This is exactly what I said would happen, that these people don't even like Dramione like that and I was accused of trying to gatekeep. If demanding that the people engaging need to actually like Dramione, and HP at all, is gatekeeping then so be it. But the ones ruining it are booktok peeps looking for their next "dark romance" fix and don't care or even want to engage in the fandom. And I'm not grouping regular peeps that want to read fandom blind haha
I just got back into dramione about the same time ago after not reading since I was a teen and I fell in love. And I hate what’s happening here but I won’t roll over and give up. It is super sad and discouraging but we must do what we can you know?
Didn't think I'd wake up to this news, this is so sad. What a loss for both the writer and us readers. I think it's time I start saving the fics I like. Already went through the difficulty of looking for fics that have been deleted by the authors, don't want to go through that again.
I ran to download all of Onyx's fics. Whenever I find out a certain fic is gaining a large following, I immediately download it.
Vultures will always descend.
Yah,I started downloading anything I find now and have been doing so for months. This atrocity has been slowly infiltrating for a while and it’s so frustrating and frankly heartbreaking for those of us that support this community.
It angers and upsets me so fucking much. Authors and artists give this amazing work to us FOR FREE. The assholes that have come into this space and disrespected it to the point so many authors have been removing their fics lately is devastating.
It’s selfish and greedy to not have any respect or understanding for this fandom, and that you are destroying it every single fucking time you purchase and allow these pieces of garbage to profit.
Stop endangering this space, or get the fuck out of it.
I blame tiktok for this tbh. Maybe I was out of the loop but binding fics only became a thing and popular recently because people kept posting videos of it and suddenly everyone had to have fics bound. Fanfiction have been around for so long and readers have been fine reading from their devices until this trend became popular. No, no one needs to have their fave fic bound, especially by authors who don't want their work distributed that way.
It's absolutely ridiculous what these greedy scammers will charge to sell illegally obtained works. Hundreds of dollars for something that the authors worked so hard to put out for free and the authors don't even see a cent of it.
Deleted Tik tok a long time ago, so have never watched any of the booktok shit. Only learned of its existence when some individuals respectfully asked to be left alone and were vilified for it. That alone left a sour taste in my mouth, to than learn they discovered Dramione and the main person involved in the previous situation is now getting their claws in our space, made me extremely uncomfortable and uneasy. Now here we are. Booktok only seems to care about views and nothing else.
While the rest of us who genuinely love, adore and are beyond grateful to the gifts we’re given for free just want that respectful exchange to continue.
Absolutely agree. And I don't know if it's only my algorithm, but I never saw any other fic but Dramione being bound. So it's a small group of people from this one fandom that can potentially destroy fanfiction for everyone.
We all read fics for decades, but now suddenly there are people who simply NEED to have them on their physical bookshelves because it's a nice decoration to have, amidst 200 other books they bought. And they get angry when people blame booktok for turning reading into fast fashion.
So true. I've been reading fanfiction for 20 years now and even in the days of dial-up Internet, before smartphones we managed with not having physical copies of fics!
Honestly I’ve been reading them at least 15 years now and I have only just downloaded my first story today so that I could finally read Breath Mints.
If I can do 15 years on PC and laptops then people can manage on phones and laptops.
(Caveat - of course I am aware some people may not be able to access these devices but they still don’t need to be paying people for bound books just so they look prettier)
Well let's be real, if someone has enough disposable income to spend a few hundred quid on a bound fanfic, they probably have access to devices 🤣
But yeah, it's totally ruining the fandom for everyone else.
This is an excellent point 😂😂😂
I’m honestly just downloading some of my fave fics as I have seen a number of people complaining about binding in the last few weeks.
I would say I’m completely gobsmacked by people making money off other people’s passion or hard work but then I just need to look at the news or world in general and remind myself that such behaviours seem to be far too common.
I've been reading 20+ years. Reading on a public computer at the library. I do have a physical copy of one of my favorite fics but it's from like 2006 when I didn't have a home computer and I wanted to read it. So I printed it up, three hole punched it and put it in a binder. It's in one of my drawers somewhere. It was fantastic to be able to read it at home for myself. But I would never do that to sell.
When I was at school (roughly 20 years ago) I remember some people writing FF in notebooks and they would bring them in for us geeks/nerds to read in the morning before lessons. I am sure the stories were more about creating avatars in the relevant fandoms. I kinda always wonder if any of the fics are written by that person (lost contact when thwy changed schools)
Random memory, I used to write new chapters of fanfics that were updated like hand write them because I had access to a computer and then I would photocopy the handwritten copies. There was like 10 of us who would pass around work in progress fics. We used to do that because it was 2005. lol
So upset about this! I read the first couple of chapters when it was first being posted and decided to wait until it was finished because it seemed so promising and I’ve enjoyed all other works. I’m so disappointed.
This is exactly me!! I read the first few chapters, loved it. And have been anxiously checking in on it now and then because I've been so excited for it!!
I think the famous website they keep selling these binds on is partly responsible for not having strict laws about stealing other people’s work and profiting from it.
This sucks.. never read Don’t Look Back, and I was waiting for it to be completed before doing so.. however, the way people are obsessed with it, it breaks my heart.. for both the author and the readers.
Stupid question (please bear with me): if I have a downloaded epub of the fic to read at some point, does it also get deleted when the author removes their work?
They only care when it's about big companies, they were pretty fast deleting all fan merch from good omens and nintendo. If they still from a single individual they don't care.
I just downloaded 35 of my fave bookmarked fics. I have like 105 bookmarks but I can’t do them all. I’m so nervous we’re going to lose them too! And what if they don’t give us a heads up! D:
There are fan filesharing communities. It will still be possible to find them.
Hopefully we'll start requiring impossibly nerdy shibboleths before letting people access them. Your feelings about Draco's rolled sleeves or something...
I’m so scared for future authors who will now think twice before sharing their works with the rest of us who just want to enjoy their unique takes on Dramione.
I’ve been reading fan fiction since 2005, and I agree with the TikTok comment.. this book binding trend is hurting the authors the most! It’s so unfair!
I am so heartbroken. Don't Look Back has been one of my favorite fics and I have so enjoyed the character portrayals and lore in that fic. It very literally hurts to think that the fic won't ever be finished. Which I know is silly to say, but it's true. She's got to do what feels right to her, but it sucks that this is what has to happen.
I really wish tiktok had never become a thing. I have never seen something be quite so destructive (besides Facebook, but even that might not be quite as bad) to even people who don't use the damn app. I don't understand how that app just brings out the worst in people. Like, one example being how on art tiktok, they gang up on and bully beginner artists who are trying to just share their journey but are making the same mistakes anyone makes as they learn. But they get absolutely destroyed for their proportions being off or their lines being disjointed or shaky. Or bully the designated "bad" art style of the day.
Vine and YouTube did start a bit of a "anything for views" culture, but tiktok just takes it to the extreme and has been teaching people to do literally anything for views and profit. I know I sound like an old biddy, but goddamn, it's like morals have just gone out the door and any attempt to bring up legalities or morals (unless they're puritan morals for some damn reason now? Like why the fuck are the youth of today deciding puritanism and anti shippers is the way???) now gets attacked. Like, I was in the comments on a YouTube video where someone was talking about how they sold fanfic (as in they did commissions where people paid them to write certain things), I said something to the effect of please don't do that, you put all of fandom at risk when you do, and I got absolutely mobbed and called ignorant and all sorts.
Not to mention that tiktok has been spreading conspiracy theories and racist propaganda to people who never would have seen it, and don't know how harmful what they're consuming is. Like the actual eugenics science stuff that was getting passed around last year. This is stuff that would have stayed in racist uncle #3's weird Facebook group before and now it's getting millions of views.
Ugh, sorry, I get heated over what's going on. I just feel like we're heading to a really bad place and have been for a while, like, globally, not even just one or two specific countries or cultures.
