Does receiving donations to give earlier access to chapters in a fan fiction count as copyright infringement?

Question

Well long story short I have been writing a fan fiction for a while (The fan fiction takes place in the 'please don't tell my parents i'm a supervillain' universe) and some of my readers asked how they could support me. I want to give them something as a reward so I was thinking of earlier access(Before I finish proof reading.) however I am afraid that this might be considered monetization and be considered a copyright infrigement.

As such what I wish to ask is that is it copyright infrigement or can I give early access to my readers?

Answer 1

I would avoid directly tying it to any financial transaction with a net profit for you as that may open you up to litigation and would be a big check against you if there is any litigation and you assert "Fair Use" as financial gain is a big red flag.

If you want to monetize your writing, you should probably look into creating your own original fiction instead of fan fiction.

Answer 2

If your work infringes copyright, then it infringes copyright. The way you distribute or the money you collect does not decide whether you are infringing another's copyright.

The money you collect could affect the amount of monetary damage listed in a court ruling and maybe the severity of the punishment given, but it does not affect the guilty/innocent decision.

Another consideration is that the decision to enforce copyright protection is in the hands of the copyright holder. Collecting money could persuade someone to sue for damages when they may have been happy to allow you to share your fan work for free. Of course that is more relevant with a self-published author as publishers are usually more likely to chase any infringement.