Since we announced the launch of the CC edition of Whodunit just over a week ago, we’ve received many questions and comments from teachers, authors, and publishers from around the world. We’re really excited by the wide interest this project is generating, because beyond simply publishing another ELT textbook, we had also hoped to push the boundaries of what is possible for educational publishing in the digital age. 

So, here are a few of the questions we’ve been asked so far. Please feel free to add yours to the comments section below.

Q: Wait, you’re giving away your book FOR FREE?! What kind of a crazy business model is THAT?!

A: Relax... there is some method to our madness ;-)

First of all, we aren’t giving away the book for free. Not exactly. Yes, you can download the complete PDF version without paying anything. And no, there are no strings attached. We will never chase you down to ask you to pay, and we will never look at you funny if you slink past our booth at a teaching conference without saying “Hi”. Well, we might look at you funny for slinking, but not because you didn’t pay. We promise.

Nevertheless, we think that people will choose to pay a price that they think is fair. Or, that they will order a set of the printed books to use with their students. Or, at the very least, that they will recommend Whodunit to a few of their colleagues, who might in turn order a few copies or recommend it to their colleagues, and so on.

Q: But why would they pay for something that they can get for free?

A: To be honest, we aren’t completely sure that everyone will. We are trying something new. But here are a few good reasons why we think that this will work:

• Because it’s a really good book. We worked very hard on it for a long time and we think it shows. We’re confident that we’ve made a quality product, one that works very well in the classroom, and one that you will agree is worth something.
• Because we trust you. We believe that most people are reasonable and good, that they want to do the right thing, and that they, like us, resent the insinuation that everyone is a potential copyright pirate who must be herded through restrictive and often incomprehensible terms-of-use agreements.  
• Because it’s a book aimed at teachers, and teachers love giving lessons that are greater than their classroom. What could be more timely than teaching one’s students, though direct personal example, about how to be a responsible and sustainable consumer in the digital age? 
• And because, frankly, it’s a bit of a pain to photocopy a 200-page book for dozens of students every semester. You can do that if you like, OR you can simply order the convenient print edition, which is available internationally through Abax (and which is in colour and includes a couple of nice extras to boot).

But yeah, the bottom line is that we don’t really know how this will turn out. It’s an experiment. It’s entirely possible that we may lose all the time and money we’ve invested. You’ll know if that has happened if the second book in the Fiction in Action series is NOT offered as a PDF download. You’ll really know we’ve failed if no other publisher follows Abax’s lead over the coming months.

But you know what? We’re optimistic. Heck, what have we got to lose? Any book launch is a risk anyway. At the very least, we’ll get everyone talking about us. Hopefully some of those people will think that we’re pretty decent guys to try something like this, and that Abax is a pretty cool publisher to let us do it.

If all else fails, we can certainly settle for that.

Q: Okay, so maybe you’re not completely crazy. What’s a Creative Commons license, anyway?

A: The traditional form of copyright we’re all familiar with is what’s known as “All Rights Reserved”, which is a restrictive, all-or-nothing model. Under this model, either a work is under copyright, which means that the copyright holder maintains all rights to reproduce it or alter it; or it is in the public domain, where no rights apply whatsoever. (Yes, there are so-called ‘fair use’ exemptions, but they are often neither very fair nor useful.)

So basically, if something is under copyright—and every creative work automatically is by default—then the customer is highly restricted in what they can do with ‘their’ copy. They do not have the right to legally reproduce it to share with friends, to use it in the classroom (oh, you think there’s an ‘educational exemption’, eh? Try copying Harry Potter for your students to read, and let us know how that goes). It is also prohibited to remix, alter or adapt copyrighted works without the explicit permission of the copyright holders, who in most cases will not give it.

Creative Commons licenses, on the other hand—and there are several varieties—ensure that artists and producers have some rights while choosing to waive some others. For instance, they might reserve the right to be credited for their work or to profit from it, while allowing users the right to make copies or adapt the work if they want to.

