Fanlib.com
Apr. 20th, 2007 01:26 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
snorkackcatcherHas anyone else received a FictionAlley Owl or other communication from a site called fanlib.com, suggesting that you go and post stories there? Does anyone know anything about them? It looked suspicious at first sight, but they do seem to be a genuine firm who have handled fan events for various big media players before (using their 'patent-pending, massively social storytelling technology that makes The L Word - A Fanisode possible' -- a phrasing that immediately triggers my bullshit detector and sets my teeth on edge, as I suspect this 'technology' is just yet another straightforward web application that may get dignified with a ridiculous patent).
As far as I can tell from this and the 'About FanLib, Inc' section in this Wall St Journal piece (scroll down), I get the impression that they're trying to set up a sort of semi-official version of FFN with tie-ins to said players? They have a set of terms and conditions that I don't imagine would stand up in court if anyone did complain about the use of their characters (FFN etc can get blind eyes turned because they're non-profit, this site I'm not so sure). And the interface pretty much sucks, with tons of graphics and embedded twiddly bits slowing things down, but a distinct lack of useful info -- like, for example, more than 50 characters of space allocated for the summary.
The way the actual fics are presented is something I have never seen done before, and I don't think it was really a good idea to do it here -- each fic is broken down into pages of about 900 words for display, so even a modest oneshot can't be read in one go. It's like those sites that split articles into tiny chunks across several pages (or used to -- happily it doesn't seem as common now) on the misreading-of-Jakob-Nielsen theory that this makes them easier to read on the web. (To adapt from Dave Langford, that's like saying that a meal is so much easier to eat when every potato is served as a separate course.)
Content of fics? From what I could see from a cursory scan, it doesn't seem to be that much different from any other archive, or to have especially good stuff. On the whole, I don't think I'll be spending a lot of time there. :)
As far as I can tell from this and the 'About FanLib, Inc' section in this Wall St Journal piece (scroll down), I get the impression that they're trying to set up a sort of semi-official version of FFN with tie-ins to said players? They have a set of terms and conditions that I don't imagine would stand up in court if anyone did complain about the use of their characters (FFN etc can get blind eyes turned because they're non-profit, this site I'm not so sure). And the interface pretty much sucks, with tons of graphics and embedded twiddly bits slowing things down, but a distinct lack of useful info -- like, for example, more than 50 characters of space allocated for the summary.
The way the actual fics are presented is something I have never seen done before, and I don't think it was really a good idea to do it here -- each fic is broken down into pages of about 900 words for display, so even a modest oneshot can't be read in one go. It's like those sites that split articles into tiny chunks across several pages (or used to -- happily it doesn't seem as common now) on the misreading-of-Jakob-Nielsen theory that this makes them easier to read on the web. (To adapt from Dave Langford, that's like saying that a meal is so much easier to eat when every potato is served as a separate course.)
Content of fics? From what I could see from a cursory scan, it doesn't seem to be that much different from any other archive, or to have especially good stuff. On the whole, I don't think I'll be spending a lot of time there. :)
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no subject
Date: 2007-04-20 03:56 am (UTC)i wonder if this is that ...???
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Date: 2007-04-20 05:33 am (UTC)Fanlib is mostly known as the company behind fan writing events for The L-Word, Harper Collins and coming soon Star Trek (http://startrek.fanlib.com/) And right now we're doing IntheMotherHood.com with The Ellen Show and other partners. The technology you refer to above is basically a system that allows writers to upload submissions in a script format, which then get voted on by readers so a winner can be chosen. Fanlib and its partners give away amazing prizes like a development deal with FOX! (I wanted that prize).
Now Fanlib is getting into the fan fiction game because they love fan fic and feel that it's really instrumental in keeping the buzz going on many TV shows and movies and that fan writers deserve some respect (and prizes!)
We're definitely for-profit, but so is FFN, and with our industry
connections, we're making friends with the people who issue C&Ds.
You talked about all the bells and whistles and this is what we feel sets us apart from other fan archives. Our Badge system lets you link your full fan fic header with synopsis on other websites with one step. The graphics are generally enjoyed by all but you can shut off our color bars if it's too much.
As for the things that you feel aren't working - well, we're still tweaking the site and we're open to suggestions. We had a beta launch a few months ago and those invited writers gave us tons of great suggestions that we're still implementing. The goal here is to make it work for as many people as possible, but obviously we can't please everyone. But I want to say that we have listened to all the feedback and we've made many changes because of it.
As for the fic on the site, most of the 3,000 plus stories are from out beta users. We only opened the door to the public a few weeks ago and haven't had out big launch yet but we feel we've got some great representatives for most of the major fandoms.
Soon we'll have an official launch and at that time we'll have prizes for writers and readers. Our goal is to build a fan fiction community, not just a storage facility for fics. That's why every day we feature two fics and have a revolving carousel of the best of the week offering people a peek at fandoms they may not have read before.
When all is said and done, we'd love to have you visit again and then send us your feedback by email or on our forum. We appreciate that you took the time to visit once and felt compelled to discuss your experience on LJ, so we really do value your opinion.
I'm a long time fan fic writer and LJ user mostly in the Supernatural fandom now but I have a long history with other fandoms. Feel free to drop by my LJ and ask any questions you might have about FanLib.com. I really believe in the project and I think it's a great step toward getting fan fic writers the respect they deserve.
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Date: 2007-04-20 08:42 am (UTC)It is always nice to be asked, but...
