What Books Should We Unglue?

The most common questions I get when I talk about Unglue.it are about the books. What sort of books will work in the Unglue.it model? Why have you picked the books you have? In response, I emphasize the Unglue.it is not a publisher, nor is it a gatekeeper. Publishers and authors are the ones who decide which books to offer, and it’s the supporter community that decides which books get unglued.


We’ve started concentrating on some specific directions based on the response we’re getting from authors and publishers.

One group that has been interested in the model is authors who’ve turned to self-publishing. And to make it easier for self-publishers to participate with Unglue.it, I’ve been talking with Mark Coker, President of Smashwords and a true advocate for authors. He’s letting Smashwords authors use the ebook-making machinery at Smashwords to produce books for ungluing. If you been paying close attention, you may have noticed that unglued book #2 was a Smashwords-produced title.

If you’re a Smashwords author and your book meets their standards for “premium catalog” inclusion, just sign a Platform Services Agreement with us and you’re good to go.   For the fine print, check out our FAQ for Smashwords authors.  http://unglue.it/about/smashwords/

(I loved hearing Mark on NPR the other day, check it out!)

Another group that I expect to begin testing the waters with significant numbers of books is academic publishers. They are struggling to find the sustainable models for open-access books that researchers are increasingly demanding. Last week I traveled to Berlin to speak at the Academic Publishing in Europe conference, and had some great meetings with some brand-name publishers. I’m hopeful that one or two of them will join Open Book Publishers  (unglued book #1) as participants in Unglue.it.

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