It's not even "want to attract fanfic writers" as "hey, some writers of that '
fanfic' stuff have been making money; I bet WE could be making some of that money!" And as my friend
flourish said:
Quote:
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One of the most erroneous, but far-reaching attitudes I've found in the entertainment industry is the attitude that all fans want to be part of the "in group," that they want to be paid to work on the properties they like.
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"Fanfic" is a trendy term in publishing today. Most people involved in pro publishing--especially everyone who's not an author--has no idea what fanfiction really is; at best, they think it's like Star Trek novels but maybe with gay sex. And there is that. But there's also everything from quarter-million-word stories about minor characters or from the "villain" pov (which often isn't as villainous when they're telling the story) to 400-word snippets of dialogue to fill in a gap between scenes, to "coffeeshop AU" stories where all the characters are imagined as the staff and customers of the local Starbucks. (I don't read coffeeshop AUs, but apparently they're big.) And then there's the alpha/omega/beta thing, which I am absolutely certain is not going to be licensed. (If you don't know what that is, odds are you don't want to. Gay sex is just the beginning.)
The point is... fanfic is huge and diverse, and most publishing execs are oblivious to its true scope. They believe that fanfic authors are writing unofficial sequels and the occasional self-insert story, and would all *jump* at the chance to have their name on a book with the official series logo on it--and that because of that interest, they can offer lousy publishing terms and still get plenty of good authors.
There are some who will go along with it. But it won't make any real impact on the fanfic communities; the vast majority will recognize it as a media ploy and not any kind of recognition of the value and unique literary aspects of fanfiction.