Creative Commons Launches Its First-Ever Kickstarter Campaign to Write a Book About Open Business Models

At Cre­ative Com­mons, a lot of the work we do to sup­port the com­mons is in the back­ground. We write and stew­ard copy­right licens­es that help fuel the open web. We help push through open poli­cies at the gov­ern­ment, uni­ver­si­ty, and foun­da­tion lev­el to increase access to aca­d­e­m­ic, sci­en­tif­ic, cul­tur­al and oth­er types of con­tent. We fight for sen­si­ble copy­right reform. All of this work is impor­tant, and we’re going to con­tin­ue to do it.

But we also want to try our hand at some­thing more vis­i­ble. Our plan is to spend the next year col­lab­o­ra­tive­ly research­ing and writ­ing a book about busi­ness mod­els that involve Cre­ative Com­mons licens­ing. Even our fund­ing strat­e­gy for this project is pub­lic-fac­ing and col­lab­o­ra­tive. Last week we launched our first-ever Kick­starter to raise mon­ey for the project, and we hope you’ll become a part of it all by mak­ing a pledge at any amount.

Crowd­fund­ing this project is a way to kick off the project in an open and vis­i­ble way, and to gath­er sup­port and excite­ment for our work. But it is also a way to get first-hand expe­ri­ence with a busi­ness mod­el that involves Cre­ative Com­mons. As we raise funds to sup­port the devel­op­ment of a book we will ulti­mate­ly give away for free under a CC license, we are a case study for our own book. We’re off to a strong start and we’re learn­ing as we go.

And we’re going to do it entire­ly in the open. We’ve start­ed a Medi­um pub­li­ca­tion called “Made with Cre­ative Com­mons” to use as our dig­i­tal white­board. Through­out the year, we’ll be writ­ing there about the things we learn, the ques­tions we have, the prob­lems we face. We’re hop­ing to make the research and writ­ing process as col­lab­o­ra­tive as pos­si­ble. Kick­starter back­ers can also become co-cre­ators of the book to receive ear­ly drafts of our writ­ing as we go and pro­vide input to help shape the book.

We’re real­ly excit­ed about this ambi­tious project. Cre­at­ing and shar­ing is what CC is all about, and as we do it, we’re hop­ing to reveal strate­gies that oth­er cre­ators and busi­ness­es can use for their own work. We hope you’ll join us!

–Sarah Hinch­liff Pear­son is Senior Coun­sel at Cre­ative Com­mons.