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Tag: Fan fiction

  • Kindle Worlds Nabs Licenses For G.I. Joe, Veronica Mars And More

    In 2013, Amazon launched Kindle Worlds as a way to let fans write fan fiction and sell it via the Kindle digital publishing platform. It was kind of a brilliant idea since it keeps fans engaged with a franchise when it’s off the air and it nets the licensees extra money for work it doesn’t have to do. Since then, the program has expanded to include a few more big name franchises, but this week’s addition might be its biggest yet.

    Amazon announced this morning that it has entered into an agreement with Hasbro to add G.I. Joe to Kindle Worlds. Fans can now write and sell fan fiction based on their favorite characters, like Duke, Snake Eyes and Cobra Commander.

    “Since 1964, G.I. JOE has inspired the imagination of multiple generations by providing a backdrop of excitement and adventure. Whether exploring the secrets of the mummy’s tomb, or defending freedom from the evil plots of COBRA, G.I. JOE has been there,” said Michael Kelly, Hasbro’s Director of Global Publishing. “It is with equal excitement that Hasbro now enters a new segment of the business by embracing the concept of open-source storytelling, and officially unlocking the world of G.I. JOE to our fans through Amazon’s Kindle Worlds.”

    While G.I. Joe fan fiction is nothing new, this is a big step for Hasbro as the company has traditionally been very protective of its brands. If this goes over well, the company may very well add its others franchises, like Transformers and My Little Pony, to the program as well.

    G.I. Joe isn’t the only big license this time around, however, as Amazon has also worked with Warner Bros. to get the Veronica Mars license. Now fan fiction writers can continue the story of their favorite detective as they eagerly await the arrival of the new film.

    Alongside Veronica Mars, Warner Bros. has also given the okay for Kindle Worlds writers to create worlds based on Ravenswood.

    “Our Kindle Worlds collaboration with Amazon Publishing has been tremendously successful since its introduction last year,” said Leslie Morgenstein, President of Alloy Entertainment. “Adding Ravenswood and Veronica Mars to the platform is a great way for us to gain deeper engagement with fans as they explore their own creative story adaptations.”

    Finally, Amazon has licensed content from two best-selling authors and comics:

  • The Abnorm Chronicles, set in the World of Marcus Sakey’s best-selling, Edgar Award-nominated novel Brilliance, the first in a forthcoming trilogy, recently optioned by Legendary Pictures for a major motion picture.
  • The Lizzy Gardner Files, set in the universe of Theresa Ragan’s best-selling romantic suspense series starring private investigator Lizzy Gardner.
  • Quantum and Woody and Eternal Warrior, inspired by the relaunched universes from Valiant Entertainment’s classic comic properties.

    • “Kindle Worlds continues to grow quickly with new licenses across the pop culture spectrum, and we are excited to expand our World selection for writers,” said Nick Loeffler, General Manager of Kindle Worlds. “In just a few months since our launch, we’ve published hundreds of new stories with great customer reviews reflecting the high quality of so many of these submissions. While it’s very early days, we are thrilled with the initial reception from licensors and readers and look forward to adding additional Worlds soon.”

    If you’ve got what it takes to write G.I. Joe fan fiction for a living, you find out more here.

    Image via ReliveRetroNetwork/YouTube

  • Amazon’s Fan Fiction Store Is Officially Open

    Amazon’s Fan Fiction Store Is Officially Open

    Remember when Amazon announced Kindle Worlds back in May? The service would allow writers to create and sell fan fiction based on a number of licensed properties, like Vampire Diaries. It’s an incredibly innovative approach to fan fiction, and now it’s available to all.

    Amazon announced today that the Kindle Worlds Store is open for business. The store launches with over 50 commissioned works written by already accomplished authors. Now the submission portal has been opened to all so they can submit their own fan fictions to the store.

    “Today, we launch the Kindle Worlds Store and the platform that will enable any writer to benefit from writing in one of the Worlds we’ve licensed,” said Philip Patrick, Director, Business Development and Publisher of Kindle Worlds. “We look forward to hearing feedback from readers and writers, and hope to learn and improve as time goes on.”

