Amazon to Turn Fan Fiction into a moneymaker with Kindle Worlds - DailyFinance

Amazon.com Featured authors of Amazon’s new fan fiction books [from left to right] AR Kahler, Joseph Brassey, and Trish Milburn, writing in “The Vampire Diaries,” and Nancy NAIGLE, writing in “Pretty Little Liars.” Are you Such a big fan of “The Vampire Diaries” that you write your own stories about the denizens of Mystic Falls? Well, Amazon (AMZN) wants to publish your work & #8211; and it wants to see you get paid for it. The company Announced Tuesday That, for the first time, authors will be able to make money on Their fan fiction for a new venture it’s calling Kindle Worlds.

Fan fiction Describes That under-appreciated genre of writing in Which amateur authors make use of an alreadycreated-established fictional universe, thwart from a television or book series. At heart, it has always been a way for devoted fans to explore and share “what if” questions about theirfavorite characters – sometimes filling in background, other times going far outside the canon Established: What does Hermione do on summer vacation? What if Buffy got turned into a vampire? What if Admiral Adama and President Roslyn met The Doctor from “Doctor Who”?

But few have seriously asked the question: What if we could make a little cash off this? And with good reason: The authors and owners of Those universes have tended to frown on it. For example, J. K. Rowling has said she’s “flattered” by the Harry Potter fan fiction, but added That She wanted to ENSURE That Potter fan-fic remained a “non-commercial act ivity.”

Amazon Publishing’s announcement Wednesday morning May signal a shift in That thinking.
Amazon has licensed the rights to three book series, all of whichhave spawned television shows, “Gossip Girl,” “Pretty Little Liars” and “Vampire Diaries.” That clears the way for fan fiction That can actually be sold commercially, rather than simply being traded on fan forums.

“Through These licenses, Kindle Worlds will allow any writer to publish Authorized stories inspired by These popular World and make them available for readers to purchase in the Kindle Store, “Amazon says in a press release. It goes on to explain That both the rights holder and the author willmake royalties from published works, with the fan fiction author getting 35% of net revenue for works over 10,000 words. Short stories between 5,000 and 10,000 words will cost under a dollar, with authors getting 20% ??of net revenue.

The Worlds Kindle store will launch next month with 50 commissioned works, and at That point, the self- publishing platform will open up to the general public.

Given the popularity of the three licensed properties, Amazon can expect a lot of submissions. On the “Vampire Diaries” section of FanFiction.net, authors have posted more than 17,000 works, and we’re sure many of Those authors would love to have the opportunity to get paid for Their teamwork. And fans of other fictional universes May overpriced get the same opportunity, as Amazon says it plans to continue Adding more licenses.

While we Imagine That only a small fraction of fan-fiction works will make any real money through Kindle Worlds, it’s easy to see why Amazon wants to get into this business. The “Fifty Shades of Grey” series started out as fan fiction based on the “Twilight” series, though it was able to be commercially published Because it diverged from the “Twilight” universe into its characters and setting. The runaway success of That series has obviously convinced many in the publishing industry t hatthere’s some talent lurking On those fan-fiction forums.

Now Amazon is going to find out if it can monetize That talent.

Matt Brownell is the consumer and retail reporter for DailyFinance. You can reach him at Matt.Brownell @ teamaol.com, and follow him on Twitter at @ Brownellorama.