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Ka-ching! Fanfic writers will soon be able to cash in on their writing thanks to Amazon's upcoming Kindle Worlds.
But wait, you say, I thought fanfiction was some kind of copyright infringement and thusly a not-for-profit pastime, unless you manage to crossover like best-seller Fifty Shades of Grey, which began as a Twilightfanfic.
EW reports that Amazon's new licensing deal with three Warner Bros. properties. — The Vampire Diaries, Gossip Girl and Pretty Little Liars— will allow both the parent company and "Kindle Authors" to benefit from writing stories set in their universes.
Stories will be priced much like downloadable songs, ranging from $0.99 to $3.99. Amazon says it will pay 35 percent of net revenue for works of 10,000 words or more and 20 percent for works between 5,000 and 10,000 words.
However, unlike most of the fanfiction out there, Amazon won't allow any porn, "excessive use of foul language" or crossovers from other "Worlds."
Amazon has not yet announced a launch date but is expected to add more fanfic-able properties to their repertoire. Their tagline —New stories inspired by books, shows, movies, comics, music, and games people love— implies they might be trying to license DC or Marvel comics, boy bands and even, say, Assassin's Creed!
We would be surprised if another CW show, Supernatural, didn't show up on Amazon's roster soon since the series has humorously acknowledged its legions of fans by writing fanfic into the show. Although it sounds like "Sam/Dean" stories won't be welcome on Amazon.
