Holt felt her income was in jeopardy. "When Kindle Worlds shut down, it hit me financially," Holt said. Kindle Worlds lets writers create stories about television shows created by Alloy Entertainment—including “The Vampire Diaries,” “Gossip Girl,” and “Pretty Little Liars”—using the … Kindle Worlds is clearly doing very well so far, but traditional fanfic fans shouldn’t be too worried that it might encroach upon the territory of Tumblr, Fanfiction.net, or AO3. "I'd say 'send me the contract right now,"' she said. The range includes devices with a keyboard (Kindle Keyboard), devices with touch-sensitive, lighted high-resolution screens (Kindle Paperwhite), a tablet computer with the Kindle app ( Kindle … The reality for many authors is that Amazon is an inescapable force in the publishing industry. The CW/Tina Rowden. But in May 2018, Amazon sent Kindle Worlds authors an email — a copy of which was provided to Business Insider — with the subject line: "Important Kindle Worlds Update.". "For five years, Kindle Worlds has been thriving, engaging writers and readers who enjoy writing in one another's worlds, and we're proud of the work we've done together," the email said. Kindle Worlds, announced just one year ago, is the first commercial publishing platform that enables any writer to write stories based on licensed Worlds and earn royalties for doing so. But Amazon owned them while the service was up and running. Tushnet is the cofounder of the nonprofit Organization of Transformative Works, which launched the fan-fiction platform AO3 in 2007 as a response to FanLib (the conceptual precursor to Kindle Worlds). The authors who licensed their works to Kindle Worlds and the fan authors writing in their fictional universes would both receive up to 35% of revenue from each sale, while Amazon received the remaining 30%. But in 2018, Holt suddenly found herself back to the drawing board when Amazon shut down Kindle Worlds. At the start, Amazon seemed to be expanding the service and innovating in concrete ways. One author said an Amazon employee told them the company's tech couldn't effectively manage Kindle Worlds. The fan-fiction service most like Kindle Worlds prior to its creation was FanLib, which launched in 2007 and closed the following year. "That's a big hole in your pocket. Log in. Kindle Worlds will sell fanfiction submitted by fanfic authors and cut them in on a piece of the profit. Kindle Worlds is fanfiction written with the consent of the creators/rights holders, who can set whatever limits they want on how their characters/franchise are used. Talty speculated Amazon wasn't making enough money to justify keeping the service. The Most Popular Google Searches in 2020 — Challenging and Uplifting, Best Apple and Google Apps of 2020 [Infographic], How Your iPhone Can “Name That Tune” with One Tap. Holt's launching a new book called "Unexpected Risk" in her "Phoenix Agency" series on February 28 and she invited 10 authors to write in that universe, with some specific guidelines Holt's set. The Kindle Worlds platform is flexible enough, though, for a writer to rework and republish their story based on customer feedback. choose one of their imaginary worlds: Kindle Worlds - Select a World, read the content guideline, which tells you what you are allowed to do in this world as a fan fiction author, and what you … But even though Amazon reverted the rights back to authors, those like Talty couldn't exactly keep writing the stories she had written in Kindle Worlds because the universes belonged to others. "Fans are raw material — resources to be exploited and data to be mined.". As noted, when Kindle Worlds shut down, Amazon reverted the story rights back to the writers. Most of Talty's books are exclusive to Kindle Unlimited — the company's subscription e-book service — a further sign of just how reliant many authors are on Amazon. Kindle Worlds is starting out with licensed content from Alloy but aims to move into other books and shows, movies, comics, music, and games. It took me a while to build back up to that level again.". "Some say I'm crazy for having all of my eggs in one basket," she said. Thank you for subscribing to The Wonder of Tech! The story of Amazon's foray into fan fiction, and how it changed over the last few years, shows how many authors have to play by Amazon's rules to make a living — and be subject to its whims in how it supports particular platforms or products. However, if you go to their Kindle eBooks page, they do have a link to Kindle Worlds in the Popular Features section near the top of the page in the left navigation menu. Kindle Worlds authors can sell their work, but they can't tap into the same wide network of collaboration and support. Kindle Worlds is something that is new and exciting and there’s so much to be explored within the different universes that it shares. 3. When asked to comment on why Amazon shut the service down, a company spokesperson reiterated the points in that email. Discover the best 6462235010 - Kindle Worlds in Best Sellers. Account active can’t get enough of your favorite stories. 