Gift Economy

Gift Economy is a social science term that refers to a system where things are given with out any formalized system of exchange.Wikipedia:Gift_economy, accessed December 1, 2010
In fannish terms, gift economy refers to the process of fans making fanworks available openly and freely without any formalized requirement that anything be given in return.
Many fans believe that the gift economy is part of what makes fanworks legal. It is common to see something in disclaimers about no money being made. (See Fair Use for more information on the legal status of fanworks.)
Just because fans often offer their works without requiring anything in return, doesn't mean they don't expect to receive something. Most fans expect some kind of feedback that acknowledges their work, or as Rachel Sabotini discusses in The Fannish Potlatch, the value of works can also be seen in the status the fan holds in fandom. 
From an article in L.A. Weekly (December 2009): "Women would write stories as part of what Prof. Penley calls a 'gift economy.' In slash fandom, where almost everyone is a writer, you create something, hoping it will inspire someone else to write another story. It’s a sexed-up game of Exquisite Corpse. 'In other words, I will write this really hot story, and maybe in turn you will write one for me. They’re doing it for their own pleasure,” she says'." 
 Man on Man: The New Gay Romance... by Gendy Alimurung (2009) 
From a fan reacting to the Kindle Worlds announcement in 2013: 
==Internet Based Fandoms==
Internet fandom today offers a host of free spaces where fans can share fanworks of all kinds. Services like Livejournal, Youtube, DeviantArt, the AO3 or fanfiction.net also provide fans with tools to measure hit counts, and all have commenting systems that allow the feedback on a work to be seen by everyone and for it to remain attached to the work. 
==Sometimes Money Changes Hands==
Some fanworks are exchanged for money. Zines, some forms of fanart, vids on discs have all been "sold" to fans for amounts that range from some of the costs of production and distribution to larger amounts that may move the work out of the gift economy and into the market economy. Fandom cultures vary, and fans have differing opinions about the issue of selling fanworks for what is or is perceived to be a profit.
Contrasted to Media fandom, the Furry fandom, where many people make a living making art, has sometimes been said to be a socialist economy, though not without controversy. The furry fandom is unique in that most artwork sold is not "fanwork" however, as people often have original characters and fursonas commissioned. It has also been called "a collective art project" and resistant to commercialism, thanks to DIY ethics, much like punk-inspired indie culture.
See Fandom and Profit.
==Media Fandom, Girls and Women==
Some people argue that media fandom and fanworks, often predominately female-consumed and generated, aren't taken seriously because they aren't done for money, the primary legitimization of a product or activity in the mundane world. 
A 2007 essay that addresses this topic is How Fanfiction Makes Us Poor by cupidsbow.
==Fandom As A Gift To Others and Oneself By Taking Back Power==
In 2017, more and more fan writers began discussing AO3's ban on advertising and soliciting payment for fan fiction on the archive.
In response one fan wrote about why she supported AO3's stance:
==Further Reading/Meta==
* What Price Fandom? by Arduinna (May 2000)
* Semantic noodling...the word "gift" makes people -- or rather specifically me -- uncomfortable by Seema (January 2003)
* Think-y things about zines and fic and all (2009)
* Sherlockology and Galactica.tv: Fan sites as gifts or exploited labor? by Bertha Chin in Transformative Works and Cultures (2014)
* Fan work: Labor, worth, and participation in fandom's gift economy by Tisha Turk in Transformative Works and Cultures (2014)
* “That’s not even how love works”: Fandom, Gift Economy, and The Turn of the Story by Alexandra Lamb on Paper Droids (September 2014)
* , In Media Res (May 2015)
* Tumblr essay (and responses) on fannish commenting culture, and comments as "fannish currency" by greywash (2018)
* by cesperanza (2019)
* On Fandom and the "culture of selling" page 1; page 2 by fairestcat (2019)
* by melannen (2019)
* by silveradept (2019)
* , discussion at fail-fandomanon (2019)
* by ellie-nors (2019)
* discussion at fail-fandomanon (2019)
* by anneapocalypse (2019)
* Gift Logic: Labors of love flourish online under fandom’s social norms by Casey Fiesler (2021)
* Fanwork Is A Garden by brightmouth (2022)
==References==