[ SECRET POST #2958 ]

[case]

⌈ Secret Post #2958 ⌋

Warning: Some secrets are NOT worksafe and may contain SPOILERS.

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Notes:

Secrets Left to Post: 03 pages, 054 secrets from Secret Submission Post #423.
Secrets Not Posted: [ 0 - broken links ], [ 0 - not!secrets ], [ 0 - not!fandom ], [ 0 - too big ], [ 0 - repeat ].
Current Secret Submissions Post: here.
Suggestions, comments, and concerns should go here.

Comments

[ozaline]

If they're stories that are in the public domain, why don't you publish them yourself to a service like Amazon? It's perfectly within your legal rights.

If someone else tries to make money off them you just have to fire off a quick letter to the service telling them that it's stolen. And I think most teachers and professors, catch plagiarized homework these days, it's obvious if the work is not at the same level the student demonstrates in school, and then a quick google search will reveal the source. Even if they don't get caught the students are only hurting themselves, and that's not on you.

I'm part of a public domain fandom, where we love to publish and read new works. I hope you can get over your anxiety about being plagiarized, and go for it.

[dreemyweird]

That's an A+ idea, actually. I'm absolutely seconding this.

[(Anonymous)]

+1
That's pretty much what I was going to say.

[(Anonymous)]

Totally agree.

If you're that worried about someone doing this with your stories (and while I do think it's an irrational fear, I can relate to it being a fear all the same) then the obvious solution would be to do it yourself first.

[(Anonymous)]

(OP)
It's not that I've never considered it, but (short of being pushed into it by dire financial straits) it's not something I really want to do. There are several reasons, but a couple of the main ones...

Firstly: quite honestly, I don't think my writing is good enough to charge people money to read it. Which (as stated in a comment upthread) doesn't mean I am any the less paranoid about the potential for people to steal it. Other people have different standards (and maybe this will come off as pretentious, but): all I can do is try to live up to my own.

Second: writing professionally (even for peanuts) seems like it would require a whole different mindset to writing as a hobby. As with all things I guess, it seems like a lot of extra stress would be involved once you're no longer doing something purely for the fun of it.

For example, as a hobbyist, if people flame me, I can mentally shrug it off quite easily. I threw my writing out there, they chose to read it for free - their own fault if they wasted time on something they hate so much! However, if people who paid for my writing think it sucks - for me, the difference would be huge. My tendency to paranoia + overthinking things = probable Very Bad Reaction to 'valid' criticism from Disappointed Customers (like, I'd end up twisting myself into knots over it so much that I'd never write again or something else ridiculously overdramatic).

[sarillia]

I think you're right about the second point. I've been trying to make the switch from writing purely for my own enjoyment and writing things that other people will see eventually and there has definitely been some mental adjustment. I'm still having fun but there are differences.

[(Anonymous)]

I believe you can also set a $0.00 price on a self published work if you don't feel like charging for it, but I also think you should keep in mind that plenty of people publish terrible books, charge money for it AND earn money for it. Quality is not a guarantee of sales. Bad quality is not a guarantee of no sales. If you don't believe me, google the people who decided to publish dinosaur porn for the lulz and boggle at the fact that they now earn enough money to quit their day jobs.

Either way, you know you're worrying way, way too much over this, and some of your worries are in direct conflict. It's definitely time to step back, take a deep breath and try to gain some perspective.

...so don't charge for it?

[nyxelestia]

Just write the way you want to write, then publish it and charge nothing for it. It can still be registered as a trademark/copyright, and you still have the position to take action against plagiarizers, without having to make people pay to read your writing. Hell, there are probably avenues to copyright it without having to go through a market system at all. Either way, you can probably just continue to post it to wherever you would normally post this kind of fanfic, while having this "published" version sitting in your virtual backpocket to make sure there is recourse if someone tries to plagiarize.

