What it says on the tin.
Some ranting, some advice, some archaic reference, and a lot of cussing. My take on how I think fanfiction should be written and some of the biggest problems with it right now. Because I may not be the best at writing, but...
So like, yes I talked about making decent covers and blah blah whatever, I still stand by that. This, however, I find much more annoying and worth getting my boot thrown at you. And I own four pairs of combat boots, so I get eight tries to hit you, bitch.
I may have a problem.
Anyway, the point is this. There's a trend in low effort covers being very simple, just a single picture with the title in a really bad font edited onto it. And I get it, not all of us are good at graphic design or whatever. It's just easier and honestly, if your story and OC are any decent, I really won't care too much about the cover, despite any advice I can give towards making it better.
There is a HUGE difference between using some actor face claim as your cover and a fanart or cosplayer as your cover. Listen, that actor or model or whoever already cashed their check. They don't give a fuck about what their face is used for, there's probably bad porn about them by now. You're the least of their worries.
But when you use an image that is fanart or cosplay, you are stealing directly from the hard work of another fan just to promote YOUR fanwork. Don't be that asshole, okay? It's shitty.
It takes two seconds to find the source of any fanart or cosplay and properly credit and source it in the first introductory chapter of your book. If you can make the effort to use the picture, you can make the effort to credit the picture. I obviously know you didn't make it and you never claimed to have made it. But you slapping your title on it and using it for your book insinuates it as your intellectual property and that's a big no-no. Even better yet, ASK artists and cosplayers before you use their hard work on your fic. It's their choice what their material is used to promote. Or at least, it fucking should be.
I just find it very ironic that a fandom subculture that's HUGE on the whole "don't steal my plot or OC, that's PLAGARIZING and it's a CRIME" rhetoric is also very quick to take part -or at least allow to happen- almost identical behaviour of stealing someone else's intellectual property.
Basically, don't be a dick. Credit fellow fanwork. Be more conscious of using what someone else clearly put a lot of work into without care or fuck to give.
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