2. The story of Amazon's foray into fan fiction, and how it changed over the last few years, shows how many authors have to play by Amazon's rules to make a living — and be subject to its whims in how it supports particular platforms or products. The best Kindle: Reviews and buying advice Amazon offers their Kindle e-readers with features and prices to suit the taste of any bookworm. Business Insider spoke to several romance authors about losing out on thousands of dollars in monthly income when the platform closed. Holt embraced the new platform and said she was making between $3,000 and $5,000 a month on Kindle Worlds, a "huge part" of her income. The Most Popular Google Searches in 2020 — Challenging and Uplifting, Best Apple and Google Apps of 2020 [Infographic], How Your iPhone Can “Name That Tune” with One Tap. "Once Amazon has [a story], they have the right to do anything they want with it, including possibly using it in anthologies or selling it other languages, etc, without paying the author anything else for it, ever," he wrote. I was really sorry to see it end.". You must be a US resident to submit a story to Kindle Worlds (or have a US bank account). Thatâs a unique feature of digital publishing overall: a writer can modify ⦠And she's not the only one. Amazon doesn't really do anything to aggressively promote Kindle Worlds. Talty speculated Amazon wasn't making enough money to justify keeping the service. Find the top 100 most popular items in Amazon Kindle Store Best Sellers. The company that published her first book, Triskelion Publishing, went bankrupt, for instance. I canât wait to bring in my family and friends, and people Iâve yet to ⦠The beloved Harry Potter and Hunger Games series are here, ⦠Kindle Worlds, announced just one year ago, is the first commercial publishing platform that enables any writer to write stories based on licensed Worlds and earn royalties for doing so. Desiree Holt, affectionately known as the oldest author of erotic romance at 83 years old, climbed out of a financial plight in 2013 thanks to Amazon. ⦠The authors who licensed their works to Kindle Worlds and the fan authors writing in their fictional universes would both receive up to 35% of revenue from each sale, while Amazon received the remaining 30%. "That's a big hole in your pocket. Kindle Worlds (at AmazonSmile: support a non-profit of your choice by shopping*). But in May 2018, Amazon sent Kindle Worlds authors an email — a copy of which was provided to Business Insider — with the subject line: "Important Kindle Worlds Update.". It was her main source of income and sometimes double what she was making through other sources, she said. Kindle Worlds Store HERE. But in 2013, Amazon launched a fan-fiction service called Kindle Worlds, a digital publishing platform that let authors publish fan fiction within certain licensed "worlds," which at first included properties from Warner Bros.' Alloy Entertainment, like "Gossip Girl," "Pretty Little Liars," and "The Vampire Diaries.". Thank you for subscribing to The Wonder of Tech! ", "The language of control and exploitation predominates even in favorable descriptions of Kindle Worlds," she wrote. However, if you go to their Kindle eBooks page, they do have a link to Kindle Worlds in the Popular Features section near the top of the page in the left navigation menu. Tushnet told Business Insider that AO3 was meant to be "a sustainable space for fans that wouldn't advertise to them or sell their data," a point she wrote extensively about in a 2014 paper called "All of This Has Happened Before and All of This Will Happen Again: Innovation in Copyright Licensing. Kindle Worlds is âthe first commercial publishing platform that will enable any writer to create fan fiction based on a range of original stories and characters and earn royalties for doing so,â ⦠For these reasons, Tushnet said many within the fan-fiction community weren't scared, but "amused" when Kindle Worlds launched. Amazon shut down its fan-fiction service Kindle Worlds in 2018 after five years, and some authors told Business Insider they lost thousands of dollars in monthly income. âWelcome to Kindle Worlds, a place for you to publish fan fiction inspired by popular books, shows, movies, comics, music, and games. Kindle Worlds is fanfiction written with the consent of the creators/rights holders, who can set whatever limits they want on how their characters/franchise are used. While we ⦠By clicking ‘Sign up’, you agree to receive marketing emails from Business Insider Authors like those who spoke to Business Insider earned good money while writing for Kindle Worlds and found it to be a major opportunity in furthering their careers. However, readers can still read Kindle World books on any device with the Kindle app. Discover the best 6462235010 - Kindle Worlds in Best Sellers. She said this was "antithetical" to what fan fiction is about, which could be one reason for its failure. Kindle Worlds will sell fanfiction submitted by fanfic authors and cut them in on a piece of the profit. "But it was a bad version of both. A Harvard Law professor who studies the space thinks Kindle Worlds was doomed from the start, because Amazon's approach was "antithetical" to the core of fan fiction, she said. And that disconnect is where she thinks many of the problems with Kindle Worlds stemmed from. For years, fan fiction has ⦠One author said an Amazon employee told them the company's tech couldn't effectively manage Kindle Worlds. Kindle Worlds is something that is new and exciting and thereâs so much to be explored within the different universes that it shares. The reality for many authors is that Amazon is an inescapable force in the publishing industry. At the start, Amazon seemed to be