what's a good open source license for a book? (lemmy.ml)

submitted 6 months ago by ByroTriz@lemmy.ml to c/opensource@lemmy.ml

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If I decide to self-publish a book what happens to the copyright? Is there a way to prevent others from claiming copyrights for a book published autonomously? Are there OS licenses specifically tuned for books?

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[-] taanegl@beehaw.org 56 points 6 months ago

When it comes to creative work, Creative Commons is the way to go. I know a guy who exclusively releases music under the Creative Commons license.

Here's a "Chooser" wizard, that asks you some questions and then suggests a suitable CC license for you.

[-] Shimon@slrpnk.net 5 points 6 months ago

Fun fact KGWZ released one of their albums completly free (i guess public domain) and encourage you to play with it as much as you want :)

https://kinggizzardandthelizardwizard.com/polygondwanaland

[-] taanegl@beehaw.org 8 points 6 months ago

Here's a careful reminder that "public domain" is not a worldwide thing ^^; in fact, very few countries have a public domain.

In some cases, if you try to publish something as "public domain" from a certain country, it is invalid - because their judiciary does not define public domain as anything.

It maybe considered public domain, until you die and someone wants that copyright, in which case the family takes precedent over the estate - full stop.

There's a difference between countries that have common law (US and UK) and those that have civil law (the Nordics), so yeah.

But CC is valid license pretty much everywhere, with a few exceptions.

[-] GenderNeutralBro@lemmy.sdf.org 31 points 6 months ago

https://creativecommons.org/share-your-work/cclicenses/

You probably want the SA (share-alike) or NC-SA (non-commercial share-alike) but take a look and decide what suits you best.

From https://creativecommons.org/faq/#do-i-have-to-provide-my-name-can-i-ask-that-my-name-be-removed :

Do I have to provide my name? Can I ask that my name be removed?

As a licensor, you may choose to receive under any name that you wish, such as a pseudonym or pen name, or you may choose not to be credited by name at all, and to publish anonymously. You do not have to be credited under your legal name. Most jurisdictions permit this, but you should check to be sure this is valid in your jurisdiction.