Uncopyright

This is an official notification that all content on this website, focusmanifesto.com, are in the public domain. I hereby waive all claim of copyright in this work; it may be used or altered in any manner without attribution or notice to the me. Attribution, of course, is appreciated.

To clarify, I’m granting full permission to use any content on this site, including the chapters of my book, in any way you like. I release my copyright on this content.

There is no need to email me for permission. Use it however you want! Email it, share it, reprint it with or without credit. Change it around, put in a bunch of swear words and attribute them to me. It’s OK.

Credit and payment

While you are under no obligation to do so, I would appreciate it if you give me credit for any work of mine that you use, and ideally, link back to the original. If you feel like spreading a copy of this content or the ebook that will be published when the content is done, you may do so without payment.

Why I’m releasing copyright

I’m not a big fan of copyright laws anyway, especially as they’re being applied these days by corporations, used to crack down on the little guys so they can continue their large profits.

Copyrights are often touted as protecting the artist, but in most cases the artist gets very little while the corporations make most of the money. I’m trying this experiment to see whether releasing copyright really hurts the creator of the content.

I think, in most cases, the protectionism that is touted by “anti-piracy” campaigns and lawsuits and lobbying actually hurts the artist. Limiting distribution to protect profits isn’t a good thing.

The lack of copyright, and blatant copying by other artists and even businesses, never hurt Leonardo da Vinci when it comes to images such as the Mona Lisa, the Last Supper, or the Vitruvian Man. It’s never hurt Shakespeare. I doubt that it’s ever really hurt any artist (although I might just be ignorant here).

And while I’m no da Vinci or Shakespeare, I can’t help but wonder whether copyright hurts me or helps me. If someone feels like sharing my content on their blog, or in any other form for that matter, that seems like a good thing for me. If someone wanted to share my ebook with 100 friends, I don’t see how that hurts me. My work is being spread to many more people than I could do myself. That’s a plus, as I see it.

And if someone wants to take my work and improve upon it, as artists have been doing for centuries, I think that’s a wonderful thing. If they can take my favorite posts and make something funny or inspiring or thought-provoking or even sad … I say more power to them. The creative community only benefits from derivations and inspirations.

This isn’t a new concept, of course, and I’m freely ripping ideas off here. Which is kinda the point.

Read a good post on this: The Death of Intellectual Property Rights

Counter arguments and all that

There are a number of objects that will likely be brought up to this idea, and while I can’t possibly answer all of them, here are a few of my responses in anticipation:

1. You’ll lose book and ebook revenues. My ebook will be free, so it’s not possible to lose ebook revenues. It’s possible to lose print book revenues, as I plan to sell the print version of this book one way or another. But if people buy my ebook and then distribute it to 20 people, and each of those distributes it to 20 more, and those to 20 more … I’ve reached thousands of readers who might never have heard of my book or me. I see that as a good thing for me, as an author. I help more people than I could have if I held onto my content … and I believe some of those people will buy the print book, if only because they like to read paper books, or maybe to give away as gifts.

2. Who knows what people will do with your work? Someone could take my work, turn it into a piece of … crap … and put my name on it. They could translate it with all kinds of errors. They could … well, they could do just about anything. But that kind of thinking stems from a mind that wants to control content … while I am of the opinion that you can’t control it, and even if you can, it’s not a good thing. What if someone takes my work and turns it into something brilliant, and becomes the next James Joyce? Or more likely, what if they take the work and extend the concepts and make it even more useful, to even more people? Release control, and see what happens. People are wonderful, creative creatures. Let’s see what they can do.

3. You’re making other authors look bad. Perhaps, if you want to see things in a negative light. But I’m not doing this as a challenge to other authors, or as a comment on their policies. I’m doing it simply to stay in line with my values. And who knows? Maybe others will be inspired by this in some way. Or maybe they won’t. Either way, please don’t judge others based on what I do.

4. Why would a publisher sign a deal with you if you’ve given away copyright? I hope a publisher will sign a deal to print and distribute my book, but I don’t know if it’ll happen. If I were a publisher, I’d sign the deal, because I believe this model of distribution will reach a much wider audience than possible under the traditional model. If the book is good, people will spread it in ebook form or send the link to this site to friends (if the book isn’t good, well, nothing will happen). Some people who get a free copy of the ebook, who really like the book, will buy it in print. And many people won’t ever see the ebook but will see the book on Amazon or other online seller, or in a physical bookstore, and will want to buy it (if it’s good).

5. What if someone publishes a book with all your content and makes a million dollars off it? I hope they at least give me credit. And my deepest desire is that they give some of that money to a good cause.

6. But … but … they’re stealing from you! You can’t steal what is given freely. I call this sharing, not piracy.

Inspirations: Free Culture, by Lawrence Lessig; and GNU by Richard Stallman.