Tackling Open-Source Book Projects?

Wheeler asks: "I am currently writing a book ('The Directory Services Cookbook', shameless self-plug), which I plan to publish under some form of open license, once it's finished. At this point I am really looking for clues on which license would be appropriate for your classic, not-necessary-digital work of creation. And while we're at it: Can other OS book projects share experience on how to tackle the process of writing in general. I personally think a little Linus T. should be in every project doing editing, checking for style and layout, the works. Any comments?"

Comments

Free vs. open-source

[igrek]

Do you really need an open-source license or you just want your book to be free?

There's a difference between two. Open-source means anyone can take your source code (in LaTeX or something like that), make some changes and produce his own version of the book. I have some doubts about this model, though. Most ot the free books I've seen are just free. Anyone can use them but not contribute.

If you really want to produce a "collaborative" book, take a look at the Wiki model.

Open Book approach

[Champaign]

One thing that kind of gets me scatching my head (I'm sure its my intellectual shortcomings, not those who initate these projects) is the idea that "I'll finish this then release it as open source". I've seen the same thing with software projects where people say "I'll release the code once I've cleaned it up".

A better approach to my mind would be to start it open source from the get-go. Put your outline, rough content, ideas, etc. out there, and get peer review throughout the process. I'm sure people could contribute to every stage as you write the work, and opening it up in SOME format (it doesn't have to be pretty) wouldn't be too time consuming.

For what its worth...

Re:I'm not sure I understand this....

[Anonymous Coward]

GPL is not suited for books.

GPL was designed for interpreted programs (like emacs) or compiled programs, so anyone would look at how they worked, make changes, recompile, and distribute their chages.

A book is text on a page. Or in a file. If it's printed, you can't prevent the purchaser from making annotations, underlining passages, etc. If it's a text (or even Word) file, you can't prevent someone from editing or printing it. Sure, you can distribute it in a compiled format, like PDF, DVI, or Postscript, but the user can print it out and annotate it.

So think about what your goal with the text is, and what control you do or don't want over it.

Re:Hmm

[dachshund]

Imagine that you truly post the source to the book (LaTeX or something), and someone latexs it and prints off a thousand copies at Kinko's, has it bound, and sells them for $10 on eBay.

I don't really understand the problem. As you point out, somebody could do the same with a Linux distro, or any other piece of OSS. Generally, customers won't be stupid enough to shell out much dough for a product that they could obtain for no cost, unless they feel that they're getting something for what they're spending (like the printing and binding.)

The danger would come from somebody attempting to claim a new copyright on your work (fairly easy to deal with, if you register your work), or somebody modifying and redistributing it as their own work. In either situation, you've got a decent court case. I don't know how strong OSS licenses may be in the print arena, but if you did have to go to court, I think you'd have at least an even shot. Hopefully, nobody would be stupid enough to test you.

The author could always keep an eye out for somebody trying to do this, and potentially undercut him/her by selling copies for a lower price.

Copyright with a clause

[2Bits]

If you want to do something nice, but want to keep the control over the contents/books while you are still interested/have time/are alive, I suggest the following:

• Hold on to the copyright of the contents/book
  
• Publish an electronic copy so that people can download for free
  
• Reserve the right for yourself to publish hard copy (so you can make some money on your work)
  

So far, this is somewhat like what Bruce Eckel is doing. First, you give something back to the community, but you still can make some money, without having your work stolen.

But, add the following clauses to your copyright:

• The contents of the book will go to the public domain whenever you declare so. If you are not interested in maintaining it anymore, or you have made enough money on your work, you can give it to the whole humanity. Someone might pick it up and continue the work.
  
• The contents of the book will go the the public domain whenever you die. This way, if something happens to you, your work is automatically belonged to the whole humanity, and not to a specific entity. So, you are doing good even after death (with a small caveat though, if your book is really good and worth a lot of money, someone might want you dead as soon as possible :)
  
• You reserve the right to change the license/copyright, or have a secondary license (e.g. GPL) to fall back into. In case you can't do while you are conscious or alive, the contents automatically fall back into the secondary license. So, you can even control the license after you are dead, or while you are being vegetable (not that I'm wishing you that, far from it :)
  

Just my $0.02.

What do you want the license to do?

[buckrogers]

Do you want to just give the book away for anyone to do anything with? Then just release the book into the public domain.

Do you want to allow free redistribution, but restrict people from making any changes? Then say that in your license.

Do you want to allow changes, but want the changes to be clearly attributed to the new authors? Then say that.

These things aren't rocket science. Just say what you want to happen with your book in clear straitforward language and that is how it will be.