expanding the service and innovating in concrete ways. "But I can't get traction on other platforms.". Still, many of the authors' fallback plans also relied on Amazon. Jen Talty, also a romance author, wrote in other authors' worlds and told Business Insider she was earning anywhere from $1,000 to $1,500 a month. While I see it ⦠"When Kindle Worlds shut down, it hit me financially," Holt said. What Kindle Worlds gives us is a potentially troubling look at one form of adaptation. Sign up for our newsletter now. Right now, Kindle Worlds stories are only available as ebooks, and only available on Amazon. And if Amazon were to launch a service similar to Kindle Worlds again, Holt would sign on in a heartbeat. "It didn't take me long to bounce back because I had a plan in place," James said. "Fans are raw material — resources to be exploited and data to be mined.". Amazon shut down its fan-fiction service Kindle Worlds in 2018 after five years, and some authors told Business Insider they lost thousands of dollars in monthly income. In the absence of a clear explanation from Amazon, authors have their own theories. But even though Amazon reverted the rights back to authors, those like Talty couldn't exactly keep writing the stories she had written in Kindle Worlds because the universes belonged to others. These authors would invite others to write in their universes (and potentially make money from sales). "The Vampire Diaries" novel series was one of the licensed properties on Kindle Worlds. Kindle Worlds Recently back from the Novelistâs, Inc. (NINC) National Conference where there was a lot of talk about Kindle Worlds, the new publishing platform from Amazon. Kindle Unlimited recommends new and popular titles as well as those based on your shopping history. as well as other partner offers and accept our, Visit Business Insider's homepage for more stories, rose to the top of the Kindle Worlds charts, In a year of epic finales, 'Star Wars' and 'Game of Thrones' stumbled while 'Avengers: Endgame' soared. Kindle Worlds lets writers create stories about television shows created by Alloy Entertainmentâincluding âThe Vampire Diaries,â âGossip Girl,â and âPretty Little Liarsââusing the ⦠But for Tushnet, Amazon's service was more of a commercial entity than a community, and was too limited and controlling in its approach. Kindle Worlds is starting out with licensed content from Alloy but aims to move into other books and shows, movies, comics, music, and games. Of course, that doesn't show up anywhere in their site map, and you have to actually go looking for the Kindle ⦠With Kindle Worlds, you can write new stories based on featured Worlds⦠3. have ideas for future story lines based on your favorite stories. The fan-fiction service most like Kindle Worlds prior to its creation was FanLib, which launched in 2007 and closed the following year. "Amazon considers itself 'consumer centric' and 'author centric,' but the consumer is first," Talty said. The biggest selection of eBooks and Audiobooks from Kindle in Literature & Fiction, Foreign Languages, Religion & Spirituality, Business, Romance, History, Kids, Non-fiction, Chick Lit, Mysteries, Thrillers and Science Fiction. When Lizzy Gardner was only seventeen, what should have been the perfect night became the perfect nightmare. can’t get enough of your favorite stories. I got a lot out of it and I'm more successful now because of it. Subscriber Kindle Worlds authors can sell their work, but they can't tap into the same wide network of collaboration and support. ", If you have a tip about Kindle Worlds or Amazon's publishing services, or if you're a former Kindle Worlds author with a story to share, email the author at tclark@businessinsider.com. Romance writer Elle James, the author of the "Brotherhood Protectors" series, told Business Insider she was making anywhere from $5,000 to $12,000 a month. 10 Top Holiday Tech Gifts for Any Budget! The service licensed book series like "Gossip Girl" and "The Vampire Diaries" for authors to write fan-fiction stories for. Most of Talty's books are exclusive to Kindle Unlimited — the company's subscription e-book service — a further sign of just how reliant many authors are on Amazon. So, here's the explanation: There are numerous Kindle Worlds⦠A leading-edge research firm focused on digital transformation. Log in. "You have to go into it with the understanding that [Amazon is] the big dog. The Kindle Worlds platform is flexible enough, though, for a writer to rework and republish their story based on customer feedback. I think its a brilliant marriage of traditional ⦠The range includes devices with a keyboard (Kindle Keyboard), devices with touch-sensitive, lighted high-resolution screens (Kindle Paperwhite), a tablet computer with the Kindle app ( Kindle ⦠All the books will launch the same day to increase exposure — on Amazon's Kindle. For me, one of Amazonâs most interesting initiatives is. choose one of their imaginary worlds: Kindle Worlds - Select a World, read the content guideline, which tells you what you are allowed to do in this world as a fan fiction author, and what you ⦠The spokesperson said Kindle Worlds did not have a low readership or customer base, and that the service "successfully engaged" fan fiction authors and readers. Holt's launching a new book called "Unexpected Risk" in her "Phoenix Agency" series on February 28 and she invited 10 authors to write in that universe, with some specific guidelines Holt's set. For five years, Kindle Worlds has been thriving, engaging writers and readers who enjoy writing in one anotherâs worlds, and weâre proud of the work weâve done together. She — along with many other authors in the space — are used to hardships in the publishing industry. At the