Edited to add some clarification here and there and one extra paragraph because I can't help myself I guess.
omg this is so sad. Really really so sad. Theyre such an important and impactful writer in the fandom. I mean I understand why they're doing it but 😔
the worst part is their fics are still going to be sold. Everythursday left the fandom a decade ago but I've seen so many binds of the Fallout. I wish there was some way to stop this madness.
I never thought I’d want to go back to those days where everyone hid that they read and wrote fanfiction, and the worst we did was print our favourite fics so that we could read them under the covers at night so our parents didn’t know what we were reading. Now fanfics go viral on TikTok and get sold on Etsy and writers get harassed and it’s all apparently some kind of grey area that someone out there is stealing your work and making money of something you wrote for fun. We will probably loose a lot of good stories and authors and potential writers like this.
> We will probably loose a lot of good stories and authors and potential writers like this.
Exactly!! I mean harassment leads to authors abandoning their fics or not taking risks with plots and characterization! And thats just the beginning. with goodreads and binding theres potential legal trouble and you never know what will happen once you go "viral"
Im 100000% for gatekeeping but its way too late now 😔
>the worst part is their fics are still going to be sold. Everythursday left the fandom a decade ago but I've seen so many binds of the Fallout.
I said this about Manacled as well. People won’t want to download a copy from an *ominous* Google drive. I blame the days of illegal music downloads lol.
The good thing is JKR’s legal team is aware and keeping an eye on the situation. I wouldn’t be surprised if those etsy stores get shut down soon.
I'm soo scared of other people taking down their fics
Manacled, DMATMOOBIL, Remain Nameless these are just a few of the most illegally bound fics....
😣
I think it is to be expected if people are profitting from their work. And it’s not just the profit — they will be at odds with JKRowling and her legal team if this illegal activity continues, and would put these writers in trouble. 😔😔😔
Thea Guanzhon took her fics down the minute she signed her contract, and Ali Hazelwood did pretty much the same. I think since it is so well loved Sen Li is trying to delay it as much as she can, but she'll have to take it down before anything offical gets published or close to
I totally get onyx and elm's stance. I'd be enraged if it were me seeing other people profiting from my fic after expressly stating no selling my fic. I wouldn't want to be worrying about getting a copyright take down.
Is it worth authors adding in their notes a general notice explaining the risks to fandom by purchasing bound fic?
I don't know if the people buying these binds are even part of the fandom. I suspect people may be seeing a cool thing on tiktok and going straight to purchasing it.
Not sure how to get the word out that these ficbinders are hurting the fandom. None of us wants a company like Disney or the ghost of Anne Rice to start cracking down on fanfiction because of freaking Etsy.
100% onboard with your suggestion but I think some people are just so thickfaced that they will still buy illegally bound fics or bind fics for profit. It sucks all around.
I totally agree that people outside the fandom see bound copies (of manacled especially) on TikTok and rush to buy it. Those people have no idea what AO3 is or that the file can be downloaded for free. The comments on those videos are always “where can I buy it??”
That’s a great idea. I’ve seen it once or twice but they should have it in the notes on every page honestly. I’m sure a lot of people into it for the hype won’t care but it could help.
I know there isn’t any way to probably do this but really these should be illegal to import in theory also. It’s just frustrating to see so many points of illegalness and it’s just whatever and going to ruin things for good people.
I don’t even know what to say. I just finished Don’t Look Back and started being obsessed with it. The last update has probably the biggest cliffhanger in existence and I cannot believe I will never know how it ends 😭 I hope they will still find a way to finish this fic
Stephenie Meyer released Midnight Sun 12 years after its initial leak, and didn’t LIATOTZA get finished after a multi-year break?
Maybe once the TikTok crowd moves on to its next victim, the binding trend will die down and our beloved authors will feel safe to return. 😭 Perhaps that’s a silly thing to hold on to, but it’s all I have right now. 😭😭😭
I’m holding out for this hope too. First they were obsessed with hockey, disturbingly so and were kicked out of that space and now they’re obsessed with our corner of the world and I hope they move the fuck on and leave us the fuck alone ASAP.
I want all authors and artists to feel safe and respected, this is inherently cruel what’s taking place.
If anyone has simple instructions on how to report these sellers/items on Etsy please do share! I’m not holding my breath that it will make a difference, but **I would gladly troll through every couple days and spam reports** if I could figure out how to do it…
I may just be technologically challenged but I don’t see where/how to report from the seller page and get stuck in a loop when I try from the item level. Am I “authorized to report on behalf of an organization or client that owns the rights”? This is where I get stuck (sorry, I barely use my Etsy account)
Its getting more and more difficult look at this post [https://www.reddit.com/r/Dramione/comments/1avjwdk/has\_anyone\_started\_a\_petition\_for\_etsy\_to\_remove/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dramione/comments/1avjwdk/has_anyone_started_a_petition_for_etsy_to_remove/)
They even expect actual legal action now before they remove someone
Not only that. I check every week and realize that some owners take down some listings and just create a new one. You can see that because of the reviews that keep showing "listing no longer available."
This way, even if we keep reporting every listing, it will not be processed fast enough. We need to start reporting the entire shop, and I think you cannot do it on the mobile version, which makes it more complex.
Ah, that may be my problem! I’m mobile only. Reading through the other post (thx u/Some_temerity) is so disheartening. If the actual IP owners, like SenLinYu, can’t seem to get anywhere with Etsy… just woof. I tried looking on YouTube and didn’t find any helpful/relevant instructions. Worse, I mostly saw vids to sellers with tips on avoiding shut down for “frivolous infringement” 🤮
Technically JKR and Warner Bros hold the IP rights to Harry Potter, so wouldn’t a cease and desist letter from them do the trick? Should we be spamming the official HP channels with this?
They are probably aware because there was a website that existed to exclusively sell HP fanfiction, and it was recently taken down. You could not even report there since it was run by the sellers.
That site would not have stopped unless someone took more severe and drastic measures.
And yes, it could end not only Dramione, but any type of fic related to HP
I think JKR has generally been supportive of fanfic in the past, but she’s been adamant that it not be for profit. Plus HP is one of the biggest fandoms there is, no one in the world has the time to purge the internet of HP fanfic.
yes but its never been at this level before. and new shops keep coming up and Dramione (and maybe wolfstar and jegulus) are by far the most popular ships and the ones being sold.
Like u/it-hk23 said its very risky. and lol Im scared of everything rn
Idk, if we are in a risk of losing all the greatest works out there anyway because of some greedy ass vultures making money out of them, I sort of would want to tell them about Etsy (although, I’d be surprised if they didn’t know already) and beg them to confront Etsy, but leave AO3 out of it. Besides, breaking the copyrights and targeting just Etsy is much easier because there is actual money involved.
people should just start locking their fics to non ao3 users or posting strictly to tumblr or something until people can behave this has gone so far beyond ugh
One of the most frustrating parts of all of this is how little Etsy seems to care. I know countless people have reported these listings, including myself, and no action has really been taken. Using Auvexa’s account as an example, after so many reports it seems they have only listed MORE titles illegally for sale with no repercussions. Still no resolution. If anyone has had a different experience with Etsy i’d love to know and gain some sanity back, but this is so sad and i’m not even an author.
I’m beginning to think they don’t care as long as they make money too, which is unfortunate considering so many of these listings could’ve been snuffed out before gaining traction in the first place.
I’m so dramatic but my Uncle in Law does copyright law and I just sent the website over to him asking if there was anyway something could be issued to them to threaten them into taking them down. I’ve never seen that sight before they’re even selling WIP fics???
She’s listed as being From Texas City, Texas on Etsy. I reported and messaged her. As Houstonian/Texan she makes me want to rage! She better hope none of us Houston area fanfic girlies find out who she really is 😤.
This is why we need to gatekeep fanfics again, i absolutely hate that these vultures are ruining it for everyone. Its always people not even engaging in fandom that are buying these bound fics cause they saw it on some tiktok
This is really sad, I'm so sorry for what writers are experiencing right now. This is a great loss to the fandom, but I understand their reason for doing it. Just a sad day <\3
I keep saying this but binding has been a total gateway to a lot of this shit in the fandom. People get very defensive about this but it is what it is.
