If you kindle Worlds, will they burn up?

Sweet Eru, we've known about Kindle Worlds (I'm linking to Dawn's summary because it's critical but reasonable; I haven't read everything on the matter yet, and doubt I want to) for ONE DAY, and I'm already sick of the matter - to be precise, of the fannish reactions of the alarmist and rabble-rousing sort.

It has been mentioned that this might open an entire legal can of worms. I question the validity of that concern. People asking that question seem to have missed the point where Amazon acquired licenses from the authors or other copyright-holders. I repeat: They bought licenses. The authors agreed, for whatever reason, to make it legal for Amazon to publish other people's fanfiction of their works. They may not like the results of that agreement (but then, the Kindle Worlds rules and terms limit the field of what they might not like, so the only thorny matter that remains is that of quality and taste), but they've given it. Maybe they needed the money. Or they wanted to endear themselves to their fanbases. Or they're really just altruistic and think "Hey, isn't it awesome that people love our story so much that they spend time writing stories based on it? Let's reward that!" (Hey, a girl can dream.)
At any rate, unlike the silly dude who thought he could cash in on LotrFanFiction.net last year (two years ago? Whenever. Time flies!), I am pretty sure that Amazon is covering their bases as far as legal issues are concerned. No need to lose any sleep over that, I'd say. (And if you're worrying instead that Amazon might sue non-profit fanpages, I think the OTW is the right place to take your concerns to?) As Dawn says, since the original rights holders are on-board, the idea that the project will draw negative scrutiny to fandom in general is not a concern. So please, Don't Panic.

Dawn also mentions the question of "morality" that some fans have apparently raised, concerning "making money with fanfic". Dawn says Would that all artists with talent could make a living–or even part of a living–on their work. Word. Besides, making money with derivative works isn't new anyway. Series like Star Wars and Star Trek have sparked a shitload of bestselling (licensed) derivative novels. Scarlett or Rhett Butler's People are basically Gone with the Wind fanfiction - with a license. Jasper Fforde has made a lot of money with what is ultimately the crackiest crossover AU fanfic that ever cracked*, the Thursday Next series, without even asking the original rights holders (granted, Jane Austen, Charlotte Brontë et alia probably wouldn't have said much anyway). Speaking of Jane Austen, what about Pride and Prejudice and Zombies?
In conclusion, if there be anything ammoral about making money with derivative fiction, you're coming a couple of decades - wait, no, centuries in fact - too late. It is already happening. Authors have been agreeing to this for years, unless they're dead and didn't even have a chance to say no. The only new idea seems to be that these licenses are no longer just given to established authors for a specific work, but to anyone willing to write canon-compliant, G- or PG- rated, straightforward fanfiction in the relevant fandoms.

Do the terms suck?
Sure. But then, you don't have to agree to them. You can continue to publish your fanfic on one of the many established (or even new) fanfic sites. You won't get any money for them, but then, that may not be your priority. Or you might (probably rightly) assume that nobody wants to make a movie out of your fanfic, anyway, so it doesn't matter whether you have the rights or Amazon has them... Finally, there's the old-fashioned and very rocky road of trying to obtain a license directly. (Depending on your fandom, that may be impossible or surprisingly easy?) Or you could file off the serial numbers so your fanfic passes as original -- see The Sword of Shannara or, more recently, 50 Shades of Grey to see how to do it. (I can't believe I just recommended people to look at 50 Shades of Grey. See what you made me do!)

What does that mean for me?
Virtually nothing, at the moment. I'm not in the fandoms for which Amazon has acquired licenses, nor likely to be. This is, of course, pure speculation on my part, but I suspect that Christopher Tolkien won't sell Amazon or any platform such a license. (If he did, I'd actually be delighted - whether or not I'd ever make use of it.) Other popular authors might be smart enough to realise that they don't need a middleman, and might instead create licensed platforms where authors can upload pay-per-click fanfic for their works, with or without an editorial/censorship board. (That's what I'd see J.K.Rowling doing - again, purely speculatively.)
Meanwhile, for AU, crack, crossover, adult het, slash, BDSM or other "difficult" genres, as well as for fanfic authors who don't want to sell their soul "All Rights" to Amazon... there still are the good old fanfiction archives that won't allow you to make money, but may still get you read (and, hopefully, reviewed).

And who knows, Dawn might be right (yet again ;)): Maybe fanfic will become more widely accepted/acceptable with this new development.
Or then, it might not.

At any rate, I'm pretty unworried - but sort of frustrated by the kneejerk reactions I've been reading all of yesterday and some of today. (If you feel the same, I'm sorry to have added to your frustration.)
I'm not deactivating comments on this, so you can tell me your opinion on this matter; but I may not respond. That won't mean that I'm ignoring you, or that I'm not taking your (possibly deviating ;)) opinion seriously, or whatever -- it just means that I'm already tired of the discussion, so while I felt the need to state that here, I just can't be bothered to take it any further.

You may now go on with your lives. ;)


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*Which sort of makes it hysterically absurd that he initially was opposed to people writing fanfic. DUDE. DUDE!

In sort of but not quite related news,

it has come to my attention (thank you, heartofoshun) that Captive Prince by freece is going to be published (professionally) by Penguin. Penguin!

I'm so happy for freece. Captive Prince is pretty much a demonstration of how good even a stigmatised genre like slash fiction can be (except that it's original, so I suppose it's "m/m erotica", not "slash"?). freece knows all the tropes and clichés of the genre in general and the sub-genre of slavefic in particular, and she plays with them masterfully (no pun intended). It's fantastic that the value of her story (or at least its commercial potential :P) has been recognised first by an agent, and then by several major publishing houses so she could actually choose between different publication offers.

I could gush on for ages about how awesome Captive Prince is, but I'm probably preaching to the choir here anyway (if by any chance you actually haven't read it yet and you do like high-quality slash fiction [but heed the warnings!], you can read the entire first two books for free here for another month, after which part of it must be taken down as per freece's contract with Penguin. Of course, that shouldn't stop you from buying the entire trilogy once it comes out!). And those among you who don't like the genre (whether fannish or original)... well, you probably don't want to read why I love it, anyway. ^^

But, yeah! Awesome news as far as I am concerned. My day is made! These things happen after all!