I figured this out a long time ago. That's sort of why I didn't want to write Star Trek or Star Wars Novels. I know the lore inside and out, but I'd want to create my own characters and stories. Why do that in the ST or SW universe if I would have to split it with the already rich creators?
This is the best article I've read on Fandom Pulse. The royalties for IP authors is shocking low as is their inability to get fans for their original rocks. My independent works are doing better than these works (I'm not saying that as a flex but instead in shock).
Yeah, Kris Rusch and Dean Wesley Smith say that they're owed royalties from IP novels they wrote back in the 80s and 90s. They haven't seen a dime from them in 20+ years even though the books are still in print and sell regularly. (Dean is who invented the Force Witches who are so popular in modern SW.) They say they'll have to start some lawsuits when they have more time. They also say that IP writing used to pay 20k+ easy, and now it's 5k or less. That's too much work for too little pay. Go write fanfiction, you'll have more fun and get just as many readers and likely the same amount of pay, which is 0$.
The specifics of the "how free with the IP you get to be" seem to matter a lot.
Maybe this reveals me as a terrible low-brow nerd, but for example, Zahn's SW books in the 90s are genuinely good, interesting and enjoyable to read, and - based on my understanding of how Lucas let him handle it (in a far more collaborative way) - actually resulted in percolating stories, characters (some only recently!) and stuff back into the "canon."
The feeling I got from later books - or overwhelmingly today - is that they're far more constrained "basically just write a novelization of this event that the showrunners came up with - no freedom."
I LOVE Star Wars books and have a few on deck that I am looking to read in the new yeaf. I had no idea about how they treat the authors though. I have seen relatively well known YA and SFF writers contribute to Star Wars but they were not authors I liked or read originally. I just liked their Star Wars stuff. But I never read their other books.
This is helpful to think about! Thanks for writing this!
I recently found your sub and enjoy it… a lot. But why not open comments to all and build community? So many times I want to comment and engage with other readers but comments are closed. More engagement will attract more readers and translate into more paid subscribers.
I figured this out a long time ago. That's sort of why I didn't want to write Star Trek or Star Wars Novels. I know the lore inside and out, but I'd want to create my own characters and stories. Why do that in the ST or SW universe if I would have to split it with the already rich creators?
This is the best article I've read on Fandom Pulse. The royalties for IP authors is shocking low as is their inability to get fans for their original rocks. My independent works are doing better than these works (I'm not saying that as a flex but instead in shock).
Thank you for reading!
Yeah, Kris Rusch and Dean Wesley Smith say that they're owed royalties from IP novels they wrote back in the 80s and 90s. They haven't seen a dime from them in 20+ years even though the books are still in print and sell regularly. (Dean is who invented the Force Witches who are so popular in modern SW.) They say they'll have to start some lawsuits when they have more time. They also say that IP writing used to pay 20k+ easy, and now it's 5k or less. That's too much work for too little pay. Go write fanfiction, you'll have more fun and get just as many readers and likely the same amount of pay, which is 0$.
The specifics of the "how free with the IP you get to be" seem to matter a lot.
Maybe this reveals me as a terrible low-brow nerd, but for example, Zahn's SW books in the 90s are genuinely good, interesting and enjoyable to read, and - based on my understanding of how Lucas let him handle it (in a far more collaborative way) - actually resulted in percolating stories, characters (some only recently!) and stuff back into the "canon."
The feeling I got from later books - or overwhelmingly today - is that they're far more constrained "basically just write a novelization of this event that the showrunners came up with - no freedom."
I LOVE Star Wars books and have a few on deck that I am looking to read in the new yeaf. I had no idea about how they treat the authors though. I have seen relatively well known YA and SFF writers contribute to Star Wars but they were not authors I liked or read originally. I just liked their Star Wars stuff. But I never read their other books.
This is helpful to think about! Thanks for writing this!
Of course they could just write something else or negotiate a better contract.
https://open.substack.com/pub/marlowe1/p/the-witching-snakes-pt-7?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android&r=sllf3
I recently found your sub and enjoy it… a lot. But why not open comments to all and build community? So many times I want to comment and engage with other readers but comments are closed. More engagement will attract more readers and translate into more paid subscribers.
Interesting! They really need to change copyright laws so things like SW and Trek could reach public domain.
Fans get their books, authors get paid. Win-win!