Welcome to the revolution. On this page you will find background about how this project began, where it is currently, and where I hope it goes. Hopefully you will join us in the quest. Please feel free to look around; I appreciate any feedback.

Introduction

I am interested in doing a bit of an experiment. As I am not professionally or egoistically tied to the means of conventional publishing, it seems I have the perfect opportunity for this project. This idea came to me because of the apparent growing use of Creative Commons licenses.

I'm sure there are many good reasons that writers around the world stick to the main stream methods of getting their works published. The concept of peer review alone gives strength and credibility to any written piece. The existence of publishing companies also creates an institution of hierarchy that attests to the competitive nature of the profession. Literary critics are the public's appointed judges who are given the responsibility to sort out the chaff, in order to raise the golden grain to deserved acclaim.

It is assumed that aspiring authors enter into the profession through the same means as the existant stars, else their work will lose the power that comes with institutional inertia. Writers must either start small, with shorts or articles, introducing their names into the desired community (literary, academic, etc.) and slowly build a repertoire, or enter by contest -- jumping in and beating the rest with brilliance.

E-booking is changing the industry at a rapid pace. Anyone with a computer and an internet connection can get their words out to the public. Yet, the hold on conventional means of publishing is still as intense as ever. There is a sense of integrity that seems to pervade the criticisms about e-book authors that illustrates this method as lacking.

This website is here to explore the revolution of non-commercial writing. I assert that the publishing industry is an example of manipulation; it utilizes the assumption of social darwinism that the strongest will survive the brutal forces of nature (competition for a publisher) and those who do survive deserve to be rewarded with the greatest prizes (royalties). These assumptions also posit that the nature of competition will bring forth the necessity of practice, therefore providing society with the commodity of individuals who have honed skills. What isn't apparent is that the brutal forces of nature are not natural at all, and are in fact imposed by those who are in power (the most prestigious publishers), in order to control the masses of very strong individuals that "don't make the cut." By limiting the awards to a finite population of recipients, the strong-but-not-strongest have no means for dissemination of their ideas.

A Revisit to Whitepapers

A Socialist Response