FanLib Invitation. One of the select few. Like hell.

[icarus]

Drawing on the FanLib discussion, I have to say that I was invited to archive my fanfiction on FanLib back in March.

Hi Icarus,

I saw some of your Stargate fan fiction online and really enjoyed your writing. I work for a brand-new fan fiction website called FanLib.com and my colleagues and I want it to be the ultimate place for talented writers like you. In case you're wondering, FanLib's not new to fan fiction. Since 2001, they've been producing really cool web events with people like CBS, Showtime and HarperCollins to bring fan creativity into the big leagues (see below for some links).

We're impressed by your writing and impact in the fan fiction community and we value your opinion. That's why we're inviting you to be among the first to experience FanLib.com. As a member of our Beta Team (not like "beta reader" but "beta software" that's still in development), you'll get an exclusive peek at what we're doing before we open the site to the general public.

Feel free to take a look around, upload some fics, maybe read and comment on a few. Do as much or as little as you like. On FanLib.com, you'll be able to connect with other first-rate writers like yourself, exchange ideas with the site creators, and get some of the fun stuff we're giving away to celebrate our launch.

Don't worry, you won't get spammed. We're not selling anything. We just want you to try the site and hopefully give us some feedback.

You'll need to use this special individual login to access the protected site:

http://beta.fanlib.com
Username: Icarus
Password: ****

(This is just to access the beta site and is separate from your site registration.)

We look forward to having you as a founding member. Together, we can create the greatest fan fiction site the web's ever seen!

Best,

Naomi
FanLib Beta Launch Coordinator
FanLib.com

Well, ain't that fine and dandy. I was "personally selected" because of my great writing. Why did that sound like a credit card offer? (Bring fanfiction to the big leagues? Really. You're going to what -- publish it? Hmm. Just looks like another archive to me.) I scanned through the possible places they could have gotten my name at random.

Remember. I'm an author who posts everywhere. If anyone's going to turn up on a random search, it'll be me.

Then I remembered the Gen drabble I posted at, aha, Gateworld. Gotcha.

Curious, I checked FanLib out. At the time, they had only four authors on the archive. Three were so-called "Multi-Fandom Authors." There was something strange about these authors. First off, I'd never heard of them. Okay, okay, I don't know every author in fandom, and I'm certainly out of step with the immense Harry Potter fandom. But Stargate Atlantis, while prolific, hasn't been around that long, and they wrote slash. You'd think I'd at least run across a multi-fandom author on sga_flashfic. Huh. Odd. I let that go.

Then each author had exactly two stories in each fandom they wrote for. Now, usually how an author becomes multi-fandom is they are a little obsessive. They'll go through phases where they write massive numbers of stories in a fandom and then flit to another fandom that they'll flirt with for a while. But, hey, maybe they were only uploading their two favorite stories.

Then I read some of the stories. They weren't bad. Whoever wrote them definitely had taken some creative writing classes. But they had that kind of awkwardness and close ties to canon that you see in an author's first story in a fandom. All of them. They started slow and uncomfortably. One had Rodney flipping a coin (and described the coin in vast detail) a reference to "Rising," in a Rodney/Carson story. I dunno. They felt forced.

They didn't reference fanon at all. It was like these authors existed in a vacuum. A multi-fandom author is usually connected to fandom in some way.

I decided that the owners of FanLib had hired some interns (okay, "hired" for an intern implies pay) to write some "fanfiction" stories to seed their archive. It annoyed me.

Then I was annoyed at the "bright colors!" and "bold stars!" layout. What is this, kindergarten? They didn't even know the average age of a fanfiction writer. The site seemed marketed to high school students. I contemplated sending them a scathing (if politely worded) email on how poor their market research has been, but I decided I didn't want to help them.

But here's the weird part: of those four authors, only cpt_ritter is still around, and cpt_ritter wasn't one of the "multi-fandom" authors. Once they got their archive started, they pulled their "seed" authors out.

Now I'll post my stories anywhere. I've joked that I'll staple them to telephone poles. But even I draw the line here. These guys were dishonest and manipulative. I don't trust them.



ETA: I agree with astolat: It's time for a truly all-inclusive multi-fandom archive. Now there was one called The Archive At The End Of The Universe. Let me see if that's still in business.

Comments

[angiepen.livejournal.com]

OK, that's the opposite of how I understood it to work. [ponder] I had an art teacher in college who used to go on about the "legal issues" involved in copying existing drawings and paintings, even when no deception was intended or possible. If I do a pencil sketch of an oil painting, no one's going to ever believe that it's actually that painting. And if I do it, no one's ever going to believe that it's a Botticelli. [rueful smile] That sort of difference is comparable, I think, to one of the stricter canon-adherent stories -- maybe something like one of the fics that's a retelling of an existing scene from a book but from the POV of a different character? It seems that if one is a problem then the other should be.

And if it's the money that makes it infringement of copyright, then why is there any question at all about whether fanfic, when given away for free, even might be illegal? It sounds pretty straightforward in that case. [cogitate]

Angie

Fanfiction isn't illegal.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

There's difference between how the law is interpreted by authors and artists (protection of my work because it's wrong to copy me) and how it's actually practiced by lawyers (is there some real harm which means the case is "actionable," and if so, can we win it?). The law is not moral. It's one of the things they drill into you in Intro to Law.