2. And if Amazon were to launch a service similar to Kindle Worlds again, Holt would sign on in a heartbeat. So, here's the explanation: There are numerous Kindle Worlds… Science-fiction writer John Scalzi had raised similar concerns in a 2013 blog post. Amazon shut down its fan-fiction service Kindle Worlds in 2018 after five years, and some authors told Business Insider they lost thousands of dollars in monthly income. Kindle Worlds (at AmazonSmile: support a non-profit of your choice by shopping*). However, readers can still read Kindle World books on any device with the Kindle app. But in 2013, Amazon launched a fan-fiction service called Kindle Worlds, a digital publishing platform that let authors publish fan fiction within certain licensed "worlds," which at first included properties from Warner Bros.' Alloy Entertainment, like "Gossip Girl," "Pretty Little Liars," and "The Vampire Diaries.". since. The beloved Harry Potter and Hunger Games series are here, … Of course, that doesn't show up anywhere in their site map, and you have to actually go looking for the Kindle … Kindle Worlds check-in March 2016. Kindle Worlds Recently back from the Novelist’s, Inc. (NINC) National Conference where there was a lot of talk about Kindle Worlds, the new publishing platform from Amazon. Jen Talty, also a romance author, wrote in other authors' worlds and told Business Insider she was earning anywhere from $1,000 to $1,500 a month. "You have to go into it with the understanding that [Amazon is] the big dog. Amazon doesn't really do anything to aggressively promote Kindle Worlds. The bottom line: many authors were happy to partake in Kindle Worlds, especially with the backing of Amazon. And that disconnect is where she thinks many of the problems with Kindle Worlds stemmed from. Talty said that she gave the stories she wrote in the erotic romance author Milly Taiden's world back to Taiden, who then republished them under her own brand. When Lizzy Gardner was only seventeen, what should have been the perfect night became the perfect nightmare. "The Vampire Diaries" novel series was one of the licensed properties on Kindle Worlds. I got a lot out of it and I'm more successful now because of it. The company that published her first book, Triskelion Publishing, went bankrupt, for instance. The original "Vampire Diaries" author, LJ Smith, even wrote "Vampire Diaries" fan fiction on the platform after Alloy Entertainment fired her from the series, and her installments rose to the top of the Kindle Worlds charts. Kindle Worlds "was promoted with the language of fan fiction and fandom," Tushnet told Business Insider. Business Insider spoke to several romance authors about losing out on thousands of dollars in monthly income when the platform closed. "But I can't get traction on other platforms.". The biggest selection of eBooks and Audiobooks from Kindle in Literature & Fiction, Foreign Languages, Religion & Spirituality, Business, Romance, History, Kids, Non-fiction, Chick Lit, Mysteries, Thrillers and Science Fiction. … A leading-edge research firm focused on digital transformation. And she's also borrowed a bit of the Kindle Worlds model to help boost her income. Former Kindle Worlds authors described how they bounced back after the shutdown, and their stories show how dominant Amazon is in the publishing world. With Kindle Worlds, you can write new stories based on featured Worlds… While we … Kindle Worlds is an Amazon program where fan authors can write authorized stories in a book world, and through a special license with Amazon and the world creator (Nick Webb), you can upload your … Amazon declined to comment on these two points. And she's not the only one. Still, many of the authors' fallback plans also relied on Amazon. Kidnapped just blocks from home after a romantic … She said this was "antithetical" to what fan fiction is about, which could be one reason for its failure. At the time, Holt was writing romance novels for the the publishing company Ellora's Cave, which was collapsing and ultimately shut down in 2016. You must be a US resident to submit a story to Kindle Worlds (or have a US bank account). While I see it … Holt embraced the new platform and said she was making between $3,000 and $5,000 a month on Kindle Worlds, a "huge part" of her income. It was her main source of income and sometimes double what she was making through other sources, she said. Michael Ansaldo/IDG. A Harvard Law professor who studies the space thinks Kindle Worlds was doomed from the start, because Amazon's approach was "antithetical" to the core of fan fiction, she said. The notice said Kindle Worlds stories would no longer be available for sale on Amazon by mid-July and that the Kindle Worlds website would close by the end of that August. For me, one of Amazon’s most interesting initiatives is. Holt discovered Kindle Worlds when she was invited to write in romance author Carly Phillips' "world" and she eventually launched her own world for others to write in. We’ll help you pick the one that’s perfect for you. Authors like Holt, Talty, and James used Kindle Worlds to expand their readership and income. She — along with many other authors in the space — are used to hardships in the publishing industry. "Opening up the worlds to other authors allowed my readers more access to my world," James said. She's also published books with Twisted Pages, a company James started after Kindle Worlds closed. But for Tushnet, Amazon's service was more of a commercial entity than a community, and was too limited and controlling in its approach. Kindle hardware has evolved from the original Kindle introduced in 2007 and the Kindle DX (with its larger screen) introduced in 2009. 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