Omnific Publishing

[annetookeen]

Does anyone have info on Omnific Publishing? They seem pretty new and I couldn't find a thread on them. Here's the link http://www.omnificpublishing.com/

Thanks!

 

[michael_b]

I took a look a their site and I'm wondering what a 'Certified Editor' might be exactly. The reason I'm curious is that their editing staff are all designated with 'Certified Editor' in their bios.

Also everything seems pitched to authors, I don't see much info for readers on the site.

 

[MickRooney]

I suspect Omnific is more an author collective, rather than a publisher.

 

[michael_b]

They're saying they are a publisher. They even have an open submissions.

 

[Maddie]

It appears to possibly be an eBook outlet.

 

[Sarashay]

Oh, yeah, I've heard of 'em . . .

It was apparently started by a group of fanfic writers, with the intention to publish their "transformative works" (their term) with the names changed to avoid lawsuits. (A practice often known as "filing off the serial numbers.")

http://www.journalfen.net/community/clairvoyantwank/468741.html

While these people have a great deal of enthusiasm about writing, they don't seem to have a lick of experience in publishing. We'll see if they manage to pull it off, but it looks like a trainwreck about to happen from where I'm standing.

 

[emilycross]

 

[kaitie]

It was apparently started by a group of fanfic writers, with the intention to publish their "transformative works" (their term) with the names changed to avoid lawsuits. (A practice often known as "filing off the serial numbers.")

http://www.journalfen.net/community/clairvoyantwank/468741.html

While these people have a great deal of enthusiasm about writing, they don't seem to have a lick of experience in publishing. We'll see if they manage to pull it off, but it looks like a trainwreck about to happen from where I'm standing.

Am I the only person who hears this and thinks if I had a work that a lot of people wrote fanfic about, I'd be scanning the hell out of anything they did publish? I guess it just seems kinda like cheating to me. There is such a thing as "legit" fanfic. There used to be X-files books published, there are Star Trek and Star Wars and Doctor Who books out there. I have nothing wrong with writing fanfic, but I do have a problem with someone trying to cheat a system meant to protect ideas to make a profit without any benefit to those the original idea belonged to. And I guess I'm thinking if your that good and your ideas are that good, just write something original.

In any case, it still sounds like a lawsuit waiting to happen. Changing names alone isn't going to make something less copyright infringement is it? I mean, if you've got a fanfic about a bunch of kids in wizard school playing a game on brooms, etc. it doesn't matter if you change the name of Hogwarts to something else, does it? Not to mention this is a counter-intuitive practice to begin with. People read fanfic because they want to read about characters they love. They are either going to change everything that makes it recognizable and then publish it (in which case, again why not write something original), or they're going to try to do just enough to get by legally and hopefully still appeal to the fanfic readers. I don't know, the whole thing just sounds ridiculous, not to mention dangerous.

 

[Momento Mori]

Omnific Website FAQs:
Q: Will I have to pay to publish my book?

A: Absolutely not. Omnific is not a vanity publisher. We pay the author a percentage of the sales and we require no money from authors at any stage of the publishing process.

By "percentage of the sales", I'm assuming they mean royalties, but there's no further information on how much this is or what it's calculated on.

Omnific Website FAQs:
Q: Will Omnific market my book?

A: Yes. Omnific has a Marketing Director and a staff of Marketing Specialists that will help you market your book nationally through a variety of traditional and innovative techniques.

No information on what these "traditional and innovative techniques" will be and nothing to suggest that anyone involved with this company has the publishing or marketing experience to deliver them.

I suspect it has something to do with their Facebook and Twitter page, but neither of these is traditional or innovative or indeed proven to be effective.

No word on whether books will be sold via Amazon or other ebook retailers.

Given that they've got 6 ebooks coming out on or around Valentine's Day, you'd think that the least the sales page would do is put in a summary of what each book is about. The fact that this is missing so close to publication is not reassuring.

MM

 

[annetookeen]

...
Given that they've got 6 ebooks coming out on or around Valentine's Day, you'd think that the least the sales page would do is put in a summary of what each book is about. The fact that this is missing so close to publication is not reassuring.
MM

Right, this is odd. Although I find the covers quite attractive, the lack of info--not even a blurb--for the books doesn't look like good marketing practice at all.

 

[Richard White]

As a Media Tie-in Writer, I do tend to object to the term "legit" fanfic to my work. (The difference between my work and a screen writer's is the medium in which it is shown: aka book vs TV/Film.)

However, I do agree that just "filing the serial numbers off is a "bad idea". Authors and producers seldom check for things like this. However lawyers do.

Ask the author of "Another Hope", or "The Death Wave". Remember what happened to the author of "Russett Noon"?

It's not pretty.

 

[JulieB]

What Richard White said.

Tie-in books are authorized by the studio (or whatever entity holds the copyright) and the author gets a paycheck. It's pro work.

