And like you said, It’s also an opportunity for authors to draw in more fans should they decide to write some. As to why an author would want to waste time and talents on it? Well, your statement kind of answers that. I look at fanfic as a labor of love. It’s one thing to be a fan, but to be so immersed in a world you want to create your own stories? That’s uber love. And probably doesn’t feel like a chore to do. If an author falls into the uber love category, why not write a fan fic and make a little extra money/gain more fans?

But it’s not for everyone. If an author would rather put his energy in his own stuff, I don’t look at the fanfic as putting a huge dent in his chances of getting noticed. Bookbloggers and the average reader will still talk about good books. And that’s the keyword: good. All the bad fanfic will sink to the bottom like the everything else. Yes, more people will try it out because of the built in fanbase, but the bar is way higher for that stuff to be good. If I decide to read Buffy fanfic, I already have a deep knowledge of the world and voice for the characters. If it doesn’t live up to that, I won’t read it. But if I’m reading a Mirus book for the first time, I only know the blurb and the sample (If I read it) and all I want is a good read.

At any rate, I don’t think this fanfic thing will be a big deal for authors.

I mentioned this on a post of Susan’s, but I’ll say it again. I did fanfic when I was a teenager. I think it’s time for us to grow up and make up our own stuff. I know a lot of people won’t like me saying that, and you know I hate controversy, but this time I’m speaking my mind about it. I think fanfic is juvenile. Even when it’s erotic, which much of it is. I just don’t GET why adults would write fanfic. I know a lot of times it’s because writers want a different outcome, or they want the story done BETTER. But I say, get over it and let’s write our own stuff.

I almost deleted this whole comment, but I’m going to be brave. LOL

I’m ambivalent about the “earning money from fan fics” part, because that’s always been the major rule for fan fiction: Don’t try to make money doing it. Yet if there’s a legal way to do so, that also pays the original creator(s), well…cool!

The downsides are the low royalties, Amazon sets the price, not the author, and Amazon holds the rights to your Kindle Worlds works for the length of copyright.

Which to me, means that even if Amazon scored a license for say, the XMen World, I wouldn’t be submitting any of my XMen fan fics (Because yes, I have written many of those, most prior to beginning to write original fiction. Writing fan fiction is good practice, IMHO.).