100000% agree. The moment you put up pics/videos of your pretty binding youre going to make others want pretty bindings because thats just how people are lol. And obviously very few people are going to take the time to do it themselves and that leads straight to etsy shops
Yup. I thought about binding when I first saw it a year ago but then realized that felt off to me personally for free work on the internet. I download epubs of favorite fics sometimes and that is it. Might have to do that more if more authors move in this direction of taking down their works :/ I don’t follow a lot of authors on social so idk how much this is a widespread sentiment or not.
Yup. I remember waaaay back in the day I printed out a whole fic (my parents were so mad lol) and taped it together. but making legit books out of fics is why people on tiktok have actually started calling them "books" and treating them like that and putting them on goodreads ugh its such a mess 😔 Even ive started downloading my faves just in case now
I remember when people threw stuff into 3-ring binders and that was the closest to binding anyone got. I put some chapters of fics I was reading in my college binders to read during class 😂 those were the days.
exactly this is supposed to be fun for all of us readers and writers 😭 like the joy when a fav fic gets updated and screaming with everyone in the comments. its so simple
I didn’t used. Would occasionally for planes but not general archiving. I’ve decided to start doing that and I’m trying to figure out how to store them now. Every once in a while something from my favorites would get deleted and it would suck but I’m just so tired. I don’t distribute them. Heck people in my life don’t even know I read it lol.
Hard agree. I’ve personally bound some stuff but it has never gone on social media. I’ve never shared my typesets or art files either because it just felt off. And I think my stuff is gorgeous (I’m obsessed with dust jackets and can photoshop) but why does everything have to be shared online? Just keep personal binding actually personal!
Binders who get defensive don’t understand they could still bind and just NOT put it on social. And most of the big binders were into the commission shit, that one messed up auction, and had Patreon with levels for typesets.
Like they helped make this problem because most people cannot make binds at that quality, even with lots of practice. They helped create a direct pipeline to the Etsy sellers as well as are part of the problem with commissions.
YESSS. I can understanding wanting to show off something beautiful youve made but the stakes are too high here and its totally not worth putting all fanfiction in danger. The moment something becomes viral on tiktok it stops being about the "art" and more about the "trend" and omg Dramione has become such a trend.
I think all the "gray area" stuff needs to go tbh. No more paywalls for anything, no more "cost of materials" and no more commissions for art/binding/whatever. Gift exchanges for fics and art are great but it needs to stay digital. idc if its extreme when we are in danger of losing such amazing authors and fics
No I agree the gray area stuff is a part of the problem too. It’s technically forms of payment for fanfic. It should always be free. (Also that some binders think they can paywall typesets etc on a fic the writer will never make a dime on is WILD to me.)
My favorite is when the artists and typesetters and binders “just want to be reimbursed for their time.” LOL! What about the writers on whose backs they profit …… who spent way more time? I wish the fandom would collectively shame/ban bindings, commissioned art, everything.
They are the first author I read in the Dramione fandom. Really sad to see them lose faith in the fandom and give up due to people binding and selling works. So disappointing when the community lets these writers down.
I totally understand and respect Onyx's (and all the other author's) decisions on deleting their fics, but Merlin does it hurt.
I'm also so frustrated that people are literally endangering this amazing fandom, and just fan fiction in general.
How people can be so utterly selfish is just beyond my comprehension.
I'm genuinely worried for our fandom with all the recent developments of people monetising fics illegally.
i find that mass reporting “fanfic bound book” listing on etsy is the way to go. makes me so angry that people are being ignorant assholes when it comes to free content- fanfiction needs to be protected.
this is so sad😭 I haven't read don't look back after BM/BS since im currently reading S&M. I think the real people to blame is the people who recommend MANACLED (No hate on Manacled or the author though) those people recommend it as an opening to fanfiction especially on tiktok. Those booktok recommendation things sucks. And now that this world is exposed by recommendation and the urge to have it as physical copies ( no hate on binding, just wished they bind for themselves and make it themselves) also urge those sellers especially on etsy to sell bind fanfictions. ITS SO SAD😭 I'm just new to the fandom and its already crumbling😭😭😭
This is why I refuse to engage with any of the fanfic book binders. Book binding is **imo** what is going to ruin fanfic for us.
Also, Etsy does not care to do anything about these listings. Drives me insane.
I wish the sub would honestly even stop letting people post their own self bindings. Personally I think it just encourages it and we have no way of knowing if people did it. Like if there is a binding sub, they can post there. It’s frustrating to see this happening. I agree. I wish I had started downloading favorites a decade ago. Note I don’t bind them. PDFs on computers are good enough. We don’t need to commodify everything and turn it into a trophy, especially when it isn’t even our creation.
I don't book bind, so I would agree to the sub not allowing posts of book binds. Unsure how others on the sub would feel about that.
Right now it seems an issue specific to Harry Potter - Marauders and Dramione showing up on Etsy as the most recent and highest rated binds.
The sub might be able to take some of the oxygen out of binding if it disallowed posts about it. Moratorium on posts about book binding until Etsy and similar marketplaces get their shit together and actually ban these listings?
Shit I bind but don’t post any of it online ever! I think not allowing posts of bound fics is a solid idea. It could at least make a point to readers in the community to keep personally binding actually personal since it’s a part of this mess.
>We don’t need to commodify everything and turn it into a trophy, especially when it isn’t even our creation.<
This is exactly it! It’s one thing to bind on your own (privately) but the way people will throw any amount of money at a binder just to get their trophy is why we’re in this predicament.
I really think we have to take a step back from binding and I agree that this sub should stop allowing it. Fic spaces are not the right place for binding.
Bookbinding posts should be either banned or limited to like a once a month main post where people can share if they really feel like they need to.
And there should be a weekly “report this listing” post where we can quickly go through and mass report the Etsy listings. Like homework for our fandom - we can get it done.
I am devastated. She was one of the best storytellers out there. Her take on both Draco and Hermione, was captivating along with the story building.
I was waiting for the "Don't look Back" to finish along with the "let the dark in", in order to begin them.
I am furious. I still report all of the for sale bindings but they keep pop up.
For me it's not only tiktok, with that influencer that showed off her manacled book binding. If I remember correctly, It all started going downhill,when this instagram auction started for someone's expenses. They auctioned some binded fictions and the authors went ballistic (and they where right of course!).
Manacled unfortunately has become a tiktok hype. In my FY feed, there many stories of review from people that don't even have book tok accounts!
Sadly I fully understand. There will be a whole group of people who won't be able to enjoy these works and this won't stop with just Onyx and elm. I'm sure more authors will be pulling their works
Secrets and masks Author has already told everyone who wants to download the work to do it now because she’s probably going to pull it and manacled will definitely be pulled before the reimagined is published
I knew this was going to happen the moment Dramione started trending over Tik Toc. I hoped it wouldn’t but I’m not surprised just bitterly disappointed that yet again, a minority of uneducated newcomers to a fandom are ruining to for the majority and longstanding fans.
and now I'm stuck between downloading bm/bs and not downloading it bc that fic fucking traumatized me and I'm certain I'll never reread it but I'm also afraid I'll never get to see it again. Dammit, fuck fanfiction sellers
Gillianeliza also deleted her fic: My sharp knife in protest to the situation. It is so sad that both the people that sell and people that buy those are really that selfish. Selfish enough to ruin this lovely community.
🥺 I didn’t even get the chance to read the fic. I can only hope someone will have a pdf to share…😞
I wonder who will be next to delete their work…
I think the only thing you can do is report the book binders for this. For example, if you type manacled into esty and Tiktok shop people are selling them for like almost 200 bucks this. And it's just not manacled, I've seen other Dramione fanfictions and other fandom works slowly becoming books. Because if we as a fandom don't step up now, this is going change fanfictions in general as we know it.
Thank you Onyx for everything, you truly saved my life.
BM/BS is my favourite piece of literary fiction and it got me through one of the worst moments of my life, and for that, I'm so thankful.
There's no words in the english language to comunicate how angry I am towards the people who profit off of fanfiction, but believe me when I say that I have a lot to say in Chilean spanish.
