A revolutionary concept in fostering free use of books launched only a few years ago with GlueJar’s Unglue.it model. This model relied on crowdfunding to propel a book into Creative Commons status, essentially paying the rights holder an agreed upon amount in order to “unglue” the book.
Now, Unglue.it has announced the first ebook created under its new funding mechanism. Under the new model, the first title, Lagos_2060, was sold with its Creative Commons license in tact. As the book continues to sell, the date of the final release of the copyright will draw even closer.
“‘Buy-to-Unglue’ uses ebook purchases as a crowdfunding mechanism. Every ebook downloaded comes with a future dated Creative Commons license. Each purchase brings that Creative Commons effective date, the date the ebook becomes free to everyone, closer to the present.”
The authors–Afolabi Muheez Ashiru, Okey Egboluche, Chiagozie Fred Nwonwu, Kofo Akib, Ayodele Arigbabu, Adebola Rayo, Terh Agbedeh, Temitayo Olofinlua–created the anthologized book published by DADA books to commemorate Nigeria’s golden jubilee.
In addition to the ability of readers to be a part of the ungluing of the book, libraries stand to benefit from the Buy to Unglue program. Their participation helps towards the stripping of copyrighted status, but also allows the library to loan the ebook to their patrons through Unglue.it’s lending platform.
Mercy Pilkington is a Senior Editor for Good e-Reader. She is also the CEO and founder of a hybrid publishing and consulting company.