Is fan fiction publishable?

Question

This is a question that has been touched on here and there, and yet I can't find a good answer.

Suppose I am writing a story set in the Star Wars universe. I don't want to dodge copyrights and trademarks by renaming everything and everyone. I want it to be well recognizable.

I have two options, if I understand it correctly:

1. Go to Lucasfilm and secure the rights. This may be the proper way to start, but I just don't know if they are going to talk to me at all, or ask me for a lot of money.
2. Write it as a fan fiction. I know I have to worry much less about copyright issues if I am not publishing my book. This must be an easy way to start.

Suppose I wrote a fan fiction without talking to the copyright holder, and it came out well. Is it possible (or realistic) to "legalize" my work afterwards? Or should I have discussed my story with Lucasfilm Story Group first, and if by then it is off-canon, it would become non-publishable?

Answer 1

In some ways you're in luck if you want to write fan fiction in the Star Wars or Star Trek universes --because the copyright holders actually solicit authors to write in those universes. Some well-known authors have made good livings writing officially licensed books in those universes. Of course, the bar is probably pretty high to actually write a licensed book, but that's true for any publishing. (As Jason Baker pointed out, you need to have already built your reputation as an author before being invited to write a licensed Star Wars book.)

Unpublished fan fiction is a bit of a legal gray area, but generally most people don't care (or even notice) unless you're actually making money. In the case that your unlicensed, unpublished fan-fiction does becomes popular on its own, and you decide you want to publish it, you'll probably need to do what Twilight fan fiction writer E. L. James did with her work 50 Shades of Grey, and rewrite it to remove all copyrighted references before publication. I don't know if there were any legal maneuvers behind the scenes to disentangle it from Twilight, but neither its origins as fan-fiction, nor its defanficification seem to have hurt its popularity at all. It probably helps that the plot, themes and setting had already diverged so widely from the source.

If you are actually hoping to turn a profit from using someone else's characters and settings by name, without permission or compensation, you are stealing intellectual property and are in the moral and legal wrong. Furthermore, you'll be creating something that no legitimate publisher would ever touch, even with a ten-foot pole. At least do the minimum, and rename the characters and settings --that's what thousands of successful authors did with all their Lord of the Rings rip-offs. If your story can't stand on its own without people thinking of the original, then it really is parasitic on someone else's hard work and creativity.

Answer 2

Counterquestion: would you consider it okay for someone to "borrow" your car without asking you, and then offer to pay you if you or the police catch them? Get permission first, or don't play in the big kids' sandbox.

If you write a Star Wars fanfic, and it gets popular, all that means in terms of licensing is that the lawsuit will cost you more. If you're selling it for money, then the more so. Don't take E.L. James as a good example (the fact she made a couple billion dollars is immaterial; you've got a similar chance of that buying Powerball tickets). Save yourself a lot of effort, and do it right the first time.

Answer 3

Sometimes it is. I think there have been a few rare occasions where fan fiction was published. Over a decade a go, a fan wrote a treatment for a Superman film. Warner Bros. was interested and flew him out to LA. It didn't go anywhere. There was also a Trekkie who wrote an outline for a concept he called "Star Trek Beyond", not to be confused with a movie sequel. Paramount brought him in to pitch and apparently loved what they heard. They decided to go with what became "Star Trek: Discovery:.

Answer 4

So... yes, you can "publish" a Star Wars fan fiction. As long as you do not profit from it and make it known that it's not a real authorized work of Star Wars.

This is done all the time and there are communities on the internet that are dedicated to publishing fan fiction. Before the internet, there were fan magazines where fan fiction was often published (I don't know about the magazine's profit resources... they may have been free or received after membership dues were paid... It's an old art and I just don't know how the model works).

If you want to make money off of this, than pitching Lucas and Disney is the way to go, but if they accept, they do have creative control over the product and may force you to add or drop things you don't want. Normally, they are contracted to write a story that the creative team wants to tell, not looking for new stories. So while they may like your work, they may hire you to write the "Jar Jar Binks Holiday Special" and give your work no time of day.

If you're interested in writing stories for Star Wars, though, it may be prudent not to send them your work. Greg Weisman (a screen writer famous for Gargoyles, Young Justice, Spectacular Spider-man (animated)) and other cartoons advises don't send them your work for their products. Many people hiring writers won't look at fan fiction because this opens them up to copyright lawsuits... they may hold the rights to the product and can sue you if they feel you're profiting on that... but that's your story and you hold that copyright (copyrights go to the creator of a work, and if you are hired you will have a thing in your contract saying you sign all your copyright work done for the company over to them) and you can actually sue them. Even if Star Wars can show they were planning something similar before you sent in your stuff, it's a messy legal battle they don't want and it's reasonable that you could win (Copyright infringement is a civil offense in the States, not a criminal one, so the standard of proof is a lot lower in assessing your claim. If you published first, there could be a preponderance of evidence that it was stolen.).

Rather, if you want a Job writing Star Trek, send your fan fic to Star Wars folks and write a Star Trek fan fic for Star Wars job seeking. It demonstrates your style and your ability without any messy copyright stuff. Star Trek borrows very little for a Star Wars story to say it was stolen... despite the rivalries, the two franchises have little in common beyond space ships.

Answer 5

Yes its quite OK to publish. As long as you have your disclaimer that this is a not for profit work. You are entitled to play in others sandboxes. You may want to look here for some info on copyright derivative works and your rights there in. copyright has a few provisions to help you out specifically.