Maybe try taking this as a challenge to your paranoia/overthinking. Write the fics, go publish it freely on top of posting it, and watch as your world doesn't end and you get at least the satisfaction of writing and publishing the fic, and maybe even some acclaim from people who like it! And you'll have an avenue of recourse for if/when someone tries plagiarize your work. :)

[lb_lee]

There's a huge difference in prices you can put down. For instance, I charge three cents a word, which is considered amateur by pro writing standards but is what my fans can afford. I tend to pound out thousand-word stories for $30.

To many people, paying that much money would be heinous, but I'm doing custom stories to my readers' tastes. It seems to work for them!

However, I also sell my comics for anything from $.50 to $5. My stories may run high, but my comics run cheap, because I have different aims and goals for them. Stories, I want to get paid what I'm worth. Comics, I want the information contained in them to spread as far as possible to the folks who need them most, who may be very poor.

Also, I honestly haven't noticed a huge mindset change for me. But then again, I have a very specific framework and structure for my paying work, which might help.

If someone were to flame me for my paying work (which hasn't happened yet, but there's a first time for everything), I kinda figure I would just continue laughing to the bank. They still paid for it, after all! They're free to loathe or love, I still got mine.

--Rogan

[(Anonymous)]

I think that most definition call .03/word semi-pro, actually. Congrats and hats off to you for achieving this, too!

[lb_lee]

*bows* Thank you! I am proud for reaching this point, especially since I'm doing it my own way and not through a publisher or anything. I enjoy it!

--Rogan

[(Anonymous)]

Interesting. Which platform do you use, out of curiosity?

[lb_lee]

A combo of LJ and DW, but they're clones of each other. Some of my regulars have chosen to use my Patreon as the means to send me money, while others use Paypal. Basically, every month or two, I throw a writeathon on the theme--for instance, this week's was 'fear.' People give me prompts, and I pound out stories for them. When the money comes in for it (and it can be from anyone; I've got prompters who never sponsors and sponsors who never prompt) the story goes up online for everyone to read and enjoy.

There are also perks and bonuses, extra stories and bonus sketches and the like, which I let my fans vote on in LJ polls.

--Rogan

[purpleseas]

It's not that different from fanfic to me, but I've never thought of writing as purely fun, no matter what kind of project it is. It's hard, and I can get really angry and frustrated when I'm trying to get something across in a particular way and it's not working out. I know the fear of that magical reviewer coming along to demolish you for good. I lived with that fear for several years when I couldn't deal with the idea of sharing my writing with anyone, and for the nine months it took me to finish a 12k story (lol) to put on Amazon for my glorious profic debut (tens of copies sold, dude, non-porn short stories are not a great market). But once you start getting positive reviews from complete strangers you don't share so much as a fandom with, which you will if you're a decent storyteller with entertaining ideas who doesn't completely mangle the English language, the inevitable bad review doesn't kill you. It's not automatically more valid than the good ones, and the complaints are often just as goofy as anything you've seen in fanficland. I got a mostly-bad one for a lead character the person didn't like having sex in a story where it couldn't have been more obvious he was going to do so, and I don't even know how many porn writers I've seen scolded for having porn in their porn stories, lol. Most people won't review at all, just like fanfic. I had to ask for most of my reviews and give out freebies in exchange, and even then, half those people didn't end up reviewing. Some people will return your ebook to Amazon, which might mean they totally hated it, or they didn't like it enough to keep it and would rather buy something else that week, or they just wanted to read it for free. I don't know, if you don't want to do it, you don't want to do it, but most of what you're saying sounds a lot more like self-defeating anxiety that can be dealt with than lack of desire to share your stories outside of fandom.

[elialshadowpine]

If charging people is the concern, it's absolutely possible to charge nothing for a story/book; the trick is to publish it on other sites besides Amazon that allow you to upload a free price, and Amazon will automagically price match. (If it's slow about it, use the notification feature, and ask friends also, and that will help the process along.)

It's probably, as other people have mentioned, a really good way to prevent plagiarism, because a search for lines will turn up on Amazon a lot easier.

[lb_lee]

Yeah, I was going to suggest just that. Public domain for the win! (I presume you're Oz fandom? Gooooood choice.)

--Rogan

[were_lemur]

I was gonna come and make this exact same suggestion!