Last month, Amazon unveiled its plans to turn fan fiction into a real business, signing on Alloy Entertainment (a division of Warner Bros.) to allow independent writers to sell fiction based on shows like Gossip Girl and The Vampire Diairies on Amazon's site.
On Thursday, Amazon announced that it signed similar agreements with several more partners, including comic book publisher Valiant Entertainment and authors Hugh Howey, Barry Eisler, Blake Crouch and Neal Stephenson.
The deals authorize anyone to create and sell fan fiction inspired by several of Valiant's comic book series, including Bloodshot, X-O Manowar, Archer & Armstrong, Harbinger and Shadowman. Howey's Silo Saga, Eisler's John Rain novels, Crouch's Wayward Pines series and Stephenson's Foreworld Saga are also now parts of the program.
Writers are encouraged to self-publish works of at least 10,000 words in the Kindle Store. Writers who meet that qualification are eligible to earn 35% of every sale made, and 20% of works between 5,000 and 10,000 words. The rights holders of the original works will also receive an (undisclosed) cut of every sale made.