Moderator Notices: READ THIS FIRST! Rules of behaviour

[Shikarnov]

You really shouldn't. We legally can't listen to unsolicited ideas. For you, this is a hobby, something you can chat about for fun. For us, this is business, this is our livelihood, and story ideas are items with monetary worth and risk attached. It's just a different realm, and the rules are different. Your job probably has rules and restrictions of its own, and your employers might not be too happy if you let friends or strangers drop into your office or whatever and chat with you while you were trying to work.

Thanks for your response, Christopher. I appreciate you taking the time.

I guess I'll just have to accept the fact, although I don't understand the whys of it. I work in a creative field also, and derive inspiration and take ideas from all kinds of sources without it being a legal minefield . Of course, there's a line between ripping off somebody's IP and simply taking an idea and running with it, and I recognize that. I guess that line is placed very differently for you and your colleagues.

And really, to be frank, we don't need help coming up with ideas. We got to be pros by spending years coming up with ideas and learning to figure out which ones worked and how to make them happen. There's a lot more involved in the process than just the basic idea. Again, there's a big difference between being a fan and being a pro.

I apologize for the implication you haven't the creative chops to come up with ideas on your own. That was not my intention. In fact, rather the opposite.

Cheers.

 

[Plaristes]

As I understand it, there are a few really basic ideas that it's okay to ask authors of, like "Hey, have you ever thought of using the cool one-appearance character from the episode "[Insert Whatever Episode Title You're Thinking Of]" in one of your stories? There's no specifics beyond mentioning a pre-established character, so I would think that sort of "idea" is allowable, but not much beyond that.

 

[trampledamage]

What about fanzines featuring fan fiction, that charge for a printed copy?

Kor

I'm not sure - I think they'd be treading a very fine line. It would depend on how much money they were making I should think. But if they're clearly specifying it as fan fiction and not trying to pass it off as licensed then it's certainly not as bad as these people who are selling "Star Trek" books on amazon.

 

[Christopher]

I think I've heard that, since it's just profiting from fanfic that's a no-no, you can charge just enough to offset the costs of printing/mailing. Or something like that.

 

[Kor]

That makes sense, thanks.

Kor

 

[vegaslover62]

I saw an unauthorized ebook for sale and I reported it using the above link about a month ago. I got an email acknowledging my reporting, but right now the book is still available, and I haven't even received any follow-up email telling me if it was actually authorized or not. I have nothing to tell me that my report didn't go straight down the rabbit hole, never to be seen again.

 

[JD]

Someone just posted in another thread that they used the link for reporting unauthorized fiction, and were told that the people who got the message don't handle that stuff. You might want to change or remove the link.
EDIT: I just looked and the CBS site does have a contact us section, somebody might want to try asking them who to notify about unauthorized Trek fiction.

 

[Defcon]

Maybe someone should ask John Van Citters and/or Ed Schlesinger on Twitter, probably has a bigger chance to get a direct reply ...

ETA: Have done that. We'll see if there is a response

 

[trampledamage]

Someone just posted in another thread that they used the link for reporting unauthorized fiction, and were told that the people who got the message don't handle that stuff. You might want to change or remove the link.

That seems odd, since unauthorized e-books is what the web-page is talking about, but there you are.

Maybe someone should ask John Van Citters and/or Ed Schlesinger on Twitter, probably has a bigger chance to get a direct reply ...

ETA: Have done that. We'll see if there is a response

Thanks Defcon - I'll update the post whenever we get more information.

 

[vegaslover62]

Well, I hope somebody comes up with a link soon, because the one I'm looking at is being hailed by Amazon as a best-seller.

 

[Defcon]

FWIW I had an initial reply by Ed Schlesinger, but I think he misunderstood my initial tweet a bit, so I have sent follow-ups (without a reply yet).

My initial tweet(s):

(1) Is there a contact eMail to notify about unauthorized Trek fiction? Question came up on TrekBBS after ...

