(no subject)

[ebonlock]

Has anybody checked out this professional fanfic site Fanlib.com? It's a fascinating experiment from what I can tell, and something I've been grousing about for years. The corporations shouldn't be fighting fans, rather, encouraging their creativity and love of their product:

And instead of dissociating themselves with it, media
partners have been smart enough to tie in, with
HarperCollins, Penguin Books, Showtime Networks, CBS, Simon &
Schuster, and Starz Entertainment all integrating marketing
programs within FanLib.com. For example, a CBS-hosted
promotion encouraged users to write their version of a "Ghost
Whisperer" finale. The website is also wisely capitalizing on
the social networking trend, enabling members to leave
feedback on stories and to set up personal web pages, blogs,
and e-mails.

Maybe companies are starting to buy themselves a clue about the power of fandom. They've got nice straightforward tags for stories and even have a very healthy slash selection. I'm setting up an account now to check things out in more detail. So far it seems pretty cool.

Comments

[scoreboard.livejournal.com]

Worth a look...

http://nielsenhayden.com/makinglight/archives/009027.html

I think I remember seeing something about this before. It seems like we're getting the first wave of people seeking to monetize user-created content, or at least the first wave of people building their business model around leveraging it...

[ebonlock.livejournal.com]

Yeah tir pointed me at Jenkins' blog as well on the subject. The fan response has been fascinating to see, the younger fans are jumping all over the chance to see their fanfic taken seriously by the actual creative teams and companies behind the shows they love. The older fans are eyeing it warily (Fanlib's policies regarding Fair Use are dubious at best) or getting their undies in a knot over a variety of political and personal affronts by the company.

From what I can tell so far only the kiddies are really posting on the site at this point.