How to give stuff away AND make money
I came up with a better title for my new book: A User’s Manual for the Human Experience. The book has evolved in scope past the old title, and that certainly nails it better than Practical Emotional Self-Defense to Live and Work Smarter. The book is a movement waiting to happen. It will change the world for the better more than anything I’ve ever done. I’m writing it now, and it’s great.
My plan is to write it, edit it, self-publish it on demand and sell paperback copies on Amazon. I also plan to release the text of the book and eBook under a Creative Commons Attribution-Noncommercial Attribution license, so people can copy, remix and share it. Since I want the message to spread, I will release the eBook for free on BitTorrent via PirateBay and Greylodge. I will also encourage people to do translations into other languages and give away eBooks of the translated version.
I like the “Gift Economy” idea of making the text available electronically, but selling the treeware version will allow me the possibility of making some money on a project I will have dedicated a full year to creating. I will also sell T-shirts and mugs and such, and audiobooks.
After the book is released, I will record and edit a very high-quality audiobook of Debra Jean reading the book (with me reading the “Closing Arguments” chapter). In recognition of the amount of work involved in this, I plan to retain copyright ownership of the master recordings of the audio book. May try to find a distributor for the audiobook.
The entire audiobook will be available on data DVD for about 8 bucks ppd. Much more reasonable than corporation-marketed prices, but still enough that I’d make a few bucks on each one. I’ll also try to leverage the whole thing into speaking engagements. I’ll pull every favor I can from everyone I know to blog, mention and push it, because it’s more than a book, it’s something huge, something that could help every human on the planet.
My release of DIY or DIE was my invention for alternative publication before I had even heard of CC. The film was copyrighted, but in the licensing of the DVD I allowed people to make 10 copies for friends, and allowed each of those ten people to make 10 copies. I also sell the DVD cheap, eight bucks.
The DIY or DIE DVD was the first instance of a commercial media product being released under copyright but giving users express permission to make non-commercial copies. The DVD was also released with no copy protection, and no region encoding.
As for my new book, if anyone has additional “business plan” ideas for how to spread the creamy goodness to the world, I’m open to it.
January 25th, 2009 at 5:19 am
I like the new title, Michael. I liked the old one too, but this sounds even easier to remember for someone who hears it.
Looking forward to reading the book, as well as any promotional stuff related to the book! It seems like you have been destined to write this book for several years.
January 25th, 2009 at 6:22 am
Yeah, it does seem like the culmination of a lot that I’ve come up with. It’s all my good false starts rolled into one.
January 25th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
This whole plan sounds great, Michael. Good luck!
January 26th, 2009 at 9:57 am
I am looking forward to reading this book. If you need any help with proofing or anything, feel free to give me a holler.
marion
January 26th, 2009 at 10:10 am
ExcellenT! Thank you.
I actually just made a note to myself an hour ago on my “things to do” to
“ask Marion and Erin if they can proofread some when I’m ready.”
It will be a month or three from now before I have stuff ready to look at, but I’ll letcha know!
Thank you so much!
MWD
January 30th, 2009 at 8:48 am
“It will be a month or three from now before I have stuff ready to look at, but I’ll letcha know!”
Yes, and a Michael W. Dean month equals a 24 hour day for the rest of us mortals….
marion
January 30th, 2009 at 11:01 am
I know I know. I got excited. (I’ve sent marion like nine chapters to proof since I told her “it will be a month or three before….”)
that’s a quality problem. lol….better way ahead of schedule (or goals) than way behind.
Thank you marion, I dig what you do, and dig who you are.
MWD
January 30th, 2009 at 11:03 am
Also, I’m considering trying to get this a book deal rather than giving it away. Have two agents interested now, based on a query describing the book. Sending proposal and sample chapters to one next week. Should be a nice challenge to get published in this economy, in a field I haven’t ever been published in. (Though I think that in a way, ALL my books are self-help, or at least contain some self-help philosophy, even the tech books.)
February 5th, 2009 at 7:54 pm
I’m late to the party, but count me in if ya need anything
December 28th, 2009 at 3:53 pm
[...] But I did get a lot of press for doing it, and it actually sold more copies, not less, than if I’d used the limitations of a traditional copyright. http://www.stinkfight.com/2009/01/25/how-to-give-away-your-project-and-make-money/ [...]
December 29th, 2009 at 5:02 pm
[...] But I did get a lot of press for doing it, and it actually sold more copies, not less, than if I’d used the limitations of a traditional copyright. http://www.stinkfight.com/2009/01/25/how-to-give-away-your-project-and-make-money/ [...]
January 5th, 2010 at 2:53 pm
[...] But I did get a lot of press for doing it, and it actually sold more copies, not less, than if I’d used the limitations of a traditional copyright: http://www.stinkfight.com/2009/01/25/how-to-give-away-your-project-and-make-money/. [...]
January 8th, 2010 at 4:05 am
[...] download don’t usually buy things. So I’ll still sell as many CDs. Maybe more, given my past experiences doing things like [...]
January 8th, 2010 at 4:06 am
[...] download don’t usually buy things. So I’ll still sell as many CDs. Maybe more, given my past experiences doing things like [...]
January 8th, 2010 at 4:11 am
[...] download don’t usually buy things. So I’ll still sell as many CDs. Maybe more, given my past experiences doing things like [...]
February 2nd, 2010 at 1:29 am
[...] download don’t usually buy things. So I’ll still sell as many CDs. Maybe more, given my past experiences doing things like [...]