Your Works in Fandom

[Eldoria]

Your Works in Fandom​

What would you think if your works were distributed to a free market of fans outside the platform (fandom), translated and/or adapted into audiovisuals and/or storytelling (e.g., narrated on a YouTube channel)?

Critical note:
You may not be aware that your work is being distributed, but the fandom encourages readers to freely support the author by including a link to the official website, and the fandom does not claim ownership of the work. In other words, the fandom contributes to promoting your work outside the platform, even without your permission. Of course, there are licensing issues if you have commercialised your work. However, if it hasn't been commercialised, it may actually help promote your work to a wider market.

For example, some Japanese authors and/or publishers turn a blind eye to the distribution of light novels and manga to countries outside Japan to promote their works to the free market organically before they officially enter those countries to sell their light novels and manga. As a result, these works can sell well because of the prior promotion through the organic fandom.

This is different from South Korea, which is actively implementing DMCA policies for webnovels and webtoons because it already has a global ecosystem to commercialise Korean works.

Spoiler: Blood Rose Princess Series in Fandom

Blood Rose: Executioner of the Broken World (Royal Road)​

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Blood Rose: Her Last Mercy Was Death​

Blood Rose Princess Fandom​

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Kind of had this happen with one story - a "scrubber" site did an (allegedly poor) audio version of one of the stories I had at Royal Road. I never "tested" it because my antivirus software choked on the website but I did include a link with a "listener beware, my antivirus software considers this site 'problematic'" note.

 

[Representing_Tromba]

I would be wary of it because too many aggregator sites have started with this being the intent, or at least the given intent. Anything that distributes other people's works without their awareness or permission is not a site that I would ever want to promote or encourage, as the author or license owner needs to be the one to agree to such things. There was one recently that I had to report to the authorities for stealing not only my story, but others as well, for a shitty AI reader. Often, manga and light novel distributors do turn a blind eye to sites like this, but not always because of the free market. More than likely, they turn a blind eye because it isn't worth the time or effort to file a DMCA or similar report.

Edit: After looking at the site itself, it is the same one I had reported before! They also stole my story again!

Audio Book AI - Listen to Audiobooks Online

Audio Book AI - Listen to audiobooks online for free. Discover thousands of books with AI-powered recommendations.

audio-book-ai.com

 

[HisDivineShadow]

There are even my unfinished stories in there.
What’s the point?

 

[CharlesEBrown]

Edit: After looking at the site itself, it is the same one I had reported before! They also stole my story again!

Audio Book AI - Listen to Audiobooks Online

Audio Book AI - Listen to audiobooks online for free. Discover thousands of books with AI-powered recommendations.

audio-book-ai.com

That's the one that took True Blue from Royal Road too.

 

[Eldoria]

Bahkan ada ceritaku yang belum selesai di sana.
Apa gunanya? Kenapa mereka butuh itu?

:tidak yakin:

They use web scraping to take novels from open sites like Royal Road and make them into audio-based novels using the help of AI

 

[Representing_Tromba]

They use web scraping to take novels from open sites like Royal Road and make them into audio-based novels using the help of AI

Which is illegal so you can send them a cease and desist or a DMCA that if they don't respect, can lead to a legal dispute. I will be doing the same.

 

[CharlesEBrown]

To answer the actual question though: If they asked me, the answer would be: "If it's free, let me see/hear to approve it before you release it. If it's not, give me a cut or don't do it."
If they don't ask... well, I can't afford much of a lawyer, so I'll just let people know it's there but not authorized and to use at their own risk. If I could afford a good lawyer, they would see Cease and Desist letters on a regular basis until they stopped, or we were forced to take stronger action.

 

[HisDivineShadow]

MaxD said:
Bahkan ada ceritaku yang belum selesai di sana.
Apa gunanya? Kenapa mereka butuh itu?

:tidak yakin:

They use web scraping to take novels from open sites like Royal Road and make them into audio-based novels using the help of AI

What language is this?
:)

 

[Zagaroth]

My story is already available for free, and the scraper sites don't include authors notes, so people aren't given links to Patreon or Discord or anything else. They take the story, and give nothing back. So, they are not even helping via increasing popularity, given that they do not connect to anything else I do.

I wouldn't mind so much if they at least included author's notes.

 

[Clo]

Huh, my book is there! First time one of my story shows up on an aggregator website, weee.

I don't make any money off of it, so I am fine with it getting distribured around. They even include my paypal link, which is unexpected.

I wonder if anyone is actually listening to / reading it there instead of its proper home.

They only have the story I post on RR, not the ones on here. So I suppose that's where they scrape things from.

I also notice they cut the author's notes. Sadness.

 

[Valmond]

They included my Patreon link. Eh, I guess I can let it slide.

In the end, they only have access to very limited stuff. As a result, it is no risk towards my content. In the end, it will have to be paid for.

It looks like they cannot access what is locked behind my Patreon. And may not be able to access what’s free on the Patreon as well.

 

[Zagaroth]

Hmm, I guess there is a point to be clarified. There are two types of Aggregator sites, and my brain was locked onto the whole sale scraping ones.

Those lift the story, but not the author's notes, and do not include any links (though at least keep the author's name, from what I have seen). Those I dislike.

There are other aggregator sites that link to RR and SH. Those I am fine with, a bit of traffic passed through them, they got some ads, and people get to read my story and have my links and notes. The readers still get to make a community connection if they like.