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Amazon Kindle Offers Platform for Fan Fiction Sales

Online retailer Amazon announced Kindle Worlds, a platform that will allow "any writer to create fan fiction based on a range of original stories and characters and earn royalties for doing so," on Wednesday.

Amazon secured licenses with Cecily von Ziegesar's Gossip Girl, Sara Shepard's Pretty Little Liars, and L.J. Smith's Vampire Diaries series. Any writer will be able to publish stories inspired by these franchises, and readers can purchase the stories in the Kindle Store. Both the original creator and the fan fiction writer will receive royalties for the work. Authors receive 35% of net revenue for works of at least 10,000 words and 20% for works between 5,000 and 10,000 words. Royalties will be paid monthly.

Amazon lists the following content guidelines:

• Pornography: We don't accept pornography or offensive depictions of graphic sexual acts.
• Offensive Content: We don't accept offensive content, including but not limited to racial slurs, excessively graphic or violent material, or excessive use of foul language.
• Illegal and Infringing Content: We take violations of laws and proprietary rights very seriously. It is the authors' responsibility to ensure that their content doesn't violate laws or copyright, trademark, privacy, publicity, or other rights.
• Poor Customer Experience: We don't accept books that provide a poor customer experience. Examples include poorly formatted books and books with misleading titles, cover art, or product descriptions. We reserve the right to determine whether content provides a poor customer experience.
• Excessive Use of Brands: We don't accept the excessive use of brand names or the inclusion of brand names for paid advertising or promotion.
• Crossover: No crossovers from other Worlds are permitted, meaning your work may not include elements of any copyright-protected book, movie, or other property outside of the elements of this World.

Amazon intends to obtain more licenses in the future.

Source: Deadline