I first must sheepishly apologize for being off in other fandoms so much. Rest assured, I do come back and read and re-read L&C fic now and then. (I've gotten into a lot of new fandoms in the last year, and Yuletide keeps me pretty busy too.) I also still lurk on IRC by default but Undernet seems to be pretty glitchy at times, and the channel is nearly always empty.
Now, a brief explanation of print-on-demand, for anyone who doesn't know what that is:
Print-on-demand is a publishing model wherein copies of a book are produced only as demanded, instead of the usual mass production in the tens of thousands. While individual books cost the publisher more to produce that way, it allows books to be printed that would otherwise never garner enough interest.
POD can be used for personal reasons (a cookbook of Grandma's recipes, a family genealogy) or commercial ones (a brand new novel by an unknown author, a specialty nonfiction book for a niche market).
I have long dreamed of holding physical books in my hands of favorite long fanfics, or anthologies of favorite authors. (While I have some fics printed out in 3-ring binders, this is a highly inconvenient method of reading. E-book readers are better than that.) However, a decade ago (when I first researched this), the POD market was barely starting out, and not only did they charge high prices per book (and I a student of little means), there were also issues with the POD companies and the rights to publish.
These days the POD market is a lot better, and sites such as
The Book Patch now exist. Sites where one can produce a relatively inexpensive book one time only, and not have any issues. So I got to thinking, would they allow fanfiction?
I sent them this message:
"Should someone want to print out fanfiction in a bound book for their own reading purposes (not for selling or for anyone else to read), would this be allowed? Given that they are not and would never be available from a regular publisher, and that they would not be printed for commercial purposes, they could hardly offend the copyright holders who already do not take any legal action against fanfiction writers (given the vast quantity of it posted online with no fuss). I would just like to able to print my fanfic and have it in a book on my bookshelf, and wanted to know if this would be possible at all."
I figured the worst they could do was say "no". Imagine my delight to receive this reply:
"If the material is copyrighted you can not print them to sell but you can print one copy for your own purchases. If this is your intent than we can print the book. If you plan on selling, or distributing, the material for sale or for free we can not print the books."
Their words are slightly muddled but the message is clear--one copy IS permitted!
I have not, however, gone ahead and ordered any books as of yet, for three reasons:
1) I would need to obtain permission from the authors whose works I would like to create books of. While the original media companies own the rights to TV shows such as L&C, I believe authors have the right to say yes or no when it comes to their fics being rendered in a non-digital form. (Also, my message might have been construed as me having written the fanfics in question, which was unintentional. However, I can't see any feasible way around it: if one can only print one copy of the book, the author cannot print multiple copies to give to fans, even if he or she should
want to mail books halfway across the world--a costly effort! And I do so desperately want to be able to curl up in bed and turn the pages of a favorite story without staring at any kind of screen--even an e-Ink one. Physical books just can't be beat sometimes.)
2) $$ Alas, teachers don't have that much money either.
3) Covers. A proper book cover, in my mind, would not only have an excellent image manip (perhaps taken from images shown on the associated fanfic trailer), but also reviews by other fanfic readers and all that. It's all part of the look and feel. And I am not talented in graphical areas, though I could get by with something basic if need be. I'd like to hope that some more talented FoLCs would come up with some, should this be considered acceptable.
So, what are your thoughts? Do you think you would ever want a book printed of your favorite fanfic--or of the fic you yourself have written? If you're an author, what is your opinion on this, assuming that fans follow the rules and print only one copy for their private reading?
Tell me what you think!
