Shyam Nathan posted a new zine link to the SMFS yesterday and I offered to post a link to his site here at The Corner. I also asked him about the copyrights at his site but I haven't heard back from him. While this site looks like a good opportunity for writers who'd like to try their hand at comic book style writing there are copyright matters they'll need to hammer out with Mr. Nathan before they charge ahead.
Mystery in Scarlet City http://www.mysteryinscarletcity.com is seeking stories based in the made-up world of Scarlet City. There is a short story synopsis, a list of characters and various other things you'll need to write for this market posted on the site. Since Scarlet City is copyrighted to Mr. Nathan, you won't be able to resell your story elsewhere even though the rights listed in the guidelines state that all ( me here - you automatically loose first electronic rights when published on line, as you should know, and you story can only be considered a reprint afterwards ) copyrights belong to the author. You'll find the guidelines under the faqs link, but you should also read the forum's terms and conditions under the Resources heading. The forum has a spot for uploading your Scarlet City stories. Here is a direct quote from that section.
"By uploading materials to any Forum or submitting any materials to us, you automatically grant (or warrant that the owner of such materials expressly grant) us a perpetual, royalty-free, irrevocable, non-exclusive right and license to use, reproduce, modify, adapt, publish, translate, publicly perform or display, create derivative works from and distribute such materials or incorporate such materials in any form medium or technology now known or later developed anywhere. In addition, you warrant that so-called "moral rights" in those materials have been waived."
Now, I will admit that I know very little about fan-fiction but signing away all rights to your story in a forum doesn't sound quite right to me. If you decide to go ahead and explore this market be sure of your rights beforehand. And if anyone knows how fan-fiction works, please feel free to drop a comment to help us understand the principles involved in writing this type of story.
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