iamwhomerlocked:

notsodarling-:

bookshop:

READ THIS Gav wrote it while I screamed at her about Fanlib and franchise tie-ins and flailed a lot on twitter. A great summary of the many many problems with amazon’s new scheme to profit from fans writing fanfic.

I am reading this while on my lunch and Boss Lady keeps looking over at me because i CANNOT STOP LAUGHING.

no. no. no. no.No. No. No. No. NO. NO. NO. NO!!!!!!! WE CAN’T EVEN WRITE ABOUT DOCTOR WHO, SHERLOCK, SUPERNATURAL, THE AVENGERS, HARRY POTTER, THE HOBBIT, LORD OF THE RINGS, ETC. AND DO THEY HONSETLY THINK PEOPLE WILL STOP USING TUMBLR OR OTHER SITES TO PUBLISH REALLY GREAT FANFICTION. WOW THEY ARE FREAKING IDIOTS. I HOPE THEY ALL GET SERIOUSLY SCREWED OVER AND END UP BANKRUPT FOR TRYING TO MAKE FANFICTION A PROFIT. THATS THE BEAUTY OF FANDOMS. ITS ONE GIGANTIC GROUP OF FRIENDS OBSESSING OVER THEIR FAVORITE SHOWS, BANDS, BOOKS, MOVIES, ETC. IT IS NOT A FREAKING BUISNESS VENTURE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

luv this response

We’re gonna go ahead and assume that Amazon didn’t realise what kind of Pandora’s box they opened when they announced Kindle’s new fanfic store.

According to Amazon’s statement today, Kindle Worlds is “a place for you to publish fan fiction… engage an audience of readers, and earn royalties.” The small print being that your fanfiction must be set in “featured Worlds,”, which currently include Warner Bros. shows Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liars, and The Vampire Diaries. So people looking to profit from their Harry Potter or Teen Wolf opus may have to wait a little while longer. 

The deal is that writers will receive a 35 percent royalty for stories of over 10,000 words, or 20 percent for shorter fanfics. Sounds like a pretty good deal, considering the fact that most fanfic is posted online for free. On the other hand, there’s no mention of editorial input in Kindle Worlds’ terms and conditions. Will authors receive any help from editors or publishing professionals before their stories are uploaded to Kindle Worlds, or is this simply a system for Amazon and Warner Bros to profit from 65 to 80 percent of any successful fanfic’s sales?

The problem is, even online publishers like Wattpad and Amazon aren’t quite up to speed with the realities of fandom culture. While Gossip Girl and The Vampire Diaries are popular among teenagers, they don’t measure up to mega-fandoms like Sherlock or The Avengers. Basically, there isn’t much overlap between Gossip Girl viewers, hardcore fanfic readers/writers, and people with the disposable income and desire to pay money for fanfic. [READ MORE]

Over the years, various Star Trek movies have attempted to redress the gender imbalance in the original crew of the Enterprise. With one woman and six men in the core cast, it’s already kind of a sausage-fest. This movie adds Carol Marcus, played by Alice Eve, but although her role is that of a scientist and a Starfleet officer, she isn’t exactly treated with respect. Not only does she have a completely gratuitous semi-nude scene halfway through the movie, but McCoy hits on her while she’s trying to defuse a bomb. Oh, and her most important role in the movie is governed by her relationship with a male character—her father.

Other than Carol Marcus and Uhura, there pretty much aren’t any women at all in Into Darkness. Seriously. At the beginning of the movie we see Noel Clarke’s comatose daughter and grieving wife, and later on Kirk has a threesome with two hot alien chicks—part of Abrams’ image of Kirk as “a player,” which somehow sounds a lot douchier than Kirk’s admittedly flirtatious characterization in the original series. Onboard the Enterprise we do see a new female helmsman (helmswoman?), but unlike the male background officers, she doesn’t get any lines.

I actually understand a lack of interest in adding women to the core crew of the Enterprise. Those roles are already filled: by Kirk, Spock, Bones, and the rest. But when it comes to side characters and antagonists, almost every single one is male, for no discernable reason. At one point, we see one of the main villains in the captain’s chair of a ship that seems to be crewed entirely by men. Earlier, Kirk, Spock and Uhura are confronted by a platoon of Klingons—all apparently male as well. Are we expected to believe that a mysterious plague has wiped out 75% of the women in the galaxy? Throw me a bone, here. [READ MORE]

One Tumblr user claims to have tracked down Eleanor Calder’s father and brother. Are they cagey because the fandom is onto their deceit, or because people from Tumblr are suddenly very interested in their personal lives?