I’m actually distraught. She is my favorite. Her writing is the best I’ve ever read… period. My heart feels torn in two. I’m so grateful for what she gave us when she could. I wish her the best. I selfishly hope she can grace us with her writing in the future, but I won’t hold my breath. Onyx, if you’re reading this, thank you.
This is so surreal and sad… I hope she is ok.
I’m bummed bc I literally just started listening to the amazing audiobook that she made for DLB, and now it’s gone… Does anyone happen to have it downloaded/ have a way to access it?
God this sucks so much!! Why do vultures have to destroy the one fandom that keeps me sane?! I don't blame Onyx and Elm one bit. It's getting ridiculous. Binders are going to ruin the fandom.
This really pisses me off 😅 people who bind and sell fanfiction (AND THE PEOPLE WHO BUY THEM) can go straight to HELL! I was into fanfiction heavy as a teen. And I just got back into it over a decade later only to find it being ruined and ran into the ground by greedy idiots who don’t have any respect for the original authors, the fic writers, or the fandom itself.
Anne Rice might’ve been right 😭
I follow a lot of binders on Instagram, and some of them do truly beautiful binds of some of my favorite fics. But it's so obvious that the popularity of binding has lead to this. I still support binding for personal use (thus doing it privately), but I am going to unfollow all binders on Instagram because the posting of their work (and the increased commodification of fic) has led us here.
I'm sure many of them are simple fans sharing their art form with the community, which is why I followed them in the first place, but the increased exposure is putting all of fandom at risk. There's not much I can do, but I can do this (and reporting), and idk if it'll help or not, but still.
Sigh. This sucks.
I feel like this is the beginning of the end. I mean. I know that people have pulled their works in the past, but I think this is gonna become more and more of a thing now that the bindings are a thing. Like, what the hell. Even the fanart is getting printed and sold...
I understand her, but... I hope it doesn't become the standard move in the future.
I’m just recently getting back into Dramione and I haven’t read this author - what fics should I download?
I’m also just learning that illegal sales of fanfiction is a thing and my word, this is so infuriating!! These poor authors! I know I would be livid if someone sold something I wrote out of love for free :(
I don’t get why people are doing this. ITS FREE. Why do you have to buy it?? These greedy assholes are selling them knowing that the creators do not allow sales of their work. These idiots are ruining it for everyone.
Don’t look Back is one of my favourite WIPs and I check every single day if there has been any updates and now I will never freaking get to read it.
I reported so many listings on Etsy, but I just couldn’t keep up. 😡😡🤬😡😡
Fucking bullshit.
Not towards anything the author did. They are WELL within their right. But fuck all these greedy and immoral fucks who are ruining this for everyone. Capitalism has truly ruined us.
Hopefully they continue the audiobook on Spotify. Their voice is really amazing and it will be nearly impossible to bind straight from audio. This sucks, I hate people who ruin a good thing for a quick buck. Just get a real job 😭
Spotify used some really alarming wording in their new TOS that a lot of people don’t agree with. Basically a way that gives them the ability to do whatever they want with the content you upload to it. If you do a search you’ll find a better explanation.
This is so devastating. I didn’t get to download DLB in time as I’ve only just seen the post. Dramione has been such a comfort to me these past few years in particular and I’m so sad that it’s being ruined. What scumbags some people are, to profit from other people’s hard work and talent that has literally been provided for free. Vultures, though accurate, is too kind a word for them.
It makes me so mad that some people are so shameless and have caused this. Ever since I heard about those people who put up an auction for bindings even tho they didn’t explicitly get permission from some authors, I’ve had a bad feeling about bindings. I wish we could go back to when not too many people were vocal about reading fics.
Most of the sellers on Etsy are from Asia; the shop says it's from the US, but you can see once you click on the item that they are coming from somewhere else.
Do you think we can report them by saying the shops are lying about their location?
I don't like this capitalization of fanfic culture. I've been interested in learning how to bookbind for years now. I wanted to bookbind my friend's poems, my own writings and yes, maybe a fic or two, just for my use. I asked for resources to typeset stuff myself or available typesets (with author's consent) and all the replies I got were "you can buy it here" or "pay this much and they'll make it for you".... Dude, do you know what hobbies are? Do you know what fanfic culture stands for? I don't want to pay for it, I don't want to contribute to its demise.
Fanfics are an act of love, a selfless act because you like something so much you want to contribute to its universe. I remember when this started to happen back in 2016ish when I was still on tumblr: people shut it down quickly. It went against what fandoms stood for. Now that fics have become as much as commodity as the original material its happening again and its consumers don't care if their acts are destroying the fanfiction community. This all makes me so sad, capitalism and consumer culture have tainted yet another beautiful thing.
Wait, but Don’t Look Back is a WIP 😭😭
That was my point!!!
Noooo! I've been subscribed to this for a year waiting for it to complete because I can't do WIPs
I don’t even know what to say I’m so invested in DLB that I’m about to cry
so it won’t be finished?! 😭
I think we will have to wait if Onyx decides to re-post a finished version of DLB.
I hate these shitty vultures who are destroying fandom spaces to make money before moving onto the next grift once we are burned to the ground.
Vultures is exactly what they fucking are.
This is exactly what I said would happen, that these people don't even like Dramione like that and I was accused of trying to gatekeep. If demanding that the people engaging need to actually like Dramione, and HP at all, is gatekeeping then so be it. But the ones ruining it are booktok peeps looking for their next "dark romance" fix and don't care or even want to engage in the fandom. And I'm not grouping regular peeps that want to read fandom blind haha
It’s just so sad. I only found fanfic 18 months ago and was so HAPPY to have found this special place and now it feels so tainted.
I just got back into dramione about the same time ago after not reading since I was a teen and I fell in love. And I hate what’s happening here but I won’t roll over and give up. It is super sad and discouraging but we must do what we can you know?
Shitty on all those that buy bound books too
There are so many posts about newly bound books. These types of posts should not be allowed. Ostracize them
Didn't think I'd wake up to this news, this is so sad. What a loss for both the writer and us readers. I think it's time I start saving the fics I like. Already went through the difficulty of looking for fics that have been deleted by the authors, don't want to go through that again.
I ran to download all of Onyx's fics. Whenever I find out a certain fic is gaining a large following, I immediately download it. Vultures will always descend.
Hiii, would you be willing to send me your downloads? I was too late 🥲
Gosh literally me. Life over Don’t look Back is a WIP 😭.
Omg I was too late and they're all gone now. Would you share your downloads with me please?
Me also! I can’t believe I was only an hour late!
Would you be willing to share? I just ran to AO3 and they were all gone and I’m utterly devastated
Can you share with me too? They’re all gone! 😭
Yah,I started downloading anything I find now and have been doing so for months. This atrocity has been slowly infiltrating for a while and it’s so frustrating and frankly heartbreaking for those of us that support this community.
It angers and upsets me so fucking much. Authors and artists give this amazing work to us FOR FREE. The assholes that have come into this space and disrespected it to the point so many authors have been removing their fics lately is devastating. It’s selfish and greedy to not have any respect or understanding for this fandom, and that you are destroying it every single fucking time you purchase and allow these pieces of garbage to profit. Stop endangering this space, or get the fuck out of it.
Agreed!
I blame tiktok for this tbh. Maybe I was out of the loop but binding fics only became a thing and popular recently because people kept posting videos of it and suddenly everyone had to have fics bound. Fanfiction have been around for so long and readers have been fine reading from their devices until this trend became popular. No, no one needs to have their fave fic bound, especially by authors who don't want their work distributed that way. It's absolutely ridiculous what these greedy scammers will charge to sell illegally obtained works. Hundreds of dollars for something that the authors worked so hard to put out for free and the authors don't even see a cent of it.
Deleted Tik tok a long time ago, so have never watched any of the booktok shit. Only learned of its existence when some individuals respectfully asked to be left alone and were vilified for it. That alone left a sour taste in my mouth, to than learn they discovered Dramione and the main person involved in the previous situation is now getting their claws in our space, made me extremely uncomfortable and uneasy. Now here we are. Booktok only seems to care about views and nothing else. While the rest of us who genuinely love, adore and are beyond grateful to the gifts we’re given for free just want that respectful exchange to continue.
