Industry insight interview- Creative Commons

What is Creative Commons (CC)?

Elliott: Creative Commons offers a new way of thinking about and managing your copyright. At the core of the CC project is a suite of standardised licences, freely available to creators, that foster sharing and collaboration. It is a user-friendly and easy way for people to make their content more freely available without needing to hire a lawyer. CC builds upon the ‘all rights reserved’ of traditional copyright to create a voluntary ‘some rights reserved’ system.

What does CC offer writers?

Amy: For a writer, CC provides free tools that allow you to decide how you would like to release your copyright into the world in terms of distribution and possible collaboration. It encourages writers to think more about what they want their writing to do and to license the writing appropriately. It gives them a whole spectrum of options, instead of having no choice but all rights reserved.

Why would you want to put your writing out under CC?

Elliott: One thing a publisher will consider when deciding if they'll sign you is whether or not you’re sellable, whether people want to read your stuff. That’s often hard to prove if you’ve been holding on tightly to everything you’ve ever written. If lots of people are already enjoying your work online then that should give a publisher confidence that your work is popular. By putting your work out there you’re raising your profile and developing a fan base.

Is CC only an option for self-published work or are publishers seeing it as a viable option?

Elliott: CC is an option for anyone. I guess for a self-publisher it’s just a lot easier to ‘get approval’ to publish under a CC licence since you’re seeking approval from yourself. That’s why a lot of uptake in publishing has been by self-publishers.
 
Like everything, it takes time for big players to get their heads around a new idea and even longer for them to be comfy with it. The scientific and academic publishing sector has been leading the way in this, but that is starting to change. Aduki Independent Press [www.aduki.net.au] from Melbourne recently released Tristan Clark’s Stick This In Your Memory Hole under a non-commercial CC licence that allowed remixing. Cory Doctorow’s CC licensed young adult’s book Little Brother published by Tor Books, was recently on the New York Times bestsellers list for six weeks. I think this is the start of much more movement by publishers in this area.
 
Amy: CC is certainly an option for publishers. Remix My Lit (RML) is currently deep in discussions with a major Australian publisher about releasing a published anthology of works commissioned and remixed for our project under a CC license. It just takes boldness of vision.

Can you provide an example of a fiction writer who is using CC?

Elliott: Children’s fiction author Fritz Bogott [http://novel-a-month.com] started a project in June last year to publish a novel a month. The entire project, including each book, was released under a CC licence that allows remixing for non-commercial purposes.

Amy: RML author Lee Battersby's CC licensed short story Alychymical Romance was recently nominated in the prestigious Aurealis Awards [www.aurealisawards.com]. As far as we know, this is the first CC licensed work ever nominated in these awards and it is available in its entirety for others to remix.

Elliott:  Following Cory’s lead, science fiction writers seem to have flocked to CC. Equally, many writers on US speculative fiction site Strange Horizons [www.strangehorizons.com] release their stories under CC.

Can you have a hybrid model using both traditional copyright and CC?

Elliott: Of course. The whole idea behind CC is to get people thinking about how to manage their rights rather than relying solely on the ‘all rights reserved’ default. You could definitely retain all the commercial rights to a printed book and release an electronic PDF version for users to download. This is what global justice magazine New Internationalist [www.newint.com.au] do, making articles available on their website under CC but reserving all their rights in the published magazine.

When is it not suitable for a writer to use CC?

Elliott: There can be a number of situations where using CC is not desirable or not possible. For example, if you’ve entered an agreement with a publisher and assigned part or all of your copyright under that agreement then you can no longer release that same work under a CC licence.
 
Amy: It may not be suitable for a writer to release works, particularly longer works such as a novel, under a CC licence if they are planning to then submit these works to traditional publishers for consideration. In this case it may be more prudent to release only the first chapter of the book under a CC license, like a band releasing a single or a movie studio releasing a preview.

Any other advice?

Elliott: Be strategic and be smart about how you license your work. You don’t have to give everything away. Think about what you’re OK with letting other people do stuff with, now and in the future. If you want to make money on a story then consider one of the licences with the non-commercial element. If the integrity of your writing is crucial to you as an author then any licence that includes the ‘no derivative works’ element will restrict remixing.

You might also want to consider releasing old works, or works that haven’t found a market through traditional publishers. You never know what new audiences you might find, or who might find you.
 
Amy: Copyright doesn’t have to be boring or something only lawyers or your agent knows anything about. CC makes it simple and straightforward so take matters into your own hands. The CC team are always there to provide advice.

If you’re interested in exploring more examples of what people are doing with Creative Commons licensing around the world, browse the CC Case Studies Wiki: [http://wiki.creativecommons.org/casestudies].