When Unglue.it first launched its platform to strip the copyright status of books once a crowdfunded, pre-determined amount of money had been raised, skeptics spoke out. Not against that concept of “ungluing” a book, of course, but against the idea that ordinary readers would be willing to donate money to a publisher to make a book permanently public domain. Happily, Unglue.it has already enjoyed the fruits of their labors and announced a number of open source books, thanks to the donations and promotional efforts of its followers.
“The demand for open-access books at De Gruyter has been increasing continuously,” said De Gruyter CEO Sven Fund in a press release. “This has motivated us to offer select e-dition titles at Unglue.it and see if users are willing to help increase the number of open access works available.”
Now, Unglue.it and German publisher De Gruyer have announced their partnership that stands to turn the textbook industry on its collective head. De Gruyer has released a list of 100 digital titles that it is enabling Unglue.it users to “unglue,” making the book free for use from now on. The publisher has set the minimum dollar amount per title at $2100.
“We’re really excited and honored to be working with De Gruyter. Their broad commitment to both Open Access and to high quality publishing really distinguishes them from their competitors,” continued Eric Hellman, President of Gluejar Inc., the company behind Unglue.it.
Interested funders can find the De Gruyer page at https://unglue.it/pid/popular/4311 .
Mercy Pilkington is a Senior Editor for Good e-Reader. She is also the CEO and founder of a hybrid publishing and consulting company.