time, Holt was writing romance novels for the the publishing company Ellora's Cave, which was collapsing and ultimately shut down in 2016. The notice said Kindle Worlds stories would no longer be available for sale on Amazon by mid-July and that the Kindle Worlds website would close by the end of that August. "I'd say 'send me the contract right now,"' she said. And as always, the question we should be asking when we consider who profits from a specific ⦠have always wanted to be a fiction writer, want to earn money for your passion, and/or. When I promote my books and novellas in Kindle World, people often ask what is a Kindle World and how is that different from any other e-book for Kindle. "While Kindle Worlds has closed, we continue to experiment and explore new opportunities to innovate in the storytelling space," the spokesperson added. Kindle hardware has evolved from the original Kindle introduced in 2007 and the Kindle DX (with its larger screen) introduced in 2009. The original "Vampire Diaries" author, LJ Smith, even wrote "Vampire Diaries" fan fiction on the platform after Alloy Entertainment fired her from the series, and her installments rose to the top of the Kindle Worlds charts. Authors like Holt, Talty, and James used Kindle Worlds to expand their readership and income. Science-fiction writer John Scalzi had raised similar concerns in a 2013 blog post. Former Kindle Worlds authors described how they bounced back after the shutdown, and their stories show how dominant Amazon is in the publishing world. Michael Ansaldo/IDG. But despite FanLib's failure, Amazon's backing and the promise of increased readership made some authors very optimistic about how Kindle Worlds would help their careers. When asked to comment on why Amazon shut the service down, a company spokesperson reiterated the points in that email. Kidnapped just blocks from home after a romantic ⦠Kindle Worlds "was promoted with the language of fan fiction and fandom," Tushnet told Business Insider. "Some say I'm crazy for having all of my eggs in one basket," she said. When Kindle Worlds shut down, Talty said she was "crushed for about five minutes," but she sees "everything as an opportunity.". Holt felt her income was in jeopardy. Holt discovered Kindle Worlds when she was invited to write in romance author Carly Phillips' "world" and she eventually launched her own world for others to write in. "Opening up the worlds to other authors allowed my readers more access to my world," James said. The bottom line: many authors were happy to partake in Kindle Worlds, especially with the backing of Amazon. Launched in May 2013, Kindle Worlds was the part of Amazonâs publishing unit that focused on publishing tie-in stories for existing properties like GIJoe, and various TV shows such as Veronica Mars and Vampire Diaries. "As soon as [Amazon] told us [Kindle Worlds was shutting down], I started setting up my publishing company.". The aim of Kindle Worlds was to be a platform where writers wrote and published stories based on licensed Worlds, which originally included Gossip Girl, Pretty Little Liars and Vampire Diaries. Kindle Worlds is an Amazon program where fan authors can write authorized stories in a book world, and through a special license with Amazon and the world creator (Nick Webb), you can upload your ⦠See the latest news and trends in advertising and media. But Amazon owned them while the service was up and running. Yesterday, the House that Bezos Built announced the launch of Kindle Worlds, a digital publishing platform where writers can publish fan fiction under official licenses. Around a year after the launch, Amazon began recruiting established authors with their own universes outside of the original licensed properties to join Kindle Worlds. Account active When you're ready to start reading your first book through Kindle Unlimited, select the title to go to its Kindle page and select the gold Read for Free button or the Read and Listen for Free ⦠But in 2018, Holt suddenly found herself back to the drawing board when Amazon shut down Kindle Worlds. And she's also borrowed a bit of the Kindle Worlds model to help boost her income. "While we are closing Kindle Worlds, Amazon is constantly innovating on behalf of our authors and readers, and we look forward to continuing to do so.". It said that the rights would revert back to the authors once the stories were removed from Amazon. The CW/Tina Rowden. Amazon is in competition with a vast array of free options. "For five years, Kindle Worlds has been thriving, engaging writers and readers who enjoy writing in one another's worlds, and we're proud of the work we've done together," the email said. Kindle Worlds check-in March 2016. Kindle Worlds is clearly doing very well so far, but traditional fanfic fans shouldnât be too worried that it might encroach upon the territory of Tumblr, Fanfiction.net, or AO3. But much of the fan fiction written is not commercial in nature, according to Rebecca Tushnet, a Harvard Law School professor who has studied the industry. since. Tushnet is the cofounder of the nonprofit Organization of Transformative Works, which launched the fan-fiction platform AO3 in 2007 as a response to FanLib (the conceptual precursor to Kindle Worlds). It took me a while to build back up to that level again.". Talty said that she gave the stories she wrote in the erotic romance author Milly Taiden's world back to Taiden, who then republished them under her own brand. As noted, when Kindle Worlds shut down, Amazon reverted the story rights back to the writers. Read or listen and synch easily across your Kindle eReader, Kindle for PC, Kindle ⦠Amazon declined to comment on these two points. 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