Shareware Books
Shareware Books
What are Shareware Books?
Editorial Perdido releases Shareware Books. Shareware Books are not subject to 'normal' copyright: you can own, copy, share, and print them, use their texts without asking for permission, in short: you can do almost everything with Shareware Books, except earn money, because that's the right of the writer.
Something about copyright
Any written text is automatically copyrighted. That's an old-fashioned concept (the copyright law dates back to 1912). In this age of Internet, chat and email, copyright is violated by almost everyone on a daily basis. If I forward a chat message, I'm infringing copyright, and a company that allows me to "cut-and-paste" is my accomplice in that outrageous crime. Even if I publicly sing «Happy Birthday to you», I am guilty of a crime, because I did not ask the lyricist and composer's prior permission to reproduce this melody and lyrics.
It is clear that copyright concept is kept alive for one thing only: money. When there is something to earn, wealthy companies and individuals send their lawyers. When the copyright was invented, it was the default for 14 years from the time of writing, but thanks to lobbying from the greed industry, that term is now 70 years after the death of the author or composer. It is clear that not the writer or artist is being served, but only the owner of the rights, who has not created anything artistic at all.
We believe that both creators and enjoyers of art need better terms. Shareware Books are better terms.
Shareware is good for readers
By relinquishing the copyright, the author gives the reader a great privilege: you can read the book first and only then you decide whether it was worth paying the contribution of € 1,- (one Euro).
Indeed. Each Shareware Book only costs € 1,- and is therefore much cheaper than the commercial version. You can copy it and forward it to your friends without any problem. Shareware Books are written for fun, not for money, and that fun is evident.
All the disadvantages of Shareware Books are for the publishers, who unfortunately can no longer earn anything from the creativity of others, and for the tax authorities, which have set the VAT on self-written books at 0%.
Shareware is good for writers
Shareware books also have advantages for the writers: each author gets one Euro per sold book, which is more than he would get from a commercial publisher. He has the guarantee that his work will not be refused if the publisher does not expect to earn enough from it. Sufficient Shareware income will inspire him to write the next book.
On websites such as Wattpad, YouTube and Unsplash, artists can make their work available for free to anyone who is interested. They often work with a voluntary contribution or an attribution. That way, many more people can enjoy free artistic work. But, of course, it's ridiculous that those artists have to do their work for free, while the creator of that website flies to the moon with all the money he earns, thanks to underpaying those artists.
Shareware Books contains an entry with the conditions and the possibility to make a financial contribution. The writer trusts that the reader is willing to pay a euro for a good story, and the reader can trust that the writer will write more good books if he does indeed receive a financial contribution for his work.
The reader determines, by paying that Euro, whether Shareware Books are a successful alternative to traditional commercial books. Readers are generally intelligent people. We at Editorial Perdido think our readers are smart enough to make the best choice.
An example
If you want to publish your own book as a Shareware book, copy the text below to your title page:
«Place, release date»
ISBN: 978-??-?????-??-?
Publisher: Editorial Perdido
Author-right: @ «year» by «story writer»
Author-right cover design: @ «year» by «cover designer»
This is a Shareware Book. You have permission to download it for free, own it, print it, copy it, read it, send it to others and use the texts in it. You can do almost anything with this book file and its lyrics, except make money from it, because that's the right of the author who wrote the lyrics.
If you liked this book, it would be nice if you would send me, the author, a thank you, for example by transferring the Shareware contribution of € 1,- (one Euro) to bank account «enter your own bank account here» in the name of «enter your own name here». You can also thank me by doing some free promotion for this book, for example by forwarding the book or its download link to your friends, or by leaving a comment on «enter hyperlink here».
Then you make a PDF or EPUB of your book and send it around in any way you can. If you would like more information, send us a message and we'll help you out.