Fan-Fiction Overview

Fan-Fiction Historical Context: From Star Trek To Fifty Shades Of Grey

• Fan-fiction is an original work created by fans that feature characters, plots, settings,

etc. from their favorite established entertainment franchises (books, TV shows, movies and comics).

• Fan-fiction traces its roots back to Star Trek fanzines (fanzines were sold at sci-fi conventions or mailed to fellow fans)

• Proliferation of fan-fiction correlated with the advent of the internet, which allowed fan-fiction stories to be easily published and disseminated

• To-date, fan-fiction platforms have been mostly non-commercial and unauthorized

• Fifty Shades of Grey began as Twilight fan-fiction; pulled from sites and re-written as original work in order to unlock its value – now sold more than 100 million copies.

Fan-Fiction Traditionally Released Through Non-Commercial Platforms Like FanFiction.net

• FanFiction.net is an automated fan-fiction archive site (launched in 1998)

• At one point the largest aggregator of fan-fiction in the world (4.1M unique visitors as of Nov. 2013)

• Users register and post original fan-fiction stories based on popular, existing franchises

• Site contains terms of service and requires users to have appropriate copyrights to post fan-fiction stories, but the site does not conduct its own review process

• FanFiction.net generally “publishes” any and all stories submitted to its platform • Commercial use of “published” stories is prohibited (authors can’t monetize works)

Top 10 Fandoms on FanFiction.Net

• Harry Potter Books 654,257

• Naruto Anime 340,476

• Twilight Books 211,760

• InuYasha Anime 109,114

• Glee TV Show 97,233

• Hetalia: Axis PowersAnime 91,933

• Supernatural TV Show 82,808

• Bleach Anime 74,335

• Kingdom Hearts Game 69,710

• Pokemon Anime 64,034

Category # Of Stories Published Fandom

Note: figures as of August 2013

Overview Of Kindle Worlds: Amazon’s Fan-Fiction Platform

• Commercial fan-fiction publishing platform launched in June 2013

• Enables fans (“writers”) to legally create and publish fan-fiction stories inspired by popular books, shows, movies, comics, music and games (known as “Worlds”)

• Fans develop works that use characters, scenes, events, themes and plots associated with licensed “Worlds”

• Amazon has created a dedicated section of Kindle Store to sell these stories

• Currently only available for purchase in e-book format

• This platform legitimizes fan-fiction and gives the fans the ability to commercially exploit the stories they create (and legally share in economic upside)

Relationship Between Rights Holder & Amazon & Fan-Fiction Author

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• Rights holder grants Amazon the exclusive right to allow fans to create works based on elements from licensed Worlds

• Amazon may sell each new story for the duration of the copyright

Fan-Fiction Author

• Fan-fiction authors agree to adhere to content guidelines

• Amazon pays fan-fiction authors a royalty of 35% net revenue for works that are 10,000 words or longer, and 20% for shorter works.

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Rights Holder

Kindle Worlds Success To-Date

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• Amazon has licensed rights to large number of Worlds

• Originally launched with three Alloy Worlds

• Successful Worlds are those with an ardent fan-base

• Amazon licenses additional worlds on ongoing basis

• Any fan can participate

Overview Of Kindle Worlds To Date

Kindle Worlds: How Consumers Get There

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Kindle Worlds Is Featured On Amazon.com

Kindle Worlds Digital Store

• Fan-Fiction stories available for purchase in the Kindle Store via Amazon.com, Kindle devices / apps

• Prices range from $.99 to $3.99

• Kindle Worlds may also drive audience to purchase related library content from affiliated Worlds (i.e. books, DVDs, EST)

Key Elements Of Consumer Experience

Kindle Worlds: How Fan-Fiction Authors Participate

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Kindle Worlds Home Screen

Manuscript Upload Tool

• Select one of licensed Worlds

• Accept content guidelines specific to World (sample on following page)

• Accept Kindle World Publication Agreement

• Create author’s account to set up royalty payments

• Upload manuscript, design eBook cover (limited to approved, agreed upon images)

• Kindle Worlds internally reviews manuscripts

• If accepted, story is published on Kindle Worlds

• If rejected, manuscript is returned to author for editing

Getting Started

Register As Author And Submit Manuscript

Kindle Worlds Reviews Submitted Manuscripts

Kindle Worlds Requires Authors To Adhere To Specific Content Guidelines

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• Fan-Fiction authors must adhere to content

guidelines

• Each World may have its own, unique guidelines

(One of the weirder rules, set by Hasbro forbids G.I. Joe fan-fiction writers from portraying the character Snake Eyes as a Yankees fan.)

World Guidelines And Limitations Of Scope

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Scope Of License / Limitations To World

Monitoring Fan-Fiction Content

Communicating Content Guidelines

• May be limited to subset of official cannon e.g. World includes the official books, but not the TV show based on the books.

• Stories must be based on themes and plots appearing in aforementioned content

• All submitted fan-fiction is reviewed by Amazon’s automated review system

• Content that is flagged by system is manually reviewed

• After manual inspection, content is either published or rejected

• Rights holder may have take-down rights

• Guidelines can be complicated, but goal is to communicate Worlds likely exclude crossovers into other Worlds

• Worlds likely exclude crossovers into other Worlds

• Rights holder may identify key words that signify elements from non-approved derivative works

Presence On Kindle Worlds Platform Fosters Multiple Strategic Benefits

• Greatly enhances the reach and relevance of franchises

• New mechanism to monetize already visible franchises

• Method to extend franchises by creating new, fresh stories

• Create deeper, more interactive relationship with established fan base

• Leverage popularity of fan-fiction and Kindle Worlds to reach new fans

• Reinvigorate and enhance value of franchise’s catalog of existing content

One Last Perspective On Fan-Fiction

–“Fan fiction is what literature might look like if it were reinvented from scratch after a

nuclear apocalypse by a band of brilliant pop-culture junkies trapped in a sealed

bunker. They don't do it for money. That's not what it's about. The writers write it and

put it up online just for the satisfaction. They're fans, but they're not silent, couch-

bound consumers of media. The culture talks to them, and they talk back to the culture

in its own language.”

– -Lev Grossman, TIME Magazine, July 18, 2011

Slides by Matt Bloomgarden VP, Business & Legal Affairs Alloy Entertainment // Warner Bros. Television mbloomgarden@alloyentertainment.com