bangersandmash

Bloomsbury is going to release Creative Commons licensed works concurrently with their print-based work. Fittingly, the work advertised on their website is by Lawrence Lessig. Ironically, a CC-licensed work is not available because:

[t]he Creative Commons (CC) version of the book will be available in May 2009. This is due to pre-existing print and electronic publication rights granted to the originating publisher, Penguin Press, in the USA. Until the CC version is available, all profits from the e-book will be donated to Creative Commons.

Good ol’ copyright gets one last kick at Bloomsbury.

All joking aside, this is a fantastic turn of events. According to their FAQ

[Bloomsbury] will impose the same standards expected of any world-class academic publisher. Manuscripts that pass the editorial selection process will be peer-reviewed, copyedited and formatted. Authors will have their works marketed and sold globally. In addition, Bloomsbury Academic will be at the forefront of promoting the text online.

On other words, Bloomsbury does not believe that making an e-print available will undermine the central tenants of academic publishing. They will continue to deliver a quality product that lives up to the expectations of their community while also attempting to lead the humanities deeper into the digital age.

My only suggestion is that Bloomsbury add a “donate” link. I believe in Creative Commons. I also believe that by making something available to the masses the author and publisher should still have the right to make money directly from the product. Communities are very powerful. Whether they realise it or not, Bloomsbury has just made their works available to a much wider community. The community should have the opportunity to pay them back.