In a message dated 12/30/98 11:27:50 PM, mike@thekeep.org wrote:

Mixx will be putting out Sailor Moon Novels starting in April, and 
rumours are flying as to who the writers are.

If Mixx means Graphic Novels, like Eternal Lost Lurker had suggested, then I
certainly wouldn't mind. Offical novels, on the other hand, I DO mind. In
fact, I'm against them. See below.

Was anyone here approached, and if so, where can I find your stories.

If Mixx's going to find some authors to write, it wouldn't be of those fanfic
authors, since they're generally undependable and diffuclt to 'control' for
their preferences. They'd go for professional writers instead. No offense to
FF authors intended, but that'd be likely what megacorporations would percieve
us as. American megacorporations, that is.

If this is true, it's utter disaster for those Sailor Moon fanfic writers
out there. 

And me. And for anime fanfiction in general.

One of the large reasons that fanfic can be freely circulated is that we
don't take money from the corporations - we actually serve as free
advertising. Sueing our usually poor accounts would be counterproductive,
and damages would be difficult to prove.

And another reason is that fanfictions are far more popular than offical
novels, especially since there are greater flexibility in writing them- fanfic
authors can choose any type of genre to write for their stories, horror,
fanasty, romance, WAFFy, Darkfics, etc..
Offical novels restricts types of stories only to THOSE who have been
'approved' and they're moderated as well. Publications have to be reviewed and
approved by Mixx first. What's even worse is that Mixx novels would be based
on DiC version. And they make final choices on how stories should go. That
means Darkfics/horror genre would be out of question. Pure romance-oriented
novels might be as well. WAFFy wouldn't even exist.
Another thing is that these novels would likely be marketed towards the
intended audience of young girls, which means Tom Clancy-type novels would be
unlikely (and that's why we have fanfics ^_^). SM appeals to wider range of
audience than just young girls.

Official novels, however, change the equasion.

That's 'equation.'

Mixx can argue - and quite convincingly - "Look, we're losing money
because of these clowns. Why should Joe Otaku shell out fifteen bucks for
one of our novels when he can get the same kind of thing on the net for
free?"

Joe Otaku: "Because you're over-charging these novels, which has diddly-squat
about STORY-PLOTS! Just like DiC!"

The result? Mixx would be well within its rights and interests to wipe SM
fiction from the net. I believe Paramount adopted a similar strategy when
the rise of Trek netfiction threatened its novel line.

And in doing so, Mixx might lose the hundreds of potential fans if the
indication of SM fanfics that I think are, as well as current fans. I, for
myself, would be angry if Mixx actually tried to ban SM fanfiction for a
meager thousand dollars in profit of selling novels based on DiC version of SM
that I don't like? After all, vast majority of SM fanfics are based on
Japanese version (at least, I think), and it has better story and work, as
well thought put into it.

Another problem is that Mixx could easily *kill* SM as we know it. With the
likehood of third and later series of SM being dubbed for US relase being very
close to slim to nothing, banning SM fanfictions would give Sailor Moon series
a quick death. If we can't look forward to future episodes in US, then where
can we look for more excitement and story? Fanfics of course. Sometimes these
days I think fanfics are the only thing that's keeping SM alive and kicking in
US.

Still, if Mixx is careful enough to put some thought into this and ensure that
novels aren't of crappy stories and actually give them plot, REAL one, and
they might have a chance, like Paramount with ST novels. I mean, there's
literally hundreds of ST novels out there.

While I'm not a Sailor Moon author... hell, I'm not even a reader; I

Well, I'm bit more vulnerable here, since I'm a SM fanfic author. If Mixx does
publish offical novels, then my Alternate Vision series's up in dust. Not to
mention that I'd have to remove all traces of my hard work I had done in my
fanfics. At this moment, SM is domiant topic in my fanfics and if I removed
them, then my progress as fanfic author would be almost to nothing. What's the
point in sharing stories with others if you can't share them? I enjoy writing
SM fanfics and having others read mine (and I do enjoy reading SM fics). A
permaent ban on SM fanfics' going to make me depressed person since I can't
enjoy writing/reading them anymore. :(
This certainly applies to hundreds of SM fanfic authors out there as well.

detest the series... this is a very worrisome development for anime
fanfiction in general. Verification of this information is in order, as is
a determination of the exact _type_ of novel - Robotech and Gundam
novelizations, that is, treatments of the anime into book form, have
existed for decades, and are not nearly the threat that actual original
novels would be.

Gundam novelizations? They do exist in english version, and in US? I didn't
know that.

That's right. If Mixx does ban SM fanfics, then what can be said about the
rest of fanficdom? Considering the fact that SM is among the most popular
series and one of domiant fanfics out in the Internet, this would probably be
a fatal blow. If Mixx is successful, then what about others, like say Ranma
1/2 and Evangelion? They're about as popular as SM and are just as vulnerable.
If SM fanfic goes, there's a possibility that it might take others down with
it, or at least upset the stability.

Viz could decide to follow Mixx's plans and publish some R1/2 offical novels,
and that'd mark doom for R1/2 fics, and same for ADVision (though I doubt
bouth would attempt to venture into novels). Like I said earlier, they'd make
final choices on stories. Take R1/2 for example- they'd have to decide on whom
Ranma would be paired with, Akane, Shampoo, Ukyo, or perhaps even Kodachi.
Regardless of whom they pick, Viz's bound to lose fans to over this particular
choice. Plus, that would go against our revered Takahashi-sama's wishes.
That's why I doubt Viz would go for it.

Still, we should do something in case Mixx does go ahead with this offical
novels trash. There's few possibilities that we could do or use to our
advantage:

-Mixx would most certainly be using NA version of SM, and it is actually an
*adaption* of Japanese version, not the literal translation. Since both series
are alike only in the title and their chraracters, and sources- Mixx can't
possibly make case against fanfics that are based on *Japanese* version.
Another advantage is that they have no power to prohibit fics based on
Japanese version because they do not own rights to them. I think we would be
safe this way, but I'm not so sure. Perhaps others can support/disprove this
idea?

-Boycott Mixx's offical novels. Seriously, if we can boycott their
publications, specifically offical novels long enough, Mixx might be convinced
that there would be no profit in this venture and discountine their efforts.
When they do, they would also ease up on the ban of SM fanfictions. But
considering the implications of a such activity, as well the ripple effect
throughout Mixx company, I think we should use this option as last resort.
Some don't want Mixx to drop SM manga altogether because of one tiny bycott.

-Another suggestion, though seems unlikely to me, is that Mixx could establish
an offical SM fanfiction site or collection. Occasionally Mixx could pick out
some good SM fanfics and post them on their site. This purpose would serve
Mixx two-fold: they would be able to put more of SM fans who love fanfics'
focus on Mixx (and thus increased fanbase), and save money they would have to
spend on publishing and authors' fees (and avoid the potential hassle over
resolving

That's all I've come up with at this moment. Others might have better
suggestions, and if you have a good one, try sharing them with us.

Well, that's enough of my ranting. While I think we're over-reacting to this
(I still doubt that Mixx would try for offical novels), it wouldn't hurt to
make sure it doesn't happen. After all, this is very important since it deals
with anime fanfiction as we know it. Death of SM fanfics might bring down
anime fanfics, and that's something we don't want- right?


Dark Alpha <AlphSailor@aol.com> formerly Sailor Alpha
Fanfics at http://www.geocities.com/Tokyo/Bay/7233/