Dear Torquere
Jul. 12th, 2009 07:42 am![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
erastesI don’t mind converted fanfic, I’ve sold a short story myself that was such—but I defy anyone to spot which one it was because I pride myself on the fact that I filed the serial numbers off so sufficiently that it isn’t recognisable as being Severus/Sirius slash.
However, a young upper-class man called Bungo who lives in an elegant 5 room flat in London in the 1920s with a perfect manservant? Puhleeze.
If I want to read Jeeves slash I’ll go on the net and read it for free, thanks.
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Date: 2009-07-12 09:39 am (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-12 11:00 am (UTC)Heh heh - file the serial numbers off. Where'd you learn that, huh? What'd I tell you about coverin' yer tracks? Yeahhh...you're a real smart mug. :)
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Date: 2009-07-12 11:59 am (UTC)And for some reason I struggle with Torquere's buying system. There are a few like that - all I want from these publishers is a simple system which takes PayPal - Fictionwise is excellent. Too often it's labyrinthine.
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Date: 2009-07-12 12:58 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-12 01:00 pm (UTC)They're not even original enough to come up with a different name... Yech.
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Date: 2009-07-12 02:13 pm (UTC)Then again, this has become a house that does extruded slash product to fill planned publication slots. They took the original draft of Alive on the Inside, which was a nightmarish MESS. We pulled that one.
I won't say I've never filed the serial numbers off a fanfic (or you know, totally changed the PoV and rewrote it) or renamed media characters. But I defy you to pinpoint which two pieces are without having been told. (They're both kinda cracked out crossovers)
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Date: 2009-07-12 02:23 pm (UTC)I never had a lot of luck converting my fanfics, except for one PWP. The Potter world was just too integral to the plots of most of them, which is a good thing, I think, as it forced me to create my own worlds.
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Date: 2009-07-12 02:41 pm (UTC)I wonder if the acquiring editors at Torquere recognized it, or thought it was OhSoOriginal?
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Date: 2009-07-12 04:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-12 04:26 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-12 04:36 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-12 06:06 pm (UTC)There's also a Tyr/Harper (Andromeda) one that happens in space, and does involve genetically altered humans. I'm still trying to decide who the second one involves, but my guess is that it is still based in the Andromeda-AU'verse.
Honestly, I've only come across one story from Torquere that I even remotely enjoy, but even it doesn't have any re-readability. Too many fanfic tropes in it and not enough action or adventure to make it worth my wild.
Other publishers do the whole 'cover up the fanfic to make it original', too, though. I read one blurb, and had to check with a friend just to make sure I wasn't the only one who saw that it was a shoddy cover-up of a Harry Potter fanfic. One of THE WORST eBooks that I have EVER had the misfortune of struggling through was actually a shape-shifting centaur AU of some godawful fanfic, and I know -that- because one of my friend's friends is/was friends with the author. I can't remember if it was Samhain or somewhere else that I saw a Gravitation rip-off... *shrugs*
As for Wodehouse, I'm going to be honest. I've never heard of it. But! That's what the internet is for! (well, that and porn...) And yes, I'm American and under 40 ^_~
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Date: 2009-07-12 06:09 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-12 07:20 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-12 07:21 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-12 07:22 pm (UTC)They once complained that I never linked to their books on my reviews at Speak Its Name and I pointed out that I couldn't trust their links! They moved them around all the time and didn't put forwards in place. I don't want dead links on my review site thank you, and I don't have time to do as many reviews as I want, let alone checking their links for live ones every month!!
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Date: 2009-07-12 07:23 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-12 07:25 pm (UTC)Well, obviously the publisher didn't, for one!
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Date: 2009-07-12 07:37 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-12 07:53 pm (UTC)I'm saddened that TQ will print anything just to fill schedules. Perhaps they should have less frenetic schedules...
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Date: 2009-07-12 07:54 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-12 08:03 pm (UTC)I did a Heroes/Corvette Summer crossover and since no one remembers those little 70s movies, nobody made the connection. Total sales: 80 copies. Total pay $38.18
I strongly support all publishers having less frenetic schedules.
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Date: 2009-07-12 08:08 pm (UTC)Hmmm.
This definitely deserves an article..
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Date: 2009-07-12 08:12 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-12 08:13 pm (UTC):)
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Date: 2009-07-12 08:24 pm (UTC)I think it should be pointed out--if the writer can't put in the work to make it disguised (and in the case of a genetically superior being in a spaceship with others, it might be hard) then they should write something else.
I've nothing against the practice really, but when i can find Jeeves fic online, I rather resent having to pay for it, even if it's only one dollar forty nine, extant copyright or not. Its one of the reasons I wouldn't buy all these P&P rewrites. Just because the copyright is up, doesn't mean it's right to rip-off everyone's characters. Exception being something like The Eyre Affair, which introduces something new. Just continuing the story, or writing yet ANOTHER diary of one of the characters is lazy lazy lazy.
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Date: 2009-07-12 08:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-12 08:27 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-12 08:31 pm (UTC)no subject
Date: 2009-07-12 09:21 pm (UTC)