Me & CC, Part 2

No decisions made yet, but a couple of points were made to me about this affecting the chances of it being published in a physical book.

Admittedly yes, this is a possibility, given that we live in a world where the people who produce content and the people who consume that content are separated by corporate entities who are scared to let anything out of their control. It has been widely shown that releasing stuff for free on the internet only helps commercial sales. The problem is that there are a lot of companies out there who see the people who download content as extra potential customers rather than the reality, which is that in the majority of cases they either become customers regardless of free access to the content or never would have been customers or even experienced the content if it hadn’t been free.

That last one is actually a very important point to someone who isn’t in all of this for the money. The only reason I want my writing (and music) to make money is so that I can support the making of more writing (and music) without resorting to some mind-numbing soul-stealing day job on the side. Other than that, it is not a motivation. I don’t want to be rich, I don’t want to be famous, but I do want my stuff to be read. If someone who would never have bought my stuff in the first place gets access to it for free, that’s a bonus for me. If someone who would have bought it reads for free then decides it’s not worth paying money for or at least donating some small amount then yes, that’s a bit of a shame but I’m not trying to trick people into giving me money, so I can live with that. If someone thinks it’s worth money they will give me money somehow. Whether it’s through a donation, or buying the next one, or random merchandise or just buying me a drink when they see me out and about. Unless they’re a real asshole, and honestly there’s nothing you can do about them anyway.

So, the publishing thing. There are companies that will publish something that’s been released under a CC license. Speculative fiction publishers (Tor and the like) in particular seem to be reasonably forward-thinking. (Just as an aside, speculative fiction includes sci-fi, but is not restricted to sci-fi. And yes, all fiction is speculative, but I could argue that all music is folk so let’s not get bogged down in semantics here)

There are examples of works being picked up wholesale from the net and published, examples of publishing deals where the work is released simultaneously to book and electronic form, and examples where old works are released under a CC license to generate renewed interest (perhaps for a new book release). And there are thousands and thousands of examples of CC works that haven’t been picked up for publishing. Is that because companies aren’t forward thinking enough, because the works themselves get lost in the aether of the ever-changing web, or because they are just crap? A mix of all three, of course, but I’ve been around this web a couple of times and I’m convinced that if something is deserving of notice and the author/artist is in any way savvy and puts in any effort then it will be noticed. Word of mouth is pretty powerful when all those mouths are connected so tightly to one another, and whether or not you like the morals, the free market does for the most part work.

If I release my book under a CC license it is done and cannot be revoked. I can of course take the book offline. The license will not apply to any copies released under different terms, and it doesn’t stop me from making money from the books. Anyone who got a copy from me under a CC license, however, will be bound only under the terms of that license and will thus be free to distribute it as they see fit so long as they attribute it to me and don’t make money off it. So too will be the people they give it to. I’ve got to say that that doesn’t bother me. It might bother some publishers, but chances are those are the publishers who have always secretly (and sometimes not so secretly) been against lending books to friends and second-hand bookstores and libraries.

I meant to focus on the flipside here as well, but I really should go do some work or I’ll never get this PhD. To be seen in a future note some time soon: Why releasing this for free might make it more likely that I get published.

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