Date: 2007-04-20 09:06 am (UTC)I have an invitation, too, and my initial thoughts were similar to yours. I can see a genuine symbiosis between TV programmes and fan writing (where fanscripts are a recognised way of getting into the business, nay an expected part of the screenwriter’s portfolio on USA shows where you have a writing team), and were this site about aiding good TV fanwriters who wanted to make a career in mainstream scriptwriting to get into the industry, I would be all for it, even though it wouldn’t apply to me. However, I rather doubt that slightly angsty fic about the Black sisters is what Fox is looking for, I am certain Warner would never give permission, and whereas the Dorothy Sayers Estate has not a moral leg to stand on regarding fanfic, given that DLS herself wrote and published it, I would probably be with them on the thought of other companies making money out of their estate. At least until she’s been dead 75 years and I write my sequel :-)
I admit it, I have neither the web-editing skills or the time to be involved in site creation or maintenance, so in some sense I’m a parasite on the time of amateurs (but then, they do it for their hobby, too). I like the amateur, and thus at least superficially egalitarian, nature of on-line fanfic – and of course if it were professional, I wouldn’t be allowed to do it – and I know little about the complexities of the legal issues, but I do know that the moment a commercial company starts talking about “empowering me” is the moment that I feel I’m about to lose control of what I do. Of course someone somewhere makes money in the end of all fanfic, whether pen manufacturers or internet server hosters or even advertisers (is there advertising on FFN? Probably, but can’t remember), but that’s not the same as making money out of the actual content, which is where I feel it gets dodgy. Ultimately I consider it from the POV of myself as a would be professional novelist; I would love fanfic to be written about my original work, but would I be happy to have it on this site? I'm not convinced.
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Date: 2007-04-20 11:54 am (UTC)Not at all -- thanks for your comments.
The technology you refer to above is basically a system that allows writers to upload submissions in a script format, which then get voted on by readers so a winner can be chosen
Fair enough -- although I'm in the camp that holds that there should be, at a minimum, a very strict interpretation of 'obviousness' in software related patents, and that we might be better off without them at all.
Now Fanlib is getting into the fan fiction game because they love fan fic and feel that it's really instrumental in keeping the buzz going on many TV shows and movies and that fan writers deserve some respect (and prizes!)
We're definitely for-profit, but so is FFN, and with our industry connections, we're making friends with the people who issue C&Ds
It'll be fascinating to see if that works -- a semi-official acknowledgement that fanfiction is a valuable side effect and aids popularity, rather than a danger, would be quite a striking development. I remain doubtful about how well this will work in practice, as it's a definite shift in legal position and could cause conflicts of interest, but if it takes off it could be a good thing.
You talked about all the bells and whistles and this is what we feel sets us apart from other fan archives. Our Badge system lets you link your full fan fic header with synopsis on other websites with one step. The graphics are generally enjoyed by all but you can shut off our color bars if it's too much.
That makes me uneasy -- bells and whistles aren't of any great value in themselves beyond the initial 'ooh, cool!' factor, for a site which people will (if everything goes well) use a lot they need to be convenient. The 'Badges' don't actually seem to offer much that an ordinary link can't do, and I can think of many people and places where links are posted who would be seriously pissed off by a lot of iframes or Flash objects cluttering up their pages.
BTW, as currently written, the Badges have bugs? I pasted both versions into a little test doc -- the iframe version doesn't scroll, which cuts off the bottom portion when the summary isn't very short, and the HTML for the Flash is incomplete -- it leaves off the table closing tags (great way to screw up downstream formatting), and doesn't, you know, actually show anything (in fact, with my IE 5.5 it just.hangs).
<table width="400" height="150" border="0" cellpadding="0" cellspacing="0"><tr><td><object classid="clsid:d27cdb6e-ae6d-11cf-96b8-444553540000" codebase="http://fpdownload.macromedia.com/pub/shockwave/cabs/flash/swflash.cab#version=8,0,0,0" width="400" height="120">
Looking at your source, it appears that it's set in the value attribute of the input tag? It's a single line input tag and there's a line break in there at this point (and others later), which I presume is what's causing the problem.
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Date: 2007-04-20 11:56 am (UTC)As for the things that you feel aren't working - well, we're still tweaking the site and we're open to suggestions.
Suggestion #1: scrap that system of breaking chapters/oneshots into pages. It's a pain in the arse and I'm amazed it survived user testing. People are used to reading oneshots ... well, in one shot, basically, and longer fics in substantial chapters, and having to click multiple times to load a new page just to read a short story is not a great idea. Especially as a 'page' can be one paragraph long. It breaks concentration on the fic itself, and doesn't even obviate the need for scrolling.
Suggestion #2: improve loading time for the first story page. #1 might help in that. It takes ages to load, and most of all the actual fic doesn't appear until late on -- when I first tried one of these story pages I thought the system was broken, because all that was present for ages was a placeholder. I didn't look at your source closely enough to be sure, but it appears to be AJAX-ing the new pages in? Technically cool, but the old-fashioned way of just having the text right there on the page was probably better?
Our goal is to build a fan fiction community, not just a storage facility for fics
An admirable goal, although an effective version of the latter is probably a necessity.
That's why every day we feature two fics and have a revolving carousel of the best of the week offering people a peek at fandoms they may not have read before
Fair enough -- once the site grows there's going to be some serious fighting to get those primetime spots!
I really believe in the project and I think it's a great step toward getting fan fic writers the respect they deserve.
Good! Let's hope it works then.
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Date: 2007-04-20 11:58 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-20 11:59 am (UTC)Re: It is always nice to be asked, but...
Date: 2007-04-20 01:22 pm (UTC)This new site does appear to be fairly free-for-all in terms of content (they even take mature-rated fics), and the few I looked at were certainly not things that Warner would be interested in (a HP/Stephen King crossover by someone who'd only seen the films, for example). So angsty Black sisters fic would probably fit right in, although there are of course already plenty of places to post it. :)
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Date: 2007-04-20 02:13 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2007-04-20 02:21 pm (UTC)