Discussion Post: Kindle Worlds

I was chatting with a coworker last week and he asked me if I had heard about Kindle Worlds. I looked at him blankly and said no. So he explained a little bit about it which spurred an interesting discussion that I thought should be brought to the blog. 

So Amazon is doing this thing called Kindle Worlds. Basically a person can write a story within another author's world and publish it with Amazon. For example, say George R.R. Martin said okay, the Song of Ice and Fire world is going to be available on Kindle Worlds. You could write a story within his world, using his characters and get it published on Kindle Worlds. Then you receive royalties as the book sells. Somebody else can then build off your story and so on and so on. 

I'm really torn on whether or not I like this idea. On the one hand, I think it might be a cool way for aspiring authors to get on their feet. Fan fiction is becoming more and more popular and it could be motivating for an aspiring author to get this first piece published and then eventually start writing original stories. 

But on the other hand, I'm against it. As an aspiring author, thinking about letting other people write my characters makes me cringe. Those are my characters. That's my world. I've worked really hard to make it what it is and the thought of someone else making money off my idea just doesn't feel right. I'm all about fan fiction and of course I would be flattered if someone ever wanted to write fan fiction about my characters, but for them to make money off of it? I'm going to have to say no. 

I also wouldn't feel right about it as a writer either. I want to publish my own original stories and characters. I wouldn't feel nearly as accomplished if I just used what someone else has already done. It almost feels like cheating to me. Writing a book is hard work. And yes, I believe that even writing fan fiction isn't easy. But should someone really be paid for using another person's ideas? 

And then there's my opinion as a reader. I wouldn't want to pay money to read these stories. Let's take my favorite series, Throne of Glass by Sarah J. Maas. If someone wrote a story about Celaena and Chaol I wouldn't want to read it. Because that's not really Celaena and Chaol. Whatever they do in that story isn't real to me because the original author, Sarah, didn't write it. I don't know if the story is true to the characters or not. The story would be unbelievable to me and therefore, I wouldn't enjoy it. 

Of course, it's completely up to the original author if they want their world included in Kindle Worlds and it's up to the readers if they want to pay for these books. So I suppose no one is being hurt by this, I just can't say I agree with it. 

What are your thoughts on this? If you're an author or an aspiring author, how would you feel about someone writing about your characters and making money off it? As a reader, would you want to read these books?