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Thinking outside the box about the future of the Post
The Washington Post's future: One hint
Tom Purdom
What will Jeff Bezos do with the Washington Post? Can the founder of Amazon save the newspaper business?
The recent transfer of a national institution has unleashed a flood of speculation among the punditry. My own opinion on the subject rests on an item I read just two days before the announcement, on the website of Locus, a monthly news magazine devoted to happenings in the science fiction and fantasy field.
According to the item, Kurt Vonnegut's estate has signed with Amazon's Kindle Worlds, a publishing program that "allows writers to create and sell authorized fan fiction based on the works of participating authors, estates and packagers."
The term "fan fiction," as it's currently used, refers to fiction set in a well-known writer's "universe," composed by one of the author's fans. Nowadays, fan fiction is usually distributed free on the Internet. It's become a booming phenomenon and (like most Internet developments) the source of endless digital argument.
Vampires and hit men
Under the Kindle Worlds program, fan fiction authors can self-publish digital editions of their work, to be read on Amazon's Kindle e-reader. For works of more than 10,000 words, Vonnegut's heirs will receive half the standard 70 percent royalty on self-published Kindle books, and the fan author will receive the other half. For works under 10,000 words, each party gets 20 percent. Amazon provides the technical setup and a review board that evaluates all submissions and makes sure they meet certain guidelines.
Amazon unveiled the program on May 13. Vonnegut is the best-known author they've signed up so far. The other universes in the current lineup are genre creations, such as the Vampire Diaries franchise and Barry Eisler's thrillers about a hit man named John Rain.
Fan fiction is a booming phenomenon on the Internet. Some authors are happy with it, others hate it.
Opening the door
J.K. Rowling permits it as long as no one makes money from it. Her Harry Potter fans can publish their imitation works on popular websites, complete with selection committees, and attract thousands of readers but no monetary rewards.
Other writers take less permissive attitudes. George R.R. Martin, author of the Game of Thrones series, refuses to authorize it. On his website, Martin notes that it can create legal problems that can destroy an author's rights.
"A writer's creations are his livelihood," Martin notes. "Once you open that door, you can't control who might come in." (Click here.)
Critics of copyright, on the other hand, feel fan fiction is an example of the creativity unleashed by the Internet. To them, writers like Martin use copyright to suppress creativity.
Outflanking critics
In Kindle Worlds, Jeff Bezos has perceived an Internet phenomenon and come up with a creative publishing model that benefits the original author, the fan author, and (of course) Bezos himself and his Amazon stockholders.
As for the copyright critics— Kindle Worlds outflanks them by offering law-abiding fan authors a financial incentive to create new works, just as the copyright law is supposed to.
So what will Bezos do with the Washington Post? The pundits currently speculating are wasting their time. At this point, Bezos probably doesn't know what he's going to do. We just know that his track record indicates he will think of some solution to pump fresh blood into a struggling but still valuable purveyor of news and opinion.
Kindle Worlds is the latest entry by Bezos in a 19-year series of innovative business ideas, starting with Amazon itself and the recognition that the World Wide Web had created a new way to sell books.
Monopoly danger
To be sure, this creativity has a downside. Like many innovative tycoons, Bezos tends to be a monopolist. The authors who license fan fiction through Kindle Worlds must sign an exclusive contract. The fan fiction they authorize will be available only through the Amazon Kindle.
Bezos sold e-books at a loss when the Kindle first appeared, in an obvious attempt to sell Kindles and establish his e-reader as the primary link between publishers and readers. Lately he has also offered exclusive contracts to some magazines; if a magazine you like is only available on the Kindle, that's because Amazon has offered the publisher financial compensation for the sales they would have made through competitors like the Barnes and Noble Nook e-reader.
We could end up with a world in which Amazon controls the distribution system for e-books. Bezos's forays into publishing could even produce a system in which a single company dominates distribution and publishing.
