Potter for Profit? Maybe!
Is selling your fanfiction at $80 dollars per book bad? Especially when the entire hardback 6 volume original series is only $20 more? Apparently, not if you are a Harry/Ginny shipper.



So, the backstory. Over here a prominent Harry/Ginny fanfiction author has a series of Harry Potter fanfiction novels for sale. The prices seem rather high--the lowest of them is $50.00 for a single book. Particularly when other novel-length fanfictions on the same site are a quarter or half the cost. Additionally, there is an audio book partially available as well, though apparently it's free.

There's been a recent upsurge in posts on F_W regarding fanfiction being sold. In this one, a poster makes a comment pointing out that not only in the Star Wars fandom does this happen, but also the aforementioned Harry/Ginny shipper has done it as well. The first few posters agree it's a bit ridiculous. But then the H/G author herself shows up and claims that it's not copyright infringement to be selling her fanfiction for large sums of money. I guess the reason why is that, allegedly, she makes no money off the deal, so it's a-ok to do this. It's also allegedly a "zine" in theory, though I've not heard of any $80 zines lately, and as far as I know most zines tend to have more than one story and different authors in them.

Needless to say, people who ridicule Harmonians for just about anything show up in droves to defend this author's right to charge very large sums of money for her fanfiction. I guess if a known H/Hr shipper points it out, it cannot be wanky (a H/Hr shipper noticing wank makes it nonwanky? Who knew?), or it's the H/Hr shippers fault for pointing it out. Even mice cannot comment without being lambasted. It's good to know you can sell your fanfiction all you want and for 4 times the price of a regular book as long as you call it a "zine". It's not copyright infringement then, I suppose.

I have here a 200 page fanfic, er, "zine". I'll charge $45 dollars "for publication costs." Any takers?


ETA:While the author of the fanfic has denied making money on this deal, another zine publisher states that they have dealt with the same publisher, and that at these prices, profit is happening, and most likely by the author, since the publisher only takes a commission. Unless directed elsewhere, the author gets the rest of the profit.

ETA II: Apparently, the fanfic author has some correspondence online with the site in question.