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A note about this book: |
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Last year, in January 2003, my first novel [ http://craphound.com/down ] came out. I was 31 years old, and I'd been calling myself a novelist since the age of 12. It was the storied dream-of-a-lifetime, come-true-at-last. I was and am proud as hell of that book, even though it is just one book among many released last ... |
The thing that's extraordinary about that first novel is that it was released under terms governed by a Creative Commons [ http://creativecommons.org ] license that allowed my readers to copy the book freely and distribute it far and wide. Hundreds of thousands of copies of the book were made and distributed this way. ... |
Today, I release my second novel, and my third [ http://www.argosymag.com/NextIssue.html ], a collaboration with Charlie Stross is due any day, and two [ http://www.fantasticmetropolis.com/show.html?fn.preview_doctorow ] more [ http://www.craphound.com/usrbingodexcerpt.txt ] are under contract. My career as a novelist ... |
The future is my business, more or less. I'm a science fiction writer. One way to know the future is to look good and hard at the present. Here's a thing I've noticed about the present: MORE PEOPLE ARE READING MORE WORDS OFF OF MORE SCREENS THAN EVER BEFORE. Here's another thing I've noticed about the present: FEWER PE... |
I intend on figuring out what it's transforming into. I intend on figuring out the way that some writers -- that *this writer*, right here, wearing my underwear -- is going to get rich and famous from his craft. I intend on figuring out how *this writer's* words can become part of the social discourse, can be relevant ... |
I don't know what the future of book looks like. To figure it out, I'm doing some pretty basic science. I'm peering into this opaque, inscrutable system of publishing as it sits in the year 2004, and I'm making a perturbation. I'm stirring the pot to see what surfaces, so that I can see if the system reveals itself to ... |
It's a long shot, but I'm a pretty sharp guy, and I know as much about this stuff as anyone out there. More to the point, trying stuff and doing research yields a non-zero chance of success. The alternatives -- sitting pat, or worse, getting into a moral panic about "piracy" and accusing the readers who are blazing new... |
Most artists never "succeed" in the sense of attaining fame and modest fortune. A career in the arts is a risky long-shot kind of business. I'm doing what I can to sweeten my odds. |
So here we are, and here is novel number two, a book called Eastern Standard Tribe, which you can walk into shops all over the world and buy [ http://craphound.com/est/buy.php ] as a physical artifact -- a very nice physical artifact, designed by Chesley-award-winning art director Irene Gallo and her designer Shelley E... |
To that end, here is the book as a non-physical artifact. A file. A bunch of text, slithery bits that can cross the world in an instant, using the Internet, a tool designed to copy things very quickly from one place to another; and using personal computers, tools designed to slice, dice and rearrange collections of bit... |
Not (just) because I'm a swell guy, a big-hearted slob. Not because Tor is run by addlepated dot-com refugees who have been sold some snake-oil about the e-book revolution. Because you -- the readers, the slicers, dicers and copiers -- hold in your collective action the secret of the future of publishing. Writers are a... |
I'm unashamedly exploiting your imagination. Imagine me a new practice of book, readers. Take this novel and pass it from inbox to inbox, through your IM clients, over P2P networks. Put it on webservers. Convert it to weird, obscure ebook formats. Show me -- and my colleagues, and my publisher -- what the future of boo... |
I'll keep on writing them if you keep on reading them. But as cool and wonderful as writing is, it's not half so cool as inventing the future. Thanks for helping me do it. |
Here's a summary of the license: |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd-nc/1.0 |
Attribution. The licensor permits others to copy, distribute, |
display, and perform the work. In return, licensees must give the |
original author credit. |
No Derivative Works. The licensor permits others to copy, |
distribute, display and perform only unaltered copies of the work |
-- not derivative works based on it. |
Noncommercial. The licensor permits others to copy, distribute, |
display, and perform the work. In return, licensees may not use |
the work for commercial purposes -- unless they get the |
licensor's permission. |
And here's the license itself: |
http://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-nd-nc/1.0-legalcode |
THE WORK (AS DEFINED BELOW) IS PROVIDED UNDER THE TERMS OF THIS |
CREATIVE COMMONS PUBLIC LICENSE ("CCPL" OR "LICENSE"). THE WORK |
IS PROTECTED BY COPYRIGHT AND/OR OTHER APPLICABLE LAW. ANY USE OF |
THE WORK OTHER THAN AS AUTHORIZED UNDER THIS LICENSE IS |
PROHIBITED. |
BY EXERCISING ANY RIGHTS TO THE WORK PROVIDED HERE, YOU ACCEPT |
AND AGREE TO BE BOUND BY THE TERMS OF THIS LICENSE. THE LICENSOR |
GRANTS YOU THE RIGHTS CONTAINED HERE IN CONSIDERATION OF YOUR |
ACCEPTANCE OF SUCH TERMS AND CONDITIONS. |
1. Definitions |
a. "Collective Work" means a work, such as a periodical issue, |
anthology or encyclopedia, in which the Work in its entirety in |
unmodified form, along with a number of other contributions, |
constituting separate and independent works in themselves, are |
assembled into a collective whole. A work that constitutes a |
Collective Work will not be considered a Derivative Work (as |
defined below) for the purposes of this License. |
b. "Derivative Work" means a work based upon the Work or upon the |
Work and other pre-existing works, such as a translation, musical |
arrangement, dramatization, fictionalization, motion picture |
version, sound recording, art reproduction, abridgment, |
condensation, or any other form in which the Work may be recast, |
transformed, or adapted, except that a work that constitutes a |
Collective Work will not be considered a Derivative Work for the |
purpose of this License. |
c. "Licensor" means the individual or entity that offers the Work |
under the terms of this License. |
d. "Original Author" means the individual or entity who created |
the Work. |
e. "Work" means the copyrightable work of authorship offered |
under the terms of this License. |
f. "You" means an individual or entity exercising rights under |
this License who has not previously violated the terms of this |
License with respect to the Work, or who has received express |
permission from the Licensor to exercise rights under this |
License despite a previous violation. |
2. Fair Use Rights. Nothing in this license is intended to |
reduce, limit, or restrict any rights arising from fair use, |
first sale or other limitations on the exclusive rights of the |
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