Purchasing Fanworks

In the age of the Internet, many digital fanworks are available for free, but fans still buy and sell fanworks, especially those that exist solely in physical media.
==Fan Art==
Fan art is often sold through art shows, auctions at conventions and artists' personal websites. Both originals and prints are sold. 
Fan artists also create art on commission, sometimes to illustrate scenes in fanfiction. The price of commissioned art usually depends on the medium (traditional media often being more expensive than digital art, oils/acrylics more expensive than pencil sketches), the size of the artwork and its complexity (number of figures, background etc).
==Fan Crafts==
Fan crafts are often sold through websites like Etsy, as well as through personal websites.
==Doujinshi==
In Japan, many conventions exist mainly to sell doujinshi.
==Fanzines==
Before fandom had access to the Internet, most fanworks were consumed in the form of print fanzines. Zines cost money to produce and distribute. 
===Cost and Perceived Quality of Paper Zines===
Many, many published zine reviews focused on whether the zine was worth the money. 
There was much discussion and controversy about the purpose of zine reviews. Some fans felt reviews should only be positive and "nice." Other fans believed that comments about zines should be a guide for others regarding whether the zine was worth the money.
Fans almost never commented on "wasted time" spent reading fiction, but instead about whether the zine was "worth the money." Fiction and art was much less plentiful. 
 
* "What a pretty zine. From the beautiful pencil front cover to the delicate inked back cover, the art in this zine is nice! All of the stories and poems are nicely bordered, and the colored pencil portraits of Kirk and Spock are almost worth the cost of the zine by themselves." about California K/S from Not Tonight, Spock! #8 
* "One of the most fascinating things about the later Chalk and Cheeses is the Letters of Comment section (this is true of many older zines) where readers and contributors both sound off about what they liked in earlier issues. So you have, for example, a writer like Terence commenting honestly, if not always favorably, about her fellow authors' efforts -- it's refreshing. In fact, this section alone is almost worth the price of the zine if you're intrigued by the history of Pros fandom and its literary development." about Chalk and Cheese #4 from JGL at The Hatstand 
* "There are 268 pages to this zine, and I went through them much too fast, but it seems that all good things end much too soon. You still have that thrill ahead of you. I will always be happy that I got this zine. Extremely well done, with many wonderful illos. More than worth the $12.40 first class pricetag. I honestly don't know how they could offer it at that price." about Mind Meld #2 from Universal Translator #29 
* "Much more could be said about this elegant story. If you haven't already read it, please do. This alone was worth the price of the zine. And the illustration is to die for. " about Tirizandi from The K/S Press #72 
* "While some zines have one story that it worth the price, there was no one outstanding piece of writing in CT. about The Celestial Toybox #6 from The Blackwood Project #9 
* "Had OMM been more tightly written and less dependent on old movies for its characters, I could recommend it unreservedly. As it goes, it's a ripping yarn, and to the reader whose first concern is not literary merit, worth the price, even with overseas postage.” about One More Mountain from S and H #30 
* "C. Faddis' illustrations are then made the bases for five short-shorts... This is something unique and of true fascination; here is a chance to compare and contrast the styles of several of the best trekwriters in town, and to see why they are the best. Besides, there are the illios themselves, haunting and hard. Folk art is seldom enough found, gang; you grab it when you can... IPH is worth the lauds, worth the critical abeyance, and worth the three bucks plus postage." about Interphase from The Halkan Council #10 (September 1975) 
* "I hesitate to completely condemn another fan's hard work in a zine publication, but I did not enjoy any of these short stories. The cover art is nice and the diagrams for the ship are interesting but hardly worth the price of $7.00." about Thunderbolt! from Jundland Wastes #11 
* "Some of these little scenes feature the best colour renditions I've ever seen her do of Bodie, not to mention some of the best Bodie faces. I've often felt she slights him - especially making his eyes dull. Not here- Bodies eyes are rendered in all of their lush glory in several scenes. And her Cowley is wonderful. However, I also found some of the renditions of the lads quite poor and, other than the cover, none of her Doyles really clicked. So, I'd call the artwork uneven, and with the collage effect, I can't say that any one ilio strikes me as spectacular, but they are well worth the price of the zine. And the cover is quite striking. All in all this is a good read and nicely illustrated. It is expensive. But colour reproductions of Lovett's work are usually $30 all by themselves. So it's well woith the price. Unless vampires absolutely drive you crazy with loathing (and remember what I said at the beginning about being bored with the concept myself) I'd recommend this one." about All the Queen's Men from DIAL #6 
===The Internet Brings a New Dimension===
Many fans pointed out the exchange of money meant that you should be purchasing something of value: 
In 1999, a fan explained how she felt the internet leveled the playing field in terms of personal taste: 
When computers and internet access started to become a reality for some fans, there was a shift in costs. There were many essays and comments by fans about how computers weren't free.
Fans began to complain of wasted time and eyestrain, rather than wasted cash. 
Plentiful fiction meant that the option of "pushing the back button" on works that were unsatisfactory. Money wasn't an issue any longer.
===Money and the Purpose of Reviews===
Some fans felt that when money changed hands, it was a reviewer's job to make sure that a fan got her or his money's worth.
===Getting Your Money's Worth===
Also see White Space. Also see Fandom and Profit.
In 1995 (which was right on the brink of desktop publishing and the internet), a fan, Sandy Herrold, brought up the issue of font size and fan's getting their money's worth: 
==Fanfiction==
:See also: Writing Commissions
With the exception of charity auctions, online fanfiction is not commonly written for purchase. It's rare but not completely unheard of for fan writers to ask for donations to cover their living expenses while continuing to write a popular story, but it is not usually phrased as purchasing the fanfiction.
Fanfiction that is printed in fanzines is technically written for purchase, since fanzines are bought and sold. However, the tribber's compensation is usually a free copy of the zine, rather than money.
==Game Mods==
Often, ROM hacks are sold on reproduction carts. These are often earlier versions and impossible to update.
==Does the Content of Fanworks Change When Money Has Changed Hands?==
==See Also==
* Gift Economy
* Fandom and Profit
* Zine Production
* Fandom Auction
* eBay
* Kindle Worlds
* Filing Off the Serial Numbers
==Further Reading==
* Here Today, Zine Tomorrow/WebCite by Lucy Gillam
*A defense of paid fanfic commissions thread on fail-fandomanon dated September 17, 2013reference link.
==References==
Category:Fan Activities