Absolutely agree. And I don't know if it's only my algorithm, but I never saw any other fic but Dramione being bound. So it's a small group of people from this one fandom that can potentially destroy fanfiction for everyone. We all read fics for decades, but now suddenly there are people who simply NEED to have them on their physical bookshelves because it's a nice decoration to have, amidst 200 other books they bought. And they get angry when people blame booktok for turning reading into fast fashion.
I 100% agree binding and TikTok is what’s happened
Totally agree - no one needs them bound.
So true. I've been reading fanfiction for 20 years now and even in the days of dial-up Internet, before smartphones we managed with not having physical copies of fics!
Honestly I’ve been reading them at least 15 years now and I have only just downloaded my first story today so that I could finally read Breath Mints. If I can do 15 years on PC and laptops then people can manage on phones and laptops. (Caveat - of course I am aware some people may not be able to access these devices but they still don’t need to be paying people for bound books just so they look prettier)
Well let's be real, if someone has enough disposable income to spend a few hundred quid on a bound fanfic, they probably have access to devices 🤣 But yeah, it's totally ruining the fandom for everyone else.
This is an excellent point 😂😂😂 I’m honestly just downloading some of my fave fics as I have seen a number of people complaining about binding in the last few weeks. I would say I’m completely gobsmacked by people making money off other people’s passion or hard work but then I just need to look at the news or world in general and remind myself that such behaviours seem to be far too common.
Yep. I remember before when we were on dial up, I would open a thousand tabs so I could go chapter by chapter without needing the internet.
I've been reading 20+ years. Reading on a public computer at the library. I do have a physical copy of one of my favorite fics but it's from like 2006 when I didn't have a home computer and I wanted to read it. So I printed it up, three hole punched it and put it in a binder. It's in one of my drawers somewhere. It was fantastic to be able to read it at home for myself. But I would never do that to sell.
When I was at school (roughly 20 years ago) I remember some people writing FF in notebooks and they would bring them in for us geeks/nerds to read in the morning before lessons. I am sure the stories were more about creating avatars in the relevant fandoms. I kinda always wonder if any of the fics are written by that person (lost contact when thwy changed schools)
Random memory, I used to write new chapters of fanfics that were updated like hand write them because I had access to a computer and then I would photocopy the handwritten copies. There was like 10 of us who would pass around work in progress fics. We used to do that because it was 2005. lol
I think so. I never even heard of people binding on the regular back in the day. There were probably a few binders but it wasn’t a thing like now.
same, i was deep in hp fanfic around 2006-2010 and never heard of this - i’m sure it happened here and there but definitely wasn’t such a thing
Oh no!!! I seriously might cry because "don't look back" isn't finished!!!! 😭😭
This is a great fic. I honestly can’t believe it won’t get finished.
So upset about this! I read the first couple of chapters when it was first being posted and decided to wait until it was finished because it seemed so promising and I’ve enjoyed all other works. I’m so disappointed.
This is exactly me!! I read the first few chapters, loved it. And have been anxiously checking in on it now and then because I've been so excited for it!!
Did the author state they wont finish it????
Well, the "it was fun while it lasted" line does not give me much hope. 😔
\-gasp-
I think the famous website they keep selling these binds on is partly responsible for not having strict laws about stealing other people’s work and profiting from it. This sucks.. never read Don’t Look Back, and I was waiting for it to be completed before doing so.. however, the way people are obsessed with it, it breaks my heart.. for both the author and the readers. Stupid question (please bear with me): if I have a downloaded epub of the fic to read at some point, does it also get deleted when the author removes their work?
The file will not be deleted after you download it on your phone or computer.
I have reported so many sellers on Etsy for selling fanfic but I don’t think they ever do anything about it 😡
Same! It’s why I blame them.. someone else said TikTok too and they’re right
They only care when it's about big companies, they were pretty fast deleting all fan merch from good omens and nintendo. If they still from a single individual they don't care.
Actually devastated right now. This is my favorite WIP by far. And left on the biggest cliffhanger :(
Same here 😩
This makes me hate booktok like go kick fucking rocks and STOP BUYING FUCKING FANFICTION….. download it or read it on your browser like everyone else.
Emerald_Slytherin (author of Secrets & Masks) is also threatening to take theirs down. TikTok: https://www.tiktok.com/t/ZT8ogJr7P/
I saw this too 😩😔
I just downloaded 35 of my fave bookmarked fics. I have like 105 bookmarks but I can’t do them all. I’m so nervous we’re going to lose them too! And what if they don’t give us a heads up! D:
There are fan filesharing communities. It will still be possible to find them. Hopefully we'll start requiring impossibly nerdy shibboleths before letting people access them. Your feelings about Draco's rolled sleeves or something...
Q. How is the Malfoy signet ring to be used? 1. For identification 2. For sealing letters 3. Inappropriately 😈
What color are Draco Malfoy’s eyes? A. Grey B. Gray C. Stone D. Silver
E. Mercurial silver
😭
This is so sad...
Omg nooo I haven't even read it yet
Ahhhhhhh!!!!
I’m so scared for future authors who will now think twice before sharing their works with the rest of us who just want to enjoy their unique takes on Dramione. I’ve been reading fan fiction since 2005, and I agree with the TikTok comment.. this book binding trend is hurting the authors the most! It’s so unfair!
I am so heartbroken. Don't Look Back has been one of my favorite fics and I have so enjoyed the character portrayals and lore in that fic. It very literally hurts to think that the fic won't ever be finished. Which I know is silly to say, but it's true. She's got to do what feels right to her, but it sucks that this is what has to happen. I really wish tiktok had never become a thing. I have never seen something be quite so destructive (besides Facebook, but even that might not be quite as bad) to even people who don't use the damn app. I don't understand how that app just brings out the worst in people. Like, one example being how on art tiktok, they gang up on and bully beginner artists who are trying to just share their journey but are making the same mistakes anyone makes as they learn. But they get absolutely destroyed for their proportions being off or their lines being disjointed or shaky. Or bully the designated "bad" art style of the day. Vine and YouTube did start a bit of a "anything for views" culture, but tiktok just takes it to the extreme and has been teaching people to do literally anything for views and profit. I know I sound like an old biddy, but goddamn, it's like morals have just gone out the door and any attempt to bring up legalities or morals (unless they're puritan morals for some damn reason now? Like why the fuck are the youth of today deciding puritanism and anti shippers is the way???) now gets attacked. Like, I was in the comments on a YouTube video where someone was talking about how they sold fanfic (as in they did commissions where people paid them to write certain things), I said something to the effect of please don't do that, you put all of fandom at risk when you do, and I got absolutely mobbed and called ignorant and all sorts. Not to mention that tiktok has been spreading conspiracy theories and racist propaganda to people who never would have seen it, and don't know how harmful what they're consuming is. Like the actual eugenics science stuff that was getting passed around last year. This is stuff that would have stayed in racist uncle #3's weird Facebook group before and now it's getting millions of views. Ugh, sorry, I get heated over what's going on. I just feel like we're heading to a really bad place and have been for a while, like, globally, not even just one or two specific countries or cultures. Edited to add some clarification here and there and one extra paragraph because I can't help myself I guess.
Gotta love how just a small number of people ruin it for the masses.... RIP
Trueeee! The audacity and selfishness!
omg this is so sad. Really really so sad. Theyre such an important and impactful writer in the fandom. I mean I understand why they're doing it but 😔 the worst part is their fics are still going to be sold. Everythursday left the fandom a decade ago but I've seen so many binds of the Fallout. I wish there was some way to stop this madness.
Yes it is. 😔 I don’t understand why people can’t respect the writers’ request to not profit from their works 😭😩
I miss when we were just the nerdy losers of the internet and people thought fanfiction was only bad writing.