In the case of that logo my dad designed, they lost not because it wasn't obviously the same. It was. They couldn't prove harm because the two businesses weren't in competition and therefore one couldn't take the customers of another. So, yes, morally the logo thief was in the wrong. But in practical terms, there was no financial harm that they could prove.

Fanfiction authors are just as confused about this as everyone else. Pro writers are also confused about this. Because they depend on copyright to protect themselves and they hate fanfiction writers (especially the pro writers who haven't sold much) they don't want to know how flimsy that protection is.

I believe this is the real reason why fanfiction hasn't hit that test case in thirty years. It's not that authors haven't tried. There have been plenty of C&Ds. Lots of authors like Anne Rice would be happy to sue fanfiction within an inch of their lives even if they own nothing but the color TV in their dorm -- gladly, to make the point. It's just that without the harm they can't even bring the case to court.

Icarus

Re: Fanfiction isn't illegal.

[angiepen.livejournal.com]

So... the only reason this hasn't been settled is because no fanfic writer has had enough lawyer money to just do whatever they want and dare whomever to sue? That's really kind of boggling. I mean, I believe you, it's just that I'm watching my world spin around me by about a hundred and twenty degrees or so, LOL! Huh.

Angie, pondering

Re: Fanfiction isn't illegal.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

No. It's because fanfiction hasn't actually harmed anyone's livelihood.

Now, if we started cranking out fanfiction books and selling them by the thousand, the copyright holder would easily be able to say, "Hey, look at all the money that should be flowing into my pockets that's going to her." Then we could get into a case deciding the legal standing of fanfiction.

Hopefully my coffee example below makes it clear.

Icarus

Another rendition of that clarification.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Because these examples are fun, let's do another one.

Let's say Anne Rice reads some fanfiction. "Arrrgh!" she says. "Those damned fanfiction writers are at it again!" She uses colorful un-Christ-like language, and calls her lawyer. "They have violated my copyright! Lestat is mine, all mine."

The attorney says, "Indeed they have violated copyright in some sense."

"What do you mean, 'in some sense'?" she asks.

"The legal status of fanfiction has not been established, and there is no case law for me to draw upon," the lawyer continues. Note this is even more of a grey area than the coffee. "But it does appear, in my opinion, that they have violated your copyright since Lestat is indeed, yours."

"Great. Let's sue! I want this stopped!"

"Okay. Um. What harm have they done you?" the lawyer asks.

"What?"

"Have they cost you money? Sales, perhaps? Can we quantify it?" she (the attorney) continues.

"It's wrong for them to violate my copyright! I find it very upsetting!"

The attorney continues in her soft, soothing purr, "Okay. So it has caused you..." She taps her pen, looking up. "...mental suffering."

"Yes!" Anne says.

"Can you see why it's hard to base a case on that? Even though we feel copyright law is on our side?" the lawyer says calmly. "We need to have something to base the case on beyond a sense of moral outrage."

"And the fact that it's against the law!"

"Yes." The lawyer sighs. "The fact of the matter is, even if they did something egregious -- which I hope they do, I'd love to sink my teeth into this -- it's not guaranteed the law will rule in our favor. Fanfiction could be called parody or transformative work. We just don't know."

"So we have to wait?"

The lawyer nods. "For some real harm."

"But we've been waiting for thirty years!"

"Have you considered the possibility that it's been so long because it's harmless?" the lawyer ventures.

"No! It's against the law and it's wrong! How do I stop them?"

"We can send them another C&D letter, frighten them a bit, hope they don't call our bluff. This would also lay the foundation if we can develop a case against them."

"Do it."

.....

Make sense?

Icarus

Re: Another rendition of that clarification.

[angiepen.livejournal.com]

LOL! OK, I'd love to be a fly on the wall for that conversation. :D I'm not a fan of her work but even I've heard of what a nutball she can be; I'm sure it would've been entertaining, heh.

And yes, that explains things clearly. [nodnod] Also the coffee example below -- thank you! [ponder]

Angie

Re: Fanfiction isn't illegal.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

Oh. Wait. Sorry, it was late last night. Rereading what you wrote:

...the only reason this hasn't been settled is because no fanfic writer has had enough lawyer money to just do whatever they want and dare whomever to sue?

Yeah, pretty much. No one's forced the issue.

Just for clarification.

[icarusancalion.livejournal.com]

And if it's the money that makes it infringement of copyright, then why is there any question at all about whether fanfic, when given away for free, even might be illegal? It sounds pretty straightforward in that case.

Just for clarification, the money isn't what makes it a violation. It is, however, what makes it a punishable violation.

Silly example:

Let's say a state has a statute that says that coffee can't be served if it's over a certain temperature. (We're assuming there are no automatic penalties built into the statute the way they have with speeding tickets.)

Now let's say a MacDonald's is serving coffee that's over the certain temperature. They have violated that statute.

If you were handed a cup of coffee and tested the temperature, you could run to your lawyer, "Hey, they violated the law -- let's sue!" The lawyer would say, yes indeed, they violated the law, but you don't have a case. "Why not?" you'd ask, mystified. "Because the coffee has caused you no harm. If the state wants to persue MacDonald's for violating the statute, they can, but you don't have a case."

Now let's say that MacDonald's served you that coffee, and it you received second degree burns from it -- even if there weren't a statute, you would have a case. Because you could prove harm. Pain and suffering. Medical bills. Lost time at work.

That's how our law works. It's practical. That is what's protecting fanfiction.

Icarus