Put the Potato Down
| Meta | |
|---|---|
| Title: | Put the Potato Down |
| Creator: | Merlin Missy |
| Date(s): | May 8, 2009 |
| Medium: | |
| Fandom: | multifandom |
| Topic: | |
| External Links: | Put the Potato Down |
| Click here for related articles on Fanlore. | |
Put the Potato Down' is a 2009 essay by Merlin Missy.
"You can't sell your fanfic. No, really."
The title of this essay is a direct nod to a major controversy at the time, see Russet Noon.
Series
This essay is part of a series called Dr. Merlin's Soapbox.
Some Topics Discussed
- fandom and profit
- Xena uberfic
- Disney extending its copyright
- "officially licensed tie-in materials that have, ironically, given amateur fanfic such a bad name among certain professionals"
- the Scans Daily debacle
- fans shouldn't published their fanfic for money, mention that they sell fanfic for money nor solicit money from other fans so they can quit their jobs to write fanfic (this last bit is likely a referenct to cousinjean)
- Russet Noon
- a nod to The Blake's 7 Wars
From the Essay
When Doctor Merlin was a wee little fanthing with even fewer social skills than she has today, lunch was hell. The high school cafeteria was claustrophobia-inducing, and without even those basic graces which the good doctor, um, well, still lacks, mustering up the courage to ask for a seat at someone's table was simply out of the question. Lunch didn't happen. This left Doctor Merlin with unexpected free time, which she filled by writing her very first Epic Novel. It was badly written, in longhand, and shortly lost after completion (someday to be found, probably at the moment of greatest possible embarrassment), and was a barely-veiled fanfic. This was of course in the days before the word "fanfiction" ever entered my vocabulary and changed my life. In my childish glee of creation, I thought that if I just changed the names, I could finish my story and get published before senior year, junior year if I could find a good agent.
Yeah.
Copyright matters can get complicated fast, which is a big reason why the companies involved just say no.
Well, you say, since they're going to say no anyway, maybe I should just go ahead and do it. And to this I say, as long as it's then posted at fanfiction.net or similar, and paid for by applause and virtual cookies, go forth and godspeed, young fanthing. If instead you get thee to an agent and send out press releases and sell advance copies on eBay, well then, we're going to have a problem.
We post online. We post in 'zines, charging just enough to meet costs and no more. We do it for love and for recognition from our friends and for bragging rights and for one more notch on our way up the ladder to BNFdom. The second we ask for money, we break the unwritten, unspoken, and totally not legal contract with the powers that be, the contract that says (or would, if it existed) we do our things and they pretend we aren't here. When that line gets crossed, even by the most sadly misinformed and overentitled fanwriter with delusions of competency, it screws the rest of us over too. The pros stop ignoring us and start sending cease and desist letters. Entire fandoms have had to go underground because of the actions of a few idiots. (The bitterness is still strong with the Blake's 7 old guard.) We do not show our fanfiction to the pros, not even when you think the actor would be honored to read all the slash about his character, and we do not sell our fanfiction without explicit permission from the copyright holder. Which we won't get.
That means you. That means your best friend. That means the biggest big name fan in your fandom. That means stupid people trying to become big name fans by drumming up interest in their sub-par Twilight sequel by courting "controversy." So don't do it, not unless you want half of fandom to come down on your head and the other half to use your username as a punchline for the next several months or years. Commemorative icons will be made in honor of your failings, and the wank fallout can be seen from space. Don't let this be you!
Post to your blog, post to the archives, post to the mailing list, post to the newsgroup, post in a fanzine or three. And yes, if you've changed your OTP to a lesbian couple living high times in Siberia in the 1890s, you might possibly get to see it in print because it's divorced enough from the source material for TPTB not to care about the coattails you're riding. This will be more likely if you don't try marketing it as a fannish tie-in novel but instead allow the story to stand on its own.