It’s been little more than a month since Amazon unveiled its Kindle Worlds publishing platform for fan fiction writers, but the online retailer has today opened the new digital bookstore to the public.
The model allows any budding writer to submit and publish original stories in the Kindle Worlds Store based on the world or works of an existing media franchise. Amazon will then pay royalties to both the creator of the fan fiction and the original right’s holder; the standard author’s rate for fiction that is at least 10,000 words in length is 35 percent.
The Kindle Worlds Store is open for all Kindle device owners and already offers more than 50 commissioned stories to download. Amazon has secured licenses from Warner Bros. Television Group’s Alloy Entertainment division for Gossip Girl, by Cecily von Ziegesar; Pretty Little Liars, by Sara Shepard; and Vampire Diaries, by L.J. Smith, among others, so many of the new stories are based on these works.
The launch titles include ‘Pretty Little Liars: Stained’ by Barbra Annino, ‘The Vampire Diaries: The Arrival’ by Lauren Barnholdt & Aaron Gorvine and ‘Shadowman: Salvation Sally’ by Tom King.
Given that each of these licenses are incredibly successful TV shows in their own right, it’s perhaps not surprising that Amazon wants to capitalize on them. The company says it is now in talks with additional rights holders operating in a number of different mediums, including books, games, music, TV and movies, to widen the number of ‘Worlds’ that are eligibile for new fan fiction.
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Amazon is also issuing a call to arms today for new fan fiction writers. The success of the platform relies on a steady flow of high-quality stories, so the company is clearly keen to push the brand wherever possible.
To submit a piece of fan fiction, authors need to go to the Kindle Worlds site, choose a franchise to write for and read the content guidelines. After signing in with their Amazon account credentials, they can submit their work for review and wait for Amazon Publishing to confirm that it is compliant with their guidelines. Once approved, the novel will be published to the Kindle Worlds Store, enabling the writer to sign in to ‘Author Central’ to track their sales and overall progress.
Image Credit: David McNew/Getty Images
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