    First things first – this isn’t fanfiction.net. You can’t just go writing about any property that you want. You must operate within the franchises that Amazon has been able to license thus far. Thankfully, the retail giant has secured licenses for a number of popular franchises that pretty much beg for fan fiction:

  • Warner Bros. Television Group’s Alloy Entertainment division for its New York Times best-selling book series Gossip Girl, by Cecily von Ziegesar; Pretty Little Liars, by Sara Shepard; and The Vampire Diaries, by L.J. Smith
  • Valiant Entertainment for Bloodshot, X-O Manowar, Archer & Armstrong, Harbinger and Shadowman
  • Best-selling authors Hugh Howey for Silo Saga, Barry Eisler for his John Rain novels, Blake Crouch for his Wayward Pines Series, and the Foreworld Saga by Neal Stephenson, Greg Bear, Mark Teppo and more

    • To publish stories in any of the above worlds, you’ll have to do the following:

  • Choose Your World: Choose a World to write in and read the content guidelines.
  • Sign Up and Submit: Sign in (or sign up) with your Amazon account and submit your work using our self-service submission platform.
  • Review and Publish: Amazon Publishing will review your submission for compliance with the stated guidelines and we’ll publish your work once approved. Each sale of the Work will result in a royalty to the author.
  • Promote and Track Your Work: Post publication, sign into Author Central to track progress on your work.

    • Amazon says that it’s currently working to secure more licenses across books, movies, TV shows and video games, but has nothing more to announce at the moment. Let’s just hope they can get the license to Jurassic Park. The potential for Ian Malcolm fan fiction is too large to ignore.

    You can get started on your officially licensed fan fiction journey here.

  • Kindle Worlds Will Pay You To Write Fan Fiction

    Fan Fiction is awesome, right? It’s a way for fans to better engage with their favorite brands, and some franchises actually gain new fans thanks to fan fiction. Amazon wants to capitalize on it while paying authors for their trouble.

    Amazon announced Kindle Worlds today – a new publishing platform that licenses popular series and then allows amateur authors to publish fan fiction based on those series. Right out of the gate, Amazon has secured the rights to Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liars and Vampire Diaries. I can already see the latter inspiring plenty of fan fiction.

    “At Kindle, we’re not only inventing on the hardware and software side of the business, we’re inventing new ways to create books,” said Philip Patrick, Director, Business Development and Publisher of Kindle Worlds. “Our goal with Kindle Worlds is to create a home for authors to build on the Worlds we license, and give readers more stories from the Worlds they enjoy. We look forward to announcing additional World licensing deals in the coming weeks.”

    So, how will the payment system work? Here’s how Amazon describes it:

    Amazon Publishing will pay royalties to both the rights holders of the Worlds and the author. The standard author’s royalty rate (for works of at least 10,000 words) will be 35% of net revenue. As with all titles from Amazon Publishing, Kindle Worlds will base net revenue off of sales price—rather than the lower, industry standard of wholesale price—and royalties will be paid monthly.

    In addition, with the launch of Kindle Worlds, Amazon Publishing will pilot an experimental new program for particularly short works—between 5,000 and 10,000 words. For these short stories—typically priced under one dollar—Amazon will pay the royalties for the World’s rights holder and pay authors a digital royalty of 20%.

    It’s not a bad deal for something that people generally write while expecting no monetary return. It might even be a great platform for an aspiring author to launch their own career. There’s numerous stories out there of fan fiction authors getting their big break after somebody discovered their work.

    Kindle Worlds will officially launch in June with over 50 commissioned works from famous authors. After that, anybody can submit their fan fictions to the Kindle Worlds publishing portal. To get a head start, head over to the official site to learn more.

  • Skyrim Barbie Breaks It Down

    Skyrim Barbie Breaks It Down

    The pictures of the Skyrim Barbie hit the Intertubes last week, with a post sporting the following title: Utterly Useless Dovahkiin Female Armor, and while the attractiveness of the subject is immediately apparent, the utter uselessness of such a character is, too.

    While bare midriffs are indeed something that deserves a Plus 1, an unprotected torso isn’t much use when you’re trying to eliminate a scourge of dragons that plague the Skyrim countryside. An example of the character in question, courtesy of Artyfakes:

    Skyrim Barbie

    Now, there’s a video, courtesy of the same Artyfakes group, and this time, it shows what Skyrim Barbie might be up to when her controlling player is logged off, or, as the YouTube description says, “What your Skyrim Avatar gets up to when your not in the room,” to which, all I can say is, I hope not, especially when the subject matter switches from female to male:


    While Skyrim Barbie can pull Britney Spears off, I’m not sure my Dark Elf who favors light armor over the heavy stuff would look quite as good as the lovely lady in the video; although, it might look better than the second half of the Skyrim Barbie video when the male version takes over.

    Over at the Artyfakes Facebook page, the reaction to Skyrim Barbie is positive, although, as Zach said when I shared this with him, “Skyrim gets the weirdest fan shit.” Or, in the words of Chris Butcher, who offered the following comment on Artyfake’s Facebook page:

    NOOOOOO Damn you! Damn you to all the Hel’s!

    It should be noted Butcher’s comment seems to be in jest, fitting the overall mood of Artyfakes’ followers. With that in mind, what would you do if you logged on to Skyrim and found the character you’ve been grinding up is suddenly freak-dancing to Britney Spears? Is that the appropriate time to start over from scratch, complete with a character redesign?