Under our CC license, for example, you may make as many copies of Whodunit as you want and do whatever you like with them—except take our names off the cover or sell them for a profit. Which we hope you’ll agree is pretty reasonable.

Q: Interesting. So, how did you get the idea to do this?

A: I have long been a fan of Cory Doctorow, the bestselling SF author and CC champion. Doctorow publishes all of his novels both as free PDFs and as regular printed books. He has written extensively about his experiences here and here.

In short, I’ve been thinking about this for a while. I had already approached my other publisher, Pearson, about offering a full PDF download of Widgets. Perhaps not surprisingly for a major corporation, they were hesitant, and the idea went nowhere. Finally, when we were about halfway through editing Whodunit, I pitched the idea to my co-author, Adam, and to our publisher, Hugh. They went off and thought about it for a day or two and then said, “Sure, why not? Let’s give it a shot.” 

And that—win or lose—is certainly a refreshing approach to this business!

[Guest post by Marcos Benevides] 

Fortunately, there are ways to give yourself a quick, healthy boost in just a fraction of the time allotted for a break. If you find yourself running out of time you could consider teaching this exercise to your students as well. After all, a long day in the classroom takes its toll on them too. In this article we'll look at one extremely simple and effective exercise to get you back into top form. Make a habit of doing it regularly and you might well find a welcome improvement in your overall health and energy levels.

The Swing

If you were to do just one exercise to keep yourself supple and fit, this would probably be it. It takes only a minute or two, but properly done it stretches and tones every muscle in your body.

Stand with your feet about 30-40 cm. (shoulder-width) apart, in what feels like a good posture. While maintaining your posture start by swinging your hips gently clockwise, then counter-clockwise.

Let your upper body move along with your hips. 

After a few swings you will probably find your shoulders moving even more than your hips. That's fine, but remember the swing should come from the hips and stay centered around them.

One crucial point. With the Swing as with any stretch exercise, it's essential to keep breathing. Otherwise you'll get the opposite result of tightening your muscles which can be unpleasant. The general rule is to breath out during the stretch, then breath in as you relax. But as the Swing is always stretching one side and relaxing the other at the same time, the best idea is to breath out as you stretch the side that feels stiffer.  For example, if you have a stiff left shoulder, breathe out as you swing clockwise. Follow the breathing pattern you find more natural. 

Soon your arms will start to take part in the action. Let them swing freely but again make sure it is the hips that are swinging the arms not the other way round. Remembering to stay relaxed, let your body naturally lengthen on the side that is swinging forward: left when you swing clockwise, right when counter-clockwise. After ten or twenty rounds your whole body will feel relaxed and invigorated.

When you have become used to doing the Swing, probably after a week or two, you can make the effect even stronger by allowing your heel to rise on the stretching side as you come to the end of the swing: left heel for clockwise, right heel for counter-clockwise.

Again though, the most important thing—and most effective—is to let it all flow loosely and naturally.

This article courtesy of John Brodie. In addition to teaching EFL at the tertiary level, John Brodie has been practicing chiropractic healing for some 30 years, along with energy work, breathing techniques, NLP and other modalities. For more information visit Eureka

The ABAX stand. Probably the last time round for these posters. Also for the black display cloths. New gray ones on the way.

As for the conference itself, over 1700 teachers showed up for the three day conference—a record for the Shizuoka site. Above all, a well-organized affair! Some great presentations and the EME well-positioned and promoted (It's true that the Educational Materials Exhibition seems less and less important to many of the teachers attending the conference but that's a whole other issue). A big thanks to JALT!

The scene (though not the picture) we settled on for the catalogue cover.

One of over 100 pictures taken on the Hongo campus of Tokyo University as possibilities for the cover of our 2010 Japan Product Catalogue. The text: Communication Spotlight: Starter ©ABAX 2009  Photographer: Takaharu Shibuya   Model: Megumi