unglue.it FAQ

De Gruyter to work with Unglue.it: Wish for your favorites!

unglue (v. t.) 1. To pay an author or publisher in full, up front, for publishing a Creative Commons ebook.

unglue (v. t.) 2. To make a digital book free to read and use, worldwide.

unglue (v. t.) 3. To make it clearly legal for a digital book to be used, distributed, archived and preserved by libraries.

unglue (v. t.) 4. For an author or publisher, to accept a fixed amount of money from the public for its unlimited use of an ebook.

unglue (v. t.) 5. To give your favorite books to everyone on earth.

unglue (v. t.) 6. To reward authors and publishers for sharing books with the world.

Learn more

We all have books we love so much, we'd like to give them to the world. We want to share them, but also reward their creators. With digital books, it can be hard to do both.

Unglue.it offers a win-win solution: Crowdfunding. We run pledge campaigns for books; you chip in. When, together, we've reached the goal, we'll reward the book's creators and issue an unglued ebook.

Creative Commons licensing means everyone, everywhere can read and share the unglued book - freely and legally. You've given your favorite book to the world.

Still have questions? We've got answers.

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FAQs

Frequently Asked Questions

Help! My question isn't covered in the FAQs!: Please email us at support@gluejar.com. We want to make sure everything on the site runs as smoothly as possible. Thanks for helping us do that.

Unglued Ebooks

General Questions

So what is an unglued ebook?: An unglued ebook is an already-published book that's been rereleased under a Creative Commons license, after obtaining permission and compensating the author, publisher, or other rights holder.

What does this mean for you? If you're a book lover, you can read unglued ebooks for free, on the device of your choice, in the format of your choice, and share them with all your friends. If you're a library, you can lend them to your patrons with no checkout limits or simultaneous user restrictions, and preserve them however you think best. If you're a rights holder, you get a guaranteed up-front payment in lieu of royalties on this edition, while retaining copyright and all interests in other editions of your work.

Unglued ebooks are a win-win solution for readers, libraries, and authors, publishers.
Is the unglued ebook edition the same as one of the existing editions?: Not necessarily. Sometimes the existing editions include content that we can't get the rights to include in the unglued ebook, especially cover art or illustrations. Sometimes the unglued ebook edition will have improvements, like copy-editing fixes or bonus features. These differences, if any, will be specified in the Rights tab of the campaign page. In addition, all unglued ebooks include acknowledgements of supporters and information on their Creative Commons license.
How much does a book cost?: The author or publisher sets a price for giving the book to the world. Once you and your fellow ungluers raise enough money to meet that price, the unglued ebook is available at no charge, for everyone, everywhere!
Will Unglue.it have campaigns for all kinds of books?: Yes. You choose what books to wishlist and what books to support. Your passion will drive the campaigns. We aim to host campaigns for diverse subjects and genres, from romance novels to poetry, from history to medicine, from the lectures of famous scentists to your favorite chapter book when you were 8 years old.
Will you raise money for books already for sale as an ebook?: Yes. Books available as ebooks can still be unglued, to make them available more easily to more people.
Does an unglued book have to be out-of-print?: No. Unglued books can be anything in copyright, whether 75 years or 7 days old, whether they sell in paperback or hardcover and or can only be found in used bookstores -- or nowhere. But the copyright owners and any one else with a claim on the book need to agree.
Does Unglue.it help to fund self-published books?: In general, no. Unglue.it does not support campaigns for self-published books that have not previously been sold in the retail market. If your self-published book has been for sale for at least 6 months, let's talk. (rights@gluejar.com).
Will Unglue.it help raise funds for books not yet written?: No. There are other crowdfunding sites devoted to new creative works, and we encourage you to investigate them. Once your book has been published, we'd love to talk to you.

Using Your Unglued Ebook

What can I do, legally, with an unglued ebook? What can I not do?: All unglued ebooks are released under a Creative Commons license. Unless otherwise indicated for specific books, we use the Creative Commons Attribution-NonCommercial-NoDerivatives license (CC BY-NC-ND) license. The rights holder chooses which Creative Commons license to apply.

