I heard about the idea for a wikiHow coloring book being unfortunately postponed and thought that I’d suggest this idea that I’ve had for a while, since it’s a similar kind of thing.
Basically, I thought it would be cool if we compiled all the information for teenagers in the youth, mental health and relationship categories and turned it into a wikiHow Guide for Teenagers eBook (and potentially a paper book) which could be sold.
It seems to be free to publish an eBook, and on the certain site that I am looking at ( https://www.smashwords.com/
), wikiHow would get 58-70% per sale. I was also thinking that we could also add extra quotes and tips from wikiHowians.
But I am wondering what other people think and if wikiHow takes suggestions like this
It seems you have given a thorough thought and research to this idea. Kudos to that.
I have a question - would it be possible to edit an eBook after it’s published and being sold? Because new topics are being created every day. I’m not sure how many editions we’d end up pushing out if we can’t edit these things!
@Galactic
Radiance I’m not too sure, I’m going to ask the eBook publisher that I am looking at.
Update: Actually, it says that you can upload a newer version of your eBook, so I guess you can.
Not only this, which is an excellent point, but wikiHow’s content is licensed under Creative Commons, which does not permit FOR PROFIT/commercial distribution of wikiHow’s articles. To provide wikiHow’s content in a paid setting such as book or eBook for sale, goes against wikiHow’s mission of providing free how-to instructions, and would likely violate the terms of the CC licensing.
You can read more about CC licensing here:
@Isorhythmic
, if you don’t mind my asking, by those rules, would it go against CC to make wikiHow coloring books? I know coloring books been suggested in the past, as said in the original post.
@Isorhythmic
Oh, I didn’t realize. As Galactic Radiance said, I thought that the coloring book was going to be for profitable purposes, which is why I thought that an eBook could also be sold.
@Galactic-Radiance
No, I don’t think it would go against the licensing rules to *make* the coloring books, or an eBook like was suggested. To *sell* them, probably. The license just stipulates that any distribution must be non-commercial in nature and that credit/attribution must be given to wikiHow for providing the material.
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@WithGlitter
I’m pretty sure the coloring book idea would be okay, as long as it’s not being sold for profit. I don’t recall anyone mentioning *selling* it specifically… I assumed it would be a free product like everything else on wikiHow.
Beyond that, I think Alex has a valid concern from the editability standpoint. wikiHow articles change and evolve frequently; and if you’re going to distribute an eBook that requires a device to view anyway, why not just direct people to wikiHow itself so they can get the latest version of the article (and possibly contribute to it)? The mobile app/site is much more fun to use than an eBook reader anyway.
@Isorhythmic
Oh, my bad, I thought that because they were going to print it they were going to sell it to make up for the cost or something.
I was thinking it would have been formatted more as articles or tips than as specifically how to articles, and I found out about the coloring idea when people were talking about wikiHow making money in other ways than advertisements, which is why I assumed that they were thinking of using the articles in some way
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@WithGlitter
It’s okay. If I remember correctly the idea might have been to produce a PDF version that people could print at home and then color, so there would be little cost involved in producing it, but I could be wrong.
In any case, I think the license pretty much prevents anything being sold, unless there is some kind of exception, or the license gets changed to something else, but I personally don’t see that happening because that is a big part of the wikiHow culture: the openness and non commercial nature of the content.
Ah, okay! Thanks, @Isorhythmic
. That makes sense now. I actually do think eBooks could be a good idea, but only if they could be updated. The thing is, even if someone has an eBook reader, they might not have constant access to the Internet (maybe they fly a lot?). If it’s possible for them to download a wikiHow guidebook that can be read offline and updated when they’re online… What do others think?
^ Yup, I found out on the website that I’m looking at that you can replace them with an updated version. So, if this is made for a non-profitable purpose, people should be able to read them offline and update when they get internet access.
@Isorhythmic
Oh, right. Maybe they could be published for non-profitable purposes then?
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I just wanted to clarify a few things that there might be confusion about in this thread
wikiHow’s license doesn’t allow commercial republishing by others without explicit permission. For example, a random reader or business can’t just come along and republish a manual of all our content to plaster with ads or sell on Amazon. Jack and the wikiHaus can and do use wikiHow’s content in a commercial way, though, or else we wouldn’t be able to have ads on the site
Sometimes the wikiHaus grants permission to use wikiHow’s content in mission-positive ways, too, like letting publishers of ESL textbooks in other countries use our articles in print. And there are other possibilities on this front, like if we ever sell wikiHow-branded stuff (like @Marina
suggested in another thread) as an alternative or supplement to ads (as @JackHerrick
discussed in his state of the wiki talk here
).
Branding/trademark is a different thing, and a bit more complicated. But generally, if you want to independently republish wikiHow content noncommercially, you must make clear that it’s not coming officially from wikiHow.
TL;DR: Noncommercial use of wikiHow’s content is allowed without needing permission, as long as wikiHow is credited properly by making it clear that wikiHow is the original source of the content, and linking back to wikiHow.
Thanks for clarifying, @Krystle
. Good to hear from someone who knows the ins and outs of it.
