as needing permission.

 

That's true, but I always say that it's deliberately written as a tribute to Vance rather than as an imitation. They're only short stories, not a setting that I intend to use for my main work.

It's one of those where I hope fans will embrace it rather than puke all over it, but I guess we will see!

 

RE: The "fans who would shit on you in reviews", what if you made it clear beforehand where the inspiration for the world was from? Like if you had a footnote, or even a mention of it in a foreword or something to prepare the readers for the setting? Granted that may ruin any surprise you might be going for with the setting, but it may also soften the blow and increase their understanding.

In my case, I planned on doing little intros/anecdotes at the beginning of each chapter in the anthology, so for the Field of Dreams-world story, I'd drop a big hint where the idea was born from.

 

Instead of bluntly saying where the setting is, is there a way to honestly but subtly mention where the idea/inspiration came from?

 

Why not a brief message like: "This story was inspired by the book _____ by _______ and it is meant as a tribute to _______. I hope you enjoy!"

In the event that none of the original characters or plot or setting are used in your work?