This transcript was generated from the episode audio and may contain minor errors.
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Can you make money from writing fan fiction? Hey friends, welcome back to Side Hustle School. My name's Chris Guillebeau. Today we're gonna hear from a listener. Her name's Olivia in Boise, Idaho.
She loves writing fan fiction and has built a small following. And now she's wondering, can she turn this hobby into a source of income? Is this the kind of writing that can profit, that you can turn into a monetizable platform and such? Might you be able to use these skills in a different way? What's the best approach here?
So for anybody out there who likes to write, anybody who likes fiction, who's a fan of Harry Potter or Twilight, or could be anything else, let's talk about what this looks like. Look at some strategies, potentially platforms to help Olivia as well as navigate any potential copyright issues. We'll try to touch on as much as possible in a short action-packed episode. As always, thanks for being here. Can I make money from writing fan fiction detailed episode coming up?
[Music]
Hi there, I'm Olivia calling from Boise, Idaho. I love writing fan fiction and I've built a small following online. Now I'm thinking this is fun, but is there a way to make money from it? Are there platforms or strategies you recommend for generating income from my writing specifically related to fan fiction? I know there are some copyright issues I might need to be aware of, but I'm not sure how serious this is.
Thanks for your help and for the show. [Music]
Okay, Olivia, let me give it to you straight. And first of all, on the copyright issue, I should just note that I'm not a lawyer, can't give legal advice, but I will tell you that it is difficult to profit from fan fiction. When you're creating derivative works, which is what fan fiction is usually known as, you're often able to share that on a non-commercial basis, but once you start trying to sell it, then that does get complicated. And a lot of fan fiction authors have gotten in trouble for doing that.
So there are some exceptions. There are some platforms that have created licensed options for certain fan fiction universes, for lack of a better word. But generally speaking, selling fan fiction can be problematic or it can be challenging at least. What I would suggest though, is you have gained all these skills as a writer. You have learned about plotting, about character development, about creating stories, about dialogue, all these great skills that you can use to create your own fiction.
I mean, you're already writing fan fiction, so it is your own, but it's based on someone else's environment or world that they've created. It's just one more step to learn how to create your own worlds. So my encouragement is, nothing wrong with fan fiction. I think it's fun and interesting, but take those skills that you've learned and go to the next level and start writing your own fiction in which you own the copyright and you can sell it however you want. You can sell it through Kendall Direct Publishing with Amazon.
You can pursue traditional publishing deals. You can self publish in other formats. There's all kinds of stuff you can do. You can create a podcast or just create the audio book version of whatever you create. So my suggestion is use the fan fiction skill as a fan fiction experience as a development process to get you closer to writing works that you own and nobody can dispute.
And you don't have to worry about getting into any kind of trouble or paying any sort of license fees. That's my two cents. And of course, if you just wanna keep doing it as a hobby, then that's totally fine as well. But what we're trying to do here on Side Hustle School is help people go from idea to income. So for income, you need to create your own original work.
Listeners, if you have a question or a comment or your own experience, let us know, of course, sidehustleschool.com/questions. We are cheering on our listeners from Olivia to everybody else out there all over the world who are doing interesting work. I always wanna know how we can serve you better. The podcast comes out every single day, seven days a week. It's completely free.
New episode comes tomorrow. My name is Chris Guillebeau. This is Side Hustle School. [Music]
from the Onward Project.
