Fanfic &copyright & zines--oh my...

[SKTHOMPSON_1 at msn.com]

No: HPFGUIDX 9679

Penny wrote:
If you're asking whether or not something could be compiled and sold 
*at cost* (with no profit whatsoever), I suppose that's a 
possibility.   But, if a fanfic writer derives any commercial benefit 
or profit whatsoever, they've just lost whatever defense to copyright 
infringement they may have.   I'm still not entirely clear how firm a 
foundation most of us fanfic writers are on anyway -- hoping Heidi 
will chime in.   I have made sure that the ASA disclaimer is worded 
very strongly & is included on *every* chapter that we post.   

And Alexa wrote:
If someone was interested in producing HP zines, I'd be surprised if 
they didn't find enough of a market to cover the costs. There 
shouldn't be any question about who gets the profit, because there 
shouldn't *be* any profit - cost of zines is generally kept at a 
level that covers cost-of-production and mailing, to maintain the non-
profit status. But it's completely *feasible* if some people want to 
take it on.
There's new HP fanfiction coming out everyday, and there might be 
enough interest in formatting and selling some of the "classics" that 
are on the Internet. Generally, zine publishers ask for zined stories 
to be kept off the Internet for a 1-2 year period, to make sure 
there's incentive to buy the zine.  I've also seen stories that are 
highly popular and already web-published put in zines anyway, because 
the demand for them in bound form would be high enough to cover 
costs. There's no reason PoU, for instance, couldn't be published as 
a zine novel, or DD and DS together as two novellas in a single 
issue, particularly if you include illustrations. If the interest is 
high enough within the fandom, you could probably do a series of 
classics, as well as zines with all-new material. The only stumbling 
block I can see is whether people are going to be willing to pay $10-
$20 dollar for each zine.> 
> I can check and see if there's a zine-publishers list somewhere, 
like the vidders list at egroups, if anyone is interested. I've also 
got a couple of zine publishing sites bookmarked, and I can scrounge 
up the URL.<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<<

I was thinking, as Penny said, along the lines of a non-profit sort 
of arrangement; basically the most popular and recommended fics that 
so many have fallen in love with, and only with the authors' 
consent.  Like Carole, I've been printing some out and saving in 
spiral-binders, but that's a bit costly for me.  But, it seems that 
zines could be as expensive, if not more.  Thanks for all the info, 
Alexa.  If the quality zines sell for $10-20, what do the ones that 
resemble trade paperbacks go for?  That's more what I was picturing, 
as I have no experience with zines; and I,too, would love to have 
them compiled in a book, portable and less cumbersome than spiral-
binders.  What sort of interest would these publishers look for?  Is 
there any minimum level?  Do they base this on requests?

Thanks for the replies,

Kelley