It all started with a Big Bang
NB: This writeup was taken from a very helpful mousie who volunteered to update the original report, I've just updated the HTML.
Our tale begins with the launch of BBP, a publishing house based on a totally new model that no one has ever tried before ever ever ever: Publishing popular fanfic authors' original novels. The first step on this journey is a Kickstarter, set up to fund the first three of these novels. Not the press, mind you, because that would be against Kickstarter TOS; just the novels themselves.
Which goes over fine - the authors involved are Gyzym, Febricant, and Eleveninches, so anticipation runs high - until someone notices the $40,000 price tag and starts to ask questions. The answers are not especially satisfying.
Others begin to dig deeper into the BBP team's backgrounds. Turns out, nobody associated seems to be all that qualified for their gig, most notably their "recovering law-type person," who's experience seems to consist of a year or so of paralegaling it up. This is kind of important, given that BBP's assurance that the novels will be finished is riding on their 'legally-binding contracts.'
Yep, you read that right. The novels aren't complete yet. But they will be!
Further questions are asked. Further answers are not really given. "Details? Noooo, you don't want details, details are boring! Look at the shiny!"
And then there's the part where one of the $500 backer rewards is the completion of a WIP by Gyzym. Meaning fanfic is being offered for straight-up monetary gain here, no charity auction in sight. Which Aja - did I mention the part where Aja is the Submissions Editor for BBP? - then starts a pool for, in the hopes of getting another Inception fic out of all this.
The latest is a twitter campaign on the part of BBP to get exposure through celebrity retweets. So far, they've had success with Orlando Jones, and are now going after Amanda Palmer. Their attempt to go for Maureen Johnson backfires, however.
The authors all post links leading back to the kickstarter in their fanfictions on AO3, breaking the community's restrictions against advertising in fics-- a reporting campaign on FFA begins and the notes are taken down shortly after, but that it was done at all leads Franzeska to make a post denouncing them.
We've got several continuous ffa threads and counting, and a lot of passive-aggressive twittering to contend with, if you're into that kind of thing.
At one point Aja heroically posts unanon on ffa toplay the martyr and completely miss the point let everyone know she totally isn't involved with BBP anymore but completely believes in the project.
Some further links of note: some pointed questions directed at Big Bang Press, which are deflected
People with small press experience point out that, among other things, BBP is promising an impossible timeline
Discussion starts on Absolute Write
Big Bang Press continues to deflect questions.
Febricant and Morgan Davis do a podcast, in which they explicitly refer to the fanfiction available in their reward tiers:
"I think the (reward level) we may actually get some traction with is Kady's Work in Progress folder. Which, is like, somewhere between 200 and 300 thousand words' worth of unfinished pieces of fanfiction in a PDF -- with like, annotations, um, of her explaining where the story was going to go. [...] There's a lot of stuff in there, like, massive quantities of stuff. So, um, if you want to give us a lot of money, uh, that (reward level) would be a good option."
Badfic.net questions Big Bang Press: for people concerned about Big Bang Press, Lies Big Bang Press have told Us
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sepiamagpie takes one for the team to get a look at the FAQs, which are only available to backers.
Our tale begins with the launch of BBP, a publishing house based on a totally new model that no one has ever tried before ever ever ever: Publishing popular fanfic authors' original novels. The first step on this journey is a Kickstarter, set up to fund the first three of these novels. Not the press, mind you, because that would be against Kickstarter TOS; just the novels themselves.
Which goes over fine - the authors involved are Gyzym, Febricant, and Eleveninches, so anticipation runs high - until someone notices the $40,000 price tag and starts to ask questions. The answers are not especially satisfying.
Others begin to dig deeper into the BBP team's backgrounds. Turns out, nobody associated seems to be all that qualified for their gig, most notably their "recovering law-type person," who's experience seems to consist of a year or so of paralegaling it up. This is kind of important, given that BBP's assurance that the novels will be finished is riding on their 'legally-binding contracts.'
Yep, you read that right. The novels aren't complete yet. But they will be!
Further questions are asked. Further answers are not really given. "Details? Noooo, you don't want details, details are boring! Look at the shiny!"
And then there's the part where one of the $500 backer rewards is the completion of a WIP by Gyzym. Meaning fanfic is being offered for straight-up monetary gain here, no charity auction in sight. Which Aja - did I mention the part where Aja is the Submissions Editor for BBP? - then starts a pool for, in the hopes of getting another Inception fic out of all this.
The latest is a twitter campaign on the part of BBP to get exposure through celebrity retweets. So far, they've had success with Orlando Jones, and are now going after Amanda Palmer. Their attempt to go for Maureen Johnson backfires, however.
The authors all post links leading back to the kickstarter in their fanfictions on AO3, breaking the community's restrictions against advertising in fics-- a reporting campaign on FFA begins and the notes are taken down shortly after, but that it was done at all leads Franzeska to make a post denouncing them.
We've got several continuous ffa threads and counting, and a lot of passive-aggressive twittering to contend with, if you're into that kind of thing.
At one point Aja heroically posts unanon on ffa to
Some further links of note: some pointed questions directed at Big Bang Press, which are deflected
People with small press experience point out that, among other things, BBP is promising an impossible timeline
Discussion starts on Absolute Write
Big Bang Press continues to deflect questions.
Febricant and Morgan Davis do a podcast, in which they explicitly refer to the fanfiction available in their reward tiers:
"I think the (reward level) we may actually get some traction with is Kady's Work in Progress folder. Which, is like, somewhere between 200 and 300 thousand words' worth of unfinished pieces of fanfiction in a PDF -- with like, annotations, um, of her explaining where the story was going to go. [...] There's a lot of stuff in there, like, massive quantities of stuff. So, um, if you want to give us a lot of money, uh, that (reward level) would be a good option."
Badfic.net questions Big Bang Press: for people concerned about Big Bang Press, Lies Big Bang Press have told Us
sepiamagpie takes one for the team to get a look at the FAQs, which are only available to backers.
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