This, That & All The Other

bakerstreetbabes:

This is the clip from Conan O’Brien where JJ Abrams actually showed the shower scene with Ben.

Trust me, the music Conan put with it makes it 2983471023487123987% better.

agreed. Love the porn music. :)

textualdeviance:

carrionlaughing:

Amazon Publishing Introduces Kindle Worlds

“Amazon Publishing has secured licenses from 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 Vampire Diaries, by L.J. Smith; and plans to announce more licenses soon. Through these licenses, Kindle Worlds will allow any writer to publish authorized stories inspired by these popular Worlds and make them available for readers to purchase in the Kindle Store.

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.”

So basically …

TPTB saw a few shady fic writers making money from their venture, and decided that, instead of suing for copyright, they’d find a way to take a cut, at least for certain properties. It’s a win-win for them, and for the dipshits who’d be trying to make money from someone else’s creation.

It’s also a lose for everyone else.

Original creators who want to retain control over who gets money for the worlds and characters they spent long hours making are now going to feel pressured to let other people take a cut without having any say over the end result. 

And the millions of ethical fic writers who wouldn’t dream of asking for money for their hobby are now going to find themselves fighting the onslaught of unethical dicks who think there’s nothing wrong with that. 

Ugh.

Speaking as someone with a foot on both sides (I write both original novels and fanfic), there’s an enormous difference between the two. I would have no problems whatsoever with folks writing fic or doing other fanworks involving the worlds and characters I’ve created from scratch, but I would want a say in any money made from them. Which is why I would never, ever try to monetize the fic I write.

If I wanted to, essentially, write legit tie-in stories for an existing world, I’d pitch the idea to the people who made it to begin with. Hell, I’d love to write a Primeval tie-in novel, or maybe a Leverage one. But until/unless that happens, I’m perfectly happy to just write the occasional fic set in those worlds, solely for my own entertainment and that of other fans. 

The other aspect of this that makes me uncomfortable is that a great deal of fic is stuff that would not, and should not ever make it into official canon. My massive Primeval fic novel is about as pervy as pervy can get. I wouldn’t even want the actors who play the characters involved to read it. Gods, no. The more involved TPTB are with fic, the less free I think fic writers are going to feel to write whatever the hell they feel like. Fic is and should be a fantasyland where everyone can let their Id run free. With networks and publishers looking over our shoulders, will that still be possible? 

Benedict knows his flat pack furniture. :)