From: Eric Hellman <[log in to unmask]>
Date: Thu, 17 May 2012 16:49:03 -0400
Think of it as Open Access for the masses.
In this initial stage, we need to demonstrate to authors and
publishers that crowdfunding can viably support many types of
literature, and that the future of book publishing needn't be locked
to a pay-per-copy pretend-its-print economic model.
We would would love to have the support of all ends of the Liblicense
community; the model is what we make of it together.
Eric
*********************
The press release:
Unglue.it launched today with campaigns for books from five initial
authors and publishers:
Michael Laser, 6-321
Joseph Nassise, Riverwatch
Nancy Rawles, Love Like Gumbo
Budding Reader, Cat and Rat
Open Book Publishers, Oral Literature in Africa, by Ruth Finnegan.
Unglue.it is a crowdfunding site that lets book lovers pay authors and
publishers to make their already-published books free to the world
under a Creative Commons license. If supporters pledge an amount
chosen by the books’ rights holders before a given deadline, those
books will be released as “unglued” ebook editions. For these
campaigns, deadlines vary from approximately two to six months, and
funding goals from approximately $5,000 to $25,000.
As the popularity of ebooks skyrockets, readers have been discovering
both their convenience and their disadvantages. Proprietary formats
and digital rights management (DRM) technology lock ebooks to specific
devices and make it hard for people to keep reading their books as
technology changes. Many ebooks cannot even be lent by libraries.
Unglued ebooks solve these problems. They have no DRM and can be
copied and shared without infringing copyright due to the Creative
Commons license. Instead of receiving royalties, rights holders are
paid one licensing fee of their choosing in advance. Book lovers
pledge toward this fee using the Unglue.it platform.
“The ebook technology revolution creates new opportunities for
innovative markets that support readers, authors, publishers, and
libraries,” said Eric Hellman, President of Gluejar Inc., the company
behind Unglue.it. “Our crowdfunding platform will help the books that
we love join the public commons for all to enjoy and cherish, while
still respecting copyright and creators’ livelihoods.”
About Unglue.it: Unglue.it (http://unglue.it) is a crowdfunding
platform which rewards rights holders for making their ebooks
available to the world under a Creative Commons license
(http://creativecommons.org). Unglue.it runs campaigns for previously
published books, allowing book lovers to pledge toward giving them to
the world. When rights holders’ target prices are reached, they
receive funds in exchange for issuing an unglued ebook edition which
can be freely read, copied, and shared, noncommercially, worldwide.
For more information, see http://unglue.it/press.
About Michael Laser: Michael Laser (http://michaellaser.com) writes
novels for both adults and young people, as well as short stories and
nonfiction. His essays have been featured in the New York Times, the
Christian Science Monitor, and Salon.com, among others. He also runs
a web site, http://News-Basics.com, where students and adults can get
concise, impartial overviews of important news topics.
About Joseph Nassise: Joe Nassise (http://josephnassise.com/) is the
author of more than a dozen novels, including the TEMPLAR CHRONICLES
series, the JEREMIAH HUNT trilogy, and the just-launched GREAT UNDEAD
WAR series. His work has been nominated for both the Bram Stoker
Award and the International Horror Guild Award, been praised by such
literary masters as Clive Barker and Peter Straub, and been translated
into half a dozen languages to date. He has written for both the comic
and role-playing game industries and also served two terms as
president of the Horror Writers Association, the world’s largest
organization of professional horror and dark fantasy writers.
About Nancy Rawles: Nancy Rawles (http://www.nancyrawles.com) is the
author of three critically-acclaimed and award-winning novels. Love
Like Gumbo won an American Book Award for its portrayal of a lesbian
daughter’s struggle for independence from her warm but suffocating
family. Crawfish Dreams, the second in a series about the same family,
was selected for the Barnes and Noble Discover Great New Writers
Program. Nancy’s third novel, My Jim, tells the story of the wife and
children of Mark Twain’s famous slave character from The Adventures of
Huckleberry Finn. My Jim is the winner of the American Library
Association’s Alex Award and the Legacy Award in Fiction from the
Hurston/Wright Foundation. The Seattle Public Library chose My Jim as
the 2009 selection for its popular program Seattle Reads, in which
readers all over the city are encouraged to read and participate in
discussions about one book.
About Budding Reader: Budding Reader is an independent publisher which
aims to make learning to read easier and more fun for all children,
especially struggling readers. Their book sets incorporate
research-based principles to build literacy skills. In addition,
Budding Reader partners with literacy nonprofits to donate one ebook
to a child in need for every book sold. Their non-profit partner,
Worldreader, distributes e-readers and e-books in the developing
world.
About Open Book Publishers: Open Book is a scholarly publisher that is
changing the nature of the traditional academic book. Their authors
range from early-career academics to eminent scholars, chosen on the
basis of academic merit and public value through a rigorous peer
review process. As a signatory of the Budapest Open Access
Initiative, they offer free online editions of their books to benefit
scholars worldwide, while also selling traditional print and
electronic copies. This supports Open Book’s mission to spread
educational materials to everyone, globally, not just to those who can
afford it.
Eric Hellman
President, Gluejar, Inc.
http://www.gluejar.com/
41 Watchung Plaza #132, Montclair NJ 07042
[log in to unmask]
http://go-to-hellman.blogspot.com/
@gluejar
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