That danger shouldn't be ignored. But in the meantime, we should all stop speculating about the future of the Post— and all print newspapers— and wait to see what one of today's most successful revolutionaries does next.
The recent transfer of a national institution has unleashed a flood of speculation among the punditry. My own opinion on the subject rests on an item I read just two days before the announcement, on the website of Locus, a monthly news magazine devoted to happenings in the science fiction and fantasy field.
According to the item, Kurt Vonnegut's estate has signed with Amazon's Kindle Worlds, a publishing program that "allows writers to create and sell authorized fan fiction based on the works of participating authors, estates and packagers."
The term "fan fiction," as it's currently used, refers to fiction set in a well-known writer's "universe," composed by one of the author's fans. Nowadays, fan fiction is usually distributed free on the Internet. It's become a booming phenomenon and (like most Internet developments) the source of endless digital argument.
Vampires and hit men
Under the Kindle Worlds program, fan fiction authors can self-publish digital editions of their work, to be read on Amazon's Kindle e-reader. For works of more than 10,000 words, Vonnegut's heirs will receive half the standard 70 percent royalty on self-published Kindle books, and the fan author will receive the other half. For works under 10,000 words, each party gets 20 percent. Amazon provides the technical setup and a review board that evaluates all submissions and makes sure they meet certain guidelines.
Amazon unveiled the program on May 13. Vonnegut is the best-known author they've signed up so far. The other universes in the current lineup are genre creations, such as the Vampire Diaries franchise and Barry Eisler's thrillers about a hit man named John Rain.
Fan fiction is a booming phenomenon on the Internet. Some authors are happy with it, others hate it.
Opening the door
J.K. Rowling permits it as long as no one makes money from it. Her Harry Potter fans can publish their imitation works on popular websites, complete with selection committees, and attract thousands of readers but no monetary rewards.
Other writers take less permissive attitudes. George R.R. Martin, author of the Game of Thrones series, refuses to authorize it. On his website, Martin notes that it can create legal problems that can destroy an author's rights.
"A writer's creations are his livelihood," Martin notes. "Once you open that door, you can't control who might come in." (Click here.)
Critics of copyright, on the other hand, feel fan fiction is an example of the creativity unleashed by the Internet. To them, writers like Martin use copyright to suppress creativity.
Outflanking critics
In Kindle Worlds, Jeff Bezos has perceived an Internet phenomenon and come up with a creative publishing model that benefits the original author, the fan author, and (of course) Bezos himself and his Amazon stockholders.
As for the copyright critics— Kindle Worlds outflanks them by offering law-abiding fan authors a financial incentive to create new works, just as the copyright law is supposed to.
So what will Bezos do with the Washington Post? The pundits currently speculating are wasting their time. At this point, Bezos probably doesn't know what he's going to do. We just know that his track record indicates he will think of some solution to pump fresh blood into a struggling but still valuable purveyor of news and opinion.
Kindle Worlds is the latest entry by Bezos in a 19-year series of innovative business ideas, starting with Amazon itself and the recognition that the World Wide Web had created a new way to sell books.
Monopoly danger
To be sure, this creativity has a downside. Like many innovative tycoons, Bezos tends to be a monopolist. The authors who license fan fiction through Kindle Worlds must sign an exclusive contract. The fan fiction they authorize will be available only through the Amazon Kindle.
Bezos sold e-books at a loss when the Kindle first appeared, in an obvious attempt to sell Kindles and establish his e-reader as the primary link between publishers and readers. Lately he has also offered exclusive contracts to some magazines; if a magazine you like is only available on the Kindle, that's because Amazon has offered the publisher financial compensation for the sales they would have made through competitors like the Barnes and Noble Nook e-reader.
We could end up with a world in which Amazon controls the distribution system for e-books. Bezos's forays into publishing could even produce a system in which a single company dominates distribution and publishing.
That danger shouldn't be ignored. But in the meantime, we should all stop speculating about the future of the Post— and all print newspapers— and wait to see what one of today's most successful revolutionaries does next.
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