That Sticky Pulled to publish thing

Ok, I would like to state MY personal opinion about pulled to publish fic.
THIS, btw, is the opinion of SUE. This is NOT the opinion of anyone else.
If my personal opinion offends or upsets you. Tough! I still have the right to my own opinion.

I have been involved in fandom for over 3 years. I was around when the first fics started getting pulled.
I also remember when fics started getting pulled left and right. OR, at least that is what it felt like for a while.
I have seen people who would JUMP at a chance to read a WIP (writing in progress). Steer clear of them until they are completed. Then they use a "fanfic downloader" to save it for fear of the story getting pulled.

I have seen writers who are dedicated to only writing fic. The ones that  never pull their fic get questioned constantly if they will be pulling to publish. I have been there for the twitter fights, the blow ups, the hurt feelings, and feelings of betrayal. Yes, some readers feel betrayed. Cheated even.


My opinion is simply this:

If you are a reader and you enjoyed the story enough to want to pay money for a copy. All to sit on your shelf, in your kindle, or nook. Then by all means, DO IT!

IF you are a reader and you enjoyed the story. Yet you do not wish to spend money on it then enter any and all contests. There are tons of them on goodreads or any number of blog hops. Just go to that writers blog page and you will find lots of them.

IF you are a reader who thinks that the writer is being a cheater. That they should not have pulled their fic to publish it. Then you know what? Speak with your wallet. Do not buy the book! It is that simple. The publishing world is VERY competitive. Anyone who thinks that a book gets popular without a TON of money poured into PR for that story is naive. Anything can be bought. Even good reviews on Amazon and goodreads. PLUS, there is tons of fic in many, many fandoms by many talented people waiting to be discovered.  This is not the first fandom to have its fic published.  It is not the first fandom to have a fic become a popular book.


NOW, to all of my various writer friends, speaking as someone who has read a GREAT deal of not just fic, but real books know this.

I am picky when it comes to books even if it is a small publisher. I am VERY picky. I can, have. and WILL find continuity errors in stories. I have done it many times even in books from big publishers. Editing a fic to publish is NOT an easy task. Not only do you have to change names of people and locations. You need to remove references to looks or to anything remotely twi like.  You have to take out a whole bunch of stuff that makes fic, fic. I'm not talking about the usual cliches ,but there is a difference in episodic writing, to a whole book.

A book needs to be tight and concise. You, as a first time writer, have a short amount of words to get your point across. Most fics, even the best of them, are LONG. Far too long for a first time book. One has to be VERY careful in what they cut to maintain that continuity and flow.

Part of the fun of fic is not just the feeling of community we have going on. It is the excitement and anticipation we get when a favorite story updates.
Think about it......remember when we were reading that BIG story? Any one of them. Then the writer would update. You would see all the comments of:

OH EM GEE ____ updated *POOF* *DUST CLOUD*

Then people would come back on twitter and you would see comments like

OH MY GAWD people!!! Read faster, I need to talk about this. Or back in the day when we would all post on the twilighted forums after reading a chapter. Some of my best memories of fandom come from moments like that. Those chats are how I got to know people and that feeling was thrilling.

A book is going to have a hard time recapturing that feeling of excitement. So for a pulled to publish book to impress me, the editing is going to have to be damn near perfect. I'm not talking comma placement. (I know many people are laughing right now!!) I am talking story content. I am talking about how I would expect it to feel familiar but still feel new. I want to be able to read the story and NOT have to have read the fic to understand the story. I want character development. You have to help me get to know these new people through their actions and words.

Many romance and smut books do not have a whole lot of character development. They rely heavily on the "oh he is handsome", "she is average", and blah blah blah thing. I have even read romances that have the guy talking about her fabulous blankity, blank name brand shoes. (And here I thought it was just a fic thing!) This is probably why people are reading a great deal of YA (young adult) books. It is because they do not have to use up their word allotment on sex scenes I guess.

SO, basically what I am saying is.....
I am on the fence. I am happy for any writer that reworks their story for publishing. However, myself, I would prefer to see them work on something completely new.

AND as always, I am around, available for reading, reviewing, anything. Ask around. I have a good eye. I can catch things others do not. I have done this for fic. I have also done this for writers of original books
 What does this mean? This means that if I have money to spend on a book; I am given the choice between buying a P2P (pulled to publish) book and a book written by a fandom friend that is an original universe they made. I am going to spend my money buying the original. I WILL NOT however, tell the person that busted their butt rewriting a fic to a book that any success they have is not earned. Promoting a book takes part luck, a good amount of work, and a whole lot of who you know.

NOW for some news........
 Our 3 year bloggiversary is coming up the last week of July
in honor of looking back over a great memorable 3 years. I actually have 3 reviews for you from me and Sarah. We will be reviewing:
*A love by Any measure by Killian McRae
*Cat o'nine tails by Patricia Lefever
*Cocktails and Dreams by Autumn Marcus

Now, WHY will there be two of us reviewing? Well my review might be clouded because;
1) I read the fic these books were based on
2) I know the people who wrote them

Sarah said this is vintage. Ummm, OK.

So, you will be getting a two sided review of 3 stories. One from a reader who has read them in their original fic form before. While the other will be reading the edited published versions. (Whom has not read them in their original fic form.)

Do you want to know what else is cool? The 3 writers have agreed to give away e-copies of their stories for a contest for the bloggiversary! Details on entering those contests will be in each post about those books. So, stay tuned!!!

SO, we have the party, YOU get the presents, and BYOC (bring your own cake you pervs)!!!
OH Sarah hon I have better porn all you had to do was ask never get your porn from google images LOL 

That Sticky Pulled to publish thing