Creative Commons licenses mean that you can: make copies; keep them for as long as you like; shift them to other formats (like .mobi or PDF); share them with friends or on the internet; download them for free.

Under NC (non-commercial) licenses, you cannot: sell unglued ebooks, or otherwise use them commercially, without permission from the rights holder.

Under ND (no derivatives) licenses, you cannot: make derivative works, such as translations or movies, without permission from the rights holder;

Under all CC licenses (except CC0), you cannot: remove the author's name from the book, or otherwise pass it off as someone else's work; or remove or change the CC license.
What does non-commercial mean under Creative Commons?: Creative Commons doesn't define "commercial" thoroughly (though it's worth reading what they have to say on the topic). So as part of the Unglue.it process, ungluing rights holders agree that "For purposes of interpreting the CC License, Rights Holder agrees that 'non-commercial' use shall include, without limitation, distribution by a commercial entity without charge for access to the Work."

Unglue.it can't provide legal advice about how to interpret Creative Commons licenses, and we encourage you to read about the licenses yourself and, if necessary, seek qualified legal advice.
Are the unglued ebooks compatible with my device? Do I need to own an ereader, like a Kindle or a Nook, to read them?: Unglued ebooks are distributed with NO DRM, so they'll work on Kindle, iPad, Kobo, Nook, Android, Mac, Windows, Linux... you get the idea. Whether you have an ereader, a tablet, a desktop or laptop computer, or a smartphone, there are reading apps that work for you. Ebook editions issued through Unglue.it will be available in ePub format. If this format doesn't work for you, today or in the future, you are welcome to shift unglued books to one that does, and to copy and distribute it in that format.
Do I need to have a library card to read an unglued ebook?: No. (Though we hope you have a library card anyway!) While your library may make unglued ebooks available, they will be available from other sources as well.
How long do I have to read my unglued book? When does it expire?: It doesn't! You may keep it as long as you like. There's no need to return it, and it won't stop working after some deadline. You own it.
I love my unglued ebook and I want to loan it to my friends. Can I?: Yes! Because everything with a Creative Commons license is free to copy and share, you can copy your unglued ebook file and give it to anyone you want. You can all read and discuss it on GoodReads or LibraryThing at the same time. The rights holder has given you permission to spread the word to readers everywhere.

Just don't sell, adapt, or abridge it without checking the license. All unglued ebooks are licensed for noncommercial uses. Of course, you're welcome to still buy other editions -- paperbacks, hardcovers, or audio -- too.
Will I be able to dowload an unglued ebook directly from Unglue.it?: Unglue.it will provide links to places where you can find unglued and public domain ebooks (look at the book's page for specifics). We will not host them ourselves. We encourage you to look for them at bookstores, libraries, literary blogs, social reading sites, and all kinds of places people go to read and talk about books. You don't need our permission to host a free unglued ebook on your own site.

Ungluing and Copyright

Why does an unglued book have to be in copyright?: Because books out of copyright are already free for you to copy, remix, and share! If a book is in the public domain, it doesn't need to be unglued.
How can I tell if a book is in copyright or not?: Unfortunately, it can be complicated -- which is why Unglue.it wants to simplify things, by making unglued ebooks unambiguously legal to use in certain ways. The laws governing copyright and the public domain vary by country, so a book can be copyrighted in one place and not in another. In the United States, the Library Copyright Slider gives a quick estimate.

Unglue.it signs agreements assuring the copyright status of every work we unglue, so you can be confident when reading and sharing an unglued ebook.
Unglue.it lists a book that I know is already Creative Commons licensed or available in the public domain. How can I get the link included?: If you are logged in to Unglue.it, the "Rights" page for every work lists the edition we know about. There a link for every edition that you can use to tell us about Creative Commons or public domain downloads. We do require that these books be hosted at certain known, reputable repositories: Internet Archive, Wikisources, Hathi Trust, Project Gutenberg, or Google Books.