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A World of Possibilities
At Budding Reader we’re all about making learning to read easier and more fun for children. This month we’d like to share with you two new exciting developments that can bring free e-books to the world’s children.
First, our wonderful non-profit partner Worldreader — which distributes e-readers in the developing world — has launched a campaign to send 1 million e- books to the children of Africa: it’s called the Million Books Movement and it is unlike any other book drive in history since technology has made it possible for books to be sent wirelessly and immediately. Learn more at millionbooks.worldreader.org.
Second, we’re please to announce the launch of a campaign to “unglue” the first Budding Reader eBook set, Cat and Rat. What does that mean? Unglueing books means people coming together to give books to the world. The idea is similar to an NPR pledge drive. With NPR, a small number of people chip in to fund the station’s radio programming and receive token thank you gifts in return. Then, NPR’s programming is made available for FREE to everyone (donors and non-donors alike). Likewise, with Unglue.it an unlmited number of people chip in to fund the release of an eBook to the common good. A publisher sets a financial campaign goal and if it is met will release an “unglued” eBook which is FREE to everyone in the world.
This is a completely new concept, so if you’d like to learn more check out Unglue.it and read the press release below. We think unglueing books is a really great way to bring a library of free eBooks to everyone, everywhere. If you agree, consider supporting our campaign for Cat and Rat by pledging any amount you choose. Thank you.
Melinda
P.S. Here’s the press release:
May 28, 2012 — Unglue.it (http://unglue.it) is a new website which launched on May 17, 2012 with early childhood literacy publisher Budding Reader as one of its inaugural rights holders. Unglue.it is a crowdfunding site that lets book lovers pay authors and publishers to make their already-published books free to the world under a Creative Commons license. If supporters meet their fundraising goal, Budding Reader will release an unglued ebook edition of their award-winning ebook set, Cat and Rat.
As the popularity of ebooks skyrockets, readers have been discovering both their convenience and their disadvantages. Proprietary formats and digital rights management (DRM) technology lock ebooks to specific devices and make it hard for people to keep reading their books as technology changes. Many ebooks cannot even be lent by libraries. Unglued ebooks solve these problems. They have no DRM and can be copied and shared without infringing copyright due to the Creative Commons license. Instead of receiving royalties, rights holders are paid a licensing fee of their choice in advance. Book lovers pledge toward this fee using the Unglue.it platform.
“We believe people shouldn’t need money in order to have access to books. Unglue.it can make a positive difference in the lives of millions by giving them access to a free library of ebooks,” said Melinda Thompson, President of Budding Reader eBooks. “The Unglue.it platform offers publishers the chance to raise money, increase visibility of their titles and at the same time make a contribution to the common good.”
“Budding Reader understands how today’s ebook technology revolution is creating tomorrow’s readers,” said Eric Hellman, President of Gluejar Inc., the company behind Unglue.it. “We’re thrilled to have them on board at launch, and hope that book lovers and libraries around the world will join with us to introduce their work to children everywhere.”
About Unglue.it: Unglue.it (http://unglue.it) is a crowdfunding platform which rewards rights holders for making their ebooks available to the world under a Creative Commons license (http://creativecommons.org). Unglue.it runs campaigns for previously published books, allowing book lovers to pledge toward giving them to the world. When rights holders’ target prices are reached, they receive funds in exchange for issuing an unglued ebook edition which can be freely read, copied, and shared, noncommercially, worldwide. For more information, see http://unglue.it/press.
About Budding Reader: Budding Reader is an independent publisher which aims to make learning to read easier and more fun for all children, especially struggling readers. Their book sets incorporate research-based principles to build literacy skills. In addition, Budding Reader partners with literacy nonprofits to donate one ebook to a child in need for every book sold. Their non-profit partner, Worldreader, distributes e-readers and e-books in the developing world.