Unglue.it has launched

[andreabc]

Unglue.it is a new "ebook crowdfunding platform". I think this model could work for some books... it's a pretty interesting thing to keep an eye on.

From this article on LibraryJournal

Unglue.it works by allowing the rights holders of an already-published book to set a funding threshold—generally between $5,000 to $25,000—and a deadline for a funding campaign. If supporters pledge sufficient funding prior to the campaign deadline, the book will be released as an “unglued” ebook edition, free of digital rights management (DRM) software, and free to copy and share under a Creative Commons license.

The first 5 books are:

• Oral Literature in Africa by Ruth H. Finnegan
• Riverwatch by Joseph Nassise
• Love like gumbo by Nancy Rawles
• Budding Reader Book Set 1: Cat And Rat by Melinda Thompson with Melissa Ferrell
• 6-321 by Michael Laser

[SeaKing]

Originally Posted by andreabc

Unglue.it is a new "ebook crowdfunding platform". I think this model could work for some books... it's a pretty interesting thing to keep an eye on.

From this article on LibraryJournal


The first 5 books are:

• Oral Literature in Africa by Ruth H. Finnegan
• Riverwatch by Joseph Nassise
• Love like gumbo by Nancy Rawles
• Budding Reader Book Set 1: Cat And Rat by Melinda Thompson with Melissa Ferrell
• 6-321 by Michael Laser

Is this a co-op form where the people that can buy without DRM or get free belong to the "supporting contributors" or can anyone benefit without making a contribution? i.e. without supporting.

[Dr. Drib]

Sorry, but I first read that as an

ebook confounding platform.

....maybe they need to change the name....or I need more coffee.



Don

[HarryT]

I'm not at all sure why any author would want to go for this deal: it seems to be essentially a one-off payment, in return for unrestricted distribution of the book (ie, no subsequent income from it). Have I misunderstood?

[teh603]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I'm not at all sure why any author would want to go for this deal: it seems to be essentially a one-off payment, in return for unrestricted distribution of the book (ie, no subsequent income from it). Have I misunderstood?

That's what I'm wondering about. At first it looked like Kickstarter, but the GPL requirement is a little odd.

[andreabc]

I'm not too sure about all the details, but from what I get:
-If a campaign is successful, the book will be released under a CC license and anyone will be able to get it for free. I think the license is mainly for the non-commercial, non-derivative rights. (some info on their FAQ here)
They also say that this doesn't mean that the rights holder can't make money for the book, selling other print or ebook editions. I guess it just means that there will also be an unglued edition out there. (there's more about this here)

[carpetmojo]

So it's more a philanthropic approach ?
If you pledge a sum - say $50, I presume it's whatever you think it's worth or what you can afford? - that goes into the pot, and if enough money's raised from all the others who may want to pledge, the author throws the doors open to the ereader world.
For free ?

So the "pledgers" ( or philanthropic investors I suppose they'd be) get a copy of the book and a warm feeling ?

Or have I misunderstood the whole thing....

[taustin]

Originally Posted by HarryT

I'm not at all sure why any author would want to go for this deal: it seems to be essentially a one-off payment, in return for unrestricted distribution of the book (ie, no subsequent income from it). Have I misunderstood?

There's nothing in Creative Commons that prohibits future income from it, but it will make it more unlikely. The appeal, I suspect, would be for those who don't expect to ever be paid for a particular work again anyway.

[JeremyR]

Originally Posted by taustin

There's nothing in Creative Commons that prohibits future income from it, but it will make it more unlikely. The appeal, I suspect, would be for those who don't expect to ever be paid for a particular work again anyway.

Not to mention, if it proved really really popular, they could release a revised edition. Or perhaps annotated one - Louis L'amour did that latter when some of his PD books were published by other companies, he put out official versions with notes (and a long rant about the other publishers)

But realistically, unless you are a best selling author, I think $25,000 for a back list title is more than they would make from residual sales.

[ebusinesstutor]

I think it would be a useful way to let an author know how many people are interested in having a back list title as an ebook.

Without this show of support, they might not be sure about incurring the costs to release it as an ebook.

[Jnassise]

As an author who's book (Riverwatch) is one of the initial five offerings for Unglue,it, I thought I'd stop by and add my two cents.

I see unglue.it as a way of giving something to the reading community that has supported my work for the last ten years, while at the same time earning some additional income for my creative efforts. It is not the LAST income I hope to earn with this particular title (as was suggested up thread) just one more piece of the puzzle to add to the initial rights sale and subsequent foreign sales.

In terms of how the financial goal for the campaign was derived at, I simply took what I earn from the work on a monthly basis from the various ebook distributors I've involved with and multiplied it by 60 - that would give me the income I could hope to earn off the work if nothing changed in the market. This is actually short circuiting myself a little bit, as I expected ebook sales to increase with time not decrease, but it was the most reasonable solution I could come up with.

Best,
Joe Nassise

[HarryT]

Well, best of luck, Joe, but I have to say that I'll be astounded if you reach your funding goal. May I ask, as a matter of interest, how much of it you've had pledged so far?

EDIT: Never mind - I see you've had $358 pledged from 20 people.

Now here's what I don't understand, you see. Looking at Amazon.com I see that I can buy your fine book for the very reasonable sum of $6.27. Given that I can buy it for $6.27, why would I wish to pledge $17.90 for it (the average amount that each of these 20 people have pledged) on this "unglue.it" site? That's almost 3x what it would cost me to buy a copy. What would I get for my $17.90 that I can't get by buying the book for $6.27? Sorry - I'm obviously missing something here. What is it?

[Jnassise]

Great question, Harry.

As I've said, the whole process is an experiment to me. I'm interested in a number of factors, not just reaching that end goal. (Of course, hitting that goal IS important, don't get me wrong.)

Going into this, my expectation was that the average individual would pledge anywhere from $1-5. After all, that's what the book is selling for elsewhere. This edition will be an enhanced one - deleted scenes, information on the writing process itself, an inside look at the sequel, etc. So the pledge would be getting MORE than what they could buy elsewhere for the same price.

Right now, the average pledge is higher because there are fewer people pledging. That average should go down as the number go up, unless people begin to pledge the higher categories in order to get the premiums that go with them.

I think most pledgers are doing so first because they believe in the concept of making good books freely available and second because of related perks/premiums.

Best,
Joe

[HarryT]

Thanks, Joe.