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Working With Publishers and Creative Commons

by fbenenson Open Culture

Books in a Stack by austinevan

Artist, programmer, and now author Michael Mandiberg, has a fantastic post offering advice to authors interested in using CC licenses (and CC licensed work) for their books. Mandiberg’s recent book, Digital Foundations: an Intro to Media Design with the Adobe Creative Suite, is both licensed under Creative Commons and utilizes CC licensed media, so he speaks with authority on the subject. His first nugget of advice really demonstrates how progress authors have made while asking for the right to use CC:

1. Figure out what you want and ask for it
Every contract is negotiable. Choose what you want and ask for it. Do not be afraid to ask for it. In our case, we focused on getting Creative Commons licensing into the contract, but we also asked for and received other modifications, including a higher percentage of royalties after a certain number of books sold, a stipend to design the book and ownership of the book layout and design (which we licensed CC).

This is essential reading if you’re talking with your publisher about using CC, so don’t miss the 9 other suggestions.

Posted 13 January 2009

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