From the webpage:
unglue (v. t.) 2. To make a digital book free to read and use, worldwide.
New to me, possibly old to you.
I “discovered” this site while looking at Intermediate Python.
From the general FAQ:
Basics
How It Works
What is Unglue.it?
Unglue.it is a a place for individuals and institutions to join together to make ebooks free to the world. We work together with authors, publishers, or other rights holders who want their ebooks to be free but also want to be able to earn a living doing so. We use Creative Commons licensing as an enabling tool to “unglue” the ebooks.
What are Ungluing Campaigns?
We have three types of Ungluing Campaigns: Pledge Campaigns, Buy-to-Unglue Campaigns and Thanks-for-Ungluing campaigns.
- In a Pledge Campaign, book lovers pledge their support for ungluing a book. If enough support is found to reach the goal (and only then), the supporter’s credit cards are charged, and an unglued ebook is released.
- In a Buy-to-Unglue Campaign, every ebook copy sold moves the book’s ungluing date closer to the present. And you can donate ebooks to your local library- that’s something you can’t do in the Kindle or Apple Stores!
- In a Thanks-for-Ungluing Campaign, the ebook is already released with a Creative Commons license. Supporters can express their thanks by paying what they wish for the license and the ebook.
What is Crowdfunding?
Crowdfunding is collectively pooling contributions (or pledges) to support some cause. Using the internet for coordination means that complete strangers can work together, drawn by a common cause. This also means the number of supporters can be vast, so individual contributions can be as large or as small as people are comfortable with, and still add up to enough to do something amazing.
Want to see some examples? Kickstarter lets artists and inventors solicit funds to make their projects a reality. For instance, webcomic artist Rich Burlew sought $57,750 to reprint his comics in paper form — and raised close to a million.
In other words, crowdfunding is working together to support something you love. By pooling resources, big and small, from all over the world, we can make huge things happen.
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What will supplement and then replace contemporary publishing models remains to be seen.
In terms of experiments, this one looks quite promising.
If you use unglue.it, please ping me with your experience. Thanks!