Creative Commons on a series of articles I would like to publish

[jryankennedy]

Hello all!

I had a question about Creative Commons (Attribution Non-Commercial).

There is a website that has a series of short stories. I think it would be great if these stories were printed in a book for others to enjoy. However, I want to be sure this is legal. If I put this book together, there would be costs involved like printing the book or hosting an ebook. Could I charge like $0.99 for an ebook and something like a few bucks for a printed copy just to cover the cost of making these available?

By no means do I want to make money off this, I just want to make it more accessible.

If I am allowed to sell a book for a few bucks, and it exceeds the cost of the book, what should I do with the left over money? Does that make sense?

When does this cross the line between non-commercial and commercial?

Thanks!

 

[FlyingRon]

From CreativeCommon's own page

Does my use violate the NonCommercial clause of the licenses?
CC's NonCommercial (NC) licenses prohibit uses that are "primarily intended for or directed toward commercial advantage or private monetary compensation." Whether a use is commercial will depend on the specifics of the situation and the intentions of the user. In CC's experience, whether a use is permitted is usually pretty clear, and known conflicts are relatively few considering the popularity of the NC licenses. However, there will always be uses that are challenging to categorize as commercial or noncommercial. CC cannot advise you on what is and is not commercial use. If you are unsure, you should either contact the creator or rightsholder for clarification, or search for works that permit commercial uses. Please note that CC's definition does not turn on the type of user: if you are a non profit or charitable organization, your use of an NC-licensed work could run afoul of the NC restriction; and if you are a for-profit entity, your use of an NC-licensed work does not necessarily mean you have violated the term.

Creative Commons published results from a survey on meanings of commercial and noncommercial use generally. Note that the results of the study are not intended to serve as CC's official interpretation of what is and is not commercial use under our licenses, and the results should not be relied upon as such.​

Frankly, if you're going to charge (even if you don't claim to be making a profit), I would inquire to the author(s) directly rather than relying on making assumptions about what they mean in CC.

 

[webscribbler]

First off, I am not a lawyer; just a fellow web traveler hoping for advice from someone who is and for whom a similar issue is at play in her own thread here.

You should ask the author. They spent the time creating the short story and are generous enough to offer it freely on their website or the website of their choice. They have chosen to present them as a series of stories on a website rather than an ebook. While some might be honored or not care if you get in between them and their readers, others might be deeply offended that you inserted yourself in the middle - particularly since you are talking about charging for their materials. Not to mention the CC license they are using does not allow for you to make money on their work. The rationale for charging doesn't really matter - it wouldn't to me if they were my materials and you never asked me about packaging them and offering them somewhere other than where I had intended for them to be offered.

Why not ask the author(s)? You might be surprised. They might jump on the idea and work with you.