 

[emilycross]

wow i actually recognise Boycott and Barflies, its a HUGE twilight fanfic BUT the only semblance to the actually characters are the names. The author is actually really talented writer and that story is completely AU to twilight (like i said the only resemblance is the names). Can't understand why she wouldn't rework it as nonfanfic when it is so unlike the original story (as in completely not related at all)

EDIT

"The stories published under this account are the sole property of vjgm. They may not be copied, published or posted elsewhere without my express written consent which I do not give at this time."

This is the author i'm talking about, mentioned on Famdom Wank - to be honest (i can only speak for the version i read a while ago) there was no semblance to TW at all! If the author changes the characters names, you would never connect the two at all. I just wonder why the author would advertise it like this and not just take down the fanfics and rework them as originals?

 

[ChristineR]

I think that's the plan, emilycross. They approached authors of successful fanfics that they thought could be re-worked, and asked them to remove the copyrighted elements and now they're going to publish them as original fiction.

 

[emilycross]

So does this mean that these books are legitimate then? Because they don't hold any of the copyright/recognisable elements?

 

[Richard White]

That would depend on how much they're reworked and if they do remove the recognizable features.

IANAL, though.

 

[Momento Mori]

If there's nothing in those books that calls to mind the original works they fanficced, then IMO, it's difficult to see how a case for copyright infringement could succeed.

What interests me is whether they're going to be advertising those works within the fandoms that they originally derived from. If they are, and that comes to the attention of the original rights holders, then the original rights holders might think that it's worth sending out a C&D letter.

That's all speculation though.

I remember a situation back in 2002/2003 when a big HP author self-published an original fantasy work and tried selling it back to the then HP fandom. It died on its arse.

It's possible for a venture like this to succeed commercially, but the writers have to be either very good or have a slavishly devoted fanbase willing to pay for it. When I was in fandom, there were v. few writers able to command that because there's a difference between getting something for free that's based on something you already love and paying a few quid for something that doesn't have those recognisable elements.

MM

 

[veinglory]

However, I do agree that just "filing the serial numbers off is a "bad idea". Authors and producers seldom check for things like this. However lawyers do.

There are dozens of mainstream and small press published books known to have originated as fan fic. The fact that most people don't know which ones tend to suggest that the "filing" was successful in those cases.

 

[emilycross]

Well, reading Boycott and Barflies author's bio specifically it seems that her fanfic version was published in physical and ebook before (without her permission) for about 8 months before she decided to rework and publish it with omni. She's a really well known FF writer in the TW fandom (or she was) so i'd imagine she'd be using it as a platform.

 

[Richard White]

There are dozens of mainstream and small press published books known to have originated as fan fic. The fact that most people don't know which ones tend to suggest that the "filing" was successful in those cases.

And that's why I said "just"

Taking something you've written and making it clearly your own is more than just "filing". That's melting it down and carving a whole new tool for yourself. In some ways, it's actually harder to do than starting out with something completely new.

I have a novel that was completed (and paid for) but never published. I've toyed with re-writing it but it just seems like so much work when I have other stuff I could be writing.

Maybe one day though . . .

 

[veinglory]

It is referred to as "filing" as a short hand by the people that do it, or seek out the resulting published material (yep, including me. I have a small collection of novels know to have started life as fanfic).

 

[Richard White]

Ah, I see we're using different definitions for the same word.

When I think of filing away the serial numbers, I'm thinking about doing the bare amount of changes necessary to hide the original story. I didn't realize it had a specific meaning in the fanfic community.

Adds new definition into the 'file'. *grin*

 

[Cyia]

http://www.whois.net/whois/omnificpublishing.com

According to "whois"

It's registered to someone who put "Publishing" down as their name, from Tyler, Tx. (A smallish city.)

The Admin lists her name as Elizabeth Harper from "WhiteHouse, Tx"... WhiteHouse is a tiny tiny town (around 7K people)- no way there's any kind of publishing industry there in the usual, commercial sense.

It also lists psymommy as the person behind it, which is the person from the Twilight site.

Oh look... there's video: http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=56k9OF4HTTU&feature=related

 

[CheekyWench]

Someone just RT'd a link saying they were open for submissions. Of course I came here fist and found this thread... Well, I'm looking at their books online and the covers are nice - and I have yet to really pinpoint any story being ripped off of anything else. Looks nice from here.


(and... no ... I have nothing to do with them, was just curious about the tweet since I haven't heard of them)

 

[FionnaFlynn]

I checked Omnific out as well, as one of my fave fanfics ended up here. "The Unidentified Redhead" was originally written as "I Love LA" and it was a real life fanfic with Robert Pattinson as the male character. It was a good story, and the dialogue between the characters was interesting. Lots of steamy sex, though, almost porn-like.

Would love to know how much the authors get of the $14.99 price...