Case Studies/Brothers Whim
Inside a story is an idea, and inside an idea is the power to change the world. — Spencer Hanson, and probably others too
Overview
Brothers Whim is a children's storybook workshop fully committed to harnessing the awesome power of the internet to freely share beautiful and inspiring stories around the world for everyone to enjoy.
We believe in stories. Besides being fun, stories have the power to change things in serious ways. A good story draws you in, and for a moment, you become somebody else. If you let it, a story can change the way you think, and therefore the way you go. It is our hope to add perhaps a bit more wisdom, friendship, beauty, compassion, and courage to this world through the wonderful art of storytelling.
We believe in the internet. Like magic, it can replicate and instantaneously deliver anywhere in the world for free. That blows our minds, and we are determined to write this magical copying power into the pages of our own life story.
Life is better when ideas are shared.
License Usage
All Brothers Whim works are licensed as Attribution-ShareAlike.
Free access to stories leverages word-of-mouth advertising. Many people still prefer print over digital viewing, especially for children's books. Brothers Whim intends to reach the widest audience possible by encouraging sharing and word-of-mouth advertising. A wider audience means more physical book sales and merchandising opportunities.
More experiences, benefits, and lessons learned as sales progress.
Motivations
We believe ideas were meant to be freely shared, not rationed and controlled.
For centuries people have struggled to define the right balance for how property rights should be applied to ideas, wondering how to control ownership of an idea as they would ownership of a pencil or a chicken. We believe the reason this struggle continues is because the question, "how should property rights be applied to ideas," is fundamentally flawed.
Ideas, unlike physical property, are not scarce. When a friend uses your pencil, you cannot use it at the same time. When a friend uses "your" idea, you can use it just the same. In a world where pencils and chickens can be replicated with a wave and a snap, the concept of property rights would be meaningless. It is scarcity that gives meaning and utility to the idea of property rights. People continue to struggle to define how property rights should apply to ideas because they are trying to impose rules of scarcity onto non-scarce goods. This exercise is futile. The rules aren't going to fit, no matter how much we argue over the details.
Our motivation behind adopting Creative Commons is to make the world a better place by sharing ideas as they were meant to be shared. We hope to prove a Creative Commons business model to inspire other creator to freely share as well.
Impact
Data showing sales impact of CC licensing will be posted as sales progress.
Technical Details
Technical details will be added as sales progress.
Media
Brothers Whim General Media Resources
Stick's Masterpiece - Book 1 Media Resources