(2) someone reported at this link and got a reply that they aren't authorized http://www.simonandschuster.biz/author-resources/anti-piracy-efforts…

His reply:

Should be accessible to anyone. Will look into the matter. In the meantime, can you DM the offending URL? Thx

My follow-ups:

Probaly worded that wrong: He could report but got this answer http://www.trekbbs.com/threads/trek-e-books-now-drm-free.279894/page-2#post-11583292…

Can't DM you, but the link to the unauthorized book is two posts up from the one I just linked to

As a result of the exchange John van Citters now follows me, so I took the chance to DM him the link to Borg Rising directly.

Will update if/when there are further developments.

 

[Kor]

From looking at S&S's piracy reporting page, I get the sense that it has more to do with unauthorized copies of S&S's copyrighted works, i.e. file-sharing of mp3s of their audio books, or scanned/xeroxed/pdf/transcribed versions of their books being posted online somewhere (or even novels pulled from distribution, covers torn off, and reported to S&S as destroyed, but still being sold)... rather than for unlicensed works that infringe on intellectual property.

Kor

 

[Christopher]

From looking at S&S's piracy reporting page, I get the sense that it has more to do with unauthorized copies of S&S's copyrighted works, i.e. file-sharing of mp3s of their audio books, or scanned/xeroxed/pdf/transcribed versions of their books being posted online somewhere (or even novels pulled from distribution, covers torn off, and reported to S&S as destroyed, but still being sold)... rather than for unlicensed works that infringe on intellectual property.

Good point. Pocket doesn't own Star Trek as a whole, just its own product. Original Trek fanfiction being sold for a profit infringes on CBS's ownership, so that's more a matter for CBS's legal people to be made aware of than Pocket's. John Van Citters is with CBS's licensing department, so he'd be the better person to alert about it, I think.

 

[Defcon]

John Van Citters is with CBS's licensing department, so he'd be the better person to alert about it, I think.

I've DMed him the link to Borg Rising on Twitter.

 

[vegaslover62]

Borg Rising is finally gone, but the reporting process could be described as glacial at best. I hope there isn't as much pain the next time somebody decides to self-publish something.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

Save those ideas - you never know when a certain show might solicit pitches.

 

[Christopher]

Save those ideas - you never know when a certain show might solicit pitches.

Don't hold your breath, though. The open submission policy of TNG, DS9, and VGR was extremely unusual in Hollywood, and it's even more unlikely in today's more staff-driven era. Even with open submissions, maybe one spec script in a hundred earned an invitation to pitch, and one pitch in a thousand got bought, or something like that. Even experienced industry veterans could pitch for a show a half-dozen times without selling anything.

That's the thing -- it's not that hard to come up with ideas. I just recently thought of a new answer to the perennial question to writers, "Where do you get your ideas?" The answer is that we get ideas the same way as everyone else -- thoughts and questions and wonderings pop into our heads all the time. What makes writers different is the ability and experience to recognize which of those ideas are worth following up on. And the survivors of that winnowing process get further winnowed once you actually start submitting your ideas and having to compete with other people for the same few slots. And many of those people will have the same ideas you did, so it comes down to who has the most interesting twist on them.

 

[Laura Cynthia Chambers]

And it's so much fun, too. But alas, that's why we have fanfics.

 

[Solariabsg25]

I'm not sure how rigidly Createspace (the Amazon in-house self publisher) is regarding copywritten IPs. All the contracts I agreed to for my publications have had to include legal disclaimers that I own the copyright to what I am writing. Seems to me by just that part of the contract they cannot claim "Star Trek" is theirs, which surely should be enforced.

Kindle does have a facility for doing fanfiction in their Kindle Worlds selection, including Vampire Diaries, The 100, and Wayward Pines, along with dozens I've never heard of. I'd have thought if they did go to the effort of getting clearance for these properties, that they may have been a little more robust about other IPs though. Maybe if they draw the ire of CBS they may be a little more picky.

 

[Bry_Sinclair]

Seeing what happened to fan films, I hope people don't put Trek fan fiction up for any sort of publication or else that'll soon come under ridiculous restrictions as well.