p̟o̟s̟h̟l̟o̟s̟t̟

this blog is a museum of my heart

Spot the Fiona.

A.F. Vandevorst

Aleksandra Alba   IG: tanzdreamer

𝙵𝚎𝚋𝚛𝚞𝚊𝚛𝚢 𝟸, 𝟷𝟿𝟸𝟸 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙳𝚒𝚊𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜 𝙾𝚏 𝙵𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚣 𝙺𝚊𝚏𝚔𝚊, 𝟷𝟿𝟷𝟺-𝟷𝟿𝟸𝟹

𝙾𝚜𝚌𝚊𝚛 𝚆𝚒𝚕𝚍𝚎, 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙶𝚊𝚛𝚍𝚎𝚗 𝚘𝚏 𝙴𝚛𝚘𝚜 (𝟷𝟾𝟾𝟷)

𝙵𝚎𝚋𝚛𝚞𝚊𝚛𝚢 𝟸, 𝟷𝟿𝟸𝟸 𝚃𝚑𝚎 𝙳𝚒𝚊𝚛𝚒𝚎𝚜 𝙾𝚏 𝙵𝚛𝚊𝚗𝚣 𝙺𝚊𝚏𝚔𝚊, 𝟷𝟿𝟷𝟺-𝟷𝟿𝟸𝟹

For the love of all that you enjoy: DON’T PAYWALL YOUR FANFICTION.

Again, but louder:

DON’T PAYWALL YOUR FANFICTION

It’s getting more and more common. I’ve seen three posts about it in the last 24 hours - patreons where you’ll get “exclusive” fanfiction stories if you’re a subscriber.

Don’t.

Don’t do it.

It’s annoying, but mostly it’s fucking dangerous.

The whole fanfiction community prosper on someone else’s turf under “fair use” laws. In simple terms: we can play with other people’s creations for as long as it’s done for our own amusement, and that of our followers.

Once any kind of financial benefits are made, it becomes another abuse of someone else’s rights.

And look, I get it. It sucks, especially seeing the artists take commissions while the authors get nothing, and it takes hours and hours of our time, and I understand people are looking for a side hustle to make ends meet in this monstrosity of a capitalist society, but if we don’t stop it from happening, the rights owners will stop it.

And they’ll stop it for everyone.

It’s not worth it. Don’t do it.

The key issue (and difference between fanfic and fanart) is what boils down to "market substitution".

A piece of fanart cannot substitute fandom media, generally. [1] That is, someone cannot meaningfully replace a fandom media via fanart illustrations, because an illustration does not provide the same thing the original medium does.

Fanfic, however, by its nature, can. I could replace a fandom media with fanfic and get the same thing as a consumer -- plots with these owned characters in this owned setting -- and in theory could then decide to stop purchasing the original media, because my needs are met by the fanfic.

This is also the reason media creators *cannot* meaningfully interact with fanfic -- it is a more complicated mess if there is an overlap of ideas if you know the lead writer reads fanfic, and pursuing it as the fic author puts that market substitution piece on the block in a bad way.

So, yes. It is frustrating. But there is a very good legal reason that Ao3, for example, has mentions of monetization explicitly against its ToS, and it is for the protection of everyone.

[1] fan comics could run into this issue too but commercial, self-published fan comics is less of a thing out of the US space, generally. Your Artist Alleys and Patreon spaces primarily involve singular piece works

I don't know why this keeps coming up, but you can't make money off fan fiction. It jeopardizes the whole "fair use" thing that allows fandom to operate as it does.

I really wonder if this is younger fans who don't remember the stress of the Olden Days, when legal threats from creators were an Actual Thing That Happened. People got threatening letters, websites vaporized overnight, it wasn't fun. The "please don't sue me" disclaimers found on older fics weren't a joke, people were slightly paranoid at all times.

So please, maintain the truce and don't endanger fanfic and fandom because you demand monetary compensation for participating.

If you distilled early 90s American pop culture down into a single, two second long GIF, this is what it would look like.

Apparently, at some point in the mid-90s, people thought software dispensing kiosks were going to be the next big thing. Turns out it was DVD rental, not 3.5” floppy purchasing.

When you’re trying to cook some ramen and accidentally open a portal to a mysterious shadow dimension.

It Would Even Lean Over the Muzzle And Peer Down the Barrel.