Since there are so many young fanfic writers and readers out there;
IT IS ENTIRELY ILLEGAL TO WRITE FANFIC FOR MONEY.
You can legally write fanfiction as long as you DO NOT make money, either directly or indirectly.
ANYONE asking for Ko-Fi donations or flat out commissioning for fanfiction is doing something ILLEGAL. LET THEM KNOW OR REPORT IT.
THEY CAN AND WILL FACE LEGAL ACTION IF THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY'S OWNER/OWNERS FIND OUT.
I write for fun, I make absolutely nothing from my own fanfiction writings. That's why it takes me so long to write anything. I'm not getting paid to write, so other things take precedence over my fanfiction.
An example: you do not own the Mortal Instruments series. It is not your intellectual property. It is Cassandra Clare's intellectual property, by all legal rights.
You have decided to write fanfic for it, become a well known name in the fanfiction world, and have now decided to write only if someone has paid you to do it.
You're now profiting off of someone else's intellectual property.
Cassandra Clare finds out.
Her legal team sends Cease and Desist notices to you.
You refuse to do it, and continue taking money to write more fanfiction for Cassandra Clare's intellectual property.
She has decided to sue you.
You WILL lose.
BY LAW, you ARE NOT allowed to profit off of fanfiction, UNLESS YOU OWN THE INTELLECTUAL PROPERTY IN QUESTION.
Yes, this opens up another can of worms for fan art of the non written variety, but that is also classified under a different variety of rules to abide by.
Most authors wont care much if you write fanfiction and make like. $3 off of it. Other authors WILL care.
Ann Rice is a good example.
She threatened to sue hundreds of fanfiction authors JUST BECAUSE they wrote fanfic of her characters. JUST BECAUSE Louis and Lestat were such good characters who honestly just need to have soft kisses between them, and she didnt like it. This is just my understanding, it may or may not be the full reason.
Anne McCaffrey is another good example. She threatened to sue because some people created dragons, or characters, set in her world. There was no, or minimal, fanfiction involved. This is just my understanding, it may or may not be the full reason.
tl;dr you cant make money off of fanfiction. It ain't yours to make money off of, so why you doin it?
YOU ARE READING
I'm Oliver You, Tom Riddle
FanfictionOliver is a Half-Veela who is best friends with Tom Riddle. Tom tries to make it seem like they're only casual acquaintances, but when Oliver grabs his hand and laces their fingers together, he can't help but smile. NOT DISCONTINUED OR ABANDONED, I...
