heidi | What would you say?

My friend

flourish is in Henry Jenkins' program at MIT, and has a question for creative fandomers:

What would you say to the people who own the stories you write fanfic for?

Since I came to CMS@MIT, I’ve apparently gotten pretty legit, at least in the eyes of the business community. So, I’m going to have a number of opportunities in the future (some of them in the immediate future) to talk to people who set policies about fanfiction - I have at least one speaking engagement already set. To them, I’m a window into the fan community. I’m an expert. I’m a chance for them to learn more about what we all do. But I don’t want this to just be about what I think. I might forget something that’s important.

So what would you like to say to the corporations? What would you tell them about how they can work with fans? What would you explain to them that they don’t understand? How would you suggest that they balance their interests and yours? I want to know. And if you tell me, I might be able to pass them on.

Please, guys, pass this on to everyone you know in the fan community. I really want to get as many responses to this as I can. I will collate the responses I get and circulate them to people in the corporate world - so your response here might actually get read by the people who control the properties that you're writing fanfic about. I want everyone's perspective.

Give her your answer here.

ETA: And congrats to Paul Krugman on his brand new, shiny Nobel Prize in Economics!