For those authors who always believed that their magnum opus about an elite squad of gardeners teaming up with G.I. Joe to fight the forces of COBRA was a ticket to the big time, Amazon has some very good news.
The company announced today that licenses for its Kindle Worlds fan fiction program have expanded to include G.I. Joe from Hasbro, alongside a number of other fictional properties including “Veronica Mars” and “Pretty Little Liars” spinoff “Ravenswood.” Those universes will be joining offerings from “Gossip Girl,” “The Vampire Diaries” and other franchises which are already a part of Amazon’s program.
Kindle Worlds, which Amazon started last year, allows writers to submit stories that are based in fictional universes of others’ creation and get paid a royalty of up to 35 percent on every sale they make through Amazon’s Kindle Store.
Adding Veronica Mars seems like particularly fortuitous timing, given that the franchise just got a new lease on life last year after raising more than $5.7 million on Kickstarter to produce a feature film.
Speaking of films, Hasbro also owns Wizards of the Coast, the Renton-based company that is responsible for Dungeons and Dragons and Magic: The Gathering. While there’s no sign that a deal to bring those franchises to Kindle Worlds is in the works, it’s certainly an interesting possibility for Amazon’s platform, especially since a Magic movie is in development right now.