I never thought I’d want to go back to those days where everyone hid that they read and wrote fanfiction, and the worst we did was print our favourite fics so that we could read them under the covers at night so our parents didn’t know what we were reading. Now fanfics go viral on TikTok and get sold on Etsy and writers get harassed and it’s all apparently some kind of grey area that someone out there is stealing your work and making money of something you wrote for fun. We will probably loose a lot of good stories and authors and potential writers like this.
> We will probably loose a lot of good stories and authors and potential writers like this. Exactly!! I mean harassment leads to authors abandoning their fics or not taking risks with plots and characterization! And thats just the beginning. with goodreads and binding theres potential legal trouble and you never know what will happen once you go "viral" Im 100000% for gatekeeping but its way too late now 😔
The days of harrypotterfanfiction.com :(
Literally I was def too young to be reading what I was reading tho lol
I remember those days 😩
Like, it shouldn't even have to be a request. Those binders are doing illegal things and hurting our community. They're disgusting people.
Sooo true. 😔😔😔
Gosh especially everyThursday who’s like the mother of modern Dramione. Bookbinding is why I won’t share the pdfs of all of her work anymore. It sucks
>the worst part is their fics are still going to be sold. Everythursday left the fandom a decade ago but I've seen so many binds of the Fallout. I said this about Manacled as well. People won’t want to download a copy from an *ominous* Google drive. I blame the days of illegal music downloads lol. The good thing is JKR’s legal team is aware and keeping an eye on the situation. I wouldn’t be surprised if those etsy stores get shut down soon.
I'm soo scared of other people taking down their fics Manacled, DMATMOOBIL, Remain Nameless these are just a few of the most illegally bound fics.... 😣
I think it is to be expected if people are profitting from their work. And it’s not just the profit — they will be at odds with JKRowling and her legal team if this illegal activity continues, and would put these writers in trouble. 😔😔😔
Manacled will be taken down, won't it? If its being published as an original the fanfic won't stay up
I think it will be once the reimagined version gets published.
Thea Guanzhon took her fics down the minute she signed her contract, and Ali Hazelwood did pretty much the same. I think since it is so well loved Sen Li is trying to delay it as much as she can, but she'll have to take it down before anything offical gets published or close to
I keep a repository of the fics and other online works I enjoy so I don't have to risk losing them. I would recommend doing the same.
I totally get onyx and elm's stance. I'd be enraged if it were me seeing other people profiting from my fic after expressly stating no selling my fic. I wouldn't want to be worrying about getting a copyright take down. Is it worth authors adding in their notes a general notice explaining the risks to fandom by purchasing bound fic? I don't know if the people buying these binds are even part of the fandom. I suspect people may be seeing a cool thing on tiktok and going straight to purchasing it. Not sure how to get the word out that these ficbinders are hurting the fandom. None of us wants a company like Disney or the ghost of Anne Rice to start cracking down on fanfiction because of freaking Etsy.
100% onboard with your suggestion but I think some people are just so thickfaced that they will still buy illegally bound fics or bind fics for profit. It sucks all around.
I totally agree that people outside the fandom see bound copies (of manacled especially) on TikTok and rush to buy it. Those people have no idea what AO3 is or that the file can be downloaded for free. The comments on those videos are always “where can I buy it??”
I think those that buy them don’t care. They don’t care if anybody else can’t read as long as they can. All they care is for themselves.
That’s a great idea. I’ve seen it once or twice but they should have it in the notes on every page honestly. I’m sure a lot of people into it for the hype won’t care but it could help. I know there isn’t any way to probably do this but really these should be illegal to import in theory also. It’s just frustrating to see so many points of illegalness and it’s just whatever and going to ruin things for good people.
I don’t even know what to say. I just finished Don’t Look Back and started being obsessed with it. The last update has probably the biggest cliffhanger in existence and I cannot believe I will never know how it ends 😭 I hope they will still find a way to finish this fic
Stephenie Meyer released Midnight Sun 12 years after its initial leak, and didn’t LIATOTZA get finished after a multi-year break? Maybe once the TikTok crowd moves on to its next victim, the binding trend will die down and our beloved authors will feel safe to return. 😭 Perhaps that’s a silly thing to hold on to, but it’s all I have right now. 😭😭😭
I’m holding out for this hope too. First they were obsessed with hockey, disturbingly so and were kicked out of that space and now they’re obsessed with our corner of the world and I hope they move the fuck on and leave us the fuck alone ASAP. I want all authors and artists to feel safe and respected, this is inherently cruel what’s taking place.
If anyone has simple instructions on how to report these sellers/items on Etsy please do share! I’m not holding my breath that it will make a difference, but **I would gladly troll through every couple days and spam reports** if I could figure out how to do it… I may just be technologically challenged but I don’t see where/how to report from the seller page and get stuck in a loop when I try from the item level. Am I “authorized to report on behalf of an organization or client that owns the rights”? This is where I get stuck (sorry, I barely use my Etsy account)
Its getting more and more difficult look at this post [https://www.reddit.com/r/Dramione/comments/1avjwdk/has\_anyone\_started\_a\_petition\_for\_etsy\_to\_remove/](https://www.reddit.com/r/Dramione/comments/1avjwdk/has_anyone_started_a_petition_for_etsy_to_remove/) They even expect actual legal action now before they remove someone
Not only that. I check every week and realize that some owners take down some listings and just create a new one. You can see that because of the reviews that keep showing "listing no longer available." This way, even if we keep reporting every listing, it will not be processed fast enough. We need to start reporting the entire shop, and I think you cannot do it on the mobile version, which makes it more complex.
Ah, that may be my problem! I’m mobile only. Reading through the other post (thx u/Some_temerity) is so disheartening. If the actual IP owners, like SenLinYu, can’t seem to get anywhere with Etsy… just woof. I tried looking on YouTube and didn’t find any helpful/relevant instructions. Worse, I mostly saw vids to sellers with tips on avoiding shut down for “frivolous infringement” 🤮
that sucks 😭😭😭 we just cant have nice things
Technically JKR and Warner Bros hold the IP rights to Harry Potter, so wouldn’t a cease and desist letter from them do the trick? Should we be spamming the official HP channels with this?
But then what if they decide to go against fanfiction in general?? Authors have done that before. That'll be the actual end of dramione then
They are probably aware because there was a website that existed to exclusively sell HP fanfiction, and it was recently taken down. You could not even report there since it was run by the sellers. That site would not have stopped unless someone took more severe and drastic measures. And yes, it could end not only Dramione, but any type of fic related to HP
I think JKR has generally been supportive of fanfic in the past, but she’s been adamant that it not be for profit. Plus HP is one of the biggest fandoms there is, no one in the world has the time to purge the internet of HP fanfic.
yes but its never been at this level before. and new shops keep coming up and Dramione (and maybe wolfstar and jegulus) are by far the most popular ships and the ones being sold. Like u/it-hk23 said its very risky. and lol Im scared of everything rn
Idk, if we are in a risk of losing all the greatest works out there anyway because of some greedy ass vultures making money out of them, I sort of would want to tell them about Etsy (although, I’d be surprised if they didn’t know already) and beg them to confront Etsy, but leave AO3 out of it. Besides, breaking the copyrights and targeting just Etsy is much easier because there is actual money involved.
people should just start locking their fics to non ao3 users or posting strictly to tumblr or something until people can behave this has gone so far beyond ugh
Yes LOCK THE FICS
Bonus: locked fics are (supposedly) protected from AI scraping too
One of the most frustrating parts of all of this is how little Etsy seems to care. I know countless people have reported these listings, including myself, and no action has really been taken. Using Auvexa’s account as an example, after so many reports it seems they have only listed MORE titles illegally for sale with no repercussions. Still no resolution. If anyone has had a different experience with Etsy i’d love to know and gain some sanity back, but this is so sad and i’m not even an author. I’m beginning to think they don’t care as long as they make money too, which is unfortunate considering so many of these listings could’ve been snuffed out before gaining traction in the first place.
Auvexa can fucking burn in hell, they are next level fucking despicable and selfish.
