Release a deadly monster: a DRM-free ebook crowdfunding startup

Back in May, Cory posted about the then-brand-new website unglue.it‘s campaign to unlock the classic scholarly book Oral Literature in Africa through crowdfunding. That campaign was successfully wrapped up last week, and soon anyone with an internet connection will be able to download a Creative-Commons licensed (CC-BY) version for free.

But that’s not the end of the story. Unglue.it is a broad e-book crowdfunding platflorm with a variety of ongoing and future campaigns (you can wish for which campaigns you want them pursue next here). It’s like like Kickstarter or GoFundMe for DRM-free e-books. A current campaign that may be particularly interesting to BB readers is Joseph Nassise’s internationally bestselling debut novel, Riverwatch. Riverwatch, a gothic thriller about a deadly creature inadvertantly released from a sealed underground chamber by an unwitting construction team, was nominated for both the Bram Stoker Award and the International Horror Guild Award when it came out ten years ago. 

Nassise, who was featured on John Scalzi’s blog last month, is a big believer in better global access to ebooks. He’s such a big believer, in fact, that he dropped the initial target for Riverwatch‘s unglue.it campaign by 40%, and just this week added some pretty sweet new premiums for supporters, including MOAR FREE EBOOKS.

— Katie Fortney