I’m very pleased to announce that I am part of the launch of a terrific new service called Unglue.it and will be working with them over the next few weeks to “unglue” an ebook edition of my award-nominated debut novel, RIVERWATCH.

Unglue.it is a crowdfunding site that lets book lovers pay authors and publishers to make their already-published books free to the world under a Creative Commons license.  If supporters pledge an amount chosen by the books’ rights holders before a given deadline, those books will be released as “unglued” ebook editions. 

As the popularity of ebooks skyrockets, readers have been discovering both their convenience and their disadvantages.  Proprietary formats and digital rights management (DRM) technology lock ebooks to specific devices and make it hard for people to keep reading their books as technology changes.  Many ebooks cannot even be lent by libraries.  Unglued ebooks solve these problems.  They have no DRM and can be copied and shared without infringing copyright due to the Creative Commons license. Instead of receiving royalties, rights holders are paid a licensing fee of their choice in advance. Book lovers pledge toward this fee using the Unglue.it platform.

Unglueing RIVERWATCH: 

- Makes an English-language ebook edition of this award-nominated novel available for free to anyone in the world.

- Allows the ebook to be legally copied and shared whenever, wherever and by whoever wants to do so.

- Allows the ebook to be legally converted to whatever format you prefer to have it in and this can be done as many times as necessary in the event you switch devices or want to read it on a different platform.

- Supports privacy as it allows reading of the ebook without authentication, tracking, DRM or other such issues.

- Allows any library, anywhere, to add it to their collection and to provide unlimited lending to all of their patrons.

- Supports the spread of commercial entertainment to locations that might not have been able to afford the retail ebook prior to its unglueing.

- Supports the future endeavors of the writer (me!) by paying a fair wage for the perpetual use license to their creative property.

The Unglue.it funding process serves two very important ends – it helps writers and content providers like myself get paid for the work we produce while at the same time making that work freely available to readers all over the world.  No one else, anywhere, is doing anything like this and I couldn’t be more excited about being a part of this ground-breaking launch.

“The ebook technology revolution creates new opportunities for innovative markets that support readers, authors, publishers, and libraries,” said Eric Hellman, President of Gluejar Inc., the company behind Unglue.it. “Our crowdfunding platform will help the books that we love join the public commons for all to enjoy and cherish, while still respecting copyright and creators’ livelihoods.”

Here’s how it works:

1)  Visit the page set-up to unglue Riverwatch

2) Select a pledge amount and corresponding premium from the list on the right.  Pledges start as low as $1 and go as high as $1,500.00.  Click the SUPPORT button to make your pledge. (If you don’t already have an account it will walk you through the steps to do so.)

3) Help me spread the word!  Tweet, share and post about it using the convenient buttons on the page.  Embed the widget on your website!  Tell your friends!  Text your mom!  Anything and everything you can do to help spread the word and get us to our goal would be appreciated.

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