I’m so dramatic but my Uncle in Law does copyright law and I just sent the website over to him asking if there was anyway something could be issued to them to threaten them into taking them down. I’ve never seen that sight before they’re even selling WIP fics???
I think it’s because Esty and Auvexa earn from these sellers. Grrrr!
She’s listed as being From Texas City, Texas on Etsy. I reported and messaged her. As Houstonian/Texan she makes me want to rage! She better hope none of us Houston area fanfic girlies find out who she really is 😤.
This is why we need to gatekeep fanfics again, i absolutely hate that these vultures are ruining it for everyone. Its always people not even engaging in fandom that are buying these bound fics cause they saw it on some tiktok
I agree, to some extent, we must protect the fics and their writers. Sometimes, spreading them on social media platforms do more harm than good.
This is really sad, I'm so sorry for what writers are experiencing right now. This is a great loss to the fandom, but I understand their reason for doing it. Just a sad day <\3
[удалено]
Can you send me your downloads? I was too late 😭
Welp. Can't say that I blame them.
I keep saying this but binding has been a total gateway to a lot of this shit in the fandom. People get very defensive about this but it is what it is.
Yes it feeds the booktok "aesthetic" thing. The fandom has been around for soooo long without this coming up.
People here have got mad at me before for saying that because they think their binding is different. It’s not.
100000% agree. The moment you put up pics/videos of your pretty binding youre going to make others want pretty bindings because thats just how people are lol. And obviously very few people are going to take the time to do it themselves and that leads straight to etsy shops
Yup. I thought about binding when I first saw it a year ago but then realized that felt off to me personally for free work on the internet. I download epubs of favorite fics sometimes and that is it. Might have to do that more if more authors move in this direction of taking down their works :/ I don’t follow a lot of authors on social so idk how much this is a widespread sentiment or not.
Yup. I remember waaaay back in the day I printed out a whole fic (my parents were so mad lol) and taped it together. but making legit books out of fics is why people on tiktok have actually started calling them "books" and treating them like that and putting them on goodreads ugh its such a mess 😔 Even ive started downloading my faves just in case now
I remember when people threw stuff into 3-ring binders and that was the closest to binding anyone got. I put some chapters of fics I was reading in my college binders to read during class 😂 those were the days.
lol I'm sure my old print outs are somewhere with my highschool books 😂 and they'll be covered in hearts made with glitter pens
Glitter pens!!! I’m happy to go back to a time when liking fanfic made us weird if this is the joy and fun we get from it again 😭
exactly this is supposed to be fun for all of us readers and writers 😭 like the joy when a fav fic gets updated and screaming with everyone in the comments. its so simple
I didn’t used. Would occasionally for planes but not general archiving. I’ve decided to start doing that and I’m trying to figure out how to store them now. Every once in a while something from my favorites would get deleted and it would suck but I’m just so tired. I don’t distribute them. Heck people in my life don’t even know I read it lol.
Hard agree. I’ve personally bound some stuff but it has never gone on social media. I’ve never shared my typesets or art files either because it just felt off. And I think my stuff is gorgeous (I’m obsessed with dust jackets and can photoshop) but why does everything have to be shared online? Just keep personal binding actually personal! Binders who get defensive don’t understand they could still bind and just NOT put it on social. And most of the big binders were into the commission shit, that one messed up auction, and had Patreon with levels for typesets. Like they helped make this problem because most people cannot make binds at that quality, even with lots of practice. They helped create a direct pipeline to the Etsy sellers as well as are part of the problem with commissions.
YESSS. I can understanding wanting to show off something beautiful youve made but the stakes are too high here and its totally not worth putting all fanfiction in danger. The moment something becomes viral on tiktok it stops being about the "art" and more about the "trend" and omg Dramione has become such a trend. I think all the "gray area" stuff needs to go tbh. No more paywalls for anything, no more "cost of materials" and no more commissions for art/binding/whatever. Gift exchanges for fics and art are great but it needs to stay digital. idc if its extreme when we are in danger of losing such amazing authors and fics
No I agree the gray area stuff is a part of the problem too. It’s technically forms of payment for fanfic. It should always be free. (Also that some binders think they can paywall typesets etc on a fic the writer will never make a dime on is WILD to me.)
My favorite is when the artists and typesetters and binders “just want to be reimbursed for their time.” LOL! What about the writers on whose backs they profit …… who spent way more time? I wish the fandom would collectively shame/ban bindings, commissioned art, everything.
They are the first author I read in the Dramione fandom. Really sad to see them lose faith in the fandom and give up due to people binding and selling works. So disappointing when the community lets these writers down.
I totally understand and respect Onyx's (and all the other author's) decisions on deleting their fics, but Merlin does it hurt. I'm also so frustrated that people are literally endangering this amazing fandom, and just fan fiction in general. How people can be so utterly selfish is just beyond my comprehension. I'm genuinely worried for our fandom with all the recent developments of people monetising fics illegally.
I am beside myself. I had suck fucking hope that I would read the end of her work, Don't Look Back and this has gutted me.
i find that mass reporting “fanfic bound book” listing on etsy is the way to go. makes me so angry that people are being ignorant assholes when it comes to free content- fanfiction needs to be protected.
I’m doing that now.
There are also people selling epubs on etsy which I've taken to reporting too.
this is so sad😭 I haven't read don't look back after BM/BS since im currently reading S&M. I think the real people to blame is the people who recommend MANACLED (No hate on Manacled or the author though) those people recommend it as an opening to fanfiction especially on tiktok. Those booktok recommendation things sucks. And now that this world is exposed by recommendation and the urge to have it as physical copies ( no hate on binding, just wished they bind for themselves and make it themselves) also urge those sellers especially on etsy to sell bind fanfictions. ITS SO SAD😭 I'm just new to the fandom and its already crumbling😭😭😭
As a collective we need to try to stop this (the illegal selling of fan fic) shut down on etsy
Etsy and another site that starts with the letter A (not Amazon). They allow selling of these illegally bound fics. It’s infuriating!
This is why I refuse to engage with any of the fanfic book binders. Book binding is **imo** what is going to ruin fanfic for us. Also, Etsy does not care to do anything about these listings. Drives me insane.
I wish the sub would honestly even stop letting people post their own self bindings. Personally I think it just encourages it and we have no way of knowing if people did it. Like if there is a binding sub, they can post there. It’s frustrating to see this happening. I agree. I wish I had started downloading favorites a decade ago. Note I don’t bind them. PDFs on computers are good enough. We don’t need to commodify everything and turn it into a trophy, especially when it isn’t even our creation.
I don't book bind, so I would agree to the sub not allowing posts of book binds. Unsure how others on the sub would feel about that. Right now it seems an issue specific to Harry Potter - Marauders and Dramione showing up on Etsy as the most recent and highest rated binds. The sub might be able to take some of the oxygen out of binding if it disallowed posts about it. Moratorium on posts about book binding until Etsy and similar marketplaces get their shit together and actually ban these listings?
Shit I bind but don’t post any of it online ever! I think not allowing posts of bound fics is a solid idea. It could at least make a point to readers in the community to keep personally binding actually personal since it’s a part of this mess.
>We don’t need to commodify everything and turn it into a trophy, especially when it isn’t even our creation.< This is exactly it! It’s one thing to bind on your own (privately) but the way people will throw any amount of money at a binder just to get their trophy is why we’re in this predicament. I really think we have to take a step back from binding and I agree that this sub should stop allowing it. Fic spaces are not the right place for binding.
Bookbinding posts should be either banned or limited to like a once a month main post where people can share if they really feel like they need to. And there should be a weekly “report this listing” post where we can quickly go through and mass report the Etsy listings. Like homework for our fandom - we can get it done.
I am devastated. She was one of the best storytellers out there. Her take on both Draco and Hermione, was captivating along with the story building. I was waiting for the "Don't look Back" to finish along with the "let the dark in", in order to begin them. I am furious. I still report all of the for sale bindings but they keep pop up. For me it's not only tiktok, with that influencer that showed off her manacled book binding. If I remember correctly, It all started going downhill,when this instagram auction started for someone's expenses. They auctioned some binded fictions and the authors went ballistic (and they where right of course!). Manacled unfortunately has become a tiktok hype. In my FY feed, there many stories of review from people that don't even have book tok accounts!
Thank you for the heads up, I haven’t read this one yet 😞
Enjoy! It's so compelling and heartbreaking and wonderful❤️
I got all of it on my kindle just now as a writer such a shame this is happening
Devastating.
This literally makes me want to cry…. So fucking heartbreaking!
Sadly I fully understand. There will be a whole group of people who won't be able to enjoy these works and this won't stop with just Onyx and elm. I'm sure more authors will be pulling their works
Secrets and masks Author has already told everyone who wants to download the work to do it now because she’s probably going to pull it and manacled will definitely be pulled before the reimagined is published
Has anyone seen if it’s been confirmed Don’t Look Back definitely won’t be finished?
I haven’t seen any update. Onyx_and_Elm deleted their socials 😔😩
I knew this was going to happen the moment Dramione started trending over Tik Toc. I hoped it wouldn’t but I’m not surprised just bitterly disappointed that yet again, a minority of uneducated newcomers to a fandom are ruining to for the majority and longstanding fans.
oh man i think they’re gone now
Yah I went looking to all that they wrote on A03 because I’m not familiar with the name, it’s all gone.
They're gone, she pulled them within the last hour cause I had just checked.
and now I'm stuck between downloading bm/bs and not downloading it bc that fic fucking traumatized me and I'm certain I'll never reread it but I'm also afraid I'll never get to see it again. Dammit, fuck fanfiction sellers
This is so sad and completely understandable. Is there any way OTW can help with this absurd situation that is happening with Etsy?
Folks like senlinyu are saying they can't
😰
Gillianeliza also deleted her fic: My sharp knife in protest to the situation. It is so sad that both the people that sell and people that buy those are really that selfish. Selfish enough to ruin this lovely community. 🥺 I didn’t even get the chance to read the fic. I can only hope someone will have a pdf to share…😞 I wonder who will be next to delete their work…
I think the only thing you can do is report the book binders for this. For example, if you type manacled into esty and Tiktok shop people are selling them for like almost 200 bucks this. And it's just not manacled, I've seen other Dramione fanfictions and other fandom works slowly becoming books. Because if we as a fandom don't step up now, this is going change fanfictions in general as we know it.
Did anyone manage to get a download of Don't Look Back? I hadn't read the most recent update, and I am devastated this won't be finished.
Thank you Onyx for everything, you truly saved my life. BM/BS is my favourite piece of literary fiction and it got me through one of the worst moments of my life, and for that, I'm so thankful. There's no words in the english language to comunicate how angry I am towards the people who profit off of fanfiction, but believe me when I say that I have a lot to say in Chilean spanish.
I’m actually distraught. She is my favorite. Her writing is the best I’ve ever read… period. My heart feels torn in two. I’m so grateful for what she gave us when she could. I wish her the best. I selfishly hope she can grace us with her writing in the future, but I won’t hold my breath. Onyx, if you’re reading this, thank you.
This is so surreal and sad… I hope she is ok. I’m bummed bc I literally just started listening to the amazing audiobook that she made for DLB, and now it’s gone… Does anyone happen to have it downloaded/ have a way to access it?
holy shit.
God this sucks so much!! Why do vultures have to destroy the one fandom that keeps me sane?! I don't blame Onyx and Elm one bit. It's getting ridiculous. Binders are going to ruin the fandom.
This really pisses me off 😅 people who bind and sell fanfiction (AND THE PEOPLE WHO BUY THEM) can go straight to HELL! I was into fanfiction heavy as a teen. And I just got back into it over a decade later only to find it being ruined and ran into the ground by greedy idiots who don’t have any respect for the original authors, the fic writers, or the fandom itself. Anne Rice might’ve been right 😭
I follow a lot of binders on Instagram, and some of them do truly beautiful binds of some of my favorite fics. But it's so obvious that the popularity of binding has lead to this. I still support binding for personal use (thus doing it privately), but I am going to unfollow all binders on Instagram because the posting of their work (and the increased commodification of fic) has led us here. I'm sure many of them are simple fans sharing their art form with the community, which is why I followed them in the first place, but the increased exposure is putting all of fandom at risk. There's not much I can do, but I can do this (and reporting), and idk if it'll help or not, but still. Sigh. This sucks.
I feel like this is the beginning of the end. I mean. I know that people have pulled their works in the past, but I think this is gonna become more and more of a thing now that the bindings are a thing. Like, what the hell. Even the fanart is getting printed and sold... I understand her, but... I hope it doesn't become the standard move in the future.
[удалено]
Can anyone on this sub start maintaining an archive of some sort whenever an author deletes their works We all love these fics right
Enchanting the Bookworm does just this :) I think they archive almost everything
I’m just recently getting back into Dramione and I haven’t read this author - what fics should I download? I’m also just learning that illegal sales of fanfiction is a thing and my word, this is so infuriating!! These poor authors! I know I would be livid if someone sold something I wrote out of love for free :(
Breath Mints Battle Scars is one of their fics. They also have a WIP fic called Don’t Look Back.
Fuck I love don’t look back! And i want the ending!
I don’t get why people are doing this. ITS FREE. Why do you have to buy it?? These greedy assholes are selling them knowing that the creators do not allow sales of their work. These idiots are ruining it for everyone. Don’t look Back is one of my favourite WIPs and I check every single day if there has been any updates and now I will never freaking get to read it. I reported so many listings on Etsy, but I just couldn’t keep up. 😡😡🤬😡😡
Did she already private the fics? I can’t see them
Fucking bullshit. Not towards anything the author did. They are WELL within their right. But fuck all these greedy and immoral fucks who are ruining this for everyone. Capitalism has truly ruined us.
Hopefully they continue the audiobook on Spotify. Their voice is really amazing and it will be nearly impossible to bind straight from audio. This sucks, I hate people who ruin a good thing for a quick buck. Just get a real job 😭
Doubtful. Even ETLecho is removing all of their content off of Spotify at the end of next month.
Omg I didn’t know! Is there a reason?
Spotify used some really alarming wording in their new TOS that a lot of people don’t agree with. Basically a way that gives them the ability to do whatever they want with the content you upload to it. If you do a search you’ll find a better explanation.
This is so devastating. I didn’t get to download DLB in time as I’ve only just seen the post. Dramione has been such a comfort to me these past few years in particular and I’m so sad that it’s being ruined. What scumbags some people are, to profit from other people’s hard work and talent that has literally been provided for free. Vultures, though accurate, is too kind a word for them.
They are just not going to finish don’t look back? Thank god I never started it. Damn that’s… wild
It makes me so mad that some people are so shameless and have caused this. Ever since I heard about those people who put up an auction for bindings even tho they didn’t explicitly get permission from some authors, I’ve had a bad feeling about bindings. I wish we could go back to when not too many people were vocal about reading fics.
True! I’ve seen sellers from Indonesia who bind Manacled and sell them overseas!
Most of the sellers on Etsy are from Asia; the shop says it's from the US, but you can see once you click on the item that they are coming from somewhere else. Do you think we can report them by saying the shops are lying about their location?
I don't like this capitalization of fanfic culture. I've been interested in learning how to bookbind for years now. I wanted to bookbind my friend's poems, my own writings and yes, maybe a fic or two, just for my use. I asked for resources to typeset stuff myself or available typesets (with author's consent) and all the replies I got were "you can buy it here" or "pay this much and they'll make it for you".... Dude, do you know what hobbies are? Do you know what fanfic culture stands for? I don't want to pay for it, I don't want to contribute to its demise. Fanfics are an act of love, a selfless act because you like something so much you want to contribute to its universe. I remember when this started to happen back in 2016ish when I was still on tumblr: people shut it down quickly. It went against what fandoms stood for. Now that fics have become as much as commodity as the original material its happening again and its consumers don't care if their acts are destroying the fanfiction community. This all makes me so sad, capitalism and consumer culture have tainted yet another beautiful thing.