Fanlib

[panik]

Fanlib

This worries me greatly. Not this organisation in particular, but the change in mentality it represents, the attempt to comercialise fanfic.

This bit in particular gives me the heebies:
Notwithstanding the foregoing, FanLib reserves the right at all times to disclose any information as FanLib deems necessary to satisfy any applicable law, regulation, legal process or governmental request, or to edit, refuse to post or to remove any information or materials, in whole or in part, in FanLib's sole discretion...

However, by submitting the Submissions to FanLib, You hereby grant FanLib a non-exclusive, worldwide, and royalty-free license to use, reproduce, distribute, and display the Submissions in connection with the Website.

There is a very good, very detailed post about it here.

The way I see it, if fanfic ever becomes a source of income, the Big Boys will be on it like a ton of bricks, a ship-load of legality will suddenly appear; there will be sound, financial reasons to stamp on amateur fanfic and fandom as we know it will wither and perish.

I say, treat it like it's made of Ebola - stay away. If no one goes there, it will die.

(I'm no fool, I recognise that things are about to change and there's probably litle we can do to stop it, but we can take some control; the slope should be slippiest at our end, not theirs.)

Comments

[fingers.livejournal.com]

Oy!

Talk about lighting the blue touch paper and retiring... Thanks for the heads uyp - not going near it with a barge pole!

[suemc.livejournal.com]

But why do these people think they will get anywhere. Most people write FANFIC for their community, and we have our own methods of reaching people, I can't imagine large numbers flocking to this site.

[(Anonymous)]

I once read a post on some list where a fanfic writer was asking people not to pass around her stories online, saying that she never posts her stories on the web but only puts them in zine forms and sell them because she needs money.

I remember thinking at the time, "If this is how she makes her living, she must be either very talented, popular and rich or living in poverty."

I don't know what a zine is exactly, have never seen one in person and don't know what they look like, how they're made, how much they cost, how the whole thing works.

But from what little I understand about them, aren't fanfic writers who put their stories in so-called zine forms and sell them making money? Very little profit, I'm sure, but still, money is money, isn't it?

I'm NOT accusing anyone or implying anything negative about zines. I'm just curious cuz I really didn't know anything about this zine stuff until recently, and just about every fanfic I read has a disclaimer saying "The characters belong to blah, blah, blah... and I'm not making a dime off this blah, blah, blah."

[rainbowchicken.livejournal.com]

whoa. Scary stuff, that. The thing is, they have some bigwigs behind them. HarperCollins, Penguin Books & Simon & Schuster may not be the biggest wigs in the publishing world, but they are very real wigs. What the hell are they thinking???

I'll tell you one thing they are thinking

[vamysteryfan.livejournal.com]

Money and co-opting any future income streams. The section about claiming all rights worldwide for all kinds of media is a section that they try to get put into contracts with their regular authors. Authors with any kind of decent representation get it struck.

I don't write much fanfic but I would strongly urge writers to stay away.

[mab-browne.livejournal.com]

I'm amazed and pissed off. The TOS that Angiepen dissected are downright scary - excuse us while *we* make the money out of copyrighted material and leave your arses to hang in the wind. Grrr.

fanlib

[mimbo.livejournal.com]

hey everyone,
I'm Chris one of the founders of FanLib> it's really late and i have been working on the site all day. I'm exhausted but i just realized what was going on here and all of the commentsts are making me sick. we're a small company with 10 emplyees who work 16 hours a day to try and make a great website. we're real people! with feelings and everything! we have been working on this and dreaming about it for a long time and you are just here to shit on it without giving us a chance. i care deeply about what you think but this is crazy. we're good people here and you make us sound like we're an evil corporation or the govt. sending your kids to war or something. we really are all about celebrating fan fiction and fan fiction readers and writers. im sorry this is so short and please excuse the fact that i am cutting and pasting this across a bunch of ljs but i gotta get some sleep.
chris

one more thing

[mimbo.livejournal.com]

i forgot to mention that we recently posted an faq on the site that may help everyone understand us a little better.
http://www.fanlib.com/cms.do?page=faq.html

What is he afraid of?

[gillyp.livejournal.com]

"Interestingly, I've just done a search and can't find a single other post from you on *any* of the most active, animated and informed discussions; this is the only one I've found."

Good people, the reason for this is that mimbo, aka Chris, aka has been going about, deleting his messages from threads.

But you can still read the responses to his messages here:
http://cofax7.livejournal.com/446806.html#comments

and here:
http://telesilla.livejournal.com/553920.html?thread=4406464#t4406464

and here:
http://angiepen.livejournal.com/38593.html#comments

Thanks to darkrosetiger and neotoma for the information. Any